n In Africa

In Con­go in Africa, a group is des­ig­nat­ed just to pre­pare the an­nu­al Christ­mas pageant. On the Christ­mas morn­ing, African peo­ple and groups of Car­ollers walk around the vil­lage and sing Christ­mas Car­ols.

They then go to home to wear fes­tive clothes and take love of­fer­ings for Je­sus to the spe­cial ser­vice that is held at the house of wor­ship.In the church, the birth­day of Je­sus is cel­e­brat­ed and peo­ple keep their gifts up­on the raised plat­form near the Com­mu­nion ta­ble. Af­ter the ser­vice, peo­ple in­vite friends to Christ­mas din­ners arranged in front of their homes.

Since Christ­mas falls in sum­mer in South Africa, it is not the snowy, dark, win­ter night, but sun­shine and bloom­ing flow­ers that grace the Christ­mas Eve.There are sum­mer hol­i­days in schools, and camp­ing is com­mon. In large cen­tres, spe­cial screen­ing and floor­shows are arranged. Car­ols by can­dle­light are com­mon events too.Peo­ple use pine branch­es for home d�cor, and Christ­mas fir is put in a cor­ner with presents for chil­dren of the house­hold around its base. At bed­time, chil­dren of­ten hang stock­ings in which Fa­ther Christ­mas can put their presents. De­cem­ber 26 is known as the Box­ing Day, and is a pro­claimed pub­lic hol­i­day. It is the day to re­lax.

In Ghana, on the west coast of Africa, church­es and homes are dec­o­rat­ed with the first week of Ad­vent, four weeks be­fore Christ­mas.Christ­mas time is the time for co­coa har­vest, and peo­ple are pros­per­ous and mon­ey to spare. Every­one re­turns to their homes on Christ­mas Eve in­clud­ing farm­ers and min­ers.Chil­dren sing Christ­mas Car­ols and march down the streets shout­ing, "Christ is com­ing!" In the evening, a spe­cial ser­vice is held in the church­es, which are dec­o­rat­ed with ever­green and palm trees, and light­ed can­dles. Na­tiv­i­ty plays are con­duct­ed and peo­ple sing hymns.

Every­body dress­es up as Christ­mas an­gels on the main day and sing Christ­mas Car­ols at home. For the church ser­vice, they dress up in na­tive or West­ern at­tire.The tra­di­tion­al Christ­mas feast con­sists of rice, meats, por­ridge, okra soup or stew, and yam paste called fu­fu. Fam­i­lies and close friends gath­er at the feast and share gifts and presents.In Liberia, an oil palm dec­o­rat­ed with bells is used as the Christ­mas tree. On the morn­ing of Christ­mas, they wake up and sing Car­ols and ex­change util­i­ty items, such as soaps and pen­cils, as Christ­mas gifts.

Christ­mas din­ner in Liberia is arranged out­doors and the tra­di­tion­al dish­es con­sist of rice, beef and bis­cuits. Tra­di­tion­al Christ­mas games serve as af­ter­noon pas­time, while the ad­vent of Christ is cel­e­brat­ed in the night with fire­works.

n In the Philip­pines

In the Philip­pines, the on­ly coun­try in Asia with Chris­tian­i­ty as its main re­li­gion, Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tions be­gin nine days be­fore Christ­mas.A mass known as Misa de Gal­lo is held to mark the be­gin­ning of the fes­ti­val, and a bib­li­cal sto­ry about the birth of Christ is read at the mass. In the evenings, the Pa­nunuluyan pageant is held, and a cou­ple is cho­sen to re-en­act Joseph and Mary search­ing for shel­ter.

Mass is held every hour on Christ­mas Day so that every­one could get the op­por­tu­ni­ty to at­tend.Re­li­gious ser­vices in­clude the Pa­s­tore or Na­tiv­i­ty play, that ends with the star sus­pend­ed from the church's roof with an in­vis­i­ble wire that slides down to rest just over the church's Na­tiv­i­ty scene.

Old trib­al cus­toms, such as ser­e­nad­ing cum­bancheros or strolling min­strels, per­form dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son, that ends with singing the singing of Ma­li­gayang Pasko to the tune of the Hap­py Birth­day song.

n In Ar­genti­na

On Christ­mas Eve, Ar­gen­tineans go to the church with the fam­i­ly. They have fam­i­ly gath­er­ings at home. Adults usu­al­ly spend time danc­ing to Christ­mas songs, while young peo­ple in­dulge them­selves in fire­works dis­plays to cel­e­brate the birth of Christ.The tra­di­tion­al Christ­mas din­ner meals in­clude roast­ed turkey, roast­ed pork, stuffed toma­toes, mince pies, Christ­mas bread, and pud­dings, as well as sweet bev­er­ages such as cider, beer and juice.

At mid­night, peo­ple toast and open their presents that are kept un­der the Christ­mas tree.The drink for the toast is pre­pared spe­cial­ly with dif­fer­ent kinds of fruits, that are chopped and mixed with juice and cider.

In Ar­genti­na, fam­i­ly in­ter­ac­tions are con­sid­ered very im­por­tant. Af­ter open­ing the presents, peo­ple chat or play games. Christ­mas dec­o­ra­tions are usu­al­ly done with red and white gar­lands.

Chil­dren keep their shoes out­doors for Fa­ther Christ­mas. Christ­mas trees are usu­al­ly dec­o­rat­ed with coloured lights and or­na­ments, and Fa­ther Christ­mas usu­al­ly finds his place at the top of the fir tree.

n In Czech Re­pub­lic

The Christ­mas sea­son starts with the feast and the vis­it of St Nicholas or Svaty Mikalas on De­cem­ber 6, and ends with the vis­it of the Three Kings Jan­u­ary 6.How­ev­er, the main cel­e­bra­tions last on­ly for on­ly three days. Czechs be­lieve that Svaty Mikalas climbs down to earth from the heav­en us­ing a gold­en rope, ac­com­pa­nied by an an­gel and a whip-car­ry­ing dev­il.

One of the pop­u­lar su­per­sti­tions in­cludes putting a cher­ry twig in wa­ter by a young girl of mar­riage­able age on De­cem­ber 4.If it blos­soms by Christ­mas Eve, the girl will mar­ry some­time dur­ing the year.King Wences­las, fa­mous enough to have a Christ­mas Car­ol named af­ter him, was once the king of the Czechs.

He was very good and a de­vout Chris­t­ian but his firm be­lief in Chris­tian­i­ty in­fu­ri­at­ed his moth­er, and he was mur­dered by his broth­er on the church steps.The good and kind­ly Wences­las begged God for mer­cy for his broth­er, just be­fore he died. Lat­er, he was crowned as the pa­tron saint of the Czech Re­pub­lic.Christ­mas is a qui­et and peace­ful re­li­gious fes­ti­val in the Czech Re­pub­lic. Czechs fast for one day, and have baked carp and a soup made of cod roe for Christ­mas din­ner.

The favourite Christ­mas pas­time here is to ex­change tales of myth­i­cal gold­en pig. St Nicholas brings gifts for good chil­dren, where­as it is said that dev­il lashed bad chil­dren.At mid­night, peo­ple at­tend Holy Mass, known as Paster­ka. Church­es are dec­o­rat­ed with ever­greens and Christ­mas trees on Christ­mas day.