Whole books have been written about this festival of good cheer, which christians hold to be birthday of Yesus and which in the ancient world was just as fervently held to be the birthday of the fiery sun god, mithras. Clinging to the coattails of the winter solstice, christmas celebrations in all their myriad permuttations hint at hope, at light in the darkness, warmth within the chill.
The Germans popularized the now universal Christmas tree as well as certain prominent holiday carols. Their Christmas dinner often features roast goose and christstollen, bread loaves stuffed with raisins, citron, and nuts. (Berliners, however, eat carp.) The portuguese cepo de Natal, "christmas log", is a hank of oak that burns on the earth all through the day while people enjoy a lingering consoada, the christmas feast.
In spain, where christmas is navidad, people go to church, exchange presents, and many play on swingsets set up specially for the occassion. Swingsets at solstice time evokes an ancient desire to encourage the sun, urging it to "swing" ever higher in the sky. Bulgarians make christmas wishes around the fire and eat blood sausage. Albanians, like finns and danes and a great many Europeans, attend early morning mass. Afterwards they sit down to a rich egg lemon soup with tripe. Rumanians tote big wooden stars through the streets and put on puppet shows based on the life of Jesus. Belgians, meanwhile, tell ghost stories.
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