Christmas dinner
Christmas is considered to be the family holiday and all relatives gather together to celebrate Christmas. And one of the most important elements of celebrating Christmas is Christmas dinner.
Every nation has its own traditions connected with Christmas dinner. And every nation has its own demands to meals that should be cooked and to decoration of the table.
Roast Turkey is usually eaten in Unite Kingdom and Ireland. It is usually accompanied with mashed or roast potatoes or other vegetables. But one of the most important dessert is Christmas pudding and brandy butter. There is also a tradition to use the wishbone of Turkey in Great Britain. People make a wish and two people pull its ends and break it. And the wish of a person that gets the larger part of the bone will come true.
In Austria and Germany people eat traditional holiday meals for Christmas. But they usually eat a lot of chocolates and cookies and in general a lot of dessert. They also have the tradition to decorate Christmas Trees with chocolates and real candle. Christmas cookies of Austria are known as lebkuchen and sterne.
Countries of Eastern Europe are known by their tradition to put 12 dishes on the Christmas table. Each dish symbolises each month of the year and by eating twelve dishes people start new cycle of the year. According to another theory twelve dishes symbolise twelve apostles. And some countries of Eastern Europe have the tradition to eat so called "kutya" that is rice with nuts, cherries, and raisins and to drink "uzvar" a special self-made juice. Hosts offer these dishes to their visitors. Oranges, lemons and other fruits are also traditional for Christmas Eve and sometimes Christmas Trees are also decorated with real sweets.
In France people don't sleep during the whole night before Christmas. And Christmas dinner in this country as well as in other French-speaking countries is called réveillon that means "staying awake", that is connected with the tradition to stay awake during the whole night or at least till midnight.
Salads, vegetables and fruits are traditional for the holiday table in Mexico. But dishes of pork and beef are also rather popular. The most frequently cooked dishes for Christmas in this country are tamales and atole with buñuelos.
As you see, every country has its own traditions and dishes that are served on Christmas Eve. But there is a similar tradition to decorate the table with ribbons, candles, beautiful dishes, and a white table-cloth that makes it look more beautiful. It is an important element of celebrating of this holiday.