Many of the celebrations in the United States that are associated

with Christmas were traditions brought by German and English

immigrants. Along with the well-known and practiced tradition of a

brightly decorated Christmas tree, other traditions brought by these

immigrants include Advent calendars, Christmas greeting cards,

gingerbread houses and gingerbread cookies.

Christmas in the United States today can be seen as focused

around family, travel, shopping and decorations.

Family and travel go together during Christmas in the United

States because family members often have to travel fairly long

distances to be with each other at one location. The growth of cities

that have primarily economic activity, suburbs for residences, as well

as the fact of different industries being found in certain geographic

locations, are among the reasons that family members often live great

distances from each other in separate states.

Christmas and its festivities therefore present a wonderful

opportunity for many members of the family to gather in celebration and

see each other in an intimate setting. The traveling involved makes the

Christmas season a busy time of the year for rail and air travel.

The occasion of seeing many family members at Christmas is also

linked to the activity of shopping that is an important feature of

Christmas in the United States. The Christmas season officially begins

on the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday and which now

ranks second in shopping for a single day to the Saturday before

Christmas.

Much of the shopping that is done is to purchase gifts for

friends and family. Gifts for family members are usually exchanged

after dinner on Christmas day, when everyone gathers in the room with

the Christmas tree. Gifts are usually left at the base of the Christmas

tree in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day.

Gifts may also exchanged before Christmas at parties held by

friends and parties held at workplaces.

Second to gifts, shopping is also done at Christmas for

decorations. While the Christmas tree may be the centerpiece of

attraction, garlands, wreaths, candles and decorative lighting placed

outside on lawns or along rooflines are also used to create a beautiful

holiday appearance for homes.

Canadians enjoy Christmas activities that are similar to those

celebrated in the United States. That is so because in the 1700s when

some German immigrants in the United States migrated to Canada, they

continued to practice many of the activities associated with Christmas.

The geographical proximity of the two countries also means they share

many things, so similarities in Christmas traditions wouldn’t be an

exception.

One thing that accounts for the difference between the two

countries however, is the Eskimo population in Canada. Eskimos in

Canada celebrate a festival during winter and have other traditions

that are absent from American Christmas celebrations.

A practice also exists in Nova Scotia in which small groups of

masked individuals march around about two weeks before Christmas. These

masked groups attract attention by creating stir with much bell ringing

and engaging in a noisy caper in an aim to get candy, sweets and

goodies from onlookers.

This tradition bears some similarity to Jonkonoo celebrations in

the neighboring islands of the Caribbean. Those celebrations also

involve masked individuals, including some that appear on stilts that

make them as tall as trees. The parade of Jonkonoo regale onlookers

with various antics and present a minor scare to some children, who are

then calmed with candies and other treats.

In Nova Scotia, onlookers can try to calm the noise and rowdiness

just a little if they can correctly guess the identity of the masked

person. A correct guess puts an end to the noise as the mask is

removed, exposing the individual. For their part, maskers also play

nice by friendly nudging answers from children about whether they have

been naughty or nice and handing out candies and treats accordingly.

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