各国圣诞习俗大PK

狐狸打字法

大多数人对英国、美国、加拿大这些国家如何过圣诞都很熟悉。它们的圣诞习俗大同小异，包括圣诞老人在点亮的圣诞树下放上礼物。但是你曾想过芬兰、波兰这些国家是如何庆祝圣诞的吗？不管你是有兴趣了解其他文化，还是想为自己的圣诞庆祝添点新花样，这篇文章将给你所有“必知”的不同国家的圣诞知识。

Poland

波兰

For Poles, Christmas Eve is a night of magic when animals are said to talk and people have the power to predict the future. It’s a time for families to gather and reconcile any differences, and to remember loved ones who have gone before them.

对于波兰人来说，平安夜是充满魔力的一夜。据说动物在这一夜可以与人说话，而人有预测未来的能力。家人们会在平安夜团聚一堂，调和矛盾，并怀念过世的亲人。

Czech Republic

捷克共和国

The Czech version of Saint Nick is known as Svaty Mikulas, who is said to climb down to Earth from the heavens using a golden rope. Mikulas is accompanied by an angel and a devil who help him decide which girls and boys deserve treats and toys, and which ones deserve a swatch.

捷克人称圣诞老人为“米库拉斯”（Svaty Mikulas）。据说他用一根金绳从天堂爬到了大地。陪在他身边的是一位天使和一位恶魔。他们俩决定哪些男孩女孩值得得到美食和玩具而哪些孩子该被鞭打一顿。

Austria

奥地利

Austrian children still get to celebrate the arrival of Ol’ Saint Nick, but they also have to brace themselves for the arrival of his evil counterpart, Krampus. Where Saint Nicholas rewards good behavior with treats and toys on December 6, the demonic Krampus arrives on December 5, looking to punish all the bad children. His weapons of choice are birch switches to beat children with and burlap sacks to kidnap them and throw them into the river. The worst part is that local men actually dress up like Krampus (just like many men dress up as Santa in America) and terrorize the streets. In some villages, kids are even made to run what is known as a Krampus-gauntlet, in an attempt to outrun the switches.

奥地利的孩子们庆祝圣诞老人的到来，但同时他们也得迎来邪恶的克拉普（Krampus）。圣诞老人在12月6号给表现好的孩子送美食、发玩具。而恶魔般的克拉普斯5号就到了，意在惩罚所有的坏孩子。他把桦树枝做的鞭子当武器，还用粗麻袋绑架他们，把他们扔到河里。最糟糕的是，当地的男士会打扮的像克拉普斯（就像许多美国人打扮的像圣诞老人一样），在街上吓唬小孩子。在很多村庄里，很多小孩子甚至必须接受“克拉普斯大挑战”，他们努力比克拉普斯的鞭子跑得更快。

France

法国

Children of East France have an evil visitor to keep them behaving all year long. Le Pere Fouettard, which translates into “The Whipping Father,” accompanies Saint Nicolas in on December 6. While St. Nick gives good children presents, Le Pere Fouettard gives coal and whippings to the naughty children.

法国东部的孩子们有个邪恶的造访者，他叫“鞭子老爹”（Le Pere Fouettard），确保孩子们一整年都表现乖巧。圣诞老人12月6号给孩子分发礼物时，他也陪伴左右。“鞭子老爹”会给淘气的孩子煤块和一顿鞭子。

Germany

德国

Belsnickel is the German Santa’s dark enforcer, but he’s not nearly as evil as Krumpus or The Whipping Father. Instead he just wears fur from head to toe and gives good girls and boys candy and bad children coal and switches.

贝尔森克（Belsnickel）是德国圣诞老人的惩罚执行者，但他没克拉普斯或鞭子老爹那么邪恶。他从头到脚穿着毛皮，给好孩子们发糖果，给坏孩子们煤块和一顿鞭子。

Greece

希腊

Residents will fill a shallow bowl with water and then tie wire with a wooden cross and a sprig of basil over the bowl. Once a day the cross and basil are dipped into holy water, which is then sprinkled through the house. This ceremony is used to keep out goblins, known as Killikantzaroi out of the house.

希腊人会将一只浅碗灌满水，然后用金属丝把一个木制十字架和罗勒小枝系在碗上。每天都要把十字架和罗勒枝浸到圣水中，然后满屋撒圣水。这个礼节是用来防止小妖精（Killikantzaroi）进屋。

Iceland

冰岛

Icelandic children were once told to behave or they would be eaten by a pair of ogres that lived up in the hills. The characters were considered to be so terrifying that a public decree banned the use of these stories to scare children into behaving.

冰岛的孩子们曾经被告知，如果表现不好就会被住在山上的食人魔夫妇吃掉。由于“食人魔”形象太过恐怖，冰岛颁布了一项公开法令，禁止用这个故事来吓唬不听话的小孩子。

Italy

意大利

In Italy, there is no Santa, but instead there a woman called a Befana that performs the general duties of Saint Nick. The story is that the three wise men stopped during their travels and asked a woman for food and shelter. She said no, but later realized her mistake when it was too late. She now travels the earth looking for the baby Jesus and on January 6th, she leaves kids a sock filled with candy or a lump of coal.

意大利没有圣诞老人，但有一个叫贝法娜（Befana）的女巫，她履行圣诞老人一般的职责。据说从前有三位智者在旅行中请求一位女士给些吃的，并能让他们留宿，但女士拒绝了。她接着意识到了自己的错误，但这已经太晚了。如今她环游全球，寻找婴孩时的耶稣，并会在1月6号给孩子们留下装满糖果或煤块的袜子。

Japan

日本

While most Japanese residents are not Christian, the majority of people still celebrate Christmas just for the fun of it. Unsurprisingly, the rituals are slightly different than those we are used to. Because KFC has marketed the idea that fried chicken is the traditional meal for the holidays, the restaurants are so busy on Christmas Day that reservations are required.

尽管大多数日本人都不是基督徒，但绝大多数人都图个好玩儿来庆祝圣诞节。仪式跟我们所熟知的稍有不同，这不足为奇。由于肯德基已经推广了“炸鸡是圣诞传统小吃”这一概念，节日当天肯德基餐馆业务太繁忙，顾客需要预订才能买到炸鸡。

Ukraine

乌克兰

While the story about German families hiding a pickle ornament on their tree is false, Ukrainians actually do hide a spider web ornament on their tree and it is supposed to be good luck for the person who finds it. The story behind the tradition is that an old widow had no money to decorate her tree and went to bed upset that her children would have an undecorated tree the next day. While she was asleep, a spider decorated the tree with a beautiful web. When the first light of day hit the webs, they turned to silver and gold and the widow and her children never went longing again.

尽管德国家庭在树上藏泡菜装饰物的故事是假的，但乌克兰人事实上的确会在树上藏一个蜘蛛网装饰物，据说这可以为找到它的人带来好运。这个传统背后的故事是，有一个老寡妇没有钱来装饰圣诞树，她沮丧地上床睡觉，因为她的孩子第二天只能得到一颗没有任何装饰的树。然而，当她醒来时，一只蜘蛛用一张漂亮的网装饰了圣诞树。当第一缕晨光照到网上时，网变成了银子和金子，老妇人和她的孩子从此再也不愁钱花了。

Norway

挪威

Norwegian folklore says that Christmas Eve is kind of like Halloween and brings about a number of evil spirits and witches. The brooms of the houses are hidden to keep them away from witches and men will often go outside and shoot their guns to ward off evil spirits.

挪威的民间故事说平安夜类似于万圣节，会招进一些邪恶的精灵和女巫。屋里的扫把都被藏起来了，来防止女巫们作恶。男士通常会出门放几枪，来祛除邪恶的精灵。

Spain

西班牙

Spain’s celebrations vary greatly depending on the region. In the Basque regions, the Santa role is filled by Olentzero, a fat man in a beret who smokes a pipe. He used to be an enforcer against naughty children who was said to throw a sickle down the chimney to cut the throats of kids who didn’t sleep. Nowadays though, he is a positive character like Santa that only brings good presents.西班牙的庆祝风俗不同地区大不相同。在斯巴达地区，圣诞老人名叫奥林泽罗（Olentzero），是一个戴着四角帽、抽着大烟斗的胖老人。他过去的职责是惩罚淘气包，据说他会从烟囱里扔下镰刀，切断不睡觉的小孩的喉咙。但如今，他是像圣诞老人那样只带来好礼物的正面形象。

Finland

芬兰

Finnish people honor their departed loved ones on Christmas Eve by visiting the cemeteries and leaving candles on the graves of their family members. If they live too far away to visit their loved one’s graves, most graveyards have an area you can light a candle to remember those buried in other cemeteries. The soft snow and gentle glow of the candles make graveyards a very beautiful place to visit on Christmas Eve.芬兰人会在圣诞节去墓地，并在他们家人的墓地上留下点燃的蜡烛，以此来怀念他们过世的亲人。如果他们住的太远，没办法去亲人的墓地，大多数墓地上都会有一个区域供他们怀念在其他墓地上安息的亲人们。柔软的积雪和轻柔的烛光让墓地成了一个的漂亮的平安夜拜访地。

Venezuela

委内瑞拉

Venezuelans celebrate Christmas similar to many other cultures, in that they generally go to mass early on Christmas Day. The difference is that Venezuelans go to church in roller skates. In the capital, Caracas, streets are even closed off to traffic in order to keep the skaters safe. On Christmas Eve, children tie strings to their toes and let them dangle into the street, where they are tugged on by skaters as they go by. It’s certainly a different way to wake up on Christmas morning.

委内瑞拉人庆祝圣诞的方式与很多国家都相似，他们一般都在圣诞那天一早就去做弥撒。不同的是，委内瑞拉人穿着滑冰鞋去教堂。在首都加拉加斯（Caracas），街道上甚至禁止行车，以确保滑冰者的安全。在平安夜，孩子们会在脚趾上系上绳子，并且把绳子悬到窗外。滑冰者路过时就会拽一拽。这无疑是一种独特的在圣诞节早晨醒过来的方式。