Global Arts

• A Christmas light spectacular on YouTube
• The season’s best smartphone apps
• Gift suggestions for tough folks on your holiday list
• Streaming holiday tunes
• The best holiday cookie recipes
• Creative gift wrapping ideas
• A David Sedaris essay (with bonus fun illustrations)
• And Santa’s Blog!

Holiday traditions are delivered this season in all shapes and sizes. Some with red and green razzle-dazzle, others with the scent of a Christmas long ago. Either way you slice it, each family has something special about the way they celebrate. Little Passports wants to take you on a global adventure to glance at Christmas around the world. 

So, you think Christmas starts earlier each year in America? Check out Christmas in the Philippines where the "Ber" months initiate the kick off. That's right, SeptemBER is the first of four months to get decked out in lights and covered in parols (star lanterns).    

"I'd like to believe our country celebrates the longest Christmas season...ever. Everyone is excited when the 'Ber Months' hit us." - Carmine Dinglasan, Manila

 

As the "Ber" months wind down and the anticipated day nears, Simbang Gabi begins. Starting on December 16th and continuing for 9 days until Christmas Eve, churches across the archipelago open their doors at the break of dawn and invite in the masses to worship. Young children, teenagers, adults, and elders alike gather at 4am to partake in Simbang Gabi. Locals say that the fun part of Simbang Gabi is that if you complete 9 straight masses without missing any, you get to make a wish! After mass the streets are filled with food stalls selling yummy treats like puto bumbong (sticky rice) and bibingka (rice cake). Pictured to the right, a girl from Manila offers her guest bibingka while a parol glows in the background. 
Summer Time Christmas: Australia                           

The sun Down Under sure isn't shy around Christmas time in Australia. While much of the world is still searching for Frosty's carrot nose lost in the snow, this country in the Southern Hemisphere is in prime time summer. Most Aussies happily trade a fire for a fan, roast bird for a seafood feast, and reindeers for kangaroos. It's common for fish markets to have a line out the door on Christmas Eve and for families to celebrate Christmas outdoors. Camping, beach side BBQ's, and lounging riverside are typical ways to spend Christmas in Australia.  

"I love Christmas when it's hot. You lot are truly missing out"

- Kellie Newstead, South Australia

 

Though Santa may swap his thick red coat for bordies and a hot roast gets kicked to the side to make way for fresh fish, Christmas in Australia has common roots to the United Kingdom. This means Christmas trees fill town squares and carols fill the warm night air.

 

Carp for Christmas: The Czech Republic and Poland

Old Town Square: Prague, Czech Republic

Many Americans perceive carp to be a dirty, bottom-feeder fish that gets in the way of the real catch. However, in Central Europe carp is a delectable dish served up for Christmas Eve dinner. Carp is a fresh water fish that is often bought live days before the Christmas feast and is kept alive in the bath tub! The scales of the fish are then used in many superstitious ways to bring good fortune for the following year. Carp scales are hidden underneath plates to bring money and people put a scale or two in their wallets to carry all year. 

"It doesn't mean we love fish so much but this is our traditional Christmas dish. Perhaps once upon a time we needed to find a way to get rid of all the carp in our ponds."

- Ondra Burda, Prague

However your family rejoices, whether you decorate a palm, pine, or tree of plastic, Christmas is a special time to gather with family and partake in your favorite traditions. This year, Little Passports hopes to find a spot  in your heart (and under your Christmas tree). Share these international Christmas traditions with your friends and family. Do you have a special way to enjoy Christmas or know of a fun way other countries celebrate? Tell us about it on Facebook!

No matter what country we are from or where we spend Christmas, our Dutch friend sums it up nicely:

"We celebrate by visiting friends and family and being in their company, celebrating their friendship, and the fact that we are together. It is a moment of standing still in the world that goes by around us." - Toine Sterk, The Netherlands

Activities

 

1) Have an International Holiday

Clearly, there are many ways to ring in the holidays. Add a little spice to your holidays and combine a tradition from another country in with your own. Here are some ideas:

 
• Hide the Scales: Surprise your dinner guests with a fish scale under their plate. At the end of the meal announce that each person has a special treat under their plate and tell them about the tradition from Central Europe. If you don't have any scales handy (which most of us don't) create your own using translucent paper and color pencils.
   
• Sing Australian Carols: Adaptations had to be made to "Frosty the Snowman" and "White Christmas." Learn the words to an Australian carol such as "Six White Boomers," a song about Santa's kangaroos. Perform this for your friends and family in true holiday spirit.
   
• Build a Filipino Parol: The streets of Filipino towns are filled with parols that light the streets. Traditional parols are made from bamboo lining and thick tissue paper, most commonly in the shape of a star to represent the guiding star that led the Three Kings to the manger. Parols come in all shapes and sizes and Little Passports has a fun and easy way for you to make your own. Visit our Facebook page for instructions on how to create a parol of your own!
   

2) Map Activity
   
Can you find these countries on the map?

• Slovakia

• The Netherlands

• The Philippines

• Belgium

• Australia
   

3a) Bonus Questions:

1) Is Australia the only continent that lies ENTIRELY in the Southern     Hemisphere?

2) Do you know where the original Santa Claus comes from?

3) When does Santa Claus come to town? (HINT: It's not December 25th)

4) Is Simbang Gabi in the Philippines reserved only for families?

3b) Bonus Answers:

1) No, Australia is not the only continent entirely in the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctica is there too! Additionally, most of South America and the bottom half of Africa are also in the Southern Hemisphere. 

2) While many Canadians claim Santa as one of their own, St. Nicholas of Myra is from modern day Turkey. 

3) St. Nicholas comes to towns across Europe on December 5th or December 6th in honor of his names day (12/6). The Netherlands and the Czech Republic celebrate St. Nicholas on the 5th, while Belgium celebrate on the 6th. Children in the Netherlands and Belgium write letters to Sinterklaas while children in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia write to Mikulás (American children write to Santa Clause).

4) No! Simbang Gabi is celebrated amongst friends and family alike. Groups of young people gather together to attend mass and then hit the street for the yummy food stalls together.

 

 Send your feedback to at support@littlepassports.com.  

A free photo canvas is a great gift idea.

Share the high converting Canvas People offer with your visitors and suggest they get a canvas with holiday memories on it! The Canvas People offers you up to a $55 credit toward a photo canvas. The way it works is like this:

1) Choose and upload the photo you would like printed
2) Choose what size. (8x10 is free + shipping/handling after $49.99 credit)
3) Chose any "extras" (framing, etc.)
5) Enter shipping information
6) Pay the $14.95 shipping/handling (this is still a GREAT deal for one of these)

These photo canvases make great Christmas, birthday, anniversary, and graduation gifts as well.

With 2010 coming to an end in about two months, and 2011 coming to a near,  people including myself often send holiday, including Christmas, Hanukkah, and Eid cards to family, friends, colleagues and neighbors.  Shutterfly has some of the most beautiful designs of cards available to choose, including Christmas cards, holiday photo cards, tarjetas de feliz navidad, and even religious Christmas cards. 



Photo Christmas cards are a great way to let others know that you are thinking about them during the holiday seasons.

One of my favorite designs at Shutterfly is Year in Review.  A bright greeting appears on a scarlet-red square.This folded card allows you to use eight different photos of any of your choosing that has taken place during 2010.  What I would do is choose eight different photos of my family doing important activities during the year.  When you open the card, you can also write your greeting, as well as the names of those in the photos.  I am planning to send these cards out to family and friends as a way of keeping up to date on us through photos.



Even if you don't want to order cards, Shutterfly offers Christmas party invitations and  Christmas gift tags .  You have the option of choosing folded greeting cards, flat stationary cards, and flat photo cards.  Click here to see a variety of holiday cards. 


FTC: I have received some form of compensation to write this blog post.

As one who doesn't celebrate Christmas because of being a different faith, I enjoyed reading the story The Snowman's Song: A Christmas Story. It is beautifully written with beautiful illustrations. This is book is enough to capture the attention of not only the child but the adult as well.

A little snowman wants to sing, but from the kindness and encouragement of others, he is able to achieve his dream. The Snowman's Song: A Christmas Story is accompanied with an audio CD.



Disclosure: I was sent a copy of the book by the publisher Leaping Antelope Productions for review only.