Christmas in the UK, the US and Spain : similarities and differences

Can you hear the bells and see the lights ? Yes, finally Christmas has arrived in town. What a better opportunity to write about the Christmas traditions in different countries ? Let's begin :

1. Christmas dinner :

a) The UK : the typical dinner consists of roast turkey (or goose) with gravy, cranberry sauce and stuffing or dressing, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, sausages wrapped in bacon, among other things

b) United States :  In America, people usually have roast turkey (or roast goose, or baked ham), gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing or dressing made of bread, yams or sweet potato and green beans. 

c) Spain : In Spain, people usually have cold cuts (or cold meats) as a starter. Others prefer some hot seafood soup. After this, people will have some langoustines with mayonnaise. Then, roast pork or lamb casserole are popular. Some people prefer fish. 

2. After dinner :

In the United States, Christmas treats are popular after dinner. People usually have fruit cake, pumpkin pie or Pecan pie as well. In the UK, the Christmas pudding is a common 'dessert' filled with nuts and alcohol,  whereas in Spain we have different types of sweets and pastries, including nougat, sugared almonds (peladillas), shortbreads (polvorones), and marzipans. We also have nuts. 

                 America                                                 England

       

          Spain

In the UK, before the dinner, families will come together to crack their Christmas crackers. Christmas crackers are filled with a paper hat that must be worn after the dinner and a bad joke. 

3. Drinks

Eggnog is a very popular drink both in the UK and America. It is a drink consisting of milk, cream, whipped eggs, sugar and spirits. It is usually homemade but you can buy cartons in supermarkets and stores. 
In the UK, and in other countries such as Germany, they have a very curious drink, mulled wine (it's hot  wine with spices). 

In Spain, we tend to drink champagne or sparkling wine or other spirits.

 

     Eggnog (UK/USA)                        Champagne / sparkling wine (Spain)

            Mulled wine (the UK)                                                 

4. Presents : 

In the UK, it is Father Christmas who brings children some presents on Christmas Eve. Children usually write letters to Father Christmas but they do not send them. They toss them into the fireplace. 

Father Christmas and his elves will prepare the presents and then he will transport them in his sleigh pulled by reindeer. Father Christmas will get into the houses through the chimney and will deposit the presents under the Christmas tree. In addition, he will fill in the stockings next to your bed with small presents. What do children leave for Father Christmas ? Well, some brandy (because he is thirsty) and mince pie.

 

In the United States, it is Santa Claus (Santa or Saint Nick) the person in charge of the Christmas gifts. Here children usually write the letters and post them or email them to the North Pole. In the past, Santa Claus was dressed in green. It was the Coca-Cola advertisement that changed him into red. 

Santa will place the presents under the Christmas tree (next to other presents bought by the rest of the members in the family) and will fill in the stockings placed by the fireplace with presents. What do people children leave for Santa Claus ? Some milk and cookies, of course. 

 

In Spain, it is the Three Wise Men (or the Magi): Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar, the Kings of Orient, who bring the presents to the children. They do not use a sleigh to transport them. They transport them in camels. They will place them under the Christmas tree (next to the people's shoes). We have no stockings.In Spain, Santa has become popular as well. Some children open their presents twice: on the twenty-fifth of December (Santa Claus), and on the Twelfth Night after Christmas, 5th January (The Three Wise Men). The Three Wise Men are starving, so people often leave them some milk and cookies and some sweets and some  water for the camels. 

  

However, there are some similarities: in the three countries, the presents are left under the Christmas tree and naughty children receive a piece of coal (although in Spain, the Three Wise Men sometimes use sweet coal instead of a real piece of coal:

5. Decorations : 

In all these countries, the houses, the streets and the stores are decorated. What are the typical Christmas decorations ? Well, the Christmas lights, bells, snowmen, snowflakes, angels, wreathes of holly on the doors and some mistletoe over the doorway (you know two people under the mistletoe must kiss, right ?). However, there are some differences between Spain and the English-speaking countries. Normally, in the UK and the United States, people like buying real trees or even going to cut-your-own-tree farms. They will cut part of a pine tree and take them home. Some shopping centres will often have enormous Christmas trees. In addition, people's houses usually glisten with so many Christmas lights, more than in Spain.  However, in Spain, people often buy fake plastic trees. I guess we are less original, aren't we ? 

 

Nevertheless, in Spain we have quite original ornaments : nativity scenes. Houses are often decorated with nativity scenes of all types, with a lot of realistic figures depicting the birth of baby Jesus. You can also see nativity scenes in squares, museums, churches... It's an elements that clearly defines our Christmas.  

 

In the UK, people are superstitious : they must remove the tree and all decorations before the Twelfth Night (5th January), while in America some Christmas decorations may remain until...summer ! 

6. TV

- In the UK, people usually watch Christmas movies or special Christmas episodes of TV series. One of the most popular TV series during Christmas is Downton Abbey and this Christmas, people will surely watch the Christmas special of Sherlock.

- In America, Christmas movies are very popular, in special, Frosty the Snowman or A Christmas Carol. People also watch American football on TV (yes, football never comes to an end, I imagine).

- In Spain, however, things are different. Viewers prefer variety shows with music, jokes and comedy. One of the most popular programmes is the Christmas special of La Hora de José Mota. We also like to celebrate the end of the year. Every New Year's Eve, to say goodbye to the year, we watch TV with our favourite presenters and at midnight, we eat twelve grapes : one grape for each chime of the clock in Puerta del Sol, in Madrid. If we eat the twelve grapes, it will mean we will be lucky that year. 

 

7. Important dates

a) In the UK: 24th December (Christmas Eve): It's the day when families come together, they have dinner and all the presents are put under the tree. At night, Father Christmas will leave presents under the tree and inside the stockings. The presents will be opened on Christmas Day (25th December). The next day, it is Boxing Day (26th December). It is a bank holiday and shops and stores offer dramatic discounts, so most people spend this day shopping ! The last day of the year, New Year's Eve, is also important. There is an impressive fireworks display. The next day, New Year's Day is the beginning of the year. Finally, The Twelfth Night (5th January) is the day to remove all Christmas decorations to avoid bad luck.

b) In the United States, the dates aremore or less the same as in England, but they don't celebrate Boxing Day and they are not superstitious, so they don't feel the need to remove all the Christmas decorations on the Twelfth Night. 

c) In Spain : There are a lot of important dates at Christmas in Spain. First of all, on Christmas Eve, families come together and have a big dinner. On Christmas Day, families will have lunch together and in some houses they will receive Santa's presents. Then, 28th December is The Innocent's Day. This day is similar to April's Fools Day. People will pull pranks on other people and newspapers will publish some fake news. On New Year's Eve, families will have dinner together again. At midnight, people will eat twelve grapes, one for each chime of the clock. After this, families usually have a toast to celebrate this new year. Then, youngster will go clubbing to celebrate the first day of the year. There are special parties organized by discos where you can dance and eat everything you want. They are called 'cotillones'. People must dress smartly, pay a ticket, and they will spend the whole night at a disco, dancing, eating and drinking. On New Year's Day, some families come together again to have lunch. On January, 5th, the Twelfth Night, there is a big parade where the Three Wise Men say hello to all the children before going to all the children's houses. The Three Wise Men and their assistants throw sweets from the carriages for the children to catch them. At night, the Three Wise Men visit all the houses to leave children some presents.

On January, 6th, more known in Spain as The Day of the Three Wise Men, the children will open their presents (left next to their shoes). That day, families come together to eat a traditional cake filled with cream "Roscón de Reyes". This sweet is also filled with two things : one surprise and one bean. The person finding the bean must pay the whole cake. Yummy yummy !

8. Other traditions. 

In the United States and England, people will go door to door singing carols, the tradition of carolling. In the past, children did this in Spain but in exchange for money or sweets. However is a traditions that is being lost here. 

So, what is your favourite Christmas tradition ? Where would you like to spend your Christmas ? No matter the tradition, remember, the most important thing is to miss your families and have a nice time. To finish this long post I include a video showing the differences between British and American Christmases.  I hope you like it ! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you all !