Christmas Around the World: 20 Countries & Traditions
🗺️ Christmas Traditions in 20 Countries: Quick Reference Table
🎅 How the World Calls Santa Claus: Names by Country
People Also Ask: Christmas Around the World FAQs
How do different countries celebrate Christmas?
Each country has unique customs:
- Germany opens gifts on Christmas Eve (December 24) at Christkindlmarkt
- Japan orders KFC on December 25 (a 1974 marketing tradition)
- Iceland has 13 Yule Lad trolls replacing Santa
- Spain and Italy emphasise Epiphany (January 6) over Christmas Day
- Australia celebrates with beach barbecues in summer. See the full 20-country table above for the complete guide
Which country celebrates Christmas first?
New Zealand and the Pacific Islands are the first countries to celebrate Christmas each year, being the easternmost inhabited territories in the UTC+13/+14 timezones. New Zealand's midnight (Dec 25 00:00 NZDT) occurs about 13 hours before UK midnight and 18 hours before US Pacific midnight. See our Worldwide Christmas Countdown for live per-country clocks.
Why does Japan eat KFC on Christmas?
Japan's KFC Christmas tradition began with a 1974 marketing campaign called "Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii!" ("Kentucky for Christmas!"). KFC Japan's manager, Takeshi Okawara, noticed that foreigners in Japan were buying KFC to feel at home during Christmas. The campaign was so successful it became a cultural institution — today, approximately 3.6 million Japanese families eat KFC on December 25, often pre-ordering months in advance.
How do they celebrate Christmas in Australia?
Australia celebrates Christmas on December 25 in the middle of summer (temperatures often 30°C+). Key Australian Christmas customs: outdoor barbecue (BBQ) Christmas lunch with prawns, lamb, and cold pavlova; beach or park gatherings; "Carols by Candlelight" outdoor concerts; Santa in board shorts; cricket on Boxing Day (the Sydney or Melbourne Test match). Despite the summer heat, most Australian Christmas décor features snow and reindeers — Northern Hemisphere imagery from tradition.
What is Christmas called in different countries?
Christmas has many names globally: Noël (France), Weihnachten (Germany), Navidad (Spain/Mexico), Natale (Italy), Natal (Brazil/Portugal), Joulu (Finland), Jul (Sweden/Norway/Denmark), Boże Narodzenie (Poland), Genna (Ethiopia), Pasko (Philippines), Bada Din ("Big Day" — India), Rozhdestvo (Russia), Kurisumasu (Japan). All refer to the celebration of December 25 (or January 7 for Orthodox traditions).
Does everyone celebrate Christmas on December 25?
No. While December 25 is Christmas Day for most Western and Catholic/Protestant Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on January 7 (Russia, Serbia, Ethiopia, Egypt — following the Julian calendar). Armenian Apostolic churches celebrate on January 6. Most of the world's roughly 2.4 billion Christians celebrate on December 25, but a significant minority — hundreds of millions — celebrate on January 7.
What country has the most unique Christmas traditions?
This is subjective, but Iceland stands out for having the world's most distinctive gift-givers: 13 individual troll-like "Yule Lads" (Jólasveinar) who each visit children one night from December 12–24, leaving gifts (or rotten potatoes for naughty children) in shoes. Also remarkable: Japan's KFC Christmas dinner, Ethiopia's Genna hockey matches at dawn, and Sweden's Donald Duck cartoon tradition (watched by 40–50% of the population every Christmas Eve since 1960).