Most Americans can’t wait for the snow to fall and bring that Christmas vibe with it – after all, waking up on Christmas morning to an all-white outside world feels pretty amazing – but what about countries where is summer when Christmas happens? I can’t speak for other nations, but here are some differences between Brazilian and American Christmas.
Our decorations are pretty much the same, except for the whole idea of having a real Christmas tree. That is something we see in movies, especially when you consider the fact that it’s just too hot in Brazil for us to have a great number of pine trees.
As for our celebrations, that can be quite different. Instead of celebrating with our parents and siblings only, we get the whole family together – cousins, aunts, second cousins and everyone that is somehow related to the family – and sometimes friends come in too. So Christmas for us is like this HUGE party.
Our Christmas dinner is held on the 24th at around midnight, and you cannot open your presents beforehand. Our Christmas food consists of just about the same as the Americans, but with rice, some Chester – Only the breast part of the turkey – and an Italian bread called Panettone.
Since there’s way too many people involved, it can be crazy expensive to get everyone a gift, so we have what we call “amigo oculto” instead. The amigo oculto is a type of secret Santa, but instead of guessing who got you the gift, everyone has to guess who you’re giving the gift to.
But the main difference that I can find is the season in which Christmas is held. Since it’s summer in Brazil instead of snow, we have a very bright sun. Usually, many people will travel somewhere right after Christmas to celebrate their New Year at a beach somewhere.