By Maggie Houseman
staff writer
Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, one of the holidays Americans look forward to most. For many, Christmas means no school, no work, family, Santa Claus and, of course, presents. It is hard to imagine a world without Christmas! Around 6,000 miles away in Asia, Christmas isn’t celebrated. Asia is one of the most religiously diverse places on the planet. While Christianity is among the practiced religions, it isn’t the dominating one. Because of this, people there don't tend to celebrate Christmas. For them, December 25th is just another day. According to senior exchange student Madina Dakisheva, in her home country, Kazakhstan (just south of Russia), they celebrate the New Year instead of Christmas. Preparations for the Kazakh’s New Year is very similar to the Christmas preparation for Americans: preparing lots of food, wrapping presents and decorating trees with lights and ornaments.
Six days after Christmas celebrations, festivities in Kazakhstan are just beginning. For Dakisheva, the New Year celebration is a time when “we have a lot of food, all our relatives come to our house, and we watch ‘Welcoming A New Year’ on TV.” At midnight, people start setting off fireworks, and the kids go outside to watch them. While the kids are outside, their parents put gifts under the tree. The kids come inside to find the presents waiting for them, from their equivalent of Santa Claus, “Father Frost”.
Father Frost is very similar to Santa Claus; he is known as an old man with a long, white beard and rosy cheeks. Different from Santa, Father Frost is often depicted wearing a blue robe, although sometimes white or red. Santa Claus is known to have elves who help him with the making and delivery of Christmas presents, whereas Father Frost’s helper is his goddaughter, known as the Snow Maiden.
Even though their celebrations are 6 days and 6,000 miles away, families in Kazakhstan are getting ready for the holidays in the same way families in America are.
0 comments :
Post a Comment