- English:
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
- Polish: Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia! Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!
- Ukrainian: З Різдвом Христовим (Z Rizdvom Khrystovym)! З Hовим Pоком (Z Novym Rokom)!
- German: Frohe Weinachten! Gutes Neues Jahr!
- French: Joyeux Noël! Bonne Année!
- Russian: Счастливого Рождества (Schastlivogo Rozhdestva)! С новым годом (S Novym Godom)!
- Spanish: Feliz Navidad! Feliz Año Nuevo!
- Italian: Buon Natale! Felice Anno Nuovo!
- Portuguese: Feliz Natal! Feliz Ano Novo!
- Dutch: Vrolijk kerstfeest
- Romanian: Crăciun fericit! Un an nou fericit!
- Swedish: God Jul! Gott nytt år!
- Czech: Veselé Vánoce! Šťastný Nový rok!
- Japanese: Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Meri Kurisumasu'. And it's written in the two Japanese scripts like this; Hiragana: めりーくりすます; Katakana: メリークリスマス. /Happy New Year: Akemashiteomedetōgozaimasu (明けましておめでとうございます)
You can also say “Wesołych Świąt ”:
- English: Happy Holidays
- Ukrainian: Веселого Різдва (Veseloho Rizdva)
- French: Joyeuses fêtes
- German: Frohes Fest
- Russian: Счастливых праздников (Schastlivykh prazdnikov)
- Spanish: Felices fiestas
- Italian: Buone Feste
- Portuguese: Felizes Festas
- Dutch: Fijne feestdagen
- Romanian: Sărbători fericite
- Swedish: Glad helg
- Czech: Hezké svátky
- Japanese: Happīhoridē (ハッピーホリデー)
- Polish: Wesołych Świąt! :)
Christmas in Japan (https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/japan.shtml)
- celebrated in Japan for the last few decades
- not a religious holiday (there aren't many Christians in Japan)
- several customs came to Japan from the USA such as sending and receiving Christmas Cards and Presents are popular
- time to spread happiness rather than a religious celebration
- Christmas Eve is often celebrated more than Christmas Day
- Christmas Eve is thought of as a romantic day, in which couples spend together and exchange presents (like Valentine's Day)
- booking a table on Christmas Eve can be very difficult
- fried chicken is often eaten on Christmas Day
- The traditional Japanese Christmas food is Christmas cake
- Japanese Christmas cake is a sponge cake decorated with trees, flowers and a figure of Santa Claus
- the 'shortcake' emoji [🍰] is Japanese Christmas cake!
- Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan
- often schools are closed on Christmas Day (The Emperor's birthday is a national holiday on the 23rd December and there's also a New Year school break. So the holiday break often starts around the 23rd)
- 25th is a 'normal' working day
- Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and its final act the "Ode to Joy" is especially famous around Christmas and the end of the year in Japan - it's simply known as 'daiku' (which means 'number nine')
- a popular activity at Christmas in Japan, especially in Tokyo, is visiting Tokyo Disneyland and seeing all the decorations and the parades
- New Year is a very big celebration in Japan
- parties are often held for children, with games and dancing
- in Japan Santa is known as サンタさん、サンタクロース santa-san (Mr Santa)
- another Japanese gift bringer is Hoteiosho, a Japanese god of good fortune from Buddhism and not really related to Christmas
- the Japanese New Year (called 'o shogatsu') is more like a traditional Western Christmas
- New Year is the period where families get together, have a special meal, pray and send greetings cards
Read more: https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/japan.shtml
Christmas in Ukraine (https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/ukraine.shtml)
- Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated on the 7th January is because, like many countries where the main Church is the Orthodox Church, they use the old 'Julian' calendar for their church festivals
- in Ukrainian Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Веселого Різдва' Veseloho Rizdva (Merry Christmas) or 'Христос Рождається' Khrystos Rozhdayetsia (Christ is Born)
- the main Christmas meal, called 'Sviata Vecheria' (or Holy Supper) is eaten on Christmas Eve (6th January).
- traditionally people fast (don't eat anything) all day but you might start the day drinking some holy water that has been blessed at church
- you can't start eating the meal until the first star is seen in the sky.
- the meal normally has 12 dishes which represent Jesus's 12 disciples.
- traditionally the dishes don't have any meat, eggs or milk in them.
- the main dish is often 'kutia' a type of a kind of sweet porridge made of wheat.
- other dishes can include mushrooms, sauerkraut, red ‘borsch’ (beet soup), dumplings known as 'varenyky' (pierogi), 'holopchi' (cabbage rolls, make without meat in them at Christmas!), 'pyrizhky' (cabbage buns), whitefish and 'kolach' (special Christmas bread)
- the room where Sviata Vecheria is eaten normally has a Didukh decoration placed in it. The Didukh is a made from a sheaf of wheat and symbolises the large wheat fields in Ukraine. It literally means 'grandfather spirit' and can represent people's ancestors being with them in their memories. Sometimes people use some heads of wheat in a vase rather than a whole sheaf of wheat
- after the meal, people love to sing carols or 'Koliadky'
- people sometimes carry brightly colored stars on poles when they go caroling singin
- St Nicholas (known as Svyatyi Mykolai) visits children in Ukraine on December 19th which is also when Ukraine celebrates St Nicholas's Day.
- Making paper snowflakes to put on the tree or in windows are a popular decoration. In parts of western Ukraine, Christmas Trees are often decorated with artificial spider's webs because of the story of The Christmas Spider.
Źródła:
https://www.itcglobaltranslations.com/say-merry-christmas-in-10-different-languages/
https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/japan.shtml
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=t%C5%82umacz
