Lead Article

Christmas in the English-speaking nations [easy]

In the Anglophone world, Christmas time centres around the myth of Santa Claus and Father Christmas. Father Christmas, also called Santa Claus, has a sleigh pulled by reindeer, of which the most famous one is Rudolf who has a red nose. There is a famous song about Rudolf, called “Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer”. In the pre-Christmas season, you can usually see people dressed up as Santa in the big shopping malls, jingling their bells and saying “ho, ho, ho” and talking to the children. Santa’s dress is red and white, and in the U.S., for animal lovers who want to join into the festive season, Santa dresses are also available for dogs and horses.

Legend tells that on Christmas Eve, December 24th, Santa Claus comes into homes during the night, usually parking his sleigh on the roof and entering through the chimney, and places presents underneath the Christmas tree in the living room. To set the stage for Santa’s arrival, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, shops and private homes are being decorated with Christmas lights and some Americans even go a step further, installing lighted Santa Claus sleighs in their gardens. At night, many of the houses have garlands of light announcing the festive season.

For business in the pre-Christmas season, it is customary to have annual Christmas parties. It is also very important to send Christmas cards, both to private and to business contacts. The number of Christmas cards received is seen as an indication of either personal or professional popularity, and people proudly display their cards on their mantelpieces in their homes, or around their offices. For tips how to sign your Christmas cards to Anglophone associates, please see our appropriate section in this newsletter.

In the evenings, during the weeks before Christmas, Christmas-carol singers are a common sight in the Anglophone world. Groups of singers, either from churches or charitable organisations, go from house to house in the evenings, singing Christmas carols and holding candles. This is how they hope to collect money for their respective charities or parishes.

Prior to Christmas, you will also notice that supermarkets begin to stock different foods to what they usually offer outside the festive season: there is now Christmas pudding and Christmas cake, turkey, goose and duck (usually frozen in the US), custard (US) and eggnog (UK) – a kind of vanilla sauce that can be drunk hot or cold, or be poured over Christmas puddings, carp (US), fancy fish cakes and salmon rolls (UK), packaged poultry stuffing, packaged bread sauce (UK).

In the Anglophone world, Christmas itself is celebrated on the 25th, not the 24th in the evening, as is customary in Germany. The 24th, traditionally, is still a working day with regular business hours, although many businesses finish at noon. For those who are religious, Christmas Eve then traditionally sets off Christmas with midnight mass.

However, for Hispanic-Americans, the tradition is somewhat different: they celebrate the birth of Jesus with an actual birthday party, meaning they get together in the early evening of the 24th, with everyone bringing dishes of food to be arranged as a buffet. The party, with plenty of singing and also dancing to popular music, is then interrupted for attendance of midnight mass, but continues after return from mass until the early hours of morning.

In the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas day, the parents in a family place presents underneath the decorated Christmas tree. These include, traditionally, also a Christmas stocking filled with sweets and smaller presents. However, while in the US and Canada, the stockings are often placed underneath the Christmas tree nowadays or hung from the mantelpiece, stockings in the UK are usually still hung on the end of the children’s beds or outside their bedroom door during the night, for them to find in the morning upon awakening.

Christmas morning typically starts with a lavish breakfast, including ham and eggs, sausages, smoked salmon and many other culinary delights that are on special sale in the stores in the weeks before Christmas.

Then, for the religious, there is Christmas morning mass, which is followed by Christmas lunch. Typically, this is goose or duck in the United States, which is served with gravy, roast potatoes and two vegetables. These are usually pumpkin and corn, but also peas. In the UK, the vegetables often include Brussels sprouts, the typical Christmas vegetable there.

Turkey is usually served in the UK on Christmas day, with goose often being eaten on the second day of Christmas, called Boxing Day. In the US and Canada, where turkey has its big day for thanksgiving, poorer households usually serve Christmas-turkey, while the wealthier ones have duck or goose. To give you a price example, a frozen Christmas goose sells for around 40$, whereas a whole frozen Turkey is on offer at some lower-income supermarkets for as little as 5$ to 10$. The birds are traditionally stuffed with herbed bread stuffing, which you can make yourself or can buy as a ready-made package that just needs you to add water.

You can try making this yourself: for a traditional American Christmas stuffing, take some rolls, soak them with a bit of hot water until you get a paste. Cut up some onions and add them to the paste. Then add salt, pepper, thyme, nutmeg, one raw egg, and mix thoroughly. Now push all the stuffing inside the bird, add an apple if you like, and sew up. Your Christmas bird is now ready for the oven!

In the US and Canada, the birds are usually served with traditional brown gravy, but in the UK, if there is Turkey, this is served with both, gravy and bread sauce, which is a favorite among the kids. Bread sauce is a white sauce made from bread rolls, and can be bought as a packaged sauce as well.

But, in a multi-cultural society like North America, you will also find many varieties on the Christmas-lunch theme: just before Christmas, many supermarkets stock fresh carp, which is traditionally eaten as a Christmas eve or Christmas day meal by Americans whose roots are in the eastern European world. They eat this with cabbage and potatoes. In Quebec, the French-speaking part of Canada, ham and maple syrup with potatoes and creamed corn is also a much-loved Christmas meal.

After Christmas lunch, it is time to go to the tree and unwrap the presents. However, some families that do not attend morning mass may opt to unwrap presents after breakfast, and before Christmas lunch that then takes place in the early afternoon and lasts until evening. Whether or not carols are being sung before the unwrapping is up to the individual households, and many people restrict carol singing to church or to the pre-Christmas carol singer tradition.

A particular UK tradition is to listen to the Queen’s Christmas message, broadcast on radio and TV during Christmas Day afternoon. It is a message to people in all the countries that were part of the former British Commonwealth of nations.

On December 26th, which is still a public holiday, most Anglophones do not traditionally go to church. The 26th is called “Boxing day” and is a shopping day, with prices plummeting for what is called the big boxing-day sales. In the United States, the UK and Canada, people are often seen lining up outside the stores long before opening hours, in the hope of securing low-price items with reductions of up to 75% from normal prices.

Then, for many people, it is back to work until the 31st. While in Germany, there is usually time off between Christmas and New Year, it is not unusual for the US, UK and Canada to have only three days off: the 25th and the 26th of December, and then the 1st January for New Year’s.

Vocabulary Index

Anglophone - englischsprachig
to provide – zur Verfügung stellen, bereit stellen, geben
to center around – sich um etwas drehen
sleigh – Schlitten
usually – gewoehnlich
dressed up as – verkleidet als

jingle - bimmeln
to be available – verfügbar sein/ verfügbar haben
chimney – Kamin/Schornstein
leading up to (Christmas) – hinzuführen auf, auf etwas hingehen (auf Weihnachten zugehen)
customary – üblich, gebräuchlich
receive – erhalten

an indication of – ein Hinweis auf
professional or personal popularity – berufliche oder persönliche Beliebtheit
mantelpiece – Kaminsims
either ... or – entweder ... oder
associates – Mitarbeiter, Kollegen, Geschäftspartner
appropriate – hier: dazugehörig

during – während
charitable – karitativ, wohltätig
respective – bezüglich
parish - Gemeinde, Kirchengemeinde
prior to - vor
to stock – (Ware) führen, vorrätig haben

turkey, goose and duck – Truthahn, Gans und Ente
it is customary – es ist gebräuchlich
fancy fish cakes – Delikatessen-Fischkuchen
poultry – Geflügel
it is celebrated – es wird gefeiert
regular business hours – normale Öffnungszeiten/Bürozeiten

to set off something – etwas eröffnen/starten
dishes of food – (Essens-)Gerichte
plenty of - viel, eine Menge
it is interrupted – es wird unterbrochen
underneath – drunter, unten drunter, unter
Christmas stocking – Weihnachtsstrumpf

upon awakening – beim Aufwachen
lavish – luxurioes, aufwendig
smoked salmon – geräucherter Lachs
culinary delights – Gaumenfreuden
Christmas morning mass - Morgenmesse
gravy – (braune) Fleisch/Gelfügel Sosse

Brussels sprouts – Rosenkohl
poorer households – weniger betuchte/ärmere Haushalte
whereas – dahingegen, wohingegen
it’s on offer - im Angebot
It sells for around – es wird verkauft/es verkauft sich für ungefähr
herbed bread stuffing – kräuterwuerzige Brotfüllung

add water – fügen Sie/füge Wasser hinzu
to soak – einweichen/aufweichen
thyme – Thymian
nutmeg – Muskat
raw – roh
thoroughly – gründlich, durch und durch

sew up – nähe/nähen Sie zusammen
It is a favorite – es ist eine Lieblingsspeise/eine Beliebtheit
carp – Karpfen
cabbage – Kohl (normalerweise Weisskohl)
maple syrup – Ahornsyrup
A much-loved Christmas meal – ein sehr beliebtes Weihnachtsessen

to unwrap – auspacken
present/s – Geschenk/e
to opt to – sich entschliessen/entscheiden zu
last – andauern
it’s up to - es liegt an
it takes place – es findet stattt

to restrict – limitieren
to listen – zuhören
message – Nachricht, Mitteilung
broadcast – Sendung, Übertragung
... were part of – ... waren ein Teil von
public holiday – öffentlicher Feiertag

prices are plummeting – Preise gehen in den Keller/fallen schnell
sale/sales – Ausverkauf/Ausverkäufe
to line up – sich anstellen, sich aufreihen
reductions – Nachlässe
time off – freie Zeit
unusual - ungewöhnlich



Zurück zu: Newsletter Dezember 2005