Christmas dinners around the world

On the 25th of December every year, much of the world stands still. All around the globe, people celebrate and mark this special day in different ways. Christmas is a time when families and loved ones come together and although it looks very different around the world, that is something that doesn’t change. In this article, we look at unique Christmas dinners and traditions from around the world.

In Australia, Christmas ham is traditional. However, as the country celebrates Christmas in the summer, meat and fish are commonplace on the barbecue. For dessert, Australians make a rather unusual yet colourful treat aptly named White Christmas. This is made with raisins, cherries, desiccated coconut, icing sugar, milk powder and rice bubbles.

As it’s pleasantly warm in Australia during the festive season, many locals will head to the beach and spend lots of time outdoors. We chatted to blogger Hayley on Holiday who told us, “When I was growing up, I wished for a cold Christmas like the ones I saw in movies and sung about in Christmas carols. But Christmas in summer has its advantages, as its always been an outdoor affair for me and my family. We’ve always spent Christmas by the ocean or swimming pool.

“I think every family has their own Christmas traditions in Australia. But for my family, we still enjoy a Christmas dinner with roasted vegetables, baked ham and turkey. We also love to watch Carols by Candlelight on TV on Christmas Eve before opening all our presents on Christmas Day. In Australia, Boxing Day is also a big sporting day with the Hobart to Sydney Yacht Race and cricket’s Boxing Day test. But I prefer to spend my Boxing Day hitting up the sales.”

Many of the Christmas traditions in Brazil originally come from Portugal, as Portugal ruled Brazil for many years. Christmas dinner is commonly served on Christmas Eve and comprises roasted meat, usually turkey, colourful rice dishes and followed by Panettone for dessert.

Secret Santa, or amigo secreto, is incredibly popular in Brazil and often people will leave gifts under pseudonyms and reveal who their amigo secreto was on Christmas Day. it’s also very common to get a 13th salary in Brazil, where people receive twice their normal pay in December to help boost the economy around Christmas.

As the second-largest country in the world, it’s perhaps no surprise that Canada’s provinces have different ways of celebrating Christmas. French Canadians take part in Reveillon, a Christmas Eve feast complete with a delicious tortiere (meat pie) or, more traditionally, ‘ragout aux pattes de cochons’ - a stew made with pigs' feet. For dessert, a simple yet tasty tarte au sucre is served.

Christmas Eve is the key part of festive celebrations for many Canadians with most opening their gifts on this day. For those not of French descent, a typical Christmas dinner may be slightly more similar to that of the UK, with a roast turkey, vegetables, mashed potato and mince pies. In the eastern province of Nova Scotia, it’s traditional to send the biggest fir tree grown locally to Boston in the USA, to show gratitude for their help during the Halifax Explosion.

Fijian Christmas dinners are huge feasts, called lovo feasts, incorporating a whole bunch of delicious dishes. The lovo feast usually comprises a garlic spiced chicken, beef, pork, fish, cassava and Dalo. One very special dish is Palusami - spiced mutton wrapped in leaves and cooked in smooth coconut cream.

Fijians celebrate Christmas in much the same way as we do here in the UK, with family and friends, carolling and eating. In traditional local village celebrations, around two weeks before 25th December, communities gather at each other’s houses, singing and decorating trees.

A leg of roast lamb is the traditional centrepiece for an Icelandic Christmas dinner, accompanied by laufabrauð or ‘leaf bread,’ with the intricate design varying for each household. Typically, a Christmas dinner dessert could be a vínarterta, (shortbread and prune jam layer cake) or marens-kornflexkökur, a beautiful, flaky treat made with chocolate, meringue and cornflakes.

Christmas is known as ‘yule’ or ‘jol’ in Iceland, deriving from the country’s ancient winter solstice celebrations. The season celebrates various days, not just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 23rd December is St Thorlakur’s Day, celebrating the country’s mahjong saint ‘heilagur Porlakur Porhallson,’ the Bishop of Skalholt. On this day, the customs involve eating a simple meal of skate (fish) and the Christmas or ‘yule’ tree is decorated. Yule Eve celebrations begin at around 6 pm and this also dates back to an ancient Icelandic tradition, when the new day began at 6 pm and not midnight. On Christmas Day, time is spent with family enjoying a traditional meal.

The traditional Christmas Day meal in Japan is fried chicken thanks to an incredibly successful campaign in 1974 by KFC named Kentucky for Christmas! Before 1974, there was no traditional meal in Japan, so the KFC party barrel, which contains everything you’d need for a Christmas meal, filled a hole very conveniently. KFC is now so popular on Christmas Day that people have to make their orders weeks in advance to ensure they get their festive meal.

As Christmas isn’t a religious or national holiday in Japan, most people will still have to work. Christmas Eve is seen as a romantic day and is often reserved for partners to enjoy together, exchanging gifts and walking the streets hand-in-hand admiring Christmas decorations.

A Mexican Christmas dinner is truly a sight to behold. The country’s most treasured native dishes such as tamales are a huge part of their festive feasts, made with chicken and green salsa or pork. Also on the menu is roasted pork leg and stuffed turkey - not too dissimilar to a European Christmas feast. A typical Christmas sweet treat buñuelos, delicious fried pastry discs with powdered sugar.

Mexicans celebrate the Christmas season from 12th December to 6th January with a range of processions and gatherings. One of the most important is the Posada procession, which celebrates that part of the story where Mary and Joesph looked for somewhere to stay before the birth of baby Jesus. Houses in local towns and villages are often decorated as part of the processions and children are given candles and a board with painted clay figures of Mary riding on a donkey and Joseph to display as the procession walks through the streets. Typically, there are 9 Posadas in the run up to Christmas and at every Posada party is a piñata. Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena, is traditionally spent with family with many people attending Midnight Mass services and on Christmas Day, there are often fireworks to celebrate the day in style.

In Norway, it’s traditional to serve svineribbe (pig ribs with crispy skin), pinnekjøtt (lamb meat) or lutefisk (cod). All of these full-flavoured meat and fish dishes are accompanied by beautifully-decorated gingerbread as dessert/a snack but this isn’t the only sweet treat on offer in Norway. Many types of cakes and biscuits are enjoyed over the Christmas period, including the Julekake which includes raisins, candied fruit peel and cardamom.

We chatted to Vanessa from Snow in Tromsø, she told us, “Norway is one of few places in Europe that still (mostly anyway) delivers a white Christmas and personally, I really crave the cold in order to get into the Christmas spirit. Plus, what’s more magical than seeing the Northern Lights on Christmas Eve?”

Vanessa continued, “Norwegians are crazy about marzipan during the holidays and there’s this old tradition to hide an almond in the traditional rice pudding that’s served on Christmas Eve. Whoever finds the almond wins a marzipan pig. I’m sure, though, that there are as many people in Norway who hate marzipan as there are elsewhere but the almond is hidden and the marzipan is gifted no matter what!”

We also spoke to David from Life in Norway, he explained, “What I love most about Christmas in Norway are the Christmas markets. They are generally more intimate than some of the gigantic ones in the UK and feature local arts and crafts, reindeer-pulled sled rides for the kids, reindeer burgers for the adults and, of course, more often than not, there is snow on the ground which really completes the atmosphere.”

Lechon (a suckling pig) usually takes centre stage at a Filipino Christmas meal. This pork dish is said to be deliciously tender on the inside, with a beautifully crisp skin on the outside. Alternatively, a sweet Christmas ham is also customary. Puto Bumbong is pherpas the most unique item on the menu in the Philippines and is a purple-coloured treat made with sugar, rice and coconut milk, poured into a bamboo tube and steamed.

The Philippines love Christmas and will often ensure the celebrations last as long as possible. Starting on 16th December, people will attend the first of nine early morning masses, the last of which being on Christmas Day. As well as that, it’s common to hear Christmas songs as early as September. Due to about 80% of the Filipino population being Catholic, Christmas is a very important religious holiday on the islands.

In Poland, 12 dishes are served for the main Christmas meal to give people good luck for the forthcoming 12 months. Christmas dinners traditionally begin with beetroot soup with uszka (mushroom dumplings) or krokiety (savoury pancakes). Carp is the main dish and the fish itself is actually bought a few days earlier, alive, and is kept in the household bath until it’s killed and prepared by ‘the lady of the house.’ Of course, this tradition is dying out and many make do with fillets of carp. A typical dessert is makoweic - a delicious poppy seed roll made with sweet yeast bread and piernik, a moist cake with honey not too dissimilar to gingerbread.

A place is traditionally left empty at the table for Christmas dinner. This is either for unexpected guests or to commemorate the loss of a loved one. We chatted to Karolina and Patryk from Lazy Travel Blog, they told us, “We love Christmas in Poland because it has everything one can expect from the perfect holidays. Let’s start with the weather - it’s almost always snowing on 24th and 25th December. Then comes the food - it’s out of this world! Delicious pierogi (dumplings stuffed with cottage cheese and mashed potatoes), fish, cakes, dried fruit compote, żurek (sour soup) and many more. Last but not least - over 80% of Poles are Catholics, that's why Christmas in Poland is a spiritual experience. People are celebrating because they really believe The Savior was born. It's magical.

“Foreigners might not be aware that most Poles are fasting on Christmas Eve. It is a tradition not to eat anything before Christmas supper. Poles don’t eat meat on Christmas supper, most of us don’t drink alcohol. Some people believe that the way you spend December 24th is the way you’ll spend the upcoming year. That’s why everyone really tries to be good and friendly. Presents are opened on Christmas Eve evening and not on Christmas Day.”

In Switzerland, a Christmas ham with scalloped potatoes and cheese is considered the traditional festive meal, with a moreish walnut cake for dessert. However, if you’re hosting guests during the Christmas season, a cheese fondue will likely be served or fondue chinoise. This alternative fondue sees people dip slices of meat into a shared pot of steaming broth and enjoyed with vegetables and other accoutrements.

“Christmas in Switzerland is what childhood dreams are made of; yummy food, twinkly Christmas lights and hopefully some snow,” Kristin from z'Nüni exclaimed. “But what I love most is that the weeks leading up to the big day are filled with little traditions, making the season more htan just 2 days at the end of the month. The season begins in Zurich on 23rd November when the Christmas lights, which the locals call Lucy, turn on like Swiss clockwork. Families visit Christmas markets, concerts, bake cookies, open advent calendars and light advent candles.

“While Santa visits children on 25th December in the UK and USA, in Switzerland he visits on the 6th December, bringing peanuts, gingerbread, mandarins and chocolates. It is Chrstikindli, or baby Jesus, who brings gifts for the main event on the 24th December.”

Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom is a family affair, with relatives gathered around the table, time taken off work and paper hats donned. At the centre of the feast is often a turkey which is accompanied by trimmings like roasted potatoes, parsnips, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pigs in blankets. The main meal if followed by a Christmas pudding, doused in brandy and set alight before being served.

Traditions in the United Kingdom vary from family to family. However, there are a few things you can always expect. Christmas crackers are a holiday staple in the UK and once pulled, they are often filled with small gifts, jokes and paper Christmas hats.