A Christmas Story: America and Korea
It’s undeniable that Christmas has captured the hearts of people all over the world and people in many countries celebrate the holiday in unique ways. These are stories about the American and Korean Christmas experience.
An American Christmas
Written By Kelsey Rivers
Christmas Eve is even more important and meaningful to my family than Christmas Day. I was raised as a practicing Christian, so on Christmas Eve we would go to church and have a candlelight service in the evening. Everyone in the church would gather in their nice clothes, hold candles, pray and listen to the Christmas story together. It was a good time to be with family and friends. We would go caroling from house to house in the neighborhood too. Maybe it seems a little odd that we went Christmas caroling in Arizona since the weather is warm even in December, but people came out of their houses when they heard us, and they were excited to listen. Sometimes they gave us hot chocolate or snacks to thank us. Afterwards, we would go home and have a more intimate dinner with our family. Christmas Eve has religious significance for me, as it is a time for reflecting on the past year and talking about what you are thankful for. It is actually my favorite day of the year.
Christmas Day, though, was more about having fun. We would wake up in the morning and there would be presents under the Christmas tree. We would each have stockings with snacks and little gifts in them. My mom goes all out for Christmas because she likes to spoil my siblings and me. My mom has good taste, so everything looked beautiful. The way the gifts were wrapped and arranged under the tree was kind of like art. After we opened presents and had a nice breakfast, we would start preparing for lunch. We always went to our pastor’s house for a potluck lunch with people from our church. There, we had a “white elephant” gift exchange. Everyone brought a silly gift, and then took turns picking a gift from the pile. When they opened it, everyone laughed about what they got. Occasionally, someone would get a desirable gift, and then other people would try to “steal” it by exchanging their silly gifts for the good one. It was a lot of fun.
In Korea it seems like giving gifts is mostly an exchange between couples. Growing up, I gave gifts to everyone in the family and all of my closest friends. I always spent so much money every Christmas buying gifts for my friends because we gave gifts to everyone we cared about.
A Korean Christmas
Written By Antonio Kim
Do you know what “Christmas with Kevin” means? In Korea, it means spending Christmas without a date or alone like the character Kevin in the movie Home Alone. Every Christmas we look forward to watching Kevin on TV. We love watching Kevin’s efforts to protect himself against two burglars while he is home alone.
In the movie, Kevin’s family plans to take a trip together, so they all gather at Kevin’s house before Christmas Eve. Kevin prays to God that his family would all just disappear after fighting with his older brother. The next day, Kevin has mixed feelings when his family accidentally leaves without him.
We can see differences between Western and Korean Christmas celebrations through Home Alone. Like in the story, some Westerners take trips for Christmas and prepare as far as a year in advance. Others who do not have Christmas plans might set out for a trip on New Year’s Eve. Koreans celebrate Christmas differently. First, Korean Christmas celebrations are shorter than Western celebrations, although the date of the holiday is the same. Koreans celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, enjoying the full day and the evening, but there is less of a Christmas season leading up to it. Second, while Christmas in the West is mainly a time for family, many Koreans spend Christmas with a romantic partner. If they are single, they can meet friends for drinks and to hang out. To Koreans, Christmas is a festival for both friends and lovers.
Because Koreans have their own traditional holidays, they see Christmas differently than Western countries. But everyone wants to spend Christmas with someone they love.