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Christmas around the world

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1. Greenland

Christmas celebrations run from Advent to Twelfth Night. People visit friends for coffee and cake, sing carols, and finish off by eating a strip of mattak - whale skin with a lining of blubber, or fat. As trees don't grow this far north, and Christmas trees have to be imported, homes are decorated with stars, candles, and branches of evergreen decked with ribbons. On Christmas Day, families exchange presents and eat a celebration dinner - roast reindeer is a particular favourite!

2. Mexico

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In Mexico, the Christmas holiday starts with Posadas, a festival where communities re-enact the nativity story. Families also set up pi?atas - clay or straw containers filled with toys and sweets that are hung from the ceiling. While pi?atas come in all sorts of shapes, the traditional Christmas pi?ata is a star with seven points that represents the devil and the seven deadly sins. Children are blindfolded, then take turns to use a stick to try and break the devil's hold on the goodies inside.

3. Venezuela

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Venezuelan families decorate their homes with pesebres or nativity scenes on December 16th and then attend festive church services that lead up to a special mass and family dinner on Christmas Eve. The Magi - the three wise men who worshipped the baby Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem - arrive to deliver presents on January 6. Kids put out straw for their camels, and are left gifts, and a very sooty kiss on the cheek from Balthazar, chief of the Magi.

4. UK

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