How Christmas is celebrated around the world [Jennifer Aniston celebrating 2020]

How Christmas is celebrated around the world

It’s Christmas Eve and there’s an unexpected knock at the door. If you’re in the United States, it may be a gaggle of carolers who have come to serenade you. If you’re in Argentina, it might be neighbors arriving to exchange gifts and light fireworks. If you’re in Newfoundland, it could be friends disguised in costumes who perform comedy sketches until you can guess who they are.

Christmas, an annual holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, is celebrated in unique ways in different countries, even those with few Christians. Secular celebrations of Christmas are commonplace around the world: India is less than three percent Christian, but Christmas is a national holiday. Only one percent of Japan's population is Christian, but Santa impersonators and holiday music still fill department stores. In the U.S., each person will spend more than $1,000 on the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation. (See the electric and eclectic ways Americans decorate for Christmas.)

Shaped by cultural norms, Christmas celebrations often have a local flair. In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Christians display nativity scenes and mark their doors with crosses. They fill churches on Christmas Eve to watch an annual procession. In Syria, children wait for presents from the youngest of the three wise men’s camels, not Santa. Italy also has its own version of the jolly fat man. Befana, the Italian witch, delivers presents to good children but kidnaps troublemakers for her hungry husband, according to legend. (Here's the surprising origins of Santa Claus.)

In every country, food takes center stage. In Ukraine, ambitious feasters enjoy a 12-course meal—one for every apostle. In Japan, it’s common for families to visit the American fast-food chain KFC for dinner. In Poland, carp featured during dinner are often kept in the family bathtub for days before its debut on a plate. Afterward, it’s common for its scales to be kept for good luck.

How Jennifer Aniston is celebrating Christmas

Jennifer Aniston is known for being an excellent party host; every year she throws a Thanksgiving dinner for friends and family, she held a huge celebrity-filled bash to celebrate her 50th earlier this year and invited guests round for a Christmas tree-trimming party at the beginning of December. And now, she's celebrating the festive season with another gathering at her home.

Taking to Instagram, the actress shared a sweet group picture of a get-together with Laura Dern, Rita Wilson, and hairstylist Chris McMillan.

She captioned the photo: “Say Cheese!! Lotta love in that room. Happy Holidays!”

Aniston recently shared a glimpse into her star-studded Thanksgiving celebrations, spent with her ex-partner Justin Theroux, plus friends Courtney Cox, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Jimmy Kimmel.

Despite splitting in late 2017 after two years of marriage, Aniston and Theroux still celebrated the holiday together with a group of friends.

The Friends star always hosts a party for her friends the day before Thanksgiving and this year she made enchiladas for talk show host Kimmel after he complained about the amount of turkey.

Aniston shared a photo of herself cooking the dish, as well as a video of Kimmel’s reaction: “Ok, @jimmykimmel…here are your f*%king Friendsgiving enchiladas.”

The actress joined Instagram this year to give herself more control over her image, and within two weeks she had over 18 million Instagram follows.

She opened up to the Guardian about how the exposure makes her feel a little uncomfortable: “I find it very odd,” she explained. “I don’t understand it – it doesn’t make sense to me. I’d love for someone to break it down, but there it is and now it has to keep going.”

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