As we approach Christmas, we thought we'd share with you some festive traditions from a few of the countries we are lucky enough to work in!

Tanzania

Tanzania is an incredibly multicultural country. Despite being majority Christian, there is a large Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh population, as well as multiple tribal communities. As such, there are many celebrations that take place throughout the year, including Eid and Diwali, alongside Christmas! Churches are decorated with flower bright lights, candles and flowers - not dissimilar to the US or the UK. However, unlike us, all traditional Christmas songs are sung in Swahili, the national language.

The Tanzanian Christmas lunch consists of lamb, pork, and seafood alongside delicious portions of swahili pilau and chapati!

Peru

Like most of South America, Peru has a majority Catholic population due to the Spanish Conquest of the continent in the 16th Century. As a result, Christmas is a particularly momentous time.

What’s fascinating is in Cusco, the ancient Inca capital high up in the Andes (and where we stay on the Machu Picchu trek) traditional Catholic traditions are mixed with time-honoured Andean conventions for a particularly unique experience! Santuranticuy (selling of saints), a huge market in the Plaza de Armas on Christmas day, is one such event. Here, Cusco locals and people from local hill communities gather to sell nativity figurines, local delicacies, and twigs and moss (used to build nativity scenes). 

Even more interesting is that huge historical sites - such as Machu Picchu and the nearby Moray ruins, stay OPEN throughout the festive season out of respect for the pre-colonial lifestyle. 

Nepal

Nepal is primarily Hindi, then Buddhist, then Muslim and then Kirant/Yumaist. In fact, it is estimated only 1.4% of the Nepalese population is Christian. As a result, Christmas celebrations are significantly smaller here than in some of our other challenge locations. 

Nevertheless, there is still a distinctly festive feel in large cities such as Kathmandu or Pokhara, where diverse communities and tourism help keep the Christmas spirit alive. In Kathmandu, Christmas trees and decorations can be seen along the high street and the historic parts of town, which was not the case even a decade ago. 

The celebrations that do happen are often secular festivals, which celebrate family and community above religious worship or tradition. In fact, there is not even a Public Holiday on Christmas day!

From all of us at Choose a Challenge, we’d like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year wherever you are in the world!