Celebrating Christmas in Europe

This is my second Christmas in Europe, and it is a special time to observe different versions of holiday spirit.

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Here, Christmas season starts once Halloween is over. No use fussing around when you don't have the Thanksgiving buffer. As much as I appreciate Thanksgiving, let's be honest, we all look forward to the day after when it's acceptable to blast jingle bells, drink hot peppermint cocoa, and hang the lights.

It pained me to watch Europe excitedly prepare for Christmas when my American self had to withhold my Christmas spirit until Thanksgiving passed. I felt like the sick kid inside watching all my friends play through the window.

Lights

Around mid-November, the city starts hanging lights. They take advantage of the space between buildings, and drape strings of stars over the streets. Shapes like chandeliers, snow gusts, stars, lamps, and even jelly fish form sparkling tunnels all over Brussels.

Chandeliers

Jellyfish?

Different traditions

I was caught off guard when we were already giving gifts on December 6th. It was Saint Nicholas Day. The saint who inspired the modern Coca-Cola Santa Clause we know today, is not forgotten in European culture. Though I had heard about Saint Nick before, I had not heard about his less-amicable companions. Zwarte Piet (Black Pete in Flemish) is the popular sidekick in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. He embodies the less-saintly attributes to take care of the naughty children. The old story tells that the kids on the naughty list were carried away in a rucksack back to Spain.

Zwarte Piet's image floored me (and not in a good way). He is depicted with night-black skin and wearing brightly-colored renaissance garb. He is supposed to be of Moorish descent, but he looks like someone wearing blackface. It, of course, has caused friction. Attempts have been made to alter the legend to say that he is black from soot because he is the first down the chimney. He is a part of old European, Christmas culture so many are not keen to let him go. In 2013, there were protests in the Netherlands to discontinue the use of Black Pete imagery, but a survey revealed that 90% of Dutch don't believe him to be a racist character. It should also be taken into consideration that around that same percentage of citizens in the Netherlands are ethnically white. What do you think? Comment below your thoughts.

Christmas markets Around the same time the lights go up, so do the small, wooden huts with fake snow in the central promenade. In Brussels, there are over 200 mini chalets. Rows and rows of unique trinkets, handmade crafts, and delicious comfort food. I never had a Christmas market growing up, so this has become one of my favorite things about living in Europe. You can feel the Christmas cheer glittering all around.

Christmas treats Hot wine, at first, sounded repulsive to me. But my opinion changed with just one sip. Think of it like a winter sangria. Red wine is warmed with spices like orange peel, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and cardamon. You want some now, don't you?

Raclette and Tartiflette are for the cheese lovers. Raclette is a wheel of cheese that is cut in half, heated, then scraped onto a soft roll of bread. Add your favorite charcuterie if you like extra flavor. Tartiflette is the other carby, cheesy, meaty option. Potato coins are blanketed in cheese and sprinkled with thick, bacon cuts. After eating either of these, be prepared for a nap.

Raclette

Tartiflette

Seafood is very popular in Brussels, and it has its own section at the Christmas market. You can buy oysters, smoked salmon, lobster bisque, shrimp, and even sushi. Escargot is also sold alongside the seafood. I never thought I would say this, but personally, I will take escargot over oysters any day.

Sweet treats. During Christmas season, I consume twice the amount of sugar I normally do, and the European Christmas treats don't make resisting easy. Cotton candy (called "Santa's beard"), chocolate, Nutella crêpes, hot cocoa, spéculose (spiced cookie), and waffles taunt me at every corner. A major detox is in order come January...

The one down side... I was raised in the Pacific NorthWest, and my favorite day of the year was the trip to get our Christmas tree. We would drive out of the city, find a Christmas tree farm, and walk acres in the mud to find just the right one. We would mark the ones we liked with ribbon so that we could spot then again. Once the perfect one was selected, Dad would put down a towel and saw down the tree. We would yell, "Timber!", and haul the tree home; spattering mud, bugs, and needles everywhere. The mess was part of the fun.

There are Christmas trees here, but no farms that you can visit to chop down your own. They do all the fun for you. Trees sit, clean and pre-cut, in lots. When you select yours, they give you half a stump with a perfect-sized notch for the tree to stand in. Apparently, tree-stands are an impractical investment here.

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Thank you for reading about my experience celebrating Christmas in Europe! This post is more specific to Christmas traditions in Belgium. If you experienced interesting versions of Christmas in other European countries, I would love to hear about it.

Tell me, what are your favorite Christmas traditions?