Displaying items by tag: worldwide Christmas celebrations

At the Philippines’ giant lantern festival on the Saturday before Christmas Eve, villages have a competition to build the most elaborate lantern. In secular Japan, Christmas dinner consists of a feast of Kentucky Fried Chicken with their special festive menu. Saint Nikolaus travels by donkey on the night of 6 December, leaving little treats in the shoes of good children all over Germany, particularly in the Bavarian region. Australians have barbeques, and Santa swaps his reindeer for white ‘boomers’ (kangaroos). Armenians fast the week before Christmas, and break their fast with a special meal (khetum). Canadian children have an actual postcode to send letters to the North Pole, and thousands of volunteers help Canada Post to respond to the letters received, even in Braille. Since 1979, a nine-metre menorah has been raised on the White House grounds for the eight days and nights of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.