How can Universities combine School and Christmas?

Universities are becoming more and more international. These days it is a great mix of students from all over the world in the schools. Christmas is a good time for Universities to unite their students and their different cultures and traditions and celebrate one of the world´s most celebrated traditions. Throwing a Christmas party influenced by the different traditions could be a fun and special party to remember.

So how do different countries celebrate Christmas worldwide?

For example people in Belgium celebrate Christmas by getting presents from Pere Noel (their Santa Claus). If you are a good person you will receive lollies and sweets and if you are a have been bad you would receive a bunch of twigs and sticks either in your shoes or at the front of your house in a little basket.To celebrate the people in belgium make a sweet bread shaped like baby Jesus!

Japanese people gather with their friends and family. They go to hotels, restaurants and/or friends house in order to have party. They drink and eat western food and have karaoke contests.

In Sweden, Christmas is generally celebrated on Christmas Eve. The Swedes decorate the houses on the night between the 23rd and 24th December. In the morning, it is common to eat Christmas porridge (risgrynsgröt, rice porridge) for breakfast . At 3pm, most families would settle down to watch an hour of Disney cartoons, a tradition dating back at least 40 years ago. Then Christmas dinner, a smorgasbord filled with ham, meatballs, sausages, brussels and various other Swedish dishes. After four o’clock presents are opened, which means that when the British start celebrating, the Swedes are already done!

The Christian tradition is very strong in the US. Usually a lot of families read a story about Jesus Christ’s birth, more commonly known as “The Nativity”. Some families enjoy having each member play a part of a character in the story and celebrate that way. People give gifts to each other as a token of love and friendship. The little children put stockings in a place where Santa Claus will find them and put toys in them.  Some leave out milk and cookies out for Santa and his reindeer to eat.

For some students Christmas traditions might be a new experience, coming from countries where they do not celebrate Christmas because of religion. Therefore a Christmas party could be a fun experience for these students. When students think back on their student years the life around the studies such as parties play a big role and are valuable memories.  It is shown that if universities are working for a better environment with fun happenings to unite the students the students will be more satisfied and enjoy their students years. In the long run this will lead to better student recruitment.