Merry Christmas From International Living

International Living Postcards--Sunday Edition

Christmas Day, 2005
Baltimore, MD

Dear International Living Reader,

Over the years, International Living contributors, editors, correspondents, and friends have sent us postcards detailing Christmas traditions around the world. We've chosen from among the holiday tales in our archives and share our favorites with you below.

Please accept our best wishes for a Merry Christmas, wherever in the world you find yourself celebrating.

Warmly,

Kathleen Peddicord and the entire far-flung staff of International Living

P.S. In the spirit of the season, through December 31, 2005, please accept our gift to you: 25% discounts (or more) off every title in our International Living Library. To take advantage of our Silver Anniversary Holiday Sale, follow this link to our discounted bookstore: http://www.ilbookstore.com

Christmas around the IL world

Celebrating in Mexico--Suzan Haskins, San Miguel de Allende--Suzan Haskins, San Miguel de Allende

In the village of Ajijic, little shops filled with flowers, toys, electronics, and Christmas trees have sprung to life in once-empty garages, homefronts, and under bright blue awnings on narrow cobblestone streets. High across other streets, intricately hand-cut paper banners wave gaily, and colorful pinatas of every shape imaginable hang from doorways. Music is everywhere, and as elsewhere in the world, wide-eyed children stare and point at rows of plastic dolls, metal cars and trucks and wooden puzzles stacked on street-side tabletops.

Poinsettias grow wild here--on trees eight feet and taller--but at this time of year, small plants are sold everywhere in pots…used abundantly to decorate homes and businesses.

Creches are popular, too, in storefronts, restaurants and homes. Miniature sets are assembled of plastic, wood, and papier mache. Some are brilliantly elaborate and creative, with aluminum-paper rivers and lakes and fabric-covered hills. All feature the nativity scene, of course, and a myriad other items…from exotic animals to exotic people. It doesn't matter if they are proportionately sized, they are there to tickle the fancy of the builder and the imaginations of the viewers.

On Christmas Eve, families will go to church for Midnight Mass and then home for dinner where they will celebrate into the wee hours. Holiday fare in the Mexico highlands is similar to that of northern neighbors--turkey, ham, roast--but always accompanied by fresh tortillas and a myriad of delicious salsas. Dessert will include flan and probably a pineapple cake or other goodie made with tropical fruit. Gifts aren't traditionally exchanged until All King's Day in early January.

This is a happy time of year in Mexico. But in truth, every day in Mexico is light, bright, warm and happy. No wonder there are so many fiestas…there is much to celebrate. Feliz Navidad!

Christmas in the Canaries

-- Joe Cawley, the Canary Islands

Canarians start their Christmas celebrations on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), when families get together for a big meal of suckling pig or barbecued meat served with sweet yams and sausage rolls…followed by assorted nuts, turrones (fudge bars), polverones (powder cakes), and mazapan (marzipan shapes). Navidad (Christmas Day) is not really a holiday, but more a recovery day, like Boxing Day in the UK and Ireland. Presents aren't exchanged until Los Reyes (Three Kings Day) on Jan. 6.

The Tio Was in Full Swing Yesterday in Andorra-- Peter Dunkley, Andorra-- Peter Dunkley, Andorra

Yesterday, like every other Christmas Eve, hundreds of youngsters queued with their parents outside a tent in Andorra's main square. Inside, more children sang and shouted as they whacked the daylights out of a large wood log covered with a blanket. The " tió" was in full swing.

" Tio" is a Catalan word meaning "log" or "tree stump," but the name also applies to an ancient Christmas Eve tradition practiced throughout Andorra and Spain's bordering northeast province of Catalunya.

Parents hide a log somewhere in the house, usually the kitchen, and cover it with a blanket. While someone distracts the children, the mother hides chocolates, nougat, and small presents under the blanket. The children return to beat the log with a stick while singing a traditional tio song. When they lift the blanket, out fall the presents.

The custom has its origin in pre-Christian rites. The tio represents nature, dormant through the winter months, but now summoned (by the singing and beating) back to life to produce its fruits again (the presents) at the end of the winter solstice.

A few years ago, someone in Andorra's government had the idea to take the tradition public. Hence the tent in the main square and the crowds of children every Dec. 24.

What to do Christmas Morning in Dublin

-- Roisin Finlay, Waterford, Ireland

Christmas morning in Dublin every year, hundreds of people arise and head for the "forty-foot." A locally known swimming cove in Sandycove, about 9 miles from the city center, this is the venue for the annual Christmas Day sea swim. Traditionally, the forty-foot is a men-only nude swimming spot, but on Christmas Day anything goes--men, women, nudity, fancy-dress…

At 11 o'clock, a collection of the very brave and the very stupid hit the icy water and swim the 20 meters or so out to the rocks and back. On the shore urging them on is a mob of amused and sensibly dressed onlookers. I've been taking the Christmas Day plunge since I was a child, and I can tell you that, when you hit the water, you discover your arms and legs don't work. Many (including myself) turn around midway and return to the shore for a few nips of whiskey.

Overlooking the shore is a Martello tower built in 1804 by the British Army as part of their defenses against a feared Napoleonic invasion. In 1904 the tower was converted into the residence of Oliver St. John Gogarty. One of his better-known guests was the 22-year-old James Joyce. Joyce's brief stay here inspired the opening of his novel Ulysses. The first chapter is set in the tower.

I wonder if Joyce ever witnessed the Christmas morning mayhem…or took the plunge himself…

Rum Butter

-- Keith Kellett, Cumbria, England

If you've ever celebrated Christmas in Cumbria, in the northwest of England, you've tried this confection already. It dates back to the days of the pirates, who brought sugar cane to these shores from the West Indies.

Demerara is said to be the best sugar for making rum butter, but you can make it yourself using any fruit of the cane.

Mix butter and sugar, add rum, stir well, sprinkle with grated nutmeg, and stand in a cool, dry place. Spread generously on thin slices of brown bread or crackers. I've even had it spread on a slice of Christmas cake.

Butchering the Hog and Passing the Siete Pingas--Christmas in Cuenca

-- Lee Harrison, Cuenca, Ecuador

Thunk! From over by a neighbor's driveway, we hear the sounds of a hatchet on a chopping block as two indigenous women finish butchering a large hog on the sidewalk. Several tents are set up where people stand over steaming kettles of soup, corn, and pork, as a mysterious brown bottle with home-brewed cane liquor is passed from person to person. Everyone greets everyone with a kiss on the cheek.

It's Christmas in southern Ecuador, and the neighborhood is preparing for Pase del Niño.

After appetizers, including blow torch-crispened pig skin and roasted corn, a procession forms in the street. Children come dressed as Wise Men, the Virgin Mary, or Joseph, and babies are elaborately dressed to play the part of baby Jesus. Those who don't have a real baby or toddler carry elegantly dressed dolls. The police department's brass band begins to play, and we start off zig-zagging our way through colonial Cuenca.

When we return to the cul-de-sac where we began, a priest steps up to celebrate Mass. After communion, we feast on the roast pork, corn, and soup. That mysterious brown bottle appears again, and even the priest partakes (in moderation) of the " siete pingas," a term better left un-translated.

We aren't Ecuadorian. We are newcomers. But we are made to feel at home and certainly welcome this special afternoon.

Codfish And Other Portuguese Delicacies

-- Alan Phillips, São Marcos, Portugal

Every Christmas Eve, Portuguese families sit down to a hearty plate of bacalhau cozido--that is, salted and dried codfish. The delicacy is so highly regarded that it's popularly called " o fiel amigo" (my faithful friend). The way to serve it on Christmas Eve is boiled, accompanied by boiled potatoes, dark-leafed cabbage, and a boiled egg. The normal dressing is finely chopped fresh garlic and a liberal soaking of olive oil and vinegar.

Once a big industry in Portugal, bacalhau is no longer produced here. But the desire for the fish in Portugal is tremendous, and huge quantities are imported every year from Norway. You will see the fish hanging in most corner shops and stacked in great heaps in supermarkets. Yes, it looks bad and smells worse, but, after it has been soaked in water for a day or two to remove the excess salt, it's palatable.

And it's just the thing to sustain you through an evening of chatting with friends in the town square before going to midnight mass. After mass, we'll return home to cakes, almond sweets, port, and, yes, more codfish, this time in the form of pastéis de bacalhau (codfish cakes).

Austria's Firey Christmas Tradition

-- From "The World's Best"

Each year at Christmas, young men from the Austrian mountain town of Landeck climb to the top of the mountain, where they light huge bonfires that can be seen for miles. Then they set fire to circles of wood dipped in tar and send them rolling down the hill. The blazing circles are quite a sight against the black night sky. Finally, the daredevils ski downhill, racing the fiery disks at breakneck speed.

The Biggest Christmas Tree in Italy

-- Roberta Kedzierski, Umbria, Italy

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. In the Gubbio area of Umbria, a massive " albero di natale" is constructed every year from 450 colored lights and 12 kilometers of cable placed all the way up the slopes of Monte Ingino, overlooking the city. Topped by a star that can be seen all the way from Perugia, some 50 kilometers away, the 450-meter-high tree has been a yuletide tradition in Gubbio since 1980 and has been included in the Italian edition of the Guinness Book of Records since 1991.

Paris Dressed Up For the Season-- Jennifer Marie Westerfield, Paris, France-- Jennifer Marie Westerfield, Paris, France

One of the things I enjoy most about living in Paris, especially this time of year, is my daily walk to work, from the Place Maubert in the 5th arrondissement to just above the Tour St. Jacques, in the 4th. My route takes me past some of the most beautiful areas and monuments of central Paris, these days all lit up for the season.

As I was walking by the Place de Notre Dame a few weeks ago, I saw three men struggling to erect an enormous Christmas tree in the middle of the square. In the evening, the cathedral was illuminated by pale-green floodlights.

Over on the rue d'Arcole, the tourist shops and cafés flanking Notre Dame have painted winter scenes on their windows and white lights strung up at their entryways.

The Place de l'Hôtel de Ville is the piece-de-resistance. Trailing wands of light, fashioned to resemble stars, splay out from the square's lampposts, and decorated fir trees are erected in the winter gardens. You can ice skate in the center of the square, in the rink set up for the season or take a ride on one of the carousels installed at either end.