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This podcast is designed to give English students extra practice by discussing events, history, culture and language.
Welcome to our Christmas Around the World episode. In today’s segment , we’re taking a sleigh ride to explore the unique traditions that make Christmas in the Philippines, Venezuela, and the Czech Republic truly special. So grab your favorite holiday treat, and let’s dive right in!
Our first stop is the Philippines, home to the longest Christmas season in the world. Let’s hear from Coach Jenica.
Maligayang Pasko! That’s how we say Merry Christmas in Filipino. In the Philippines, Christmas preparations start in September! Malls and stores start selling Christmas decorations. Instead of mistletoes and poinsettias, we decorate our homes with star-shaped lanterns called a parol. It’s the biggest holiday in the country because a majority of Filipinos are Christians. A lot of the Catholics go to a nine-day night mass. It starts early dawn, around 3:00 AM before the rooster crows.
I think the best part of Christmas is the food! Instead of turkey, we eat roast pig at Christmas parties. We serve the whole pig with its head and legs on the table. The pig’s ears are the best! Yum!
Next, we fly to Venezuela, where Christmas is all about family, faith, and festive fun. Coach Mary’s here to tell us all about it !
Feliz Navidad or Merry Christmas, everyone! In Venezuela, we don’t have a snowy Christmas, but we do enjoy unique Christmas traditions that might surprise you. Let’s start with something special – rollerblading! That’s right. In the lead up to Christmas, many Venezuelans take to the streets on rollerblades for a fun tradition – rollerblading parties. Many communities and churches organize rollerblading parties for the children, and the whole family takes to the streets to join in. A combination of rollerblades, music, great food and presents fill our month-long celebrations.
When it comes to gift giving, forget Santa. Here it’s baby Jesus or (El Nino Josos) who brings the presents. Children write letters to Him, and at midnight on Christmas Eve, they run to find gifts under the tree delivered by baby Jesus Himself. From rollerblading through the streets to enjoying delicious food with family, Venezuelan Christmas is all about joy, community and warmth. Until next time and Merry Christmas!
Our last stop is the Czech Republic, where Christmas traditions blend charm and superstition. Coach Kari is here to tell us more.
Christmas in the Czech Republic is a 3-day celebration from December 24-26th. The 24th is the main Christmas Day, and if you don’t eat all day until the big Christmas dinner, it is said that you will see a golden pig – which means the next year will full of luck for you. But who doesn’t eat all day on Christmas!
The traditional Christmas meal consists of: liver dumpling soup, fried carp and potato salad. There are three traditional Christmas treats: vánočka – a sweet bread with raisins and nuts, beránek – a Christmas lamb cake and perničky - which are gingerbread cookies.
Santa doesn’t visit the children, but Baby Jesus does, and he brings the Christmas tree with him.
One very popular tradition is to cut an apple in half, but the opposite way people usually do this. If you see a star, then you also have good luck in the next year.
And that’s a wrap on our journey around the world this Christmas! it’s amazing how every culture brings its own sparkle and twist to this festive season.