Christmas in the
United States and Canada
Many of the celebrations in the United States that
are associated
with Christmas were traditions brought by German and
English
immigrants. Along with the well-known and practiced
tradition of a
brightly decorated Christmas tree, other traditions
brought by these
immigrants include Advent calendars, Christmas
greeting cards,
gingerbread houses and gingerbread cookies.
Christmas in the United States today can be seen as
focused
around family, travel, shopping and decorations.
Family and travel go together during Christmas in
the United
States because family members often have to travel
fairly long
distances to be with each other at one location. The
growth of cities
that have primarily economic activity, suburbs for
residences, as well
as the fact of different industries being found in
certain geographic
locations, are among the reasons that family members
often live great
distances from each other in separate states.
Christmas and its festivities therefore present a
wonderful
opportunity for many members of the family to gather
in celebration and see each other in an intimate
setting. The traveling involved makes the Christmas
season a busy time of the year for rail and air
travel.
The occasion of seeing many family members at
Christmas is also
linked to the activity of shopping that is an
important feature of
Christmas in the United States. The Christmas season
officially begins
on the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as Black
Friday and which now ranks second in shopping for a
single day to the Saturday before
Christmas.
Much of the shopping that is done is to purchase
gifts for
friends and family. Gifts for family members are
usually exchanged
after dinner on Christmas day, when everyone gathers
in the room with the Christmas tree. Gifts are
usually left at the base of the Christmas tree in
the weeks leading up to Christmas Day.
Gifts may also exchanged before Christmas at parties
held by
friends and parties held at workplaces.
Second to gifts, shopping is also done at Christmas
for
decorations. While the Christmas tree may be the
centerpiece of
attraction, garlands, wreaths, candles and
decorative lighting placed
outside on lawns or along rooflines are also used to
create a beautiful
holiday appearance for homes.
Canadians enjoy Christmas activities that are
similar to those
celebrated in the United States. That is so because
in the 1700s when
some German immigrants in the United States migrated
to Canada, they continued to practice many of the
activities associated with Christmas.
The geographical proximity of the two countries also
means they share
many things, so similarities in Christmas traditions
wouldn't be an
exception.
One thing that accounts for the difference between
the two
countries however, is the Eskimo population in
Canada. Eskimos in
Canada celebrate a festival during winter and have
other traditions
that are absent from American Christmas
celebrations.
A practice also exists in Nova Scotia in which small
groups of
masked individuals march around about two weeks
before Christmas. These masked groups attract
attention by creating stir with much bell ringing
and engaging in a noisy caper in an aim to get
candy, sweets and goodies from onlookers.
This tradition bears some similarity to Jonkonoo
celebrations in
the neighboring islands of the Caribbean. Those
celebrations also
involve masked individuals, including some that
appear on stilts that
make them as tall as trees. The parade of Jonkonoo
regale onlookers
with various antics and present a minor scare to
some children, who are then calmed with candies and
other treats.
In Nova Scotia, onlookers can try to calm the noise
and rowdiness
just a little if they can correctly guess the
identity of the masked
person. A correct guess puts an end to the noise as
the mask is
removed, exposing the individual. For their part,
maskers also play
nice by friendly nudging answers from children about
whether they have been naughty or nice and handing
out candies and treats accordingly.