New Year according to Western traditions

Christmas is approaching, and everyone starts wondering - how to decorate the house? Some prefer old traditions, others use creativity and imagination, and some just want something new for their usual apartment.

Photo 1 – Decorate the front door with a New Year wreath

What about the West?

Let's consider a way to decorate the house in the Western style. A wreath, a full tree, glowing lights, stockings under the fireplace... Just like in old British and American Christmas movies.

By the way, the main holiday in Europe is not New Year as it is for us, but Christmas itself. New Year is just its natural continuation.

To be honest, I always loved old family Christmas films from childhood. They were full of warmth, anticipation of magic and celebration.

Photo 2 – Christmas stockings wait for gifts from Santa Claus

Let's get back to our topic, that is, decorating the house.

Let's start with windows. According to ancient traditions, people in Great Britain decorated their windows with candles on Christmas Eve. Often, these candles were elaborately decorated. So you can show your creativity and avoid just putting out regular white candles, but instead decorate them with foil, ribbons, paint or tulle. The most important thing is not to leave them unattended during the celebration.

Another well-known tradition is a wreath. People kiss under it, which, to say the least, is quite pleasant. Usually, a wreath made of holly is hung over the door. However, it's quite difficult to find a whole holly branch in our latitudes, rather than just medicinal herbs. But it is possible. Alternatively, you can choose a stylized decoration resembling this evergreen plant, or a drawing, or make one from available materials (for example, using felt, wire and green paint). Or simply craft a wreath from pine branches for the front door, decorating it with cones, bells and Christmas balls.

Photo 3 – Christmas stockings wait for gifts from Santa Claus

Remember about teeth: in New Year pies, coins and buttons are baked

An indispensable decoration for the festive table will be a pie with baked-in symbols: a bean – for good luck, a button – for poverty, a ring – for marriage, a coin – for wealth. Although... you can exclude the button.

Christmas stockings for gifts are traditionally hung over the fireplace so Santa Claus can easily reach them when he climbs out of the chimney. However, if you live in a regular apartment and don't even have an electric fireplace, don't despair. You can hang the stockings on the Christmas tree instead. By the way, you can buy them in almost any supermarket during the pre-Christmas period. Yes, I almost forgot – if you want gifts, don't forget to leave some food for Santa and his faithful reindeer before going to sleep.

Photo 4 – Candles – one of the traditions of Western Christmas

Christmas tree in English style: angels, nuts and candles

Christmas tree. A Christmas tree in the ideal case should be huge. But again, not everyone lives in palaces. So you can settle for a small one. However, it's better to buy a real green beauty and enjoy the festive scent of fir needles. Of course, earlier the tree was decorated with burning candles, but for safety reasons you can do without them and use LED lights instead. In England, the tree is also decorated with angel figures, packets of nuts and sweets.

Glittering lights can also be strung around the room perimeter, and then you can celebrate only in their glow.

Are you ready? You can now start celebrating!