Christmas traditions around the world Part 2

To continue my research about Christmas traditions around the world, I continue with Kazakhstan as chosen by David Ricard.

Christmas in Kazakhstan isn't a big holiday and December 25 is like any other day as 70% of the country is Muslim. Christians in this country don't usually celebrate on Christmas day, choosing instead, to celebrate on the Sunday before Christmas day.
 https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/kazakhstan.shtml

The next country chosen, was Malta, by Laura Granducci Temple. In Malta, the churches are decorated with lights and nativity cribs, 'Presepju' built by church goers. The cribs are decorated with figurines, called 'pasturi' (representing figures like shepherds and angels) and some of the cribs are mechanical and move. The figure of baby Jesus is put on the main altar at midnight on Christmas night. It is traditional to sow wheat, grain and canary seed, 'gulbiena', on cotton buds in flat pans five weeks before Christmas. These are left in dark corners in the house until the seeds produce white grass like shoots. The pans with the fully grown shoots will be used to decorate the cribs or the statue of the baby Jesus. 

Mass attendance in Malta increases at Christmas, with churches packed for the midnight mass. The sermon is given by a small girl or boy, aged 7 to 10 and there is a procession by the local children before or after the midnight mass where they walk into the church holding candles, and they are all dressed as nativity members-Jesus, Mary, donkey and sheep. This tradition is believed to have started in 1883 in the village of Luga where a boy called George Sapiano was the first altar boy to deliver the sermon. 

I was surprised at how few traditions are still in practice in Malta. I thought that their being a European country, and thus Catholic, they would have more. There were a few that I mentioned, one of which dates back to the 17th century, but they appear to either have abandoned their traditions, or I was just not able to find a good mention of them.

Christmas traditions around the world part 1

Since Christmas is my all time favorite holiday, I thought that I would research traditions around the world and let all of my (two) readers know about how other countries celebrate or don't. The countries have all been chosen by my Facebook friends and the listing is completely at random.

The first country is Turkey, as chosen by my sister.

In Turkey, you can buy trees in every major supermarket; the streets, shops and houses are festively decorated and the loudspeakers in the shopping malls fill the air with the sound of international Christmas carols. That said, however, December 24 and 25 are completely normal work days. no one celebrates or exchanges gifts.

St Nicholas, the person we celebrate on December 6 (St. Nicholas Day), was born in Patara, a small town in Turkey and spent a big part of his life there. He was bishop of Myra, another Turkish town which is now called Demre. During his lifetime, he was known for his generosity, his humanity and his love for children. The word is that he always had his pockets filled with sweets that he handed out to the children in the streets. http://www.sakkara.de/en/font2/299/
According to reference.com, Christmas in Turkey is celebrated on January 6. On Christmas Eve, seven purple candles are lit together. Families go to church at sunset and sit down to a seafood dinner. On Christmas Day, people attend Christmas Mass. A religious parade starts at 10am in the Kumkapi district in Istanbul.

Christmas was celebrated on January 6 until the 4th century. The Roman church then moved the date to December 25. By then, the Armenian church had separated from the Roman church, and they continued to celebrate Christmas on January 6.

The second country chosen by my Facebook friends was Uzbekistan, but I can't find any mention of Christmas outside of a Wikipedia page that states that they don't celebrate Christmas.

The third country chosen was the United States, so I will leave that one for an entire posting of itself.

Uruguay was also chosen by Joseph Erickson, so that's next. The little information I was able to find indicates that Christmas is more secular than religious which is surprising since 60% of the country is Catholic. Christmas here is called Dia de la Familia or the Day of the family and is the unofficial kick off to the beach season. In Puenta del Este, Uruguay's world-famous and jet-set beach resort, the focus is on sun, sand barbeque and fireworks.During the week between Christmas and New Year's, gunpowder hangs in the air like thick fog (unable to discern the reason for this-maybe from all the fireworks). I was surprised at how little information there was about Christmas in this country and it was interesting to learn the little that I did.