+++ SPOILER ALERT!+++

This article contains high doses of sarcasm and hilarity. The author assures that no Santa’s little helpers were harmed in the process of writing this article. 

Christmas is coming and the most difficult time of the year starts for me. Well. One of.

The world is full of twinkling lights, snow is invading the streets, the air smells like gingerbread and everyone feels this festive atmosphere and tries to be nicer. Then there is me, totally out of love for December, who can hardly bear the stress of picking up presents, seeing red everywhere, eating so much, smiling and walking in the humid, cold, freezing weather. Therefore, it comes to no surprise that one of my nicknames within my family is the Grinch. I am aware that most of you will roll your eyes and call the stone-cold heart police, but I will try to explain my point of view, trying to find some allies too. I know that out there there are some We (H)ate Santa clubs and, confident to find some pals, here is the list of reasons why I hate Christmas.

Presents. When I was a child, I thought that all the letters I was sending to Santa’s home in Rovaniemi got lost. I mean. I was asking for Barbie’s camper, a pony and a telescope and I always received clothes, clever games, puzzles. Growing up, I thought I had put behind my bad relationship with the fat bearded guy, but I did not take into account how bad people are at gift-giving. Actually, it is really easy. You think about the person, you visualize what s/he likes the most, you find/create/buy it, you wrap it, you give it to the person, the person is happy. No rocket science, one may think. Then, how can you explain the fact that I am still receiving books I will never read, clothes I will never wear or weird memorabilia destined to be covered in dust?

Breakups. Statistically*, the best moment to break up with someone is a couple of weeks before Christmas. Why? Because the money you would have spent with/for your better half, you can spend for yourself. Imagine instead being left in front of the vegetables section of a mall on the 24th of December because your soon-to-be-ex boyfriend is a vegan and he wants to spend Christmas alone (read: no strings attached). Or to declare your love for the first time to another soon-to-be-ex boyfriend and the guy, instead of romantically jumping towards you for a kiss, answers that he has been seeing someone else for quite some time. No wonder I have spent some major depressing Christmases eating gelato and listening to Damien Rice’s Delicate in loop. Now I live in terror of being left on the altar right before Christmas’ Eve. What do you mean, I don’t have a boyfriend?

*By statistically, of course we mean our second reality: Facebook.

Family dinners. When are you graduating? When are you getting married? When are you going to introduce us your boyfriend/girlfriend? When are you going to move out of your parents’ house? Have you ever received one of these questions? If the answer is yes, congratulations: you are part of the 99% of youngsters who are constantly oppressed by relatives. The only solution to avoid these (and more) questions is to avoid family dinners, with the only result to add more and more questions the very next time you will seat together. Obviously, if you never received those questions, you are not the “black sheep” of the family and you should help your relatives in peril and not laugh at them. In 20-something years of my life, I have never found some plausible excuses to use in order to avoid spending the entire lunch mumbling something even remotely intelligible. Dear readers, any suggestion is welcome. XOXO, a single girl from Italy.

Michael Boublé is coming to  town. There was a time when Michael Bublé was famous because he was a singer even besides Christmas. Or maybe not. We will never know. But during Christmas time, he probably holds the record for the highest number of copies sold. In fact, during the whole month of December, apparently the entire archives of all the radios in the world misteriously disappear and they are replaced with only festivities-themed songs. Everybody, and when I say everybody I literally mean everybody, recorded a Christmas song. From the usual All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey to the usual Last Christmas by Wham!. But there are some hidden gems that are more suitable for destroying someone’s joyful day than for creating the right mood. Some example? It’s Christmas time again by Backstreet Boys, Mistletoe or Santa Claus is coming to town by Justin Bieber, The Christmas Shoes by NewSong, Don’t shoot me Santa from The Killers and, dulcis in fundo, Santa Claus goes straight to the getto by Snoop Doggy Dogg. One might say that Bublé is not the worst medicine after all. Well… try to fly from Warszawa to Rome with his greatest hits album on repeat because some nice hostess forgot to press stop, and then we can talk about it; provided you did not jump off the plane at 33,000 ft. Which is more or less the reaction I have when listening to Christmas songs.

Christmas is during winter. I am a daughter of Spring, when the nice weather is bringing new lymph to the world; which is exactly the antithesis of the cold, freezing, foggy season normally called winter. Look at Australians or New Zealanders who understood everything in life, placing Christmas during the hot season. No snow, no ice, just sand, beaches and a mojito with Santa in a swimsuit. Instead, we are forced to cover ourselves like onions, spending at least one hour to remove every single layer of clothes.  To make things worse, when I try to go out of my house I am bombed by so many lights that it is a miracle half of the population is not blind. Other senses are challenged as well, like taste and smell, mostly with a common enemy: cinnamon and ginger. Is someone able to explain to me why those two spices are blooming during Christmas season? What is wrong with sage or rosmary?

On a deeper level, though, Christmas is also the moment when all the family gets together, when I get to see long-distance friends, when it is time to think back on the year that just passed, when you are never alone because there is always someone by your side, when it is time to go to the cinema with you brother and your sister, when the heart is lighter, when grandpa is giving you a Christmas gift from his hospital bed and his smile is just heaven, when you eat so much you can die, when you can give to the poor something you will not use anymore, when you are just happy with your loved ones.

Ok… all in all, I think I can survive this Christmas too. Hopefully, next year I will be surfing with Santa.

Merry Christmas to all!

Written by Ebenezer Scroogerika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

This year every member of AEGEE can choose from lots of New Year’s Events to spend the last days of 2016 with some European friends outside their native city. Many Antennae are planning a NYE such as: Utrecht, Maribor, Zagreb, Skopje, Naples. In this article we will provide you more information about some of these events. This is part 3. For part 1, click here, and, for part 2, click here.

AEGEE-Bergamo, ‘Improve your skills’

This event, from the 28th of December until the 2nd of January, will be mostly about skiing, and one, apparently supervised, snowball fight. The entire event will take place in the Italian Alps, and might be the best NYE to learn how to ski, and other ski-related issues.

You can find more info here, and you can apply for the event, by filling in the intranet form, here, and by filling in the Google form, here.

AEGEE-Kraków, ‘Royal Birthday & Highlander’

AEGEE-Kraków also seems to capitalise on the folkoric and cultural aspect of their country. However, there are three important aspects, that make this local stand out: (1) there can be up to one hundred participants attending this event, (2) the event coincides with AEGEE-Kraków’s twenty-fifth birthday, and (3) each participating member of AEGEE can also sign up one friend, who is not a member, to join in the festivities.

You can find more info here, and you can apply for the event, by filling in the Google form, here.

AEGEE-Moskva and AEGEE-Kyïv, ‘Capital Cities #3’

This New Year’s Event is already the third instalment of this transnational celebration, during which the participants will visit both Moscow and Kiev to celebrate, what they call, a “true USSR NY celebration”. A lot of the programme consists of the classic activities, such as city tours, winter games, and cooking workshops, but the event sticks out from other NYEs by offering its participants activities such as the visit to a sauna and to do some fortune telling.

You can find more info here, and you can apply for the event by applying via the intranet and by filling in this Google form.

AEGEE-Samara, ‘Snow Russian Cocktail’

Marketed as a “Winter University”, AEGEE-Samara is going to host a New Year’s event for fifteen participants between the 30th of December and the 7th of January. The most important goal of this “WU”, reportedly, is to let the participants discover the Russian spirit, and many activities are planned to do so; one of which is horseback riding.

You can find more info here, and you can apply for the event, by filling in the Google form, here.

AEGEE-Thessaloniki e.a., ‘Our Big Fat Greek Winter University’

The final NYE on our list is another one marketed as a “Winter University”. For this event, all Antennae in Greece, that is to say AEGEE-Thessaloniki, AEGEE-Ioannina, AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Patra, AEGEE-Kastoria, and AEGEE-Peiraias, have banded together to organise one big event in six cities on the course of just thirteen days. The participants will visit a lot of places and sights that are significant to the Greek culture, however, only thirty people can apply.

You can find more info here, and you can apply for the event by applying via the intranet and by filling in this Google form.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

This year every member of AEGEE can choose from lots of New Year’s Events to spend the last days of 2016 with some European friends outside their native city. Many Antennae are planning a NYE, such as: Utrecht, Maribor, Zagreb, Skopje, Naples, Budapest. In this article we will provide you with more information about some of these events. This is part 2. For part 1, click here.

AEGEE-Maribor, ‘NYE vol.10’

AEGEE-Maribor’s ‘NYE vol. 10: Go BIG or go home’ is absolutely huge. This Antenna from Slovenia will host more participants than any of the other Antennae will on their NYE: 70. At this event, participants will barely find some time to rest. Besides skiing, which is basically the main activity, they will experience wine tasting in one of the oldest wine cellars in Europe, a trip to Bled where they can take a boat to the island in the middle of the lake, a spa day in Maribor and much more. And if they don’t like skiing or snowboarding, that is not a problem. They can choose any of the other bits of the programme like ice-skating, snow games, a trip to Ptuj, one of the best escape rooms in Europe, and more. AEGEE-Maribor is also offering its participants seven epic parties in six different clubs and, most importantly, they will be meeting awesome people from all over Europe.

It is a rarity to have skiing slopes right next to a city; at this NYE, you can try your first ski curves with the lovely view of the city of Maribor. And what is better than accommodation in the city centre, which is only a five-minute-walk away form the clubs? Every AEGEE member that already attended this NYE before can tell you that nightlife in Maribor, and Ljubljana, is amazing. This is why the Slovenian Antenna decided to offer its participants a visit to the capital of Slovenia as well. Plus, this year will also be the 10th anniversary of AEGEE-Maribor’s NYE.

You can find more information here. Apply for the event filling in the Google form here.

AEGEE-Skopje, ‘Win Up’

“Win Up: It’s Snow Time Deluxe Edition” is  the title of the NYE organised by AEGEE-Skopje, with help from some very experienced AEGEE members like Ivan Janevski, and Goran and Monika Borovcanska. The social programme of the event is mainly a big surprise. Monika can reveal the same things that everyone can already read in the description, but for  the rest she would really love to see the participants’ faces when they experience the activities [she smiles, ed.].

According  to Monika, there will be European Nights (yes, plural [she smiles, ed.]), a treasure hunt through the thrilling city, and very interesting workshops; including a drinking workshop, a snow workshop, a Macedonian Orthodox Christmas workshop. Furthermore, the participants will go ice-skating and wage a snow war. The whole event will be full of interesting games, competitions with lots of surprises, different sports, arts, and more stuff you simply cannot imagine.

AEGEE-Skopje will provide you with three (or more) meals per day and free drinks. The Macedonian Antenna will show you the modern and the ancient Skopje and, if you wish, you can travel to Sofia as well. They will also take you to the Pirin Mountain at the Bansko Ski resort, where everyone can ski or play snow games, and, when you go back to the hotel, you can relax in the spa. AEGEE-Skopje will host 30 awesome participants.

You can find more information on the event here. Apply to the event filling in Intranet here.

AEGEE-Budapest, “Be the bravest in Budapest!”

The Hungarian Antenna is planning to organise an ongoing quest during the whole NYE. This means that there will be competitions (challenges, quests, drinking games) where the participants can collect points in different aspects. This does not mean that there will be a first, second and third setting, then everyone will get a title at the end of the event (for instance the most creative, the funniest, the bravest, the loudest, etc…). There are two optional programmes and one of these is a typical Hungarian programme : spa day. This will take place on the first day of 2017. The other optional programme is ice-skating in the beautiful Városliget (popular Hungarian ice-skating place). As for the non-optional programmes, there will be some of the typical Hungarian-AEGEE activities like city-rally (where the participants will have the opportunity to explore Budapest and its famous attractions), European night, pub-crawl, Hungarian day (Hungarian dancing and cooking lessons). And, of course, wine-tasting. At the beginning there will be ice-breaking games (speed-date), and the organisers will do everything in order to create a friendly atmosphere. Before New Year’s Eve the organising team is planning to devote time to write resolutions for the new year and to recall the ones of the previous year.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

This year, every member of AEGEE can choose from lots of New Year’s Events to spend the last days of 2016 with some European friends, outside their native city. Many antennae are planning a NYE such as: Utrecht, Maribor, Zagreb, Skopje, Napoli. In this article, we will provide you more information about some of these events.

AEGEE-Zagreb- “Zagreb ADVENTure”

The first NYE, even though it’s held between 8-11 December, is Zagreb ADVENTure: Walking in the Christmas Wonderland. Nika Alujevic, the Main Organiser, told us some details about the event. “During the ADVENTure, the participants will visit a Christmas market under thousands of lights that create a special, magical atmosphere and make you instantly feel as if you stepped into the fairy tale. The AEGEEans will be dancing at the numerous concerts on the streets, skating next to the DJs from a rink in front of a theatre. After that,  they will warm up with mulled wine, punch and hot chocolate, and try some Croatian traditional sweets.

Apart from living in a Zagreb Christmas Fairy Tale, the participants will have some workshops about Croatian history and culture, an Europtimism workshop, a Christmas (and maybe snowy) treasure hunt, a pub crawl with some intriguing Christmas & Croatian drinks and really original tasks. Of course, every evening will end with a party. The AEGEEans will have a chance to discover the nightlife variety  Zagreb has to offer (the live AEGEE-Zagreb concert battle of the bands, a Christmas party, karaoke, and more surprises).

Now, warm up with watching some videos like this one here.  Still hesitating? Are you eager to meet the famous AEGEE-Zagreb people and see how the second best organizers of the Summer Universities 2016 and organizers of EPM 2017 celebrate Christmas in their beautiful city of million hearts? [she smiles, ed.] This is your unique chance! Don’t miss it!”

AEGEE-Zagreb will accept 20 lucky participants that will show the best motivation for joining their event.

You can find more information on their Facebook event clicking here, apply on Intranet here and fill in the Google form here.

AEGEE-Napoli- “Neapolis on Fire”

William Andrea Mazza, the Main Organizer of “Neapolis on fire: a Nap(less) experience!” and the IT Responsible of AEGE-Napoli, told us that AEGEE-Napoli is working hard these days to arrange all the activities and, of course, the social programme for the event. The Italian antenna is planning to have the best NYE night AEGEE has never seen: a dinner with typical Neapolitan dishes and crazily weird, superstitious traditions to let their participants fully discover their culture and live the NYE night. At midnight they will see the fireworks and after they will keep celebrating at the seaside party held every New Year’s Eve in the city.

There are so many good reasons for AEGEE members to apply to the event:

• Napoli is a city full of unique traditions and daily routines that reach their best at a NYE.
• The Church of St. Gregory of Armenia and the nativity scene statues’ shops, markets and the music everywhere conjure an unique atmosphere.
• So do the fireworks on New Year’s Eve, the castles, the breathing views of the gulf, the churches, the monuments etc.
• The activities the organisers of AEGEE-Napoli have planned will let the participants totally immerse in the Napolitan culture and lifestyle. They will be able to see the historical centre, the seaside, the castles, the archaeological site of Pompei, Salerno and the “Luci d’Artista” that makes the city a must during Christmas holidays.

AEGEE-Napoli will host 20 participants and it will do the best to have the most culturally different group.

You can find more information here, apply to the event filling the Intranet form here and the Google form here.

AEGEE-Utrecht- “Bucket List”

The third NYE on this list is AEGEE-Utrecht’s Dutch Up Your Bucket List!. This year, the programme   will include many exciting activities. It will have a thrilling fire breathing workshop from a circus expert, beside experiencing new kinds of foods and participating in an old Dutch tradition of diving into the sea at the first of January. Furthermore, there are lots of parties in a vibrant student city of Utrecht.

The legendary European night. Adventure edition, visiting student clubs, an awesome New Year’s party, and a pub crawl are also included in the event. The participants will thus not only discover the nightlife of Utrecht, but cultural activities such as: an underground tour of the city, ascending the ancient Dom tower and a class in Dutch as well. Plus, there are more nice surprises!

So, there are many reasons to apply to the event. For example, where else can you find the event that will change your life, push you out of your comfort zone, combined with the best parties and best people? This is the best start of the new year that anyone can wish for. Utrecht is definitely the place to be this year!

The Dutch antenna will accept 25 participants. You can apply for the event by filling in the Intranet form here and the Google form here. You can find further info about the event here. You can also watch their promotional video by clicking here.

Good luck to everyone!

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Have you ever noticed similarities between your country’s and other countries’ traditions for Christmas? There are many symbols attached to this holiday in Europe, and each country has kept its own identity and traditions, while enriching them with influences form various other sources. This diversity and richness prove the importance given by Europeans to the Christmas holiday. This year the AEGEEan asked and found out how people celebrate Christmas in Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

Let’s start from the place where the festive period begins really early. In Romania, celebrations start on November 30th, the day of Saint Andrew. Customs say everyone should hang plenty of garlic and a crucifix next to all doors and windows of the house to keep evil spirits away from their home. At the beginning of December, the Christmas lights are turned on all over the streets. Moş Nicolae comes and gives children presents. Children receive their gifts early in the morning of December 6th, or late at night on December 5th; traditionally, gifts are put in their laced up boots. On December 20th, Saint Ignatius Day, Romanians start the last preparations for Christmas. On this date, they slaughter pigs for the Christmas Eve supper. “Around this date, people usually buy their Christmas trees from public markets or supermarkets.”, Ioana Nedelcu (AEGEE-Ploieşti) told us.
December 24rd it’s Noaptea de ajun, the day children usually start caroling their neighbours. Music is an important part of Christmas celebration all over Romania. There is a special genre of music, related to Christmas carols but with more traditional/Christian lyrics. These are named colindă, which are also popular in Moldova. On the same date, women bake traditional cookies to give children for their caroling. By this time, the Christmas tree must usually already be decorated. During Christmas, Romanians bake or buy various special dishes, including desserts and sweets. Romanians most usually bake cozonac, a type of sweet bread. You can fill the cozonac with walnuts, cocoa, raisins, Turkish delight and in Transylvania: poppy seed paste (cozonac cu mac). Plates heaped with small pastries and cakes (corni și baclava) are prepared to serve to carollers when they call. A boiled vegetable and chicken salad held together with mayonnaise and decorated with olives and boiled eggs is often prepared. It is called Salată de boeuf (from French), although it usually does not contain beef. Other Christmas dishes include piftie, sarmale and pork dishes.

In Moldova, although Christmas is celebrated on December 25th like in Romania, January 7th is also recognised as an official holiday. On Christmas Day, families are having breakfast and/or lunch together.

In Greece, Christmas caroling is also very popular and there are actually three official caroling days. The custom is that children go from house to house singing the carol, with the accompaniment of a triangle, and residents of the house give them a small amount of money. Greek Christmas carols (calanda) are sung on the mornings of Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and January 5, the Eve of the Epiphany. About thirty to twenty years ago, carolers were getting cookies for singing the calanda.

Homemade kourabiedes

Melomakarona and kourabiedes are the two varieties of Christmas and New Year’s cookies in Greece. The first are semolina, cinnamon, and clove cookies drenched in honey, while the second are fresh butter cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar that are normally served on New Year’s, but many succumb to temptation and begin consuming them earlier. Vasilopita is a cake that is eaten on New Year’s Day. Before the cake is baked, a coin covered in foil is placed in it. The person who cuts the cake makes the sign of the cross three times above it and then starts serving the pieces, one to each person, the house, Christ, The Virgin Mary and Saint Vasileios. Whoever has the coin in his piece of cake will have luck for the rest of the year.
On the 1st of January, Saint Vasileios (Saint Basil the Great) from Caesarea, Cappadocia (Turkey), brings the gifts to the children. People in Greece also celebrate Epiphany on the 6th January. In the Greek Orthodox Church, Epiphany celebrates Jesus’s baptism when he was a man. There are many events throughout the country where young men dive into really cold lakes, rivers and the sea to try to be the first to get a cross which has been blessed by a priest and thrown into the water. Whoever gets the cross first is meant to have good luck during the coming year.

“Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun” this is how you say “Merry Christmas” in Turkish. However, how Christmas and the new year is perceived depends on where you are in Turkey. Christians who live in Turkey celebrate Christmas at churches or with family gatherings. In many districts of major cities the lights, Christmas decorations and trees appear in early December. In Turkey Christmas is of course not celebrated as a religious holiday. It can, in many ways, be comparable to Father’s day, Mother’s Day, Valentines Day and so on. Christmas is brought to Turkey by the major stores and supermarkets who have seen their chance to implement this festive celebration. There are some very natural differences to the way other Christian countries celebrate Christmas. In Turkey there is no dancing around the Christmas tree and sing Christmas carols, just like Christmas cookies and socks over the fireplace are not a part of the tradition yet. But they have Christmas trees and Santa Claus and gifts! In the last years in Turkey they started celebrating the New Year by exchanging gifts.

On the other hand, in Ukraine the festive period starts on New Years Eve. Ukrainians usually congregate in a house of their families and/or friends. They have many dishes at the table, so they start with food, watching different TV shows and chatting. When it is 00:00 the champagne is opened, and there are exclamations “Urrraaaa” (Hurrah) and people wishing everyone Happy New Year. “After midnight, children find their presents under the New Year tree, some other people are just exchanging presents, telling nice words to people. Then Ukrainians call other friends, who are not celebrating with them and congratulate everyone they think is important. Very often the mobile network is overloaded. Then we have parties till the morning, and go to bed at 02:00-08:00 (it depends). In the morning celebration continues.”, says Hanna Polishchuk (AEGEE-Kyiv).
On the 6th of January it is Sviat Vechir (Holy Evening). In the evening, after 6pm all family congregates at the table, which has 12 dishes (obligatory). The main dish is called Kutia (sweet grain pudding), and everyone should eat at least one spoon of this dish first. After dinner, children (and sometimes adults) wear traditional clothes and go around carol singing. People give them sweets and close friends give also money. The next day (January 7th) is Christmas. In the morning people tell each family member “The Christ was born”, and they answer “Glory to Him”. They tell this three times, and each time people kiss the cheek of the person, to whom they tell these words. On this day people continue going round carol-singing. There is a tradition to forgive everyone on this day.

Photo by Szabina Hellinger

In Hungary, Santa is called Mikulás and comes on the 6th of December instead of Christmas. He brings presents to children in their boots in case they have been behaving well all throughout the year. If they have been naughty, they get some rods (for being whipped with) from krampuses instead. “On Christmas night, the 24th of December (Szenteste = Holy Night) we decorate our Christmas tree indoors and “Little Jesus” (Jézuska) is supposed to bring nice presents for the kids untill the next morning, placing them under the tree.”, Balázs Kovács (AEGEE-Debrecen) told us. The Christmas decoration involves szaloncukor, special Hungarian goodies.

Hoping you enjoyed reading this article, the AEGEEan would like to wish you Merry Christmas anywhere you are!

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Kastoria/Sofia

Last Christmas, AEGEE-Warszawa organised its third edition of their postcrossing action. 737 people joined the action and over 600 cards were sent out, bringing wonderful Christmas joy to AEGEEans all over Europe. We spoke to Marta Pąk, this year’s coordinator, to find out more about the great success! 

“The first edition was organised in summer 2013 by big postcrossing fan and former PR responsible Aneta Bielicka”, Marta tells us. “The second edition was the Christmas one last year (2013), when 596 people participated. This year’s edition (2014) was the third time. 737 people joined and almost 600 sent their cards!” As a coordinator, Marta was responsible for everything related to it, from creating the event to inviting people and matching them with other AEGEEans. Asked why she decided to apply, she tells us: “I really liked it last year! I got a wonderful postcard from Ukraine, and I read all the nice words people wrote on the event’s timeline and it felt great! Then, when I went on Erasmus semester in Padua, Italy I still wanted to contribute somehow to AEGEE-Warszawa, so the Postcrossing was a perfect choice.”

This year too, the messages of happy people who received a postcard and posted  about it on their own Facebook timeline or on the event page have made her happy, although her least favorite task is reminding people to send their cards in January. “Making a postcard and writing a few nice words isn’t that hard to do, and I find it very sad that mature people who decided to apply don’t really care at the end.” Luckily, there are enough people who do care enough and who put a lot of effort into sending out something nice to other AEGEEans, varying from cards of their own city to homemade cards or envelopes with small extra presents. Taking a look at the event, a lot of happy messages from participants can be found, and those aren’t even all of the people who participated and received a card.

Besides sending hundreds of e-mails for the postcrossing, Marta is also a Board Assistant and member of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee. Asked if she has any other plans, she tells us that she isn’t sure yet. “I like when something really inspires me, so I’m waiting for the perfect opportunity!” However, one future plan is certain – another edition of the Christmas postcrossing action next year. “It’s our new tradition”, Marta explains. “We want the AEGEEans to share their joy and happiness and send it all over the continent and beyond every year!”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Europe is diverse. This should not come as news to any true AEGEEans! But how diverse is Europe when it comes to Christmas traditions? The AEGEEan asked around to find out more about certain customs, meals and luck-bringing traditions from different countries. Obviously, not every single country could be mentioned, but another edition next year might follow anyways!

The AEGEEan wishes all of you a very European Christmas!

Let’s start chronologically with something very special that actually has not too much to do with Christmas, but still involves a bearded man in a red coat bringing presents: this rather well-known December tradition comes from the Netherlands! Every AEGEEan who attended an event in beautiful Holland around Christmas time will surely have heard about Sinterklaas. This celebration, which takes place on December 5^th, is a huge event. Sinterklaas, alongside with his companion, de Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), comes to the Dutch children via boat from Spain and brings presents to the ones who have been good, while the ones who have been naughty might get put in Piet’s bag and brought back to Spain.

While Christmas Eve itself is not celebrated that eagerly in the Netherlands, as Laura van Deursen, AEGEE-Delft, explains, the 25^th and 26^th are usually used to visit the family.

Again, somebody else than Santa himself brings presents to children in Verona and some other cities in Italy: “We have Saint Lucia, who comes on the 12th of December at night and brings presents and sweets to children“, Cristina Rolli from AEGEE-Verona explains. Normally, she has a donkey and the children prepare straw and a carrot for it and a glass of milk with biscuits for Saint Lucia the evening before she comes. The children should be sleeping when she arrives at the house, because otherwise she will throw coal in their eyes. Saint Lucia is blind and she can make blind whoever sees her during her night. Children – stay in your beds! And, as if one woman wasn’t enough, there is also la Befana. “She is a really old and ugly woman who also brings gifts to children, but in the night between January 5^th and 6^th”, says Cristina. This time, the children prepare socks, which are hung up by the fireplace so that la Befana can put sweets and presents inside when she arrives on her broom. And what do those kids get who were bad? Coal again!

Two things seem especially important when it comes to Germany and Christmas: Christmas Markets and Glühwein. Which is also a very typical combination. Christmas Markets can be found in any bigger city and take place from the first Advent to the fourth (or in some cases until Christmas Eve itself). They range from rather small ones to really big ones, mostly depending on the size of the city. Also the variety of products is rather unimaginable and covers around anything that people might want to give others as a present for Christmas. Most importantly though, one can buy lots and lots of unhealthy, delicious food and Glühwein!

Picture by Philipp Blum, AEGEE-Aachen

The best Glühwein recipe is arguable and everybody will do it slightly differently. Nevertheless, the main ingredients are dry red wine, sugar, orange/lemon slices and maybe a little bit of their juice, and herbs (clove, cinnamon, star anise). Heat it up, allow the herbs to infuse, but never let it boil! Prost!

And if you want to have the real German experience, also concerning food, prepare some sausages and potato-salad, a simple dish that is often served on Christmas Eve when Germans eat with their families. The (very polite) idea behind that basic meal is that the mother of the family won’t have to spend the whole day in the kitchen cooking, but with her loved ones instead. Germans are nice after all.

While already talking about food, Denmark has a nice tradition, especially when it comes to their dessert. After eating some sort of roast meat with potatoes, gravy and red cabbage or other vegetables on Christmas Eve, they serve Risalamande, which derives from the French ris à l’amande, meaning rice with almonds. Nowadays, it is very common to serve a very large bowl of plain rice pudding on 23rd December already, the so called lillejuleaften, literally meaning “little Christmas Eve“. Some rice pudding is then kept for Christmas Eve and additionally mixed with whipped cream, chopped almonds and vanilla, often served with a cold cherry sauce on top.

Jenny Rooseboom from AEGEE-Aachen, who spent her Erasmus semester in Denmark, tells us that even though Risalamande is a really heavy dessert, “it really is necessary to finish it since there is one whole almond hidden in one of the portions. The one catching the almond gets a present and will have good luck for the upcoming year.”

“Christmas in Slovakia is very similar to all kinds of Slavic Christmases”, says Lucia Gavulová from AEGEE-Bratislava. The most important part of the celebrations is Christmas Eve when the whole family gathers around the table. And they are hungry, because during the day it is not allowed to eat – at least if you want to receive a special reward: to see a golden pig. The food itself doesn’t involve any meat though, but mostly consists of carps with a special potato salad.

Lucia goes on to tell us about some other lucky traditions: “Because we used to be a poor country, we use many traditions to call for money – putting a carp scale under the plate, eating poppy seeds (to have as much money as poppy seeds in a plate) or washing our hands in water filled with coins. And because we really appreciate being healthy, we cut an apple horizontally and if there is nice a star in the middle, the whole family will be healthy.” And to be really sure that they all stay healthy, the Slovakian people eat a special kind of wafer with honey and garlic to protect themselves from diseases.

Picture by Adam Kubák, AEGEE-Praha

Similar to Slovakia, the typical Czech Christmas dinner consits of fried or baked carp served with potato salad. The carp has to be really fresh, the family will buy it when it’s still alive and put it in their bathtub until its preparation. Don’t get too attached the hours of the carp’s life are numbered!

Another typical Czech Christmas meal is called Kuba and it is prepared from hulled grain and mushrooms. Barbora Heresová from AEGEE-Praha tells us that “during the Christmas dinner no one can stand up from the table, otherwise it would mean a death for a family member in the next year”. Also, Czech people, like some other countries from the middle of Europe always set the table for one more person, in case a wanderer comes by. Presents in the Czech Republic are being delivered by  Ježíšek. No child knows how he looks like because he is too shy and only adults are allowed to meet him and take the presents from him (how convenient!). Once Ježíšek is gone, there is a bell ringing which means the presents are under the tree and children can go unwrap them.

In Poland – as a rather religious country – many traditions and customs originate from Christianity. “Polish People take the Advent time very seriously and want to prepare their soul to the day when Christ was born”, Agata Cichonska, current member of AEGEE-Alicante, tells us. The main part of Wigilia is a solemn family supper, which starts right after the appearance of the first star in the sky. The traditional Christmas Eve supper consists of twelve dishes representing the twelve months of the year or twelve apostles. No meat is served during the supper, only fish, usually herring, carp or pike. Other traditional dishes appearing on the table include red borscht, mushroom or fish soup, sauerkraut with wild mushrooms or peas, dried fruit compote and kutia, a dessert especially popular in eastern Poland. For the Christmas Eve supper, pierogis, a well-known Polish dish, are usually made with sauerkraut and mushrooms and either fried or boiled. Agata explained two other very special Polish traditions to us: “Hay on the table is another traditional symbol. Normally we put hay on the table and cover it under the tablecloth. It´s because of the fact, that Jesus Christ was born on the hay in the stable. And we always have one candle on the table, as a sign of the presence of God. We light it while the Evangel is read. Normally, the eldest member of the family is reading correspondent fragment of Evangel. And after this moment we share the wafer!

Something less religious is shared in England: Christmas Crackers! During Christmas dinner, everyone around the table receives a Christmas cracker (they’re usually used as table decoration). “After dinner, you hold your cracker in one hand and your neighbours’ in the other to make a ring around the table and you pull at your ends, everyone simultaneously”, tells us Kathrin Peirera, who lives in North East England right now. “They open with a mini explosion and inside is a small gift (typically something like a mini measuring tape, a whistle or marbles), a paper crown which you should put on your head and a short joke you read out loud to the others (typical Christmas cracker jokes: What happens to an egg if you tell it a joke? – it cracks up!)”

We hope you enjoyed our Christmas Special and wish you all the best for your personal Christmas, however it looks like!

Written by Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen

The idea of the ‘December stories’ project came out of curiosity: how do other people celebrate their cultural events in December? What makes the Russian Christmas special and what do they do on the 24^th? Do the Turkish celebrate anything during the ‘holiday season’? What do the Dutch do? And do they do the same in Belgium? What about Finland, the land where Santa Claus is supposed to live?

The easiest way to know this would probably be to just ask our fellow AEGEE members. After all, who would know better than people who experience all these traditions first-hand? AEGEE is spread far from East to West, from North to South and covers so many cultures, that might or might not have a connection with the Christian holidays that are abundant in December.

So throughout December, the Culture Working Group (CWG) would like to share some of your personal stories with the Network. It’s one thing to read about a holiday on Wikipedia and another one is to get to experience it. But because not all of us can travel, having our members explaining, in their own words, what holidays they have is and how they perceive it would help all of us to understand them better.

Ultimately the goal is to get ready for your holidays, make the spirits lighter and get excited for everyone’s own family celebration and for that of our friends from all over Europe. Some CWG members have already answered our request for stories, but we believe that more stories are more fun! So please no matter where you are from, share your story with us.

Write to cwg@aegee.org before the 10th of December & tell your story!

Don’t forget to add your name, Antenna and tell us all about the name of the celebration, what makes it special and your own personal story. Your stories will be featured throughout December on the CWG-website and Facebook page. And an overview of the best stories will be published right here in The AEGEEan.

Help us make this December truly cultural!

Written by Sabina Guja, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca & PR for CWG

Street lighting, carols, lottery, decorated trees, nativity figures and marzipan are some of the things that welcome the arrival of Christmas time to Spain, a country with a deep Christian tradition. Although it is changing, most of the Spaniards take theses holidays to sit with their family and loved ones around a table. Some others, like those captivated by the ghost of Christmas, think about what they have done, and promise themselves to change and give something away. And there is also someone who just does not care about it, as he feels it is fake, sad and materialistic. Either way, Spain is huge and although, in general we share the same way of celebration, like eating twelve grapes on New Year’s Eve for example, there are some traditions that belong to specific parts of the territory.

In the Basque Country, for example, there is not Santa Claus, but “Olentzero”, a man coming down from the mountains the night of the 24th of December with presents for the young ones. In the region of León, people decorate their house with a type of handmade crown called “ramo leonés” which consists of ribbons, threads and different kinds of dried fruits in the base. Everything is being held together by a wooden stick. Twelve candles are placed at the top of the structure and while lighting up those lights, the people wish to brighten their next twelve months.

But let’s be honest. If there is something truly expected by children it is the arrival of the Three Wise Men, the night of the fifth of January. In the south, in Algeciras, it takes place along the streets. A “noisy” dragging can parade, in order to remember that the Three kings come to town and leave something nice for us. The morning after, the sixth of January, there will be gifts under the Christmas tree and a delicious large ring shaped cake called “Roscón de Reyes” will be waiting for us at the breakfast table. Inside, there is a hidden figurine but also a bean. The person who finds the bean will pay the cake, but this fortunate person that discovers the figurine will become…KING FOREVER! (or at least this is what we have been told since we were little). To dream from time to time…is not that bad.  Come what may, ¡Feliz Navidad!

Written by Ana Valiente, AEGEE-Tenerife