Christmas Traditions around the World Pt.1

As Christmas is fast approaching I am thinking about all there is to focus on. First let me start by saying that I feel that the Christmas season starts way to soon. At some stores the decorations are up even before the Halloween decorations are on display and even when they are not up they are patiently waiting in the isles on pallets to be put on the shelves.

I thought I would share some information about how Christmas is celebrated in a few different countries.

So our first stop is China; yes they do celebrate this holiday but they do not consider it a legal holiday. With only about 1% of the population being Christian that equates to about 10 million people that are baptized. Those that are baptized do so in hiding and make sure that they do not make themselves that noticed. The one thing that I found odd is that still people have been baptized and are still becoming Christian no matter what the government states. It is said that Catholic Churches cannot hold the numbers who come out for Christmas Eve mass. They do have people dress up like Santa and they call him Dun Che Lao Ren and the children hang up muslin stockings waiting for him to fill them.

Our next stop is Iraq. I often wonder what is done there since not very many people are Christians there either. They begin to celebrate on Christmas Eve by holding a ceremony in their courtyards where the Nativity story is read by the family. Children and adults read the story from the Arabic Bible. A pile of dried thorns are placed in each corner of courtyard. Once the story is completed they begin to burn the thorns and begin to sing a Psalm that continues until all the thorns are completely burned. When only ashes are left everyone in the family jumps on the ashes three times and makes a wish. It is said that the future of the household depends on how the thorns are burned. If the thorns burn all the way down until only ashes it is a good omen and indicates good fortune for the upcoming year for the family. On Christmas day a bonfire is also burned with the Bishop presiding. A congregational chant hymn is song during the entire burning of the bonfire. Once this is completed the Bishop starts a procession with an image of the infant Jesus seated upon a scarlet colored pillow. The service is quite long and ends with the "The Touch of Peace". This Touch of Peace is given by the bishop placing his hand on the person in front of him and then that person touches the person next to him until every one in attendance has received the "The Touch of Peace" Christmas became an official holiday in 2008 for Iraqi's. As far as I could see they do not celebrate any thing to do with Santa Claus.

Our next stop is the UK. They begin to celebrate their holiday with Advent. They begin by making wreaths with three pink, one white and one purple candle. In 1850 the Christmas tree was first used when Prince Albert put up a tree for his wife Queen Victoria and their children in Windsor Castle. The decorations will stay up until January 6th which is the feast of the Epiphany. It is considered to be bad luck if the decorations are left up any longer than that date. Christmas observations were believed to have begun in 596 AD. in England when St. Augustine first landed on the shores of England with his message of Christianity on his lips. Christmas dinner consists of roasted turkey, vegetables, sauces and a rich fruity Christmas pudding with a brandy sauce. Father Christmas (Santa Claus) wears a long green or red robe and brings presents to the children. The children hang stocking or pillowcases from their bedposts to receive their gifts.

They also celebrate Boxing Day which is also a legal holiday. This is where the boys go around all day collecting money in clay pots. Once they are full then the boys smash the pots. I am not sure what exactly is done with the money that is collected. I cannot find anything about the money. I would hope that after receiving gifts and then money they would share, considering they do not mention that the girls are allowed to go out begging for money.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about these three countries as much as I did and I know that this is something I never thought about looking into for the holidays. With being so busy with all our own traditions I thought it might be interesting to see what people around the world are doing. I feel that our kids deserve to know other traditions as well as our own.

Have a great week and I will be posting again with a few new countries of interest!

Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Hello fellow homeschoolers,

As the season progresses closer and closer to the wonderful day of Christmas we sometimes forget to celebrate one of the most important person's also involved in this special day! So I would like to give you some information on how to celebrate this wonderful feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe Patroness of the Americas! The feast day is December 12th! While living in Mexico City I had the honor of visiting the Basilica to see first hand the original image of Our Lady. Words cannot express the overwhelming that I received in the presence of this image. Many times when visiting I smelled the fragrance of fresh roses when passing under the image. There were many flowers but none near the image.

In Mexico to celebrate this feast day the whole city celebrates with parties, fireworks and pilgrimages. The celebrations begin at 12:01am on the 12th of Dec. and do not end until the feast of the Three Kings.

So I have decided to share some of that information with you on how you to can celebrate this feast day at home with your children. No you don't have to worry about fireworks but you could do other things to make this feast day special.

Why the name of Guadalupe? Well the Aztec Nahuatl word coatlaxopkuh which is pronounced "quatlasupe: and sounds like th Spanish word for Guadalupe. Coa meaning serpent tla being the noun for the word "the" and xopeuh means to crush or stamp out. So the lady must have called herself " the one who crushes the serpent".

Here is the link that gives the full explanation of the name Guadalupe

http://www.sancta.org/nameguad.html

The image of the Our Lady has many different wonderful facets to it; the first that I find fascinating is that of her eyes. Scientist's have done studies on her eyes stating that her eyes have the reflection image of Juan Diego in them. Many things have proved that there is an image within the image. How fascinating is that revelation!

Here is a link to some more information about these studies.

http://www.sancta.org/eyes.html

The image of Our Lady is also been explained that she is the Protectress of the Unborn. It is said that when Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego she with child. The reasoning behind this is the traditional brown sash that she has tied around her waist. The Aztec woman would were a brown sash around their waists when with child. Also, at the bottom of the image their is a small baby. If you look at the bottom potion where their is child holding up her gown this is a baby in the folds of the gown. That is how she became the Protectress of the Unborn.

Here is the link about more information pertaining to this information.

http://www.sancta.org/patr-unb.html

The Lady appeared to just a normal Aztec who happened to hear her call. He did not understand why he heard her call or even why he conveyed her messages. He just truly believed in the message and knew in his heart he was doing the correct thing even when most of the people were telling him to forget what he saw.

Here is some more information about Juan Diego who is not considered a saint. This link also contains the beautiful image the Saint Juan Diego presented to the bishop so that he would believe him and build a church where the Lady had suggested.

http://www.sancta.org/juandiego.html

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I personally never get tired of seeing this image. I find it the most image I have ever laid my eyes upon!

This link is timeline reference for all that occurred pertaining to the image.

http://www.sancta.org/table.html

This link is to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe as it looks today.

http://www.sancta.org/table.html

This link will help you to create wonderful paper flowers that your children to make in honor of Our Lady!

http://www.theholidayspot.com/mothersday/crafts/paper_flower.htm

This site will help you to create Farilitos and Luminarias to honor Our Lady!

http://www.nmia.com/~nmcm/luminarias.htm

You can also create a wonderful display with the Poinsettia plants which also holds the same holiday as Our Lady! There are many wonderful facts at this site about the Poinsettia which originated in Mexico and was brought to the states.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/poinsettia/facts.cfm

There are also many different books that have been written about Our Lady for children.

"Our Lady of Guadalupe Coloring Book"

"Fresh Flowers in Winter - The Story of St. Juan Diego"

I hope that I have shed some small light on the subject of Our Lady of Guadalupe so that you to can appreciate this wonderful lady that saved a country and still working hard to save the unborn. Enjoy celebrating this wonderful Feast day on December 12th.

Different Types of Advent Wreaths!

With most of Christmas always focusing on purchasing presents and getting the best deal, I thought I would post some information about why we people have advent wreaths. Traditions, lesson plans and reading to go along with the lighting of the candles each week.

This link will tell you why the advent wreath is so important. There are lesson plans that accompany this site.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/94076/here_comes_advent_why_this_christmas.html?cat=34

To keep those Irish Traditions going this is how an Irish family stays connected.

http://www.thenewageblog.com/celtic-advent-wreaths-help-keep-irish-family-traditions/

http://www.rosary-religious-inspirational-gifts.com/advent-wreaths-in-the-celtic-tradition-a-196.html

Here is a link to an advent wreath that the little ones can use. The link is has many printable to copy and do along with Bible versus.

http://www.first-school.ws/activities/bible/advent1.htm

Here are couple of books that can help with the holidays as well.

http://www.familieswithpurpose.com/adventkits.html#adventactivities

This link will have Advent wreath meditations.

http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=47983

Here is a link about praying through advent.

http://www.hopeandhealing.org/contentPage.aspx?resource_id=372

This link is about how things are done in Germany for the holidays!

http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/worldxmas/germany.htm

This site has many pdf files that can be copied and then have the children color. There is an advent wreath that you can have them color each week if you choose not to have real candles lit once a week. Especially with little ones around the house.

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/seasonalholidays/christmas/

I hope you find some of these sites interesting and help your family to appreciate the holiday season!

Free Christmas Crafts!

Tis the Season for making crafts with you children! I know that when mine were young we always used the month of December to create wonderful gifts! These creations in turn became wonderful gifts for family members including myself. I still have so many things that the kids made that we still display today!

Each year as I pull out these items it brings back a flood of memories of time spent together and how time has flown bye!

So I thought I would share a few ideas for you to create with your children and make wonderful memories for yourselves. I hope you enjoy them, have fun and look back and say I am so glad that we had the time to create together!!!

Hands and Feet Reindeer Craft http://www.amazingmoms.com/images/hands_feet_reindeer.jpg

Red-Nosed Wreath

http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-decorations/christmas-wreaths/red-nosed-wreath-deer-710135/

Reindeer Craft Treat Holder

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas-crafts-for-kids-reindeer-pots.htm

Reindeer Antlers

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas_crafts__5.htm#reindeer_antlers

Helping Hand Wreath

http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-decorations/christmas-wreaths/helping-hand-wreath-710114/

Candy Cane Mouse

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas_crafts_mouse.htm

Jingle Bell Door Hanger

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas-crafts-for-kids.htm

Wooden Spoon Christmas Trees

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas__stixtree.htm

Penguin Pals

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas_crafts__penguin.htm

Remember to let your child use their imagination, these instructions can be modified to fit yours and your child's needs. Have fun and create!!!