“Tradition—tradition!” Tevye sings in “Fiddler On The Roof.”

What is tradition?

It’s the custom or the usual accepted practice of performing certain activities and rituals. At this holiday time of year families rely on traditions that hold memories and may spark new ones. For Tevye it was lighting candles on the menorah and singing the dreidel song. For others it could be a recipe handed down from grandma’s grandma, hanging certain ornaments, singing particular songs, or perhaps performing an act of charity. Whatever it is, it is yours and should be cherished. However, around the world there are traditions that are different. For instance:

In England it is a Christmas tradition that to make a wish come true you must stir Christmas pudding only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction. The pudding is usually prepared weeks beforehand and is customarily stirred by each member of the family as a wish is made.

Dec. 26 is called Boxing Day in the UK. (No, not the kind of boxing ala Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali.) It is based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society and tipping the providers of good service. Contemporary Boxing Day is now a “shopping holiday” associated with after-Christmas sales. It started in feudal times when the lord of the manor would give gifts  to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would receive a box full of such goods, hence “Boxing Day.”

In Italy there are usually no Christmas trees. Instead they have the ceppo. It is a wooden frame several feet high designed in a pyramid shape. This frame supports several tiers of shelves, often with a manger scene on the bottom followed by small gifts of fruit, candy, and presents on the shelves above. They also have the Urn of Fate: An old tradition has  each member of the family take turns drawing a wrapped gift out of a large ornamental bowl until all the presents are distributed. Now how do you wrap pasta with marinara sauce?

Since the major religion in Japan is Buddhism and Shinto, Christmas is more commercial event than religious (so, what’s new?). The main celebration revolves around Christmas eve and not Christmas day.

It is common to give Christmas presents. Parents give presents to their children, but the children do not give presents to the parents. The reasoning behind this is that only Santa brings presents, so once the children no longer believe in Santa the presents are no longer given. Kids, it’s OK for that guy in the red suit to kiss Momma San—you just have to believe.

In Norway on Christmas Eve don’t plan to sweep the floor. All the brooms in the house are hidden because long ago it was believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding. As holiday time approaches most families bake cookies. The tradition is that there must be at least seven different kinds of Christmas cookies on the table on Christmas Eve. The Nordic tradition of the yule log burning goes back to medieval times. The whole tree was dragged into the house with the large end in the fireplace, while the rest of it encroached the room (is this how ‘getting stumped’ originated?).

Just as we have our Santa, the English have Father Christmas, and the Germans St. Nicholas, Norwegians have the Julenisse. They come from the forest. These elve or gnome-like creatures wear red stocking caps, knee breeches, hand-knitted stockings, a Norwegian sweater, and a fur coat. Long white beards flow from their chin. They are jolly and happy, but can also be stern and mischievous. If you’re not on good terms with them through bribes, they will play tricks on you. So one should never forget to leave them a large portion of porridge on Christmas Eve. No pouting allowed, either!

If you are in the Ukraine it’s OK to decorate your tree with an artificial spider and gold and silver tinsel representing its web. The tradition started, it is said, when an impoverished widow living in a cold hut with her children realized that they could not decorate their tree (which they had grown from a fallen pinecone) as the children longed for. They just accepted poverty as a way of life. On Christmas morning the children’s shouts of joy woke their mother. She went to see what the commotion was about and beheld a marvelous sight. During the night a spider had spun its web around the feeble branches and as the shafts of the sun crept along the floor and silently climbed the tree, the glow touched the threads of the web turning each one into silver and gold. From that day forward the widow never wanted for anything.

To remember this miracle, Ukrainians still decorate their trees with “spider webs” to invite good luck and fortune for the coming year. So, next time a spider decides that your home is warm and cozy, think twice before shooing it and its web away, unless your name is Miss Muffet.

Let’s celebrate our traditions—the old, with trees and caroling, along with the innovative new, perhaps having far-flung families all hook-up at one time for a gigantic web cam get-together.

Happy Holidays.

Herb Kandel is an entrepreneur and a former human resouces executive who lives in Fairhope. Contact him at hekan@mail.com.