Christmas Customs & Traditions Around The World

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Do you have Christmas Traditions? Do you have traditions that came from other cultures and still exist in your family? My mom is from Mexico, and I am bringing some traditions I grew up with to my boys. Hubs family is from Michigan, and they have lots of traditions for Christmas Day. Read on to learn more about traditions around the world and from some of our readers!

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Do you have Christmas Traditions? Do you have traditions that came from other cultures and still exist in your family? My mom is from Mexico, and I am bringing some traditions I grew up with to my boys. Hubs family is from Michigan, and they have lots of traditions for Christmas Day. Read on to learn more about traditions around the world and from some of our readers!

Christmas In Mexico

From Posadas, to the most elaborate dinner on Christmas Eve, Mexico is full of traditions for Christmas. Growing up I LOVED these traditions. My favorite is the tradition of Baby Jesus bring gifts along with the Three Kings on Epiphany on January 6th! I keep this tradition alive with my boys. Helps spread out the Christmas season just a little longer.

Man s black blazer and brown traditional hat
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

Christmas in Germany

Germany is another place where I am connected with their customs. Spending a year abroad in Germany and having a childhood best friend who is German, we started integrating some traditions. Hubs is also from German descent a little, so I am continuing that legacy. My favorite custom in Germany is Sankt Nikolaus. This happens in early December on his feast day, December 6th. The tradition comes from St. Nicholas coming to everyone’s house and checking if the children are behaving. If they are they get a small gift and if they aren’t then his companion Krampus could take the children away or give them a switch. So children would pick up toys, polish shoes, and prepare a verse. Today the tradition is still alive, little kids put their polished shoes or socks outside the door or window on December 5th, and at night St. Nicholas fills them with little gifts.

View the two videos below to learn more about German traditions.


Christmas In Ghana

Did you know that traditional food in Ghana for Christmas includes stew or okra soup, porridge and meats, rice and a yam paste called ‘fufu’? Ghanaian’s celebrate Christmas for several weeks, spanning from the 20th of December to the first week of January.

Ghanaian woman celebrating the arrival of clean water in her village.
Photo by Tim Wint on Unsplash

Pre-Christmas Date Tradition

Our Christmas tradition is a pre-Christmas date!  We are blessed to have a lot of family nearby, which means our presence on Christmas Day tends to be in high demand (especially now that we have kids!).  To make sure that we still get time as just our immediate family to celebrate, we began the tradition of a Christmas Date.  Though it may look different this year (we are needing to be a little more creatively frugal this Christmas), our Christmas Date usually consists of a brunch at a unique café, followed by a trip to a bookstore where we each pick out a new book.  From there we usually drop the kids off at the grandparents’ house and my husband and I go see a movie and get dinner out afterward.  It’s been a great tradition, and we love the time it gives us for just our family!

Mama Shark

Christmas In Sweden

Traditions in Sweden and Norway are similar. Discover how Swedes celebrate Christmas by clicking on the videos below.

Christmas In Japan

Discover how Japanese celebrate Christmas by clicking on the video link below.


Christmas In Filipino

Discover how Filipinos celebrate Christmas by clicking on the video link below.


Christmas Brunch Tradition

Every year we do Christmas brunch at our house, and we just started doing white elephant the last couple of years and it makes the gift giving for adults so much more fun. ????

A Peach in the Queen City

Christmas in France

Discover how the French celebrate Christmas by watching the video below.

Christmas in Brazil

Learn about Brazilian Christmas traditions. Did you know that every year, Rio de Janeiro lights up the largest Christmas tree that is floating? Check it out in the video.


Christmas in Australia

Discover how Aussies celebrate Christmas by reading the website below.

These two wild wallabies are actually testing each other’s strength, like an arm wrestle, but I like the photo because they look like they are dancing, perhaps a waltz. This species is known as the agile wallaby, and the photo is taken in North Queensland, Australia.
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Christmas in Russia

Read this about Russian Christmas traditions. Carols in the Russian Orthodox Church are only sung a cappella, because according to Smithsonian Folkways, ‘only human voices are allowed to take part in the worship of the Lord.’ The video below gives the experience of a Christmas Orthodox Service.