LADY BUG: HOLIDAY TRADITIONS IN EACH COUNTRY RECOGNIZE THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a time of family traditions -- caroling, the yule log, stockings hung by the fireplace, tree decorating, midnight candlelight church service, family dinners and reading the Christmas story from the Bible. This is true throughout the Christian world.

Each country has its own holiday tradition that recognizes the Christmas origin and expresses the joy of giving. Here are a few traditions followed around the world.

In merry old England, the arrival of the Boar's head and the Flaming Steamed Fruit Pudding highlight the holiday season. The Boar's Head Ceremony was a festive old Christmas custom and is still practiced at Queen's College at Oxford.

Placed on a gold or silver platter, the boar's head is garnished with an orange in its mouth and surrounded with greenery. It is borne by the chef into a brightly decorated hall where it is heralded with singing by the college choir and placed before the provost of the college.

Boar heads are hard to come by, but a flaming steamed pudding is just as spectacular! To duplicate it at home, make a steamed orange pudding, zested with orange peel and juice and garnish with fresh orange slices for a unique part of holiday festivities.

In Scandinavia, Christmas trees are trimmed with fruit, real candles, tiny elves, flags and brightly colored ornaments. These trees are accented with cosmopolitan fruits and an international decor.

In Mexico, a pinata makes for holiday fun. It is a thin earthenware jar covered with papier-mache to form a fanciful animal or clown decorated with colorful tissue paper.

The pinata is filled with nuts, candy, small toys and trinkets. Children, who are blindfolded, carry long sticks and try to strike the pinata and break it. A light hit brings down a shower of small packages that the children scramble to collect.

In Germany, Saint Nicholas and his elf, Knecht Ruppricht, bring the children gifts of fruit, cookies and toys on the eve of Dec. 6. So begins the German holiday season.

The Germans were the first to decorate trees indoors. They used apples, sacramental wafers, candles, gold foil, paper roses and sweets. Through the years the fruit was replaced by decorative balls. Cookies cut in a variety of shapes replaced the wafers.

The use of tinsel began with this lovely story:

Late one Christmas Eve, a mother decorated a tree to surprise her poor family. During the night, a spider wove a web around the tree. The wed turned to silver in approval of the mother's goodness.

In Greece, housewives bake a Christopsomo (Christ Bread) decorated with elaborate frosted ornaments, usually representing some aspect of the family's occupation. In part of the country, the Christmas bread is decorated with an olive sprig on which are hung oranges and dried apples.

The Christopsomo is displayed until Epiphany and then eaten. Basil plays an important role in the Greek household at Christmas time. Housewives keep leaves of basil alive in water until Christmas comes. Then they put a sprig of the basil on a wooden cross. They dip the cross into water and sprinkle it around the house to guard their home from goblins.

In Switzerland, children place their shoes or clogs on the kitchen hearth or outside their bedroom door. In the morning they find them filled with nuts, sweets and oranges. We could begin this tradition here in this country with children. Shoes do not necessarily have to be wooden -- just let them place their own shoes by the fireplace, under the Christmas tree or outside their bedroom door. They will love the fun of a surprise.

In Wales, it was believed that you would cause a family quarrel if you brought holly indoors before Christmas, and leaving holly hung indoors after the Twelfth Night would bring bad luck.

Christmas trees have come to us from Germany, where they have been part of the holiday for centuries. One legend, so familiar, says Martin Luther saw a snow laden evergreen gleaming in the moonlight while walking in the woods on Christmas Eve and tried to simulate it in his home with a small fir tree and candles.

Whatever the origin, whether it be a cedar, balsam, fir or pine, the tree has become a worldwide sign of the holiday. In some places like Iceland, they do not naturally have many trees, they make their own artificial trees and decorate them to add to the Christmas spirit.

Even in Thailand, a predominately Buddhist country, western influence has led to decorating potted Norfolk Island pines.

Christmas inspires interesting customs and traditions in families. It may be a wooden thread spool, covered with colored aluminum foil from kindergarten days, the children's story of "The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson, or reading the Christmas Story from the Bible, as has been the tradition in our family since our grandsons entered the world.

Mary Blue resides in Cape Girardeau and is an avid gardener.