Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, December 23, 2024…
- This week, many of you will be gathering with friends and family to celebrate Christmas. But what’s on your table could depend on traditions your family grew up with.
Christmas Food Traditions Less Common
The holidays mean spending time with friends and family. And it often includes plenty of food. But what you’re eating during the holidays often depends on traditions within your family.
“What makes Christmas totally different is everyone came with these very explicit celebrations already in place from wherever they came. Some places actually intentionally don’t have Christmas traditions. I mean, that sounds maybe surprising, but in the Calvinist tradition, because they’re obviously looking at the Bible very literally, there’s no date put on when Jesus was born. So they say, well, you know, December 25th is really Saturnalia. That’s the reason they celebrated there. It’s a pagan holiday,” said Ken Albala, history professor and food historian at The University of The Pacific. “We need to get rid of it. And in Puritan England, in New England, they did also. In Scotland they did. So in places where they took that very seriously, they don’t have very strong Christmas traditions. And I think in a way that Thanksgiving is very much associated with New England and New England foods too, you know, turkey, cranberry and apple pie, pumpkins and things, I think Christmas doesn’t for that very reason.”
Albala said many cultures now have their own traditions — like Feast of the Seven Fishes for Italian Americans or tamales for the Latino community — particularly the Latino community in California. And for many Jewish Americans who don’t celebrate Christmas, Chinese food has long been a holiday staple.