Christmas is the most anticipated and joyful time of the year. We all get the chance to gather with our family and forget about work for some time. Each country or region has its own traditions to celebrate Christmas however, do we know where all those traditions come from? Here’s a brief article about Christmas customs and where they come from. 

Christmas Tree

When talking about Christmas, you cannot walk by without considering the beautiful Christmas tree.  The Christmas tree was firstly documented in 17th century German Lutherans. Before this, for thousands of years, evergreen boughs were used as decorations for great halls during the Winter Solstice. Evergreens portrayed the everlasting green life during the cold and white winter. 

At the beginning, Christmas trees were decorated with edible decor, followed by  candles to bring light to it. Later, wooden ornaments were added to both hold the tree and to also make it fuller. When electricity was discovered in the 20th century, the candles were obviously replaced with cozy Christmas lights. To this day some people decorate their Christmas tree with wooden toys, candy toys, or actual candies. 

“Christkindlmärkte/Weihnachtsmärkte” or simply Christmas Market

This simple tradition began back in the Middle Ages where merchants organized a big Christmas market to sell useful items and everyday goods to be prepared for winter. With time, those markets transformed into festive Christmas markets which besides already being a marketplace also became a landmark. In modern Christmas markets, you can find traditional Christmas sweets, mulled wine, hot chocolate, or tea as well as Christmas decorations.

Hanging stockings

Christmas stockings are empty socks or similar-shaped bags that are hung around the house (usually near the fireplace) for Santa to fill with gifts and sweets. This tradition started with a story of a widowed man worried that he could not take care of his daughters. Supposedly, St. Nicholas heard about the man and decided to take on his hardships. When the daughters’ stockings were hanging by the fireplace to dry, he filled them with gold coins. The stocking tradition is believed to also come from Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” written in 1823, a line from which says “[St. Nicholas] fill’s all the stockings; then turns with a jerk,/ And laying his fingers aside of his nose/And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.”

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are sent during the weeks before Christmas to “wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” to friends and families. Some buy Christmas cards and others take photos and send those as cards. In 1843 England, Sir Henry Cole wanted to have a way of sending holiday greetings without having to write individual letters. So, he printed 1000 illustrated cards saying “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You” with some blank spaces to personalize the card. The idea was so useful and convenient and it slowly became the usual way of greeting on distance.

Kissing under the mistletoe

This is a well-known romantic tradition, popularized through centuries. The mistletoe, a plant that’s native to Europe and more specifically, Great Britain, supposedly brings luck. Originated from Celtic legends, it is believed that kissing under the mistletoe would lead to a successful marriage.

Christmas cookies

Besides the Christmas tree, baking and then decorating Christmas cookies and the Gingerbread man and setting them aside with a glass of milk for Santa is a classic. In the Middle Ages Europeans made cookies using cinnamon, nutmeg and dried fruits which are still common cookie ingredients, however, they’re not enough to make delicious cookies. The Gingerbread Man was introduced by Queen Elizabeth I of England using a mold to shape ginger-flavored cookies. 

Advent calendars

Advent calendars are calendars starting on December 1st with little windows or doors for each day. Every day, you open one window or door and get a gift or some sweets. Advent calendars appeared more than 1600 years ago to count the days before Christmas. For Christians, it was a way to fast before the coming of Christ.

Giving presents and writing letters to Santa

Last but definitely not least, is the biggest tradition of them all- giving presents and writing letters to Santa. The first-ever legend of St. Nicholas dates back to 280 AD in the Caucasus. The monk named St. Nicholas was so generous and kind that it was usual for him to give away his wealth to the poor. So people started writing letters to him explaining to him that they’re in need to get some presents. With time that evolved into children writing letters to him. Moreover, from Stephen Nissenbaum’s book “The battle for Christmas” it is explained that during the agricultural offseason close to Christmas, the poor would ask for food and drink from the rich. Having in mind that the working class may or may not ask for time off, the “Knickerbockers” man’s group invented new traditions. Originating from Duch celebrations, these new traditions were set up to emphasize the value of family, therefore celebrating Christmas at home. Thanks to Knickerbockers, celebrating Christmas at home was officially recognized. Finally, it is believed that the invention of Santa was pushed by the American toy industry in the 1820s. Adding to this the mass industrialization and urbanization of cities and the fact that the middle class also wanted to celebrate Christmas and to give their kids presents, modern Christmas was born which we all know and love. 

Here is the third part of our series about Cinema, Europe and AEGEE through the decades. If readers want to read it completely, please, click on these two links to read about the first part (1980s) and the second part (1990s).

Many people celebrated the end of the 20^th Century as the beginning of a wonderful new era. Everybody on every corner of the Earth believed that all desires and dreams could be made possible like in the last decade (to live, to love, to enjoy…). In Europe, one of them was the consolidation of a borderless and a more united continent in which citizens could access all the possibilities institutions could offer and that all people had equal rights. Twelve new countries, most of them from Eastern Europe, that were still coming to terms with their Communist past respectively, tried to present themselves in the best possible image to Western countries so that they could join into the European Union. As Turkey commenced its efforts to join the union, a new currency, the Euro, replaced some national currencies in twelve countries initially by the beginning of 2002 and the Euro Zone was established into the communitarian area.

Even the project of a European Constitution voted in 2005 by referendum in order to establish a common law in only one political text was thwarted by the rejection of France and the Netherlands. Since that moment, an institutional crisis has plagued the European Union by the differences between their member states, increased by the effect of the Economic Crisis of 2008. Some leaders and ordinary people started wondering if the EU was merely a market for privileged countries or a real project of integration of different sides of Europe. The reality, noticed by AEGEE members who worked hard to enable the real the dream of a borderless Europe since its foundation in 1985. Reaching two decades of life, AEGEE was to reach further and there were new obstacles at the turn of the 21^st Century.

To face these new times, AEGEE did not remain the same youth students’ organisation that it was at its inception. Instead, it became more complex, mature and professional while the EU experienced its enlargement. Globalisation has definitely shown its dark side and many people assumed that, in the face of global problems, global solutions should be brought to the table by stronger cooperation. And this topic is necessary to understand cinema during the 2000s: no matter if in a film, a local problem is depicted because it has also its global side. We can find it from films with social thematic to fictional ones.

But, if we have to choose only one film that shows the reality of Europe and AEGEE during the 2000s decade, the choice is –surprisingly- an American one directed by a Mexican filmmaker: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel (2006). Understanding this film is impossible if we don’t consider the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center (New York City) and the Pentagon (Washington D.C.) in 2001 had on the population all around the world. The fear of different people increased by an aggressive external policy with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A major presence of radicalism in political and religious movements became something real. And the introduction of national security laws that permit governments to control communications and the Internet for fighting the “enemies of democracy” were established. A new kind of paranoia became the new problem between people of different races, genders, nationalities, religious beliefs and economic levels, each one speaking a different “language” despite the fact that communication with each other was easier than before.

What can we find in Babel in this sense? Looking at the plot there are three stories linked to each other that take place in three different parts of the world: Morocco, Tokyo and the border between the U.S.A. and Mexico. In Morocco, a couple of American tourists (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) are victims of an accidental shootout by two young local kids that were using the hunting rifle of his father, given as a present by a Japanese hunter (Koji Yakusho). The sons of this married couple are under the care of a Mexican babysitter (Adriana Barraza) who had to go to Mexico with them to attend the wedding of her nephew’s son (Gael García Bernal), who had to cross the border. And in Tokyo, we focus on the problems of a teenage student (Rinko Kikuchi), the daughter of the owner of the rifle of the story in Morocco, on establishing relationships with people, even in the sexual field, by her deaf-mute condition.

Each story of the film, taking the main topic of the 2000s cinema, is local but at the same time global for the universal sense it has. As the story of Morocco talks about the huge distance between the First World and the Third World (whose relationships seem only possible through violence), the U.S.A.-Mexico story shows racism and culture, as the conditions on the relationships between the two countries are shown on the border between these two North American nations. In the case of the Japanese plot, the communication barriers that exist between different worlds and countries can also be found among the common people, not only because of a disability that is symbolic but also because of the omnipresence of technology, making human relationships less human.

Because of this, the universal sense of the three stories that take place in Babel, can be established in other parts of the world. Taking Europe as an example, a small part of Russia, Serbia or even Turkey can be used to represent the Morocco perspective. Tokyo could be replaced by a great European metropolis e.g. London, Berlin, Milano, Paris or Barcelona. And the last one could take place, for example, between the Southern part and the Northern part of Italy, between two Balkan countries or between rural and urban areas. All of them are as global as it could be the story of Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), in which we could see in each character the problems and attitude of each country directly or indirectly involved during the Second World War, with some of them trying to assist each other to solve a big problem. In this case, a lack of communication is the norm and in the following years, maybe until recent events, may still be the case.

In Babel, we can clearly see the lack of but also the possibility of communication as a basis of proper and broad relationships. Communication is essential to the integration of different peoples that need to mature, solve problems and to make possible what was impossible at the beginning.  AEGEE members who may have already seen the film have recognised that reality and have started working on new projects that changed the shape of the organisation to keep the dream alive. Despite the fact of the reduction of the number of locals, the economic problems and the increase of differences between European countries, the EU’s institutional crisis or the radicalisation of political and social positions, it was necessary to work harder.

In this third part, it’s obvious that the Key to Europe project was brought closer by a computer and by the first smartphones. Everyone could talk and express their opinions and suggest real different ideas but not in the same way as before. In those strange times, some members could think about these questions in their personal area: are we really closer to each other? And what is my real identity? These questions required answering in the 2010s.

One of the Interest Groups that has returned in 2020 after some years of inactivity in AEGEE is the Culture Interest Group (CIG). It started with some important steps done during the quarantine period as the formation of a core team, the publishing of articles about stereotypes and topics in European countries, some online cinema meetings and debates or the organization of an online workshop about drinking culture. The person behind this is Ilse Driessen, responsible for this group and has also recently been elected as the President of the local board of AEGEE-Nijmegen. In this interview we are going to know more about the CIG, its present moment, its future plans, and the person who made it happen again.

Hello and thank you so much for the interview, Ilse. To start off,  could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi! I’m Ilse, I’m 21 years old and currently studying a bachelor’s degree in Pedagogical Sciences. I’ve been an active member of AEGEE-Nijmegen for a bit over two years. In my free time, besides AEGEE and hanging out with friends, my hobby is to ‘’be creative’’ in a very broad sense. For example: I like to draw, I take photos, I’ve participated in some theatre plays and sometimes I play guitar.

How did you decide to be responsible for the Culture Interest Group? Did you hear about it before?

I knew that the Culture Interest Group had been a thing, only a few months before I became a moderator. This is because at the time I was trying to do research for myself on what the complicated European AEGEE-structure is like, because I was interested and wanted to know more. When I saw that the Culture Interest Group had been inactive for quite some time, I thought it was a pity, because no other European Body focuses on arts and culture so explicitly. This is why when an open call for new moderators came out, I felt inspired to re-build this group and bring more arts and culture into AEGEE-Europe.

It’s remarkable to see that the group got organized quite quickly and started to make difference with online activities. What is the key to reach a good starting point like you did some months ago?

To be honest, I think I was quite lucky with my timing. We are in a period where online activity engagement is more popular than ever, so I immediately decided to use this to my advantage by promoting  my new group in other Facebook groups such as AEGEEans in Quarantine. When people do not have a lot to do outside of their house, it is easier for them to think: ‘Hey, these people are going to have fun online, let’s join it!’’. Something else I think is important with these types of groups is that you need to persist in what you are doing. If you show an active approach towards what you are working on, the people who follow you will notice this and might be more motivated to join you in activities. I tried to post something in the group at least once a week and it was often more than that.

Could you say that the CIG should keep an online program for all the AEGEE community?

I definitely think a large part of CIG will stay online in the future, as a Facebook group can be used easily to share articles, videos and more online material. These group posts however are only available to people who are a member of our IG, but anyone in the AEGEE community can become a member! I am not sure yet to what extent I will keep up with online activities next year, as I can imagine many people (including myself) will be more focused on what is happening in real life again, but if I am organising a bigger event online, I will definitely open it up for the whole network to give everyone chance to enjoy what we create.

The CIG, as other European Bodies, has organized an online Summer University because of the cancellation of physical Summer Universities. What is the main topic and when it’s going to take place?

Our workshop: ‘’Improvise your Summer!’’ Is about the act and use of improvisational theatre. We have decided to make this workshop interactive, which means the participants will play some theatre games with us online. We have linked these improvisational games to several soft skills to which improvisation contributes: creative thinking, public speaking and teamwork. By combining theory with practice we hope to have created a fun and engaging workshop! The workshop is available from June 15^th until August 31^st, locals are able to contact us to plan a specific date.

To end this interview, what is the future of the CIG and what problems do you plan on tackling –even with the quarantine circumstances?

In the future, I think I would like to focus more on collaborations with other European bodies and possibly contributing to projects. I want to do this by helping with the creation of sessions and/or workshops related to arts and culture on behalf of CIG. Besides this, I want to keep organizing informal activities, such as thematic discussion nights or more movie nights and art viewing. I think a problem we may face is that people will be less engaged in our group once life goes back to ‘’normal’’, as we now do so many things online. When this happens, I think I would like to focus on things that are (partly) physical, for example I have been thinking of organizing a culture-related post crossing event. To conclude my answer to this question: I have many ideas for the future, but a lot of it is not yet concrete. I’d say, check out our Facebook group or Instagram to stay updated!

In 2001, AEGEE started the journey to celebrate the linguistic richness of our continent and to promote language learning. The European Day of Languages (EDL) was also celebrated last year by AEGEE, in order to encourage all of us to continue learning languages, to praise the beauty of each language, and to remind us of the importance and necessity of linguistic diversity. The date chosen by the EDL coordination team was the 14^th of November, but each antennae chose the most convenient day around that date.

The different local EDL events showed participants that languages can become the key to intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding. Languages open doors, allow for a different viewpoint of the world, and they can help to improve job opportunities. In addition, multilingualism breaks language barriers, brings people together and it is essential for a diverse and borderless Europe. 

A total of 17 antennae organised a local EDL event in 2019. For example, AEGEE Bilbao organised an interactive language quiz and a public speaking workshop. In addition, AEGEE Praha had a nice after-Agora meeting, at which participants learned about the advantages of multilingualism and tried learning daily sentences from Russian, Czech , German and Greek from native speakers. Besides, the participants of the EDL event of AEGEE-Valladolid played an exciting language quiz, discussed the advantages of learning languages, and learned about the role of LIG. Furthermore, AEGEE-Zagreb organized a local EDL event in collaboration with ESN, where participants had the chance to learn new words in other languages, play a language quiz and go to a karaoke to sing international songs with Erasmus students.

In Romania, AEGEE-Iasi organised a variety of language-related activities for the participants of their local EDL event. From the language speed dating game to a discussion about the use of English and a poetry translation in five different languages, the enthusiastic participants and organisers enjoyed an amazing event. Moreover, in AEGEE-Koln, participants had a lot of fun during a Dialect Night, which featured various dialects of German language, such as Badisch, Münsterländer Platt and Kölsch. In contrast, AEGEE-Alicante had fun playing a trivial pursuit with questions about languages, in cooperation with the youth council of that city. 

In the west of Europe, AEGEE-A Coruña organised a language tandem and a multicultural dinner, where participants had the opportunity to taste various snacks, dishes and desserts from other countries. Before the dinner, international students gave presentations about their language, tradition, festivities, stereotypes and cuisine. In Delft, the Dutch Speaking Night took place, where international students who live in Delft had the chance to speak Dutch with the help of native speakers in a casual atmosphere.

All these EDL events remind us that AEGEE is an active multilingual organisation, which spreads language love and strives for a diverse and borderless Europe based on intercultural dialogue and peaceful international cooperation. If you also love languages or you want to learn more about the EDL and other ongoing projects of LIG, don’t forget to visit LIG’s website or write to lig@aegee.org.

What the heck was happening when we were kids?

The 20th century was coming to an end and there was a revolution in cinema. No matter what film we would be watching at that time, most of them would be visually attractive and full of topics that are still important nowadays. An ordinary AEGEE member could come with this question: “How can I introduce these films in a “cinefórum?”

So, what is “cinefórum”? Well, it is a social meeting in which participants discuss a film, its plot and dramatic arc of the characters, the way it was filmed, what topics are tackled on it… but also about the political and social atmosphere during its filming, as it was seen before in the first part of the series about the links between cinema, Europe and AEGEE.

As in the 80s, the 90s were an important time for AEGEE, Europe and the cinema: the collapse of communism, the war in the former Yugoslavia came to the end, the beginning of the integration of Eastern Europe into the European Union in a few years and the reunification of Germany. AEGEE experienced its huge expansion by the foundation of new locals all across Europe. It was also restructured, being established the CD headquarters in Brussels (Belgium) and made its appearance the Network Commission to improve practices in antennae. In other words: Europe was a party, integration and a borderless continent seemed to be possible and we were all connected easier than before by the Internet and GPS technologies developments.

So, being an AEGEE member in the 90s was a real job in which members had to do lots of things to accomplish missions, means and goals, even by using cinema in those social meetings. Anyway, it was 20 years ago…Now we are facing a considerable challenge: how to make it interesting for participants nowadays? How can a film be used to talk about the general objectives of AEGEE or about the issues that are worked within any Working Group, Interest Group or other European Bodies? And what should be the dynamics in one of these cinema sessions?

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First pitch! Will it be successful?

Let’s go first with a real fact. A member could propose a cinefórum to his/her local board. In 90% of possibilities the board members will say: “Ok, we will take your proposal in account with the others. Thank you”. And then it could not be put into practice. Why? There are lots of factors. 

The main one is that every day a local board can receive an overwhelming amount of ideas of projects, deciding on working with some particular topics, but rejecting others. With that, some members have to adapt to the reality of the local antenna life. Maybe there are other reasons behind, like individual tastes of young people or is not the right moment to put it in practice.

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Advice 1! How to make a real buy-in? 

Members that come up with organizing cinefórums should not be sad or disappointed. One of the advantages of being into this small world of AEGEE is that there are always second chances and everybody can improve themselves about how to make real projects from rawcinefórum more attractive. Normally, they think generally about how to organize it and what kinds of dynamics to introduce to make it more enjoyable and non-formal. But it is just a mandatory thing. What else members need to know are the following:

• better knowledge of tastes, sensibility, way of working, hobbies etc. of their mates and their local board;
• what the crucial topics the local board would like to promote and discuss, looking for the most suitable film. 

Don’t forget that information is power. But it is truly powerful when you know how to use it.

Advice 2! How do you enjoy what you are doing?

The next step is making a good promotion of your activity between your mates by using social media (local boards will help in the process) and making a budget necessities (meals, posters to promote the activity etc.) to hold a movie session. It could be a situation that in a first film session, there will not be so many members as organizers expect or all things will run smoothly. 

Just remember one special and universal rule: do not have expectancies about how would it be and enjoy the session as it goes. If organizers adopt this mindset, they will be more relaxed and everything will work alone, improving each session during a year. The most important rule is to keep the rhythm and other members will help you from the shape of their heart.

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Advice 3! Where to find an appropriate movie?

Ok, what films should be used? There is a small list of 1990s films that could be used in cinefórumsit and watch them, say goodbye to some prejudices and… say hello to a borderless taste in a cinema! Lights, camera and…

• Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, 1990): the film expresses the idea of that period and even of the 21st Century: reality is not what we think about and everything we see with our eyes is false. According to that sentence, and because the knowledge of reality is modified by external elements (media and the Internet) it makes possible debates about topics that could be tackled in the programmes of some Interest Groups.

• Social topics in 90s cinema: from Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton, 1991) to Ken Loach’s Raining Stones (1993), The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) and La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995). Social problems were a constant in the three last decades of the 20^th Century and victims of economic crises, social and racial inequality and other problems got together in all these films, from the depressed outskirts of big towns to rural and industrial areas.
• Topics linked with AEGEE WG and IG: 
  • gender equality – Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991);
  • sexual orientation – Philadelphia (Johnathan Demme, 1993);
  • psychological problems of contemporary society – Falling Down (Joel Schumacher, 1993);
  • harassment and family problems – The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)
  • impact of TV and media in the human mind – Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone, 1994).
• Critical thinking exposing the effects of the opposite side:
  • climate change and overpopulation – Delicatessen (Jean Pierre Genet and Marc Caro, 1991);
  • drug problems and disaffection of the youth – Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996);
  • human rights – La Vita e Bella (Roberto Begnini, 1997);
  • a mix of racism, religious fanaticism and occultist madness – El día de la Bestia (Alex de la Iglesia, 1995).
• Sci-fi and horror movies about “the Terrors of the year 2000”:
  • the decline of Western countries – Seven (David Fincher, 1995) and Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999);
  • a distorted vision of reality – Abre los Ojos (Alejandro Amenábar, 1997);
  • technophobia –Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995);
  • The Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998);
  • virtual harassment – Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997).

Mixed with other previous films and other elements of different nations from all around the world the Wachowski Brothers (then sisters) made The Matrix (1999) as the final sum-up of an era and a century: a digital reality has replaced the real one and Neo (Keanu Reeves) has been chosen to fight against those that want to keep it working.

There are more films in  decade that were thought-provoking, is it the current AEGEE ready to use them during events? Could it be mixed with TV series and other films of other periods? All of them could give some tips to act for better than before in this world? Few people ask themselves those questions because the beginning of the new millennium was taken as a party during New Year’s Eve. Many AEGEE members, and other people, could not imagine what was on the other side of the corner…