世界各地不同的圣诞节风俗

When we think of Christmas, we think of eating turkey, exchanging gifts, red-and-white-clad fat men climbing down chimneys, and 25 December. But that's not the case everywhere. Here are a few arbitrarily selected examples.

AUSTRALIA  夏日沙滩上的圣诞风情

Celebrated: 25 December

Father Christmas? Yes, but more prone to wearing sunglasses and fur-trimmed red shorts

Food: A vast roast turkey is not so appealing in 40°C heat, but some still go for it. Others serve it cold. Prawns are also popular.

Notes: A summer Yuletide feels a bit back-to-front for us Northern Hemisphere chauvinists, but Christmas Day on Bondi Beach is something to behold. Otherwise, it is much like a British or American Christmas – gifts, food, family, telly, booze and arguments all make their appearances.

ETHIOPIA 极具本国特色的圣诞食品

Celebrated: 7 January

Gifts? No

Father Christmas? No

Food: Injera, a local sourdough pancake bread, with rich stews and meats. No turkeys.

Notes: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is closely related to the Coptic Church, and still uses the Julian calendar, rather than the Gregorian as followed in the West. Hence their Christmas – or “Ganna” - falling 13 days later. 12 days after Ganna, they celebrate Christ's birth in a three-day festival called Timkat.

AMERICA 标准圣诞节？

Celebrated: 25 December

Gifts? Yes

Father Christmas? Santa Claus, technically; while the British Father Christmas is related to Pere Noel（法国圣诞老人）, Santa Claus comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas（荷兰圣诞老人）. They've become interchangeable over time, though.

Food: Lots of it, predictably. Ham or beef is more common than turkey, as the bird (native to the United States) is the traditional centrepiece at Thanksgiving, a month earlier, but there is a wide variety.

Notes: Turkeys, the red-and-white Santa Claus, and many of the modern “traditions” of British Christmas are directly taken from our cross-Atlantic cousins. Perhaps ironically, the pilgrims who colonised America tried to ban the celebration altogether in 17th-century Massachusetts.