How Americans Celebrate Christmas with Many Traditions: Christmas is celebrated by Christians on December 25. It tells about the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Americans have set their own Christmas traditions and customs.
This change in traditions and customs is amazing. These customs have changed greatly over time. Now, most Americans Celebrate Christmas mixed most of the religious and secular customs with their own family traditions.
Roast turkey and ham are famous Christmas dinner in whole the country. But it depends on the area and region, so tamales, roast goose with red cabbage, crawfish jambalaya, roast pork, or “seven fishes” seafood salad is most wanted in throughout America.
Luminaries made from brown paper bags weighted down with sand and lighted up by a lit candle. These lanterns are displayed on Christmas evening in the southwest side of the country. Many Mexican celebrate Las Posadas, a process that re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search to bed down in Bethlehem.
Swedish American people casually hold St. Lucia festivals. In Puerto Rico, there are parrandas in which friends go from one house to next while singing traditional songs. They make “surprising” their friends and waking them up with their music and traditional songs.
Though Christmas is a religious event for many Americans, the federal courts declared its status as a legal holiday. As one court told the reason,
“By giving federal employees a paid vacation day on Christmas, the government is doing no more than recognizing the cultural significance of the holiday.”
To some extent, non-Christian vacations are celebrated at roughly the same time of year as Christmas. One of the most prominent is the African-American Kwanzaa and the Jewish Hanukkah. It also blends into a broader “holiday season.”
How Americans celebrate Christmas
The England Puritans frowned on boisterous Christmas celebrations firstly. The Massachusetts colonists shortly criminalized observance of the day in 1659. Christmas sustained a regular workday in much of New England and Pennsylvania as well. Other areas celebrated with gusto with costumed revelers going houses and receiving small packs of food and drink.
It mostly happens in British North America. The latest Christmas started to emerge in the 19th century with the modern custom of buying gifts. This commercialized strategy is done for young children because gifts are delivered to them. Seasonal “Christmas shopping” started to assume economic value.
Many Christmas customs likewise started during the 19th century. Santa Claus invented from the Dutch Sinter and the German Saint Nicholas research. Santa derived the persona of a jolly dispenser of gifts and pilot of a reindeer-drawn sleigh. It is done through such works as the 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.”
Now, most Americans Celebrate Christmas while buying a fresh evergreen tree and plastic model and decorate it with lights and ornaments in a good manner. In a few families, Christmas gifts seem under the tree on December 25 and deposited there by family members.
Small children of them believe, provided by Santa Claus after he lands his reindeer and sleigh on the roof and comes down the chimney. Mass-produced Christmas cards started to display in the last part of the 19th century. Now, these might describe religious terms.
These can be humorous or messages. On Google, electronically transmitted “e-cards” are widely famous. Americans send or receive mail some 16.6 billion Christmas cards, letters, and packages over the holidays on Christmas.
Observation on Christmas:
On Christmas retailers’ vital point to know is, Christmas has extended into a “season” of its own. The day before 25 December Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November) is now considered as “Black Friday.” So make retailers should make a strategy as it pushes businesses into profitability and customers into cheap rates or sales.
But this expanded Christmas season is not all about shopping. It is a time of general goodwill and also an event for charity and volunteer work for Americans. To make entertain season, there is the number of productions of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, school holiday pageants, and carolers.
On television, youngsters watch old favorites show like A Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life. Children entertain themselves with classic animated programs for instance
A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Radio stations stable their formats to feature Christmas music and songs. This holiday movie season is casually called the “Oscar season”. This season is full of many hopeful contenders for the Academy Awards or “Oscars” are released in December.
Even till now, the holiday’s genuine religious meaning remains for many it’s most important and valuable occasion.
Few congregations develop manger scenes — dioramas of the stable where Jesus is believed to have been born, with figurines representing the infant Jesus. Some churches hold Christmas Eve candlelight. Few of them include a Mass of the Nativity or a dramatization of the birth of Jesus.
Christmas in the United States of America
America has a number of different traditions and ways. Americans celebrate Christmas due to its multi-cultural nature. Many traditions are the same as ones in the Uk, France, Italy, and The Netherlands.
The classical food for Western families is ham with cranberry sauce. Families from the Eastern side like turkey with trimmings, a Polish sausage, cabbage dishes, and soups. Mostly Italian families like to prefer lasagna.
Few Americans use pop-corn to assist decorate their Christmas trees. While making gingerbread houses is too famous to eat at Christmas. Most Americans go to church to celebrate Christmas. Churches have Christmas Carol services and events where the story of Christmas is written.
In England, shops are called ‘Christmas Shops’ that only sell Christmas items whole the year.
Americans Celebrate Christmas in a way that they send Christmas cards as well. People of America tend to adorn their houses. They use lights and sometimes even statues of Santa Claus and Snowmen Reindeer for decoration. People left cookies and a glass of milk as a snack for Santa.
Areas are often adorning the streets with lights to celebrate Christmas. The most popular Christmas street lights in New York are at the Rockefeller Center. There is a big Christmas tree with a public.
Traditions for example mumming take place in some areas. On the Southwest side of the USA, some customs which have many similar things to those in parts of Mexico.
These similarities include ‘luminarias’ or ‘farolitos’ which are paper sacks filled with sand. After that, they put a candle on them. These candles are lit on Christmas Evening and are tend to put the edges of paths. The purpose of ‘lighting the way’ at someplace for Mary and Joseph to stay.
In the south of Louisiana, On Christmas, families of small communities along the Mississippi River light bonfires along the levees, in the south of Louisiana. They do so to assist ‘Papa Noel’ (Santa) find his way easily to the children’s homes.
5 more and important facts about Christmas in America
Wherever Americans debate on holiday-time, it’s difficult to disagree that Christmas is a huge part of people’s lives and traditions. Some most important facts about how Americans Celebrate Christmas are here:
Americans and 95% of Christians say they always celebrate Christmas according to new research. This figure shows, the declining role of religion in Christmas celebrations. Now, 46% of Americans celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious holiday. They don’t take it as a cultural holiday. 51% said Americans celebrate Christmas in a quite religious way. U.S. youngsters (56%) also say religious facets of Christmas are emphasized less in American society comparatively. Though some are bothered by this trend till now.
Whenever people go to the store, which things do they prefer: “merry holidays” or “happy Christmas”? According to a survey, an increasing number of Americans do not seem to have strong feelings either way. Almost half of Americans (52%) today say, it doesn’t a big issue how stores greet their customers over the holidays. About a third (32%) community likes greetings in the form of “merry Christmas”. This ratio is going down by the passage of time. Most people prefer “merry Christmas.”
A holiday is usually considered as government property. Which prompt annual report, are another controversial fact of Christmas. Someone asked Americans if Christian indicates as a holiday then nativity scenes should be allowed on government property. At that time, a declining share of Americans Christian symbols should be allowed on government property. Roughly 29% say these displays should be permitted only if they are accomplished by other religious symbols. The symbol can be Hanukkah candles.
- displays of Christmas crèches, Hanukkah menorah
Americans have a long discussion about whether birth scenes and other religious vacations display on public property. It violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. In the 1980s, The Supreme Court handed down two landmark rulings. These permits for displays of Christmas crèches, Hanukkah menorah, and other religion-related vacations.
Generally, Americans believe that aspects of the biblical Christmas story show real historical events. Though the percentage defining this view has gone down in recent years.66% of Americans believe Jesus was born to an unmarried.
75% of people say he was found in a manger. A majority of U.S. youngsters accept that all these things actually happened.
Celebrating Christmas and the Holidays, Then and Now
Other highlights from the survey include:
- 87% of people say Americans celebrate Christmas, also including 68% who consider Christmas as more of a cultural holiday.
- Americans of 79% say they make a plan to put up a beautiful Christmas tree in recent years. 92% of people believe they put up a Christmas tree in their childhood.
- Many Americans say they prefer to give homemade gifts now, for instance, baked goods and crafts, etc.
- People who celebrate Christmas as a religious event, are much more suitable than others. The people who take it as a cultural event say they will attend religious services this Christmas.
Religious Observance of Christmas
Almost Half believe Americans celebrate Christmas as a religious occasion. 32% of people say that it is more than a cultural holiday for them. Some show other responses, for instance, they say it is both a religious and a cultural holiday. Some of them say it is neither a religious nor a cultural holiday for them.
According to a report, 7% of people do not celebrate Christmas at all. Only 1% of people tell sometimes American celebrate Christmas or sometimes they do not celebrate it.
Gathering with Family and Friends
Americans (86%) tell they go to gather with family or friends on the day of Christmas. This kind of gathering is casual between all demographic and religious groups in the community. Similarly, people who celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday and cultural holiday say they will gather with family and friends at Christmas.
Some tell they do not celebrate Christmas as personally. 51% of people say they will not get together with family or friends at Christmas. Gathering with families was also a casual experiment for many people when they were growing up. 91% of Americans tell they generally gathered with whole family and friends on Christmas in their childhood.
Exchanging Gifts
86% of Americans plan to purchase gifts for their friends or family over the Christmas or holiday season this year. This approach includes the majority of people in all large U.S. religious communities and those without any religious affiliation.
Exchanging gifts is not common among Americans due to annual household income, it falls below $30,000. 89% of Americans say exchanging gifts was also a classical part of how they marked the holidays when they were growing up.
Numbers of high-income earners and those with lower household incomes tell they will give homemade gifts this year. Some of them say they made homemade Christmas gifts when they were growing up.
Santa Claus Coming to Town?
Adults describe they are the guardian of a child in their household who recently believes in Santa Claus. 14% of Americans are parents of at least one child at the age of 18 but tell their children do not to believe in Santa Claus.
Being the guardian of a child who believes in Santa Claus is common among Americans having ages 30-49. Almost two-thirds of respondents in this age group tell they are parents, including 38% whose child believes in Santa Claus.
Christmas and the Holidays: Likes and Dislikes
When they were said to describe, what they most notice forward to about Christmas and the holidays. 69% of American including a large majority across a variety of religious communities cite spending time with their families.
Less quantity of people says they look forward to the religious elements of Christmas. The people who feel happy and joyful are 7%. People who have Christmas spirit are 4%. Roughly 4% of Americans say there is nothing exciting point about Christmas or the holidays they look forward to. The only thing can cause them excited is the end of the season.
Some Americans cite the commercialization of the season of holidays, 22% of people say they dislike the heavy expenses associated with this holiday. 10% American tell they dislike holiday’s messy shopping and rush.
Smaller numbers dislike the religious elements of the season which are 6% in number. Some don’t like bad weather, they are 3% in number. Some say there is nothing they dislike about the holidays, they are 6%.
About the Survey
The complete and deep analysis for this report is based on telephone interviews conducted Dec. 3-8, 2013, among 18 years of age or more, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
The survey was held by interviewers at Princeton Data Source in the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.
A collaboration of landline and mobile phone random digit dial samples were used. These samples were given by Survey Sampling International. They took interviews in English and Spanish languages.
Respondents in the landline were the youngest adult male or female, in fact, whoever is present at home. Interviews on the cellphone were held with the person who attended the phone.
The collaborative samples of interviews are weighted using an iterative process that matches gender, age, education, and race, etc. The mentioned table tells about the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence. This is for different groups in society.
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