CHRISTMAS ABROAD—IN ENGLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17223, 14 December 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS ABROAD—IN ENGLAND.

Ir. most big towns like London, Liverpool. Manchester, and so on, it ir, possible to spend Christmas in a very different way from which it is spent by the average Englishman; for in these towns there are little colonies j of nearly every nation (savs ‘ Pearson's Weekly >'). There is a big Italian colony, for example, at Saffron Hill in London, where Italians begin their Christmas Day with a mass at midnight on Christmas Eve, after which there is followed a steady feasting till the small hours of the morning. There is no turkey on the table for Christmas Day, as a rule, the Italians being content with a pheasant or fowl, followed by wonderful Christmas cakes made in a special Italian Of course, every large town in England has its colonies of Frenchmen who spend Christmas Day making ceremonial calls on each oilier, and giving one another countless presents. They are far more lively on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day, and in fact celebrate the former with a continuous round of revelry and feasting, ending up at a theatre or other place i of entertainment. Perhaps the most curious Christmas dinner in England is that eaten in the 1 Russian colonies on Christmas Eve. ! If begins with a dish of porridge ! flavoured with honey. There is a unique ceremony in connection with this porridge. The Russian master of the house takes a spoonful before the porridge has been tasted by anyone else and throws it against the ceiling. The greater the amount which sticks on the coiling, the greater the luck which is coming to the members of the household during the following year. The porridge is followed by a wonderful fruit salad of apples, nears, cherries, oranges and grape's all stewed together, sweetened with honey and eaten cold.