Christmas is very prevalent in Europe and America, and also an influential festival throughout the world. During those days, people will not only hold a grand religious ceremony in the church, but also prepare rich and colorful celebrations at home.
On the night of December 24, the whole family will generally come together to hold a Christmas dinner and open a party. The dinner is always extremely rich, with a wide range of foods well prepared.
At the table, the yellow ring-shaped orange slices indicate good wishes. Roses, walnuts, cinnamon, and brightly-colored fruits are the traditional table decorations. As for the Christmas dinner, the main course is an essential traditional dish–roast turkey. In Western eyes, a dinner without roast turkey cannot be considered as Christmas dinner. Some Westerners are accustomed to putting a whole head of roasted suckling pig at the table, while people in Britain and other countries also tend to put an apple inside the pig’s mouth. This custom may arise from some of the larger families, because only the large family will be able to eat up a whole pig.
After dinner, they usually have some plum, pudding and mince pies, etc. because the British and U.S. citizens believe that they will have great fortune and good luck after eating these types of foods. In the U.S., the dinner still contains a special food – baked polenta, with a layer of butter on its top, which tastes sweet and delicious.
In Denmark, when the Christmas dinner begins, people must eat an almond pudding first.
In France, the naturally romantic French are fond of singing and dancing at the night of December 24, accompanied by rich aroma of brandy and champagne wine.
In the UK, the British lay the most emphasis on foods, including roast pig, turkey, Christmas pudding, chopped meat pie, etc. In addition to a swig of beer, people would also like to go traveling abroad, while the more conservative family would come together in the Christmas Eve.
In Germany, the religious German are inclined to drink a lot of beer happily, eat sweets, sour pig trotters, beer braised beef, dairy products and a variety of lettuce.
In Australia, each hotel and restaurant will prepare a rich variety of foods for Christmas, including turkeys, wax chicken, pork, delicious wine, desserts, etc. In the evening, people will go to restaurants to eat Christmas dinner with families or friends.
Anyway, the world is large and full of wonders, so as for different countries, the diet convention is also not the same.