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Mom is cleaning and christmas carols are heard in our house. The food is cooking and it's that perfect christmas feeling. 
Then it struck me, for us, christmas is tomorrow but the some of you celebrate christmas the 25th.
I believe that in Scandinavia it's the 24th, english speaking countries 25th?
How come and why? I mean, for us "Julafton" is the 24th, guess that's Christmas Eve. And "Juldagen" Christmas Day, which is the day after is the 25th.
I doubt it matters though! Christmas as Christmas!
I think it'll be normal celebration, the family, my brother and sister comes home so I can see them. Haven't seen them in quite a while. Granddad is coming, so it's just the family
So how do you celebrate, and when? :D
Merry Christmas!
 
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24th mom's side, 25th dad's side
;o~~
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On December 23 2010 21:15 Slakkoo wrote:Mom is cleaning and christmas carols are heard in our house. The food is cooking and it's that perfect christmas feeling. Then it struck me, for us, christmas is tomorrow but the some of you celebrate christmas the 25th. I believe that in Scandinavia it's the 24th, english speaking countries 25th? How come and why? I mean, for us "Julafton" is the 24th, guess that's Christmas Eve. And "Juldagen" Christmas Day, which is the day after is the 25th. I doubt it matters though! Christmas as Christmas! I think it'll be normal celebration, the family, my brother and sister comes home so I can see them. Haven't seen them in quite a while. Granddad is coming, so it's just the family So how do you celebrate, and when? :D Merry Christmas!
I've always derived great pleasure from stating that Santa prioritizes Scandinavians by visiting us on the eve of the 23rd, so we can celebrate Christmas on the day of Christmas Eve, rather than on Christmas Day itself.
Julaften is indeed tomorrow, and already the house is happy.
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Osaka27139 Posts
When I was a kid we went to the evening service on the 24th, and did the presents / dinner stuff on the 25th.
Now that I have my own family we do the dinner on the 24th, presents in the morning of the 25th, then go to a hot spring place for the night of the 25th.
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I guess we indeed have so! Scandinavia > world , nah jk... 
Well, are all english speaking countries celebrating the 25th?
We always have presents and dinner @ 24th and the 25th is usually to go around and visist relatives
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I'm a Buddhist, so strictly speaking, I don't celebrate Christmas. For me, the 24th and 25th are just days and the 25th is just a day when nothing is open.
Of course my family celebrates on the 26th. Like everyone celebrates with their immediate families on the 25th (I stay in my apartment and get some quality alone time) and then on the 26th everyone gets together, usually at my aunt's, where everyone spends most of the day. I drive to my grandparents' house (about 30 minutes away) where I meet with my grandparents, one aunt who lives nearby, and whatever relatives are staying with my grandparents, and then we pile in a van and head up to my other Aunt's house (about 2hours away). I don't mind since it's all family-oriented and junk, but I usually feel a little out of place with everyone doing Christmas-y stuff. But that's okay because free food!
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We have Christmas on 24th here, in Czech republic. It always struck me as rather curious that for example, in US, they have them a day later than us. But in the end, it doesn't really matter, as long as people stick together with their beloved ones.
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Sounds really similiar though Seltsam, as long as you are together with the people you like it's a christmas to me.
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On December 23 2010 21:56 Slakkoo wrote:
Sounds really similiar though Seltsam, as long as you are together with the people you like it's a christmas to me.
Yeah, kind of, but most of my family is Christian, so they usually do stuff like go to mass on the 25th. That's the stuff I skip.
Plus I have dinner with my grandparents and aunt (and her husband who it's weird to call my uncle because they were married when I was like 20) every week, so just getting together with family is already pretty routine.
Although, most Christmas traditions are heavily rooted in paganism, so I guess following those traditions isn't that different from most people following them.
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Ah yeah =) Sorry for bad responses, it's a hurry cleaning and cooking home... haha
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Australia - midnight service (night of 24th)
Christmas day - 25th.
We've never celebrated christian, its just family gets together, eats lunch and dinner.
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We have Christmas on 24th here, in Czech republic. It always struck me as rather curious that for example, in US, they have them a day later than us. But in the end, it doesn't really matter, as long as people stick together with their beloved ones.
^same here.
I remember i was like WTF when i 1st time heard that in USA you guys celebrate on 25th at the morning.
Do you go to the Church at the midnight ?
Does anyone know how it is with Russia ? I heard that they still dont celebrate Christmas : (
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On December 23 2010 22:11 pevergreen wrote:
Australia - midnight service (night of 24th)
Christmas day - 25th.
We've never celebrated christian, its just family gets together, eats lunch and dinner.
Same here, we don't celebrate anything religious.
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On December 23 2010 22:19 NIIINO wrote:
Does anyone know how it is with Russia ? I heard that they still dont celebrate Christmas : (
During the Soviet era, religious celebrations were discouraged by the officially atheist state. As a result, Christmas celebration in Russia were not as widely followed as in Western countries. Instead, emphasis was shifted to the New Year celebration. In the Russian Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January (which corresponds to 25 December in the Julian Calendar). The tradition of celebrating Christmas has been revived since 1992, after decades of suppression by the Communist government. On Christmas Eve, there are several long services, including the Royal Hours and Vespers combined with the Divine Liturgy. The family will then return home for the traditional Chrismas Eve "Holy Supper", which consists of 12 dishes, one to honor each of the Twelve Apostles. Devout families will then return to church for the "всеночная" All Night Vigil. Then again, on Christmas Morning, for the "заутренняя" Divine Liturgy of the Nativity.
During the time of Soviet rule, Russian Christmas traditions were largely kept alive by shifting some of them, including the visit by gift-giving "Dyet Maros" (Дед Мороз) "Grandfather Frost" and his granddaughter, "Snegurochka" (Снегурочка) "The Snowmaiden", to New Year's Day. Many current Russian Christmas customs, including their Christmas tree, or "yolka" (spruce, or sometimes pine), were brought by Peter the Great, after his western travels in the late 17th century
On December 23 2010 22:19 NIIINO wrote:
Do you go to the Church at the midnight ?
I imagine Christians do but not most people, the vast majority of people in this country don't celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.
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On December 23 2010 21:29 Manifesto7 wrote:
When I was a kid we went to the evening service on the 24th, and did the presents / dinner stuff on the 25th.
Now that I have my own family we do the dinner on the 24th, presents in the morning of the 25th, then go to a hot spring place for the night of the 25th.
Maybe it's just the terribly skewed stereotype I have of Japan due to all the crazy shit that comes out of there, but 'hot spring place' just sounds dirty. But if I take my head out of the gutter, really relaxing.
Lots of people do Christmas stuff on both the 24th and 25th. Traditionally, many families (I think more Italian-Americans) do big dinners and then presents at midnight. We used to do this for a while. A lot of people just do stuff on multiple days because of large families and stuff. But celebrations on both the 24th and 25th are fairly common
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I dont believe in Santa. And we dont do anything that has to do with Santa. its all about being together celebrating that Jesus has born and not about gifts.
We have saint nicholas for gifts and shit, but Christmas is something else.
Christ Mas <-
EDIT: 25th
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On December 24 2010 00:32 Falcon_NL wrote:I dont believe in Santa. And we dont do anything that has to do with Santa. its all about being together celebrating that Jesus has born and not about gifts. We have saint nicholas for gifts and shit, but Christmas is something else. Christ Mas <- EDIT: 25th
Ummm.. *sobs loudly* There's no Santa?
St. Nick and Santa are synonymous from what I've read. And as far as Christmas being the celebration of the birth of Jesus...ummm...impossible. There are many facts that dispute this belief - this is just one of them:
http://www.essortment.com/all/christmaspagan_rece.htm
But it really doesn't matter, as long as there's a birthday celebration to honor someone and remember them. Let's PARTAAAAAAY!
As for me, Christmas is a time for family disputes and disappointment. lol... Fortunately, I don't have a family.
I was, however, invited to celebrate a Mexican Christmas, with an acquaintance, and it sounds like fun, so I'm going. It will take place Christmas Eve, when at midnight the baby Jesus is placed in the manger.
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Christmas is actually a pagan holiday that the church took and placed the birth of Jesus in it in order to keep it. Jesus wasn't born in December. Most likely in September. Also Jesus never told us to celebrate it, neither did the first Christians. So its simply not a very Christian celebration either, its just tradition inherited from earlier tradition, and put in some Christian stuff. Christmas isn't any more important for a Christan than for a non-christian in my opinion.
Though the holiday is placed there because of the sun turning from 22-25 of december.
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On December 24 2010 03:57 ThePhan2m wrote:
Christmas is actually a pagan holiday that the church took and placed the birth of Jesus in it in order to keep it. Jesus wasn't born in December. Most likely in September. Also Jesus never told us to celebrate it, neither did the first Christians. So its simply not a very Christian celebration either, its just tradition inherited from earlier tradition, and put in some Christian stuff. Christmas isn't any more important for a Christan than for a non-christian in my opinion.
Though the holiday is placed there because of the sun turning from 22-25 of december.
Thank you for reiterating what I said.
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EPT
