Thursday 18 December 2014

Some Christmas Traditions from Around the World


People around the world are gearing themselves up to celebrate Christmas in one way or another.  Many Christmas traditions revolve around gift giving in some form, but some traditions are very different from the way decorations are put up to a ritual which is observed yearly.
Take Finland for example, the home of the great Santa Clause himself, here the festivities begin on Christmas Eve.  Being Santa’s first stop presents are delivered on Christmas Eve.  In the morning families share a traditional meal of creamy rice pudding topped with cinnamon, sugar and spices, or a sauce made of dried prunes.
In the town of Turko, in Southern Finland “The Declaration of Christmas Peace” is read after the cathedral bell strikes 12-noon.  As well as celebrating with family and the giving of gifts, at Christmas time many Finnish families use this time of year to visit graves of relatives and lighting candles at the grave-sides.  There are even memorial areas in the cemeteries where people can light candles for loved ones buried elsewhere. 
Christmas decorations vary around the world.  People celebrating in India decorate banana or mango trees with decorative things that they find.  Whilst a folklore story in the Ukraine, sees Christmas trees decorated in spider webs.  The story tells of a poor woman who couldn’t afford to decorate her tree.  Her children woke the next morning to see that their tree was covered in cobwebs.   When the first light of Christmas touched the webs they turned into silver and gold and the family were never wanting again.
In the UK we are accustom to children hanging a stocking out on Christmas Eve night for Santa to vist, but not every child does this.  Children in the Philippines leave highly polished shoes and fresh socks on their window sills, in wait for the Three Kings to leave them a gift when they pass the house.  In Haiti, children leave their straw filled shoes on the porch in wait for Santa to remove the straw and leave presents in and around their shoes.
In contrast to some of the wholesome traditions, there are some darker characters linked with Christmas, like Krampus known in Germany and Austria as a demon thought to be the anti-Santa.  Krampus is used as a reminder for children to be on their best behaviour, otherwise they will be punished.  The Icelandic Yule cat Jólakötturinn is thought to eat lazy people who do not do their chores, this folklore story was originally used by farmers to encourage their workers to complete their work processing Autumn wool before Christmas  Workers who took part would be given new clothes, those that didn’t could be identified by the and preyed upon by the Yule cat.
On a lighter note, the Japanese tradition of eating Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas brings a commercialised smile to the face.  This tradition starting after the fast food chain promoted their fried chicken as a Christmas meal.
Another, slightly off the wall tradition started in 1966 in the town of Gavel in Sweden.  A 13 metre tall goat made of straw was built.  At midnight on Christmas Eve the goat was lit.  Every year since the goat has been built, but it has fallen foul at the hands of vandals on many occasions.  Most commonly it had been torched before Christmas Eve, but one year it’s legs were destroyed and on another occasion it was hit by a car.  We hope 2014 goes without incident!
However you will be celebrating, enjoy and be merry and remember to stay on Santa’s Nice List, because I don’t know about you but I don’t like the sound of Krampus one bit!

Thursday 4 December 2014

Christmas Collection Dates


At last December is here, it is without question a magical time of year, but without planning it can cause a fair amount of stress!

Let us help you to avoid a last minute panic with details of last collection times, along with a few other tips to get our deliveries through safely.

Don’t worry if you have missed other postal and delivery cut off times, there is still plenty of time for CSM to make sure your parcel arrives in time for Christmas.

To get your parcel to its destination by Christmas Eve you will need to order your collection by 10.30am on the following dates:

Date
Destination
Tuesday 23rd December*
UK (including remote areas) and New York
Monday 22nd December*
Europe and America
 
 

It is worth remembering that we can’t rely on the weather and adverse weather conditions can affect both the UK and International deliveries, so please allow as much time as possible when planning to send your parcels.

We’ve mentioned in a previous blog post the importance of packing your parcel so as to protect your goods inside, here is a link to the post, feel free to use it as a reminder, we want to help you get your deliveries through in the best possible condition.
*The collection dates given above are for CSM's Express Service.