Christmas with different countries - Christmas is forever

Christmas is celebrated in many different ways, by many different people, in many different countries...

'Christmas is forever, not just for one day. It's for loving, for sharing and for giving...Not to be put away like balls, lights and tinsel...The good you do for others is the good you do for yourself.

History of Christmas - Jesus birth - 'The reason for the season', if you will. Two different ancient accounts - the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke - record the birth of Jesus of Nazareth as occurring in Bethlehem of Judea. Truthfully his birth wasn't that different from any other baby boy's at that time.

Of course, there are a few unusual elements. There is the report of a remarkable star in the sky and stories of angles singing. But most of the details of Jesus' birth are quite ordinary. Though somewhat scandalous - an unmarried couple having a baby out of wedlock - it's a story that normally wouldn't garner much attention.

Except, of course, that this little baby grew up to be a revolutionary Jewish teacher, a threat to the religious establishment, and a crucified leader of a band of misfits who claimed to see him risen form the dead three days later.

And that story certainly did garner attention, eventually transforming the mighty Roman Empire and launching the Christian movement that today counts over two billion followers.

At first, Christmas were focused on remembering just Jesus'life, death, and resurrection. Few thought to commemorate his birth as an important marker. But by the early middle ages, Christian leaders had decided to celebrate this holiday on December 25th.

They couldn't be certain about the actual date that Jesus was born because there were no records. Jesus was born among the poorer classes, and no one stopped to mark the day or even the month a poor child came into the world. So the early church leaders chose a day to set aside for celebrating Jesus' birth.

Even though this might be hard to imagine, given the importance many cultures now put on birth based on accurate calculations of other dates in Jesus' life. About the same time, in 274, Roman Emperor Aurelian instituted a pagan festival celebrating the "Birth of the Unconquered Sun", which coincided with the winter solstice on December 25. It's unclear is Aurelain was attempting to create a pagan alternative to a date already of some significance to Roman Christians, or vice versa.

However either way, in the years that followed, as Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire, celebrating Jesus' birth on December 25 as Christmas - "Christ's mass" - was adopted.

Christmas in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, families often celebrate Christmas together, so they can watch each other open their presents, and to spend quality time together.

Most families have Christmas Tree in their house for Christmas. The decorating of the tree is usually a family occasion, with everyone helping. Christmas Tress were first popularised in the United Kingdom by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.

Most villages, towns and cites are decorated with Christmas lights all over the Christmas Season. Often a famous person switches them on. The most famous Christmas lights in the United Kingdom are in Oxford Street in London. Every year they get bigger and better with thousands of people go to watch the big 'Switch on' around the beginning of November.

Like most countries, Nativity Plays and Carol services are also very popular at Christmas time. The church is only lit up by candles. Its a very special service and always makes me feel very Christmassy! Lots of other British churches also have Carols by Candlelight and Christingle services.

Many children believe that Father Christmas comes and leaves presents for them under the tree and in their stockings on Christmas Eve, ready for them to open on Christmas day. Many children leave out mince pies and a small glass of brandy for Father Christmas to eat and drink when he visits them.

However there are some customs that only take place in the United Kingdom, such as;

Wassailing - This is an old Anglo-Saxon custom that doesn't take place much today.

Boxing Day - This is a very old custom that started in the United Kingdom and now is taken as a holiday in many countries around the world.

In the United Kingdom, the main Christmas meal is usually eaten at lunchtime or early afternoon on Christmas Day. It's normally roast turkey, roast potatoes and 'all the trimmings' which means vegetables like carrots, peas, sweetcorn, brussel sprouts, stuffing and sausages wrapped in bacon. It's often served with cranberry sauce and gravy. For dessert it's often Christmas pudding, however mince pies and lots of chocolates are eaten too.

Christmas in India

Compared to other religious festivals, Christmas is quite a small festival in India, due to the number of people who are Christians (about 2.3%) compared to people who belong to other religions. Having said this, the population of India is over 1 billion, so there are over 25 million Christians in India.

One of the largest Indian Christian communities is in Mumbai. A lot if the Christians in Mumbai are Roman Catholics. Midnight mass is a very important service for Christians in India, especially Catholics. The whole family will walk to the mass and this will be followed by a massive feast of different delicacies, and the giving and receiving of presents. Churches in India are decorated with poinsettia flowers and candles for the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass service.

Instead of having traditional Christmas Tress, a banana or mango tree is decorated. Sometimes people use mango leaves to decorate their homes.

In southern India, Christians often put a small oil burning clay lamps on the flat roofs of their homes to show their neighbours that Jesus is the light of the world.

Christmas in Mumbai often display a manger in a front window. Also families go to great lengths to hang giant paper lanterns, in the shape of stars, between the houses so that the stars, between the houses so that the stars float about you as you walk down the road. Every household also makes sure that they have a stock of home made sweets ready to give to visitors.

In South-West India, in the state of Kerala were, 22% of the state's 33 million of the population are Christmas and Christmas to them is very important festival. Traditional Catholics fast don't eat from 1st to 24th of December - until the midnight service. Every house will be decorated with a Christmas star. During the start of the Christmas season, almost all the stationary shops will be filled with new and variety Christmas stars. People make cribs in their homes and Churches.

In North-West India, the tribal Christians of the Bhil folk, go out night after night for a week at Christmas to sing their own carols the whole night through. They go to surrounding villages singing to people and telling the Christmas stories.

Christmas in Jamaica

Christmas is a very special time in Jamaica and like a lot of other countries, radio stations play carols all through the Christmas season. Lots of people paint their houses and hang new curtains and decorations for Christmas. Most families spend Christmas day at home with friends and family members.

The Christmas day meal is usually prepared on Christmas Eve. The traditional Jamaican Christmas meal includes fresh fruits, sorrel and rum punch and meat. The Christmas Day breakfast includes ackee and saltish, breadfruit, fried plantains, boiled banana, freshly squeezed fruit juice and tea. Dinner is usually served in the late afternoon and this may include chicken, curry goat, stewed oxtail, rice and peas.

Jamaican red wine and rum fruitcakes is traditional and is eaten in most homes. The fruits in the cake are soaked in red wine and white rum for months before Christmas.

Christmas in Taiwan

Christmas is celebrated more widely in Taiwan than in mainland China. however not many people in Taiwan are Christians (about 5%), many stores will sell Christmas related items at Christmas time. It's also not a notional holiday in Taiwan.

Even so, most children know about Santa Claus and might even know a Christmas song or two! Parents of children at popular English schools expect a full Christmas festival, complete with gift exchanges, singing, and of course, a visit to the school from Santa. Many schools will perform a kind of Christmas a pageant or play with sugar plum fairies, reindeer, snowflakes, elves and other Christmas characters singing on stage for parents.

By Beth Lloyd

By: Unknown On 08:30

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Christmas Gift Ideas- BMW style

Are you struggling with what to buy friends and family this Christmas? Do they own a BMW? If they do then here we have the perfect Christmas list for you to take a look at:

BMW Natural Car Air Fresheners

Refreshing, stimulating and rich in variety, the BMW Natural Air collection of interior scents boasts three new additions and a redesigned holder. The holder comprises a matt black plastic carrier and a high-quality lid with a gleaming, anthracite-coloured metal look. The intensity of the scent can now be adjusted precisely via the ventilation grille or the holder’s variable apertures. The new Vitalizing Woods fragrance combines elegant woody notes with a zesty orange and subtle vanilla aroma. 

Retrofit hi-fi system from ALPINE lays on a stunning audio experience.

The new hi-fi system from ALPINE Electronics developed especially for BMW takes the in-car audio experience to another new level. Key to its performance are high-quality components along with the fine-tuning of the overall system to the acoustic environment inside the car. Time correction for the individual channels produces a very natural soundstage that replicates a live performance – be it jazz, pop, rock or classical music. Rear passengers can also look forward to an outstanding audio experience thanks to DSP equalisation of the rear speakers. The chrome ALPINE logo on the tweeter grilles in the front door mirror triangles lend visual emphasis to the enhanced audio performance delivered by the ALPINE hi-fi system.

Innovative BMW Head-Up Screen makes driving safer.

Driving a car without the BMW Head-Up Display doesn’t mean missing out on the additional safety it provides. Indeed, the innovative new Head-Up Screen from the Original BMW Accessories range likewise allows navigation instructions and the latest vehicle information to be displayed in the driver’s field of view. The Head-Up Screen can be used in almost all BMW vehicles, workshop installation is quick and the cable used to connect it with the vehicle electronics is barely visible. It can also be retrofitted at any time. All the information can be viewed on the transparent display and is positioned directly in the driver’s line of sight. The information on the Head-Up Screen is very easy to read, even in direct sunlight, which means drivers no longer have to take their eyes off the traffic and can concentrate without interruption on events on the road. The result is an improvement in both safety and comfort at the wheel. The Head-Up Screen shows a range of vehicle information, such as the fuel gauge and – when the temperature drops – a warning of black ice. Other functions include an output display, torque display, cruise control display, the current speed limit, a traffic jam warning and the altitude above sea level.

Universal snap-in adapter for all current Apple iPhones.

The new Connect Universal snap-in adapter connects all Apple mobile phones with the car using a lightning adapter. All users have to do is hook up their iPhone, and the communications and entertainment content stored on it comes effortlessly alive inside their car. As well as charging the phone, the snap-in adapter also acts as a safe and secure holder with its built-in bracket. To stop the adapter and connecting cable getting in each other’s way, however, the bracket can be moved into various positions or removed altogether. The connection with the exterior aerial is via inductive coupling.

Specially designed travel set for Convertibles provides additional load capacity.

With its hardshell cabin-size trolley case and practical carry bag, the new and elegantly sporty Original BMW Travel Set enhances flexibility and provides extra load capacity for Convertible models. The Travel Set can be fixed to the rear seat quickly and easily using the seatbelt. The trick here is that the bags can be stacked on top of, as well as next to, one another – which even leaves a seat free for a rear passenger. And to protect the Travel Set from theft when the roof is open, it can be anchored to the seat belt using security locks. The robust and hard-wearing trolley case is light and easy to move around, thanks to its four rotating wheels and a telescopic handle with grip. The carry bag, meanwhile, has an adjustable inner partition and various pockets attached to the outside, ensuring items are stowed away tidily and can be quickly accessed. The printed BMW lettering and highlights provide a particularly elegant icing on the cake for the titanium-coloured trolley and carry bag.

Practical holder for Apple and Samsung tablets.  

  

The BMW Travel & Comfort System family is part of the Original BMW Accessories range and includes a practical holder for Apple and Samsung tablets, which can be locked onto the base carrier system safely and effortlessly. It comes with a 360° rotating frame, which allows the rear passengers to turn the tablets horizontally or vertically, thus ensuring a full and comfortable user experience – both for office applications and for gaming, listening to music and watching films. In addition, the height and angle of the tablet holder can be adjusted by simply pivoting and tilting it. The familiar BMW design and impressive material and product quality of the BMW Travel & Comfort System tablet holder meet all safety stipulations governing in-car use and blend harmoniously into the interior of BMW models.

Tablet DVD system brings superb entertainment to the rear compartment.

The BMW Tablet DVD system lays on entertainment in the rear compartment – and not only for children over long journeys. With its chrome-coloured border, it fits in seamlessly with the BMW design language. The BMW Tablet DVD system comes with a pair of seven-inch colour screens, one of which contains an integrated DVD player. The accompanying holders allow quick and crash-safe attachment of the screens to the head restraint support bars. The Tablet DVD system offers numerous interfaces and connection ports for transferring data, as well as an integrated speaker, all of which makes this a fully-fledged mobile entertainment system for watching films, showing photos, and listening to music and audio books. 

BMW Bluetooth headset enables user-friendly telephone calls on the move.

The new-generation BMW headset makes it even easier to make telephone calls during a journey. It connects easily with a mobile phone and can be operated using buttons, gestures or voice commands – the latter allowing the driver’s hands to remain on the steering wheel. As well as ensuring drivers can easily understand what their conversation partner is saying, the headset’s outstanding sound quality and ambient noise suppression also allow them to listen to music and audio books. The headset enables two devices – e.g. one private and one business phone – to be linked up to it. It can also be used outside the car, making it ideal for both work and leisure purposes.

BMW LED door sill plates for an illuminating experience.

The BMW LED door sill plates turn heads whenever you open the front doors. A white illuminating BMW badge, which is also easily visible during the day, catches the eye every time you climb on board. The badge is framed by high-quality metal with a brushed stainless steel look and creates an aura of class. The battery-powered LED door sill plates are extremely quick to fit due to the lack of cabling required. When the door is closed – or after 30 seconds – the illumination automatically switches off again. The two button cell batteries have a lifespan of approximately three years.

BMW touch-up paint stick set provides self-fix solutions for minor paint damage.

Small scratches and stone chip damage are annoying – and not always avoidable. In many cases, though, a BMW touch-up paint stick set can help, often allowing minor paint damage to be repaired by the owner and saving them a trip to the workshop. The set consists of a BMW base coat and clear coat, which means the two-coat structure of the original paintwork can be restored. In a practical feature, the brush for applying the paint is integrated directly into the screw-on cap.

Special care products for modern matt paint finishes.

Matt paint finishes are steadily growing in popularity. In order to provide sustained care for these special paint finishes and maintain their special effect over a long period, the Original BMW Accessories range contains products to clean and care for matt finishes. The selection of care products includes shampoo, special cleaner, special express wax and nano wax. All the products complement each other perfectly in terms of effect and provide the best possible protection for BMW matt paint finishes.

By: Unknown On 15:30

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Driving home for Christmas

If the journey home for the holidays is a bit of a hike, you’re probably thinking about catching a train of, if home is at the other end of the country, even a plane. Quite likely, if the trip is a long one, the most favorable strategy will be to ‘get someone else to do the driving’.

However, there’s no need to spell out that relying on somebody else to get you from A to B has its own set of stresses. There can be delays, cancellations or you may find yourself sat next to a noisy or irritating passenger; just the mention of the word airports and your blood pressure could rise!

Plain sailing

Even if you have driven to a location several times before you can still feel panicky about the journey especially if it’s a long one.

There are several ways of being in control during a trip home though. Getting your hands on one of the fabulous and economical sat navs currently available in the market will mean that there’s a competent, cool, calm and collected guide with you every mile of the way. It’s almost like having your own map reader in the front seat with you.

It has been proven that sat nav devices reduce driver stress considerably and for a long journey, the lower the tension levels the better.

Planning set stops, treating yourself to some in-car entertainment like music can also make the trip stress free.

Lower fuel costs

Believe it or not by having a sat nav in your car this Christmas you will reduce your fuel costs considerably. It is a well-known fact during Christmas the roads are always busy with people travelling far and wide to see family and friends. Some of the latest gadgets come with a live traffic report so you are guaranteed to only use the best and quickest route.

Explore without getting lost

Travelling to see that member of the family who has just moved? It can be scary travelling to unknown places around Christmas when the weather is guaranteed to be pretty bad. With the use of a sat nav in your car, you don’t have that fear of getting lost as it has the canny ability to always navigate you in the right direction.

Here's a quick song to get you in the Christmas spirit:

By: Unknown On 15:00

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Christmas dinner leftovers.

Hello Bloggers,

We hope you had a lovely Christmas.

We definitely enjoyed our day but have plenty of Christmas dinner leftovers.

So, we’d thought you might find this useful because we certainly have. Feast your eyes on BBC’s Christmas leftover recipes and give them a go: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/christmas_leftovers

Don’t forget to send us a snap of your leftover meals!  Enjoy the rest of your festive celebrations!

The Big Motoring World Team. 

By: Unknown On 10:00

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Christmas Competition

Hello all,

You didn't think we’d let Christmas pass without having a little fun first did you? Would you like to enter our Christmas competition? Here’s how:

Hidden somewhere throughout our website (www.bigmotoringworld.co.uk) are five snowmen like this:

All you have to do is find the five individual snowmen, copy the URL of the page and email all five page links along with your full name to: marketing@bigmotoringworld.co.uk

Once we have all of your entries, they will be put into a prize draw and the winner selected. By entering our competition, you could win GardX protection for your car, worth £400.

Runners up will receive an unspecified gift!

Entries will be accepted up until the 31st of December and a winner will be announced at the beginning of 2014!

Get snowman hunting and Good Luck!

By: Unknown On 17:38

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