December 09, 2005 - Glebe Report

HOLIDAY
FROM
TRADITIONS THAER°WORLD
A Japanese Christmas
BY AMIE ALTON
In Japan, Christmas is celebrated by
purchasing a much-anticipated Christmas
cake, laboriously decorated with
little plastic Santas, reindeer and all the
other symbols of Christmas that can be
crammed onto its surface.
Christmas is a lover's holiday, so young
men and women stress about whom they will
spend Christmas with, in the way that Canadians
stress about Valentine's Day. They buy their dates
sentimental presents and spend the evening havingromantic
dinners.
The stores are filled with Christmas decorations,
just as they are here, and you can see men dressed as
Santa Claus on the streets holding signs advertising
products or handing out flyers. Christmas is just before
New Year's, Japan's traditional week of celebrations.
People are busy sorting their affairs and making their homes and offices
spotless, so they can begin the new year without any taint or contamination
from the old. It is during the New Year's holidays that the Japanese
-get together with their families and exchange presents. They also visit a
shrine for good luck in the New Year, where they buy paper fortunes to predict
whether the new year will be a good one. If the fortune is bad, they tie
the paper to a tree and make a wish to the god of the shrine. The shrines are
full of people, vendors and noise, and surrounded by trees filled with little
white knots of paper fortunes.
A Finnish Christmas
BY AMIE ALTON
In Finland, families get together with relatives on Christmas Eve when they
have a Christmas ham and all the traditional trimmings. During the Christmas
season, they drink a warm spiced wine called Glôgg garnished with
raisins and sliced almonds. For dessert, there are cookies and rice pudding
served with a sauce made from dried fruit.
Santa Claus lives in Finland, so he is able to visit all the Finnish children
before they go to bed on Christmas Eve. He arrives sometime after dinner by
the front door and gives out presents to all the kids in each of their homes. The
children sing the song, Joulu Pukki (which is Santa's name in Finnish). Santa
can't resist dancing with the kids while they sing to him, before he heads
off to deliver presents to children in the rest of the world. After Santa leaves,
all the rest of the presents are distributed and everyone sings Christmas carols.
. Families also visit the family cemetery to light a candle in memory of each
family member no longer with them for the holiday season. The cemeteries
become bright with candles whose flames are reflected off the white snow; it
is a time of remembering special people and good times spent together.
Of course, no Christmas would be complete without a sauna, the quintessential
Finnish institution and a part of all Finnish traditions.
No laces...
no slipping...
no wet feet...
401
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Cal
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CASUAL FOOTWEAR
860 BANK ST.
(Just south of Fifth Ave)
2316331
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Santa's Decadent
Eggnog French Toast
BY LOIS SIEGEL
Sneak down the stairs early Christmas morning, before anyone's
awake. Eat the shortbread "made with a pound of butter" and drink the
brandy-spiked milk left over by Santa in front of the fireplace. Turn on
your kitchen TV. Flip the channels until you find something you like.
If it's cartoons, don't tell the kids. Go to the fridge and find the eggnog,
eggs and butter. Throw away the dead-looking tomato on the bottom
shelf. Taste a bit of that decadent gourmet paté you bought on a whim
last week. Roll up sleeves. Take off jewelry and watch. Don red Santa
hat.
RECIPE FOR FOUR ELVES
What to put in your Santa sack:
butter
4 eggies, slightly beaten, but not abused
1/2 cup eggnog
egg bread
rum (optional, but it will keep Santa's helpers warm on cold
winter mornings; you can add rum to the eggnog too and, if
you want a special taste, add Malibu, a tropical coconut light
Caribbean nim)
Sliding down the chimney:
Slightly beat the eggies and add a half a cup of eggnog. Put some more
eggnog in a glass, add a little rum and drink it. Rationalization: you're
testing to make sure it's still good, both the eggnog and the rum--Better
safe than sorry." Turn on the heat. Put butter in the pan and, when
it's hot, dip egg bread in the eggnog mixture, then sauté. Cook until
golden brown, then flip to cook the other side. You can keep Santa's
Decadent Eggnog French Toast warm in the oven, heated to 200°, until
ready to serve.
For Santa's sweet tooth:
Optional for toppings: cinnamon and sugar, icing sugar, red-nosed reindeer
syrup or rum-laced whipped cream (for those really jaded gourmands).
RED-NOSED REINDEER SYRUP
(make ahead of time)
Put one cup of sugar and one cup of wa-wa (aka water) in a pot on the
stove. Heat. Add one cup of jolly good red wine. It's done if, after you
taste it, your nose turns red. Note: you can store the syrup in a glass jar
in the fridge. Label it: "Do Not Touch" or the elves will drink it.
Now turn off cartoons. Wake up elves.