Winter Traditions Around the World
How to Make an Orange Garland
Creating a dried orange garland is a fun activity for friends and family to do together this holiday season! According to tradition, the orange represents the sun, the winter solstice, and a wish for prosperity, love, and a happy life in the coming new year. You can hang yours on mantels, across windows, or anywhere else that you may need a little cheer for these long winter days. Purchase your oranges pre-dried and simply string them together, or you can quickly and easily dry them yourself. Bonus: The process will make your whole home smell delightful!
What You Will Need
2-3 oranges
Scissors
Twine
Yarn needle, toothpick, or skewer
Large baking sheet and parchment paper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 170° F.
Slice each orange about 1/4” thick.
Place the slices in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 4-6 hours, flipping the oranges a few times throughout the process. (As with anything else, sometimes you’ll need a little more time to dry in the oven, and sometimes, it needs a little less. Just keep watch.)
Let the oranges cool to room temperature overnight.
Thread your needle with yarn, and sew through two holes in each orange to create a garland.
If you’d like, you can also add cinnamon sticks, pine branches, or even dried berries to your garland.
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Traditions Around the World
All around the world, we all have our own traditions during the holiday season. There is a tradition from the Czech Republic, for instance, in which single women throw a high-heeled shoe out in the yard. If it lands with the toe pointing towards the door, she needs to get ready to be married that year. There are carnivals and parades for those who live along the Rhine River. Some Swedish folks set a gigantic straw goat aflame. In Japan, many families gather to eat a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas.
This list is endless, fascinating, and truly magical when we realize that each of these traditions were designed to connect us and strengthen our bonds. They were created to bring us light, joy, and hope in a time when darkness was descending. Enjoy reading about a few of our favorites.
Finland’s Candlelit Cemetery and Graveyard
Families gather to place candles at the gravesites of loved ones. This is described as a moving, quiet, ethereal experience to honor those that have been lost. Often, afterwards, families go home to feast and celebrate.
Gift Exchange in The Netherlands
This is a variation on a gift exchange, during which family members randomly pick names and must create a gift for their chosen person based on their interests. Then, a poem is written to provide directions to find the gift, which has been hidden somewhere in their home. This tradition is a scavenger hunt, creative writing class, arts and crafts, and Secret Santa – all rolled into one.
Iceland’s Yule Book Tradition
The Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod has taken social media by storm in recent years. On Christmas Eve, books are exchanged and a night of quiet reading ensues. To add a little luck to the mix: If you find a dried insect in your gift book, it serves as a sign of prosperity for the new year.
Three Kings Day
Celebrate January 6th as is done in Spain and Latin America. Three Kings Day marks the day that the Three Wise Men arrived to see baby Jesus; it is also the last official day of Christmas. Since the Wise Men arrived on camels, children put out carrots and hay to feed them. In Spain, sometimes children put their shoes by their front door, which are filled with gifts and candy overnight. In Mexico, a sweet bread or cake – Rosca de Reyes – is baked with a figurine of the baby Jesus hidden inside.
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SEEDS Community Members Share Their Stories
Our friends at SEEDS asked two of the families they are currently working with to share their holiday traditions with us. Across all traditions, cultures, memories, and time together, what is always clear: We are all more alike than we are different. We all want to feel connected, to be with our family, and to know that each of our loved ones is happy, safe, and healthy this holiday season – wherever they are. Thank you very much to the Chiladze Family and the Herrera-Toledo Family for sharing their winter traditions with us.
The Chiladze Family
The Chiladze family blends Turkish and Russian cultural and religious traditions to celebrate their winter holiday. Food plays a large part in their celebration each year, with buttery breads baked and shared during this time.
When Sevara – wife, mother, extraordinary baker, and an ESL student with SEEDS – is asked what she would like for her holiday gift this year, she says simply and quietly, “That there would be peace on Earth and nothing more. War would end, and it is happening everywhere.”
Sevara is currently selling her incredible baked goods (from cookies to pizza dough) to help support her family. If you would like to learn more or enjoy her goods on your holiday table this year, contact SEEDS at seedscv.com/contact-us.
The Herrera-Toledo Family
The Herrera-Toledo family family hails from Venezuela and shares that they love to celebrate the holidays with, “lots of food. Exceptional food like ham bread, black roasts, and hallacas [a cassava dough filled with meat, raisins, capers, and olives].” They tell us that Christmas trees are very expensive in Venezuela, but that they try to purchase one for their sons here in the U.S. As they decorate their tree, they play Gaitia, a traditional Venezuelan folk music. While many families have a tradition of wearing pajamas during the holidays – perhaps even donning matching PJs – the Herrera-Toledo family says that they make a point to dress up on December 24th, 25th, and 31st; they tell us that they wear their new clothes with pride and appreciation. When Yanny – wife and mother of the family – is asked what she would like for the holidays, her tears flow long before she speaks. She tells us that her 15-year-old son is in Chile, and though he is safe with his father’s family, she would like him here with their family.
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A Message From Michelle Kime, SEEDS Co-Director
Conestoga Valley SEEDS has a vision of cultivating a healthy, thriving Conestoga Valley community. The mission of CV SEEDS is to enrich lives by connecting our community to housing resources, educational supports, and health services. Our heart is to walk alongside our Conestoga Valley neighbors and help them remove barriers.
One of our programs, under the education focus, is adult English language development classes. Our Conestoga Valley community is a beautifully diverse community; we speak more than 34 different home languages in our school district. As our neighbors desire to increase their English language skill-level, we want to come alongside them and make that opportunity more accessible. Through these classes – which are free and also offer a shared meal, transportation, and childcare – we have gotten to know so many amazing humans! We are grateful for the opportunity for you, Fine Living Lancaster magazine’s reader, to be introduced to a few of our friends in the pages of this article.
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By Marian Pontz
