Chirstmas abroad
Christmas is coming! But how popular is this feast amongst foreign students? What are their Christmas habits and traditions? We spoke to four students from different countries.
'All together around the barbecue'
Damaris Holaman (26) fourth-year student International Business and Management Studies from the Netherlands Antilles, will ‘ordinarily’ stay in Holland during the Christmas holidays. It is just too expensive for her to travel back and forth for a week. ‘I will probably not return home before next year’s summer.’
Damaris will miss it, Christmas on the island Sint of Martin. ‘Regarding the decoration, it is not very different from here. We also have a Christmas tree, but it is often a fake art tree. These are cheaper and last longer, haha. The tree is also decorated with balls and stuff.’ It is tradition to celebrate Christmas at her Grandma’s. ‘She already deceased, but the house is still used for Christmas. All brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins come together. And then the barbecue is turned on.
That is quite different from here. The weather is beautiful the whole year on Sint Martin. We will never experience a white Christmas.’ Damaris’ family also knows presents: ‘We draw lots, just like here, so that you have to buy a present for one person only, instead of for the whole family. This is what I also do with my friends, but I celebrate Christmas with them on another day. What I will miss? Typical delicacies, like a Johnny Cake. That is a nice deep-fried bun with something in between, like cheese. And of course rum punch and other traditional Christmas-drinks such as Sorrel and Guavaberry.’ Maybe Damaris will be with her brothers during Christmas. ‘They live in Eindhoven and Breda. But it is more likely that I will stay in Arnhem and spend the Christmas days with student friends.’
'I don't like snow, let it stay dry so I can play football'
If you want to book a romantic Christmas weekend in Moscow, the chance of being a few days too early exists. To be precise, thirteen days too early. Because of the deeply rooted influence of the Russian orthodox church Christmas is not celebrated in December, but two weeks later on 7 January. This is because this religion follows the Julian calendar, and not the Gregorian calendar, which is used in the West. The same counts for New Year’s Eve. These days this day is also celebrated on ‘our’ 31 December, but many Russians thinly re-celebrate this most important day of the year on 13 January.
Amongst those is Alexander Zharov (19) from Moscow. He studies International Business and Management Studies in Arnhem: ‘In Russia Christmas is celebrated, but seeing in the New Year is more important for the Russians. Christmas is something for the whole family and especially the start of the New Year fancies me because one hour after midnight I celebrate it together with my friends. As friends we talk about everything. We let the year pass by again, we talk about the highlights and the lower points.
Fourteen million people live in Moscow, and most of them go down the streets at midnight. That is just great, it is a feeling of solidarity.’ There is a different atmosphere in the last weeks of the year in Holland, Alex notices. ‘Everyone seems to be waiting till ‘Sinterklaas’-evening. And you also see that people get prepared for the Christmas days. People buy expensive presents and lay them under the tree.
In Russia, valuable presents are given away on New Year’s Eve, not during Christmas. Santa Claus is not Santa Claus but a sort of Father Frost or as we call him in Russia: Ded Moroz.’ Alexander finds it funny though that the Dutch keep hoping for a white Christmas every year. ‘In Moscow, there is snow enough during Christmas. I don’t like it at all. I don’t like winter sports like ice-hockey either. I like football. The snow doesn’t need to fall down, if it’s up to me. Let it stay dry, then I can play football.’
'We will never experience a white Christmas'
‘My most beautiful Christmas memory is when I decked out the Christmas tree with my family many years ago. We were all together,’ Dieu Linh Nguyen says. Her family isn’t Christian, so they basically don’t celebrate Christmas. Nevertheless, the student Biology and Medical Laboratory Education finds her memories of celebrating Christmas when she was young important. ‘I wrote Santa Claus a letter once, and then I found presents underneath the Christmas tree. I didn’t believe in Santa, I knew the presents came from my parents but I was very happy anyhow.’
These days, her parents don’t have time any more to celebrate Christmas. Christmas isn’t a feast in Vietnam, so there is work that must be done. Dieu Linh celebrates Christmas with friends. They eat together then. ‘Nothing special, but I find it pleasant to be together,’ she explains. She loves Christmas songs and films. Especially Love Actually fancies her. ‘I get a Christmas feeling from that film. Everybody together and very happy. Christmas is a family-feast. It is about forgetting sadness of the past and thinking about the future.’ This feeling is also close to her idea about the ideal Christmas. ‘I hope my family will come here once to experience a real Christmas with snow. It is very hot in Vietnam, so nothing there looks like the Christmas you see on TV.’
This year, Dieu Linh celebrates Christmas with her Vietnamese friends in Holland. ‘We traditionally eat Vietnamese food: che (a meal with a lot of beans), rice and spring rolls. It is just like we’re a happy family.’ That is not the reason that she’s not celebrating Christmas with students from other countries, though. ‘They already have other plans. But Santa Claus is also coming to school, which I like very much. Now we can still celebrate Christmas with students from different countries.’
'Ho ho ho, C'est le Père Noël!'
‘I can not nót celebrate Christmas’, says Delphine Lima Tillier (33), final-year student Teacher in French, with a twinkling in her eyes. ‘For me it is a symbol representing many things: family, sociability, sentiment, presents and of course a lot of delicious food!’ She returns to France every year, specially for the Christmas days. ‘That is just something holy for me, I can be delighted for weeks in advance.’
In 2001, Delphine moved from France to Holland. ‘But it wasn’t the first time I left France. My husband Vincent and I both studied chemistry. I went to the United States for my final work placement. But I didn’t celebrate Christmas there: I went back for Christmas. Christmas is a real family affair for me.’ Once back in France Delphine heard from a friend that she could take her doctoral degree at the university of Eindhoven. ‘I liked that idea and my husband did as well, so we moved. I followed a course in the Dutch language and started working at DSM after I had my degree. But after the birth of our second daughter, Valentine (1.5 years), I wanted something else and started studying to become a teacher in French.’
Delphine’s first daughter, Ludivine, is four years old. She never experienced Christmas in Holland. Delphine: We go on Christmas Eve, where it mostly is all about, to my parents the one year and to my parents-in-law the other year. Both families live in Mours, a village above Paris, so we can see everybody anyhow.’ The whole family is used to the French Christmas traditions. ‘On 24 December we go to table early with about ten people. Amongst them are 4 children: my brother’s two sons and my own two girls. After a few little entrées we eat foie gras, oysters, salmon or roast beef. With a lot of vegetables of course and a delicious wine. It is typically French to eat cheese after a warm meal. After that, you don’t feel the slightest hunger anymore,’ Delphine laughs.
A few minutes before midnight the children go to another room. Then Le Père Noël (Santa Claus) arrives and brings the presents. ‘Just like it goes with St. Nicolas in Holland, the children are not allowed to see him. We have to be quiet as a mouse!’ A family member makes noise downstairs with the Christmas bells and ‘ho ho ho’ and the children almost explode because of the tension. If Santa has gone, the children can come downstairs and open up their presents. That is a real treat of course!’ To let the great amount of food digest comfortably the next day is not an option. ‘After breakfast we go to the other family. There we eat again, haha, and we watch films. Just like in Holland the film ‘Home Alone’ is always broadcasted during Christmas. Also the film ‘Le Père Noël Est Une Ordure’ can be seen every year.’ Can Delphine imagine that it will ever change? ‘To be honest, no. I have such nice memories of the past and I will pass these traditions on to my children.’
