Blog

Adoption Around the World

Posted December 5, 2010 by Shannon Suda

While it is normal to want to teach your adopted child about the customs and holidays of their new home country, the United States, it is important to embrace the customs and holidays of their country of origin.

Countries like Russia, China, Ethiopia and the Philippines all have their own unique traditions when it comes to holidays like Christmas and New Year's. You will want to learn about these holidays, traditions and special occasions so that you can celebrate them with your child. Let's take a journey to discover how adoption is celebrated throughout the world.

Russia
Christmas in Russia is celebrated on the 7th day of January. This is because the Orthodox world, which Russia is a part of, operates on a different calendar which is two weeks behind the calendar we use in the United States. The Feast of St. Nicholas is held on December 6. Most Eastern Orthodox Russians fast until Christmas Eve when the first church service begins. The dinner on Christmas Eve is festive but meatless. Families often engage in a home-blessing ceremony where a priest visits the home with holy water, and each room is sprinkled with the holy water to bless it. There are many ancient beliefs and traditions surrounding the Russian Christmas.

Philippines
The Philippines actually celebrates the longest Christmas season in the entire world, as they begin to celebrate with Christmas carols as early as during September, and the Christmas season lasts until the Feast of the Santo Nino or Epiphany, which is held on the third Sunday in January. The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, one of only two in Asia. Christmas is one of the biggest and most important holidays in the country.

China
In China, Christmas is celebrated with the lighting of paper lanterns and the decoration of Trees of Light using paper chains and flowers and more paper lanterns. Chinese children hang their stockings which are made out of a material called muslin and await a visit from the Dun Che Lao, the Chinese Santa Claus. The main festival in winter is the Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, which occurs at the end of January. This is where ancestors are worshipped using paintings and portraits hung in the home's main room.

Ethiopia
Ethiopia follows what is essentially an ancient proprietary calendar that follows thirteen months. Twelve of these months have 30 days, and the last month only has five or six depending on whether the year is a leap year or not. Christmas, which is known as Genna in Ethiopia, falls on January 7th just like it does in the old Orthodox calendar. In Ethiopia it is celebrated by a church service that goes on throughout the day and night, and people visit multiple churches throughout the celebration. Epiphany also falls on the 19th of January. According to the correlations between these two calendars, in Ethiopia the New Year, which is known as Enqutatash, is celebrated on the 12th of September.