Guestling Bradshaw CE Primary School

In the North and East of France people celebrate the feast day of Saint Nicolas, patron saint of children. There are many legends about the miracles he performed. One popular story is that three children wandered off one December night and got lost. An evil butcher lured them to his shop, and when they were asleep, cut them into pieces and put them in a barrel of salt to make into bacon.  When St Nicolas called in to ask for bacon, the terrified butcher fled and St Nicolas brought the children back to life. Ever since, he has been the patron saint of schoolchildren. The evil butcher became Père Fouettard, who has followed St Nicolas around in shame ever since. Although Père Fouettard carries a switch to threaten naughty children, they are more worried that he will tell St Nicolas not to leave them anything.

In Saint-Nicolas-de-Port and Nancy, where Nicolas is patron saint, thousands of people come for his feast day on 6th December. The celebration includes music and a parade of beautiful floats for the saint's arrival. At the Town Hall the Mayor gives the good saint the key to the city. The grand evening ends with a big fireworks display.

Christmas Eve is also a special time in the French celebration of Christmas. Church bells ring and people sing carols. The family may fast all day, then everyone but the youngest children goes to midnight mass. The churches and cathedrals are beautifully lit, and most display a lovely antique crèche. Afterward, the family returns home (or to a restaurant which stays open all night) to a feast called le Réveillon. The menu is different in the various regions of France, but might include lobster, oysters, turkey or goose.

If children did not leave their shoes out to be filled with gifts by Saint Nicolas on 5th December, they leave them out on Christmas Eve to be filled by Père Noël or the Baby Jesus. Before going to bed, some families leave food and a candle burning, in case Mary passes by with the Christ Child. In homes that have a Christmas tree, Père Noël hangs little toys, candies, and fruits on the tree for the sleeping children. All children who write a letter to Père Noël receive a postcard in reply.

Epiphany, called Fête des Rois (festival of kings) in France, is celebrated in France on January 6th. A flat almond cake, called a 'Galette des Rois’, is eaten. The cake is decorated on top with a gold paper crown and has a bean or small figure hidden inside called a ‘fêve’. Whoever finds the fêve’ in their slice of cake gets to wear the crown and is king (or queen) for the rest of the day and everyone has to obey their commands!

Happy Christmas in French is Joyeux Noël .

Advent is a big part of the Christmas celebrations in Germany. Several different types of Advent calendars are used: as well as the familiar one made of card, there are some made from a wreath of fir tree branches with 24 decorated boxes or bags hanging from it, each containing a little present. Another type is an 'Advent Kranz' and is a ring of fir branches that has four candles on it, much like the Advent candles that are sometimes used in Churches; one candle is lit at the beginning at each week of Advent.

In some parts of Germany, children write to 'das Christkind' (the Christ Child) asking for presents. The letters are decorated with sugar glued to the envelope to make them sparkly and attractive to look at and children leave them on the windowsill during Advent. The Christkind is often described as a young girl with 'Christ like' qualities. In the town of Nürnberg, a young girl is chosen every year to participate in a parade as the Christkind. She wears a long white and gold dress, has long blond curly hair and wears a gold crown and sometimes wings like an angel. This is similar to St Lucia in Norway, though it can seem a bit confusing calling the 'Christ Child', Jesus, a girl! The Nürnberg Christkind officially opens the Christmas market on the Friday before Advent starts. And before Christmas she has over 150 'official duties' including visiting hospitals, old people's homes and children's nurseries! She also has to give TV interviews and visit other cities.

On the night of December 5th-6th, Nikolaustag (St. Nicholas Day) children leave their shoes or boots outside the front door. That night Nikolaus visits and fills them with chocolates, oranges and nuts if they’ve been good. Nikolaus also has a sidekick, in the form of his servant Knecht Ruprecht, who leaves bundles of twigs in the shoes if the children have been naughty and are listed in his ‘black book’.

The Germans often have special baking evenings for making spiced cakes, cookies and gingerbread houses. The German Christmas tree pastry, das Christbaumgebäck, is a white dough which is moulded into shapes and baked to make tree decorations.

Sternsinger (or star singers) go from house to house, sing a song and collect money for charity (this is a predominantly Catholic tradition). Children dress up like the wise men and one carries a star on a stick as a symbol for the Star of Bethlehem. When they're finished singing, they write a sign with chalk over the door of the house: Christmas 2015 would be: 20*C*M*B*15. It is considered to be bad luck to wash the sign away - it has to fade by itself.

In some homes, it's traditional for parents to prepare a room for Christmas and then lock it up. A bell is rung as a signal for children to enter the room where they are delighted to find the tree lit up with presents awaiting them underneath it. There are also fruit, nuts, marzipan, chocolate and biscuits to eat, carols are sung, the Christmas story is read and children open their presents. This magical event, for many families, takes place on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, before attending mass at 4pm, returning home at 6pm to eat, read the Christmas story and then open their presents. The Christmas Eve evening feast often consists of carp and potato salad - meat is avoided for religious reasons.

On Christmas Day the family tucks into suckling pig or roasted goose, white sausage, macaroni salad, and regional dishes: der Christstollen, long loaves of bread with nuts, raisins, lemon and dried fruit; der Lebkuchen, ginger spice cookies; das Marzipan and der Stollen, a moist, heavy bread filled with fruit and marzipan.

In German Happy Christmas is Frohe Weihnachten.

Saint Lucia's Day, on 13th December, is the first day of the Christmas celebrations in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and is also known as the shortest day of the year – the winter solstice - under the old Gregorian calendar. It is one of the few saints’ days observed in Scandinavia. But it was not until after World War II that the modern celebration of Lucia was imported to Norway from Sweden. St Lucia’s Day is observed in schools and has been incorporated into the Advent services in the Church of Norway, where visitors can watch processions.

Christmas in Norway is celebrated by most Norwegians with a big dinner on Christmas Eve following, or followed by, a Christmas service in one of the many churches around the country. Dinner usually consists of pork or lamb ribs, or in some parts of Norway; cod. Dinner is served with boiled potatoes, ‘surkal’, a type of pickled cabbage, sausages, meatcakes and lingonberries. Traditionally, the meal is accompanied by Norwegian beer and aquavit (a spirit flavoured with spices and herbs).

Children often have a hard time sitting through the meal, due to great anticipation of what's to come after dinner – the exchange of presents, and perhaps even a visit from the ‘Julenisse’ (Santa Claus) himself. Small gnomes can bring presents too, and these ‘Nisser’ are traditional decorations.

Many different types of cakes and biscuits are eaten over the Christmas period in Norway. One of the most popular is a special bread called 'Julekake' that contains raisins, candied peel and cardamom. Rice porridge is eaten on Christmas Eve either as a meal at lunchtime (served with butter, sugar and cinnamon) or as a dessert to the main evening email (with whipped cream mixed in!). If you find an almond in your portion you're traditionally given a pink or white marzipan pig.

A sheaf of wheat is often left out for the birds to eat over Christmas. Also a type of rice porridge is sometimes left for the 'Nisse' who is believed to guard the farm animals.

Children like to go carol singing and will often dress up as characters from the Christmas story, such as the shepherds and Wise Men, and go singing from house to house in their local neighbourhood. Sometimes they carry with paper stars on them.

Another tradition in parts of Norway is that families light a candle every night from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day.

Christmas wasn't celebrated in Norway until about 1000 or 1100, when Christianity first came to the area. Before this people celebrated jul or midwinter. It was a celebration of the harvest gone and a way of looking forward to the spring. Lots of beer was brewed and drunk in honour of the old pagan gods.

Perhaps the most famous custom about Christmas in Norway is the big Christmas tree that Norway gives to the UK every year. The tree is given as a present to say 'thank you' for the help that the people of the UK gave to Norway during World War II. The tree stands in Trafalgar Square in the middle of London and hundreds of people come to watch when the lights are turned on. Norwegian Christmas trees are traditionally decorated with small paper baskets made in the shape of a heart. It's thought that the writer Hans Christian Andersen might have invented them in the 1860s!

In Norwegian Happy Christmas is God jul.

In China, only about one per cent of people are Christians, so some people do not know much about Christmas. Christmas is only often celebrated in the major cities, where there are decorations, trees and lights on the streets and in the big shops. You might find Santa in some of the larger stores, but instead of elves, he is accompanied by his sisters - young women dressed in red and white dresses.

Only a few people have a Christmas tree at home. If people they do it is normally a plastic one and might be decorated with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns (they might also call it a tree of light). Houses are not decorated with lights as they are here. Christians go to Christmas services such as Midnight Mass.

One tradition that is becoming popular is giving apples on Christmas Eve. Many stores have apples wrapped up in coloured paper for sale. People do this because the Chinese word for apple sounds similar to the word that means quiet or silent night.

Christmas isn't widely celebrated in the rural areas of China, but it is gradually becoming more well known. The strange thing is that most of the world's plastic Christmas trees and decorations are made in China, but many people making them don't know the religious meaning of Christmas. Christmas is not an official holiday in China, so most offices, schools and shops remain open.

Merry Christmas in Chinese (Mandarin) is shèng dàn jié kuài lé.

Christmas is celebrated from the December 12th to January 6th. From December 16th to Christmas Eve, children often perform the 'Posada' processions. Posada is Spanish for inn or lodging. There are nine Posadas. They celebrate the part of the Christmas story where Joseph and Mary looked for a room to stay. For the Posadas, the outsides of houses are decorated with evergreens, moss and paper lanterns.

In each Posada, children are given candles and a board, with painted clay figures of Mary riding on a donkey and Joseph, to process round the streets with. They call at the houses of friends and neighbours and sing a song at each home. The song they sing is about Joseph and Mary asking for a room in the house. But the children are told that there is no room in the house and that they must go away. Eventually they are told there is room and are welcomed in! When the children go into the house they say prayers of thanks and then they have a party with food, games and fireworks.

Each night a different house holds the Posada party. At the final Posada on Christmas Eve, a manger and figures of shepherds are put on to the board. When the Posada house has been found, a baby Jesus is put into the manger and then families go to a midnight Church service. After the Church service there are more fireworks to celebrate the start of Christmas.

One game that is often played at Posada parties is piñata. A piñata is a decorated clay or papier-mâché jar filled with sweets and hung from the ceiling or tree branch. The piñata is often decorated something like a ball with seven peaks around it. The peaks or spikes represent the 'seven deadly sins'. They can also be in the form of an animal, such as a donkey. To play the game, children are blindfolded and take it in turns to hit the piñata with a stick until it splits open and the sweets pour out. Then the children rush to pick up as many sweets as they can!

In Mexico, children get their main presents at Epiphany (January 6th). Epiphany is known as El Dia de los Reyes (the day of the three kings). The presents are left by the Three Kings (although presents might also be brought by el niñito Dios (baby Jesus) & Santo Clós (Santa Claus). It's traditional to eat a special cake called Rosca de Reyes (kings cake). A figure of Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake. Whoever has the baby Jesus in their piece of cake is the 'Godparent' of Jesus for that year.

In Mexico people speak Spanish, so Happy Christmas is Feliz Navidad.

Christmas is a very social time in Trinidad and Tobago, with lots of parties. Traditional parang music is performed, when singers and instrumentalists (parranderos) travel from house to house in the community, often joined by family, friends, and neighbours, using whatever instruments are at hand. In exchange for the entertainment, parranderos are traditionally given food and drink. Radio stations play carols and songs from Trinidad, as well as traditional and contemporary carols from the USA.

Most people paint and make repairs to their houses and hang new curtains and decorations (especially lights) for Christmas. Often, this is the time that most people buy new electrical appliances and furniture. Most families spend Christmas Day at home with friends and family members.

The traditional Christmas meal in Trinidad and Tobago include apples and grapes, sorrel, ponche-de-creme (egg nog), ham, turkey, homemade bread, ginger beer, pastelles (corn-based wraps with various fillings) and local wine. Christmas fruitcake is traditional and is eaten in most homes. The fruits in the cake are usually soaked in cherry wine, sherry and rum for several months before Christmas.

New Year's Eve is known as 'Ole year's night' in Trinidad, and people love to let off fireworks to celebrate the coming of the new year!

English is the official language in Trinidad and Tobago (although most people speak a type of Creole).