Quaint Christmas
Customs
by Walt
Giersbach
In the Czech
Republic, fortunes are told on Christmas Eve by
pouring hot wax into guests’ boots and
studying the curious expressions on their faces.
In the
Philippines, children pass from house to house
singing this quaint carol: “We are little
angels flitting from house to house / If you
don’t give us candy we will break all your
windows.” Residents usually comply.
In Spain,
tradition has it that gifts are left by the Wise
Men passing out on their way to Bethlehem.
Children leave their shoes on the window sill
filled with straw for the Magi's horses. Next
morning, the straw is gone and, often, the shoes
too.
On sunny
Pitcairn Island, children go out on Christmas
morning and build rock men. Round rocks are piled
atop one another in the shape of a crude human
figure. Afterward, the jolly children have rock
ball fights. The custom has passed on to the
Emirate of Abu-Dhabi where children build sand
men. Very tiny sand men.
In the frozen
foothills of the Siberian mountains, Christmas
often lasts 39 days. Inhabitants of that area
drink a potent wine made of fermented bark
beetles. Along about February, one of the
villagers has a vision of Santa riding an
elephant and everyone tries to find their way
home.
In England, a
pie is made of suet, oil, graham crackers and
lard. The lucky ones who do not swallow coins
that have been placed in the pie will have the
good fortune to live until the next pie is
consumed.
|
