¿Cómo vivir el espíritu navideño?

Traditions and celebrations on Christmas

Christmas is a very special time, maybe it is one of those celebrations that make the world come together around it and besides, it doesn't matter culture, traditions, language, place or time, Christmas is relevant. This celebration gives hope, provides changes and gives love everywhere. 

It has a special power, it brings the Christmas spirit to life, a spirit that influences our behavior, and invites us to be more joyful, patient, generous and loving. You can recognize it because of the emotional energy that makes you create plans that probably in a regular day you wouldn’t. It is a time that invites to share much more with your loved ones, that motivates you to demonstrate love to those you care and last but not least, it makes you want to be better, to be your best version of yourself.

In addition, this spirit manifests itself in different traditions that makes this month a very particular one. For instance, turning on the lights, waiting for Santa and, giving and receiving gifts. Each family has its own traditions and above all, each country has been developing different symbolic manifestations to celebrate this time.

Five Christmas Traditions in the U.S. vs Colombia

1. Clothing: In this time of the year is very common in the United States to have the famous tradition of the famous “ugly sweater” the idea is to wear sweaters with festive designs according to this special time, the uglier and more creative the better, on december 31st everybody wears its best outfit to welcome the new year. Therefore, we suggest our girdles to match your outfit. They will allow you to have a beautiful body, highlight some areas and wear that garment you love that much. On the other hand, in Colombia looking good is a must for this time of the year, because most of the people tend to wear new clothes on december 24th and 31st.

1. Decorations: Most of the families in the U.S. They use real trees and they go all together “Tree Hunting” to a forest nearby as part of the tradition. They decorate it with special ornaments they collect during the year. In Colombia for instance, the Christmas trees are synthetic and pass from generation to generation, when decorating the tree, in Colombia we use in most cases, Christmas balls, flowers and ornaments according to this time of the year.

1. Celebrations: Both in the U.S. and Colombia we share this celebration on december 24th and the 31st however, in Colombia we have celebrations all month long: on december 1st we welcome Christmas with a firework event called Alborada, this event begins at midnight as mentioned before, to welcome december and Christmas above all. On december 7th we have a Candle Day in which each person lights up a candle to say “thanks”  for everything they have received so far. And, from december 16th to december 24th the Novena is celebrated waiting for the arrival of baby Jesus.

1. Music: Christmas music in the United States, specially Christmas Carols such as Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Santa is coming to town and, All I want for Christmas is you can be heard all month long.Colombia for instance when we talk about Christmas Carols, those can be heard during the days the Novena is prayed by people, the rest of the days, people listen to festive music, the one focused on dancing and sharing time with the loved ones.

1. Food: In the United States, your taste buds can enjoy Gingerbread cookies, fruit cakes and the famous roasted turkey. In Colombia you can find traditional food such as buñuelos, hojuelas, natilla, tamales y empanadas.

It doesn’t matter the country whether is the United States or Colombia, something is certain, every tradition increases the Christmas Spirit and makes of this time of the year a very special time to share with your loved ones. Without a doubt, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year!