8 / 100
people
meet
up with their
friends
and families in the churches from
9.00pm onwards. The services
are normally finished shortly after
midnight, but some go onto
4.00am!
When the Christmas service
ends people go home
to eat the big Christ-
mas meal. All the
foods contain meat,
eggs and butter - all
the yummy things
they didn’t during
the Advent fast! One
popular course if
‘Fata’ a lamb soup
which contains
bread, rice, garlic
and boiled lamb
meat.
On the Orthodox
Christmas Day (7th)
people come togeth-
er in homes for par-
ties and festivities.
People often take
‘kahk’ (special sweet
biscuits) with them to
give as gifts.
Even though not
many in Egypt are
Christians, a lot of
people in the coun-
try like to celebrate
Christmas as a secu-
lar
holi-
day. Christ-
mas is becoming
very commercial and most
major supermarkets sell Christmas
trees, Christmas food and decora-
tions. Hotels, parks and streets are
decorated for Christmas.
In Egypt, Santa is called Baba Noël
(meaning Father Christmas). Chil-
dren hope that he will climb through a
window and will leave some presents!
They might leave some kahk out for
Baba Noël.
Christmas in Japan
Christmas is not widely celebrat-
ed in Japan as not many people
there are Christians. How-
ever, several customs
have come to Japan
from the USA such as
sending and receiving
Christmas Cards
and Presents.
In Japan, Christmas
in known as more
of a time
to spread
happiness
rather than
a religious
celebra-
tion. Christ-
mas
Eve
is
often