Christmas in other cultures

We have approximately 15 – 20 different ethnicities at Priory.  Mrs Qadri asked some of them how they celebrate Christmas.

"This year for Christmas I am going to Bulgaria to celebrate with my extended family.  We have a family tradition where all the cousins, aunties, uncles, grandparents and everyone we are related to all get together in my grandparent's big mansion.

"To get to Bulgaria we are going to drive there as I want to be able to take my dog too. We are going to drive through nine different countries and seeing the sites along the way. 

"We will be eating Salata de Boeuf. It is a traditional salad made for Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It can be served as a side dish, or a meal on its own. You can make it with beef, turkey or chicken, potatoes, peas and lots of mayo. It’s like a potato salad gone wild!"

"Instead of having a big turkey we have Surmale which is like lettuce leaves rolled up with meat inside. We usually eat it with lots of yoghurt."

"Every Christmas my whole family give presents to everyone, even if the present is small we appreciate it."

"My family has a tradition on Christmas to visit my grandma's house on Boxing Day and meet up with everyone on my mum's side of the family.  We all bring a present and then pick a card to decide who gets what present. We then have a chance to steal/take each other's present if we like it better than the one we got.

We all bring some food from each of our houses to share with each other."

"On Christmas I see my nan for about two hours and then we go and see my other nan.  I then go to the stables and make sure the horses are fed and then we go home and have our Christmas dinner which is turkey. In the afternoon we have a big Christmas dinner with all the family. We then have a buffet in the evening whilst we are watching Christmas movies.

"We also video call my family who live in another country so that we can still celebrate Christmas with them."

"I don’t really celebrate Christmas as it isn’t part of my religion but as everyone is on holiday we all get together on or around Christmas Day and have a big family meal.

"We don’t really eat turkey but we make a big roast leg of lamb with lots of vegetables and other side dishes. We all like to have a get together and play lots of party games."

During Break on Thursday, Mrs Qadri organised a food stall where food from other cultures was available for pupils to buy and try including  Samosas, Onion Bhajis, Cupcakes, Swedish Coffee Cake, Biscuits.