How do you celebrate parties in your country? Which traditions do you have?
By Porcospino
@Porcospino (31366)
Denmark
September 12, 2010 12:30pm CST
Today I went to a party at the nursing home where my grandmother lives. It was a traditional Danish party with 3 courses, songs, music etc. At that kind of parties we often a get drink before dinner (for instanse champagne or white wine) and when everyone has arrived we sit down at the table.
The first course is usually a fish dish or some time kind of soup, and the second course is some kind of meat, potatos and vegetables. For dessert we often have ice cream or cheese. After the dessert we get coffee and cookies, chocolate etc.
While we drink coffee it is often possible to dance. At many parties there is a musician who plays while we are eating. Sometimes he plays songs where we are supposed to sing along and sometimes some of the guests hand out copies of songs that they have written (especially at birthday parties, weddings or similar parties) and then we sing the songs together. When the party is almost over we get the last dish which is called "night food" or "get lost food" (nickname).
Of course there are some variations, but Danish parties often follow the traditions I just described. The older generations follow the traditions more often than young people.
How you celebrate parties (for instanse birthday parties) in your country? Which tradtions do you have about food, drinks, music etc?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@gdesjardin (1918)
• United States
13 Sep 10
In the US people are from so many backgrounds, and heritages, the parties can be as unique as the people. For birthday parties, children's parties can be at McDonalds or as fancy as a sit down party with several courses. They can also be inside or outside. I have been to a wide range of children's parties. I have been to some at local fastfood places, where they have a party room. I have also been to restaurants that are specific for children's parties. The have large play areas for the children to play and they usually have pizza and cake for the children. I have also been to bar-be-ques outside where they have hamburgers and hotdogs for the children, and the children play outside. Then there have been the more formal sit down dinners for the children. However, the more formal birthday parties I have been to are more for adults and usually when they are having a more milestone birthday like 50, 75, etc.
@rockydam83 (846)
• Italy
13 Sep 10
I am a Muslim from Pakistan and now a days we are Celebrating Eid. We have 2 major events in a year one is Ramadan Eid and 2nd one is we called Eid -ul-Azha means eid of sacrifice. Currently we are celebrating Ramadan Eid.In this Eid we keep fasting for a whole month and after that we celebrate Eid. On this Eid day we offer our Eid prayers early in the morning and then cook sweet dishes like noodles and sweet rice (we call it "KHEER" in our regional language) and buy sweet meats from market to offer our visitors. Then we visit our relatives and friends on their homes or they come to us and as a tradition our young children ask for money from elders and they have to pay them cash and currency notes should be brand new (we call it Eidee). The most important part of Eid is that every one emphasises to prepare sweet dishes for visitors and I myslef some times fade of eat sweet again and again.
2nd Eid we celebrate is the major event of the year on this Eid we offer Eid prayer first and the sacrifice an animal according to every ones financial range. Then we distribute the meat into the poors and relatives of our surroundings. This Eid's main message is to share our wealth and good food with the poor of the society. On this Eid we distribute the meat to the poor and try to share their burdens financially and emotionally. Another thing i want to share is that maybe you think that sharing meat is not a big deal because its a regular food item available in market but here in our asian region and i think as much i know in Arab region Meat is a high price food item and a common man cant afford to eat meat even 2 or 3 times a week. So on this Eid meat is offered to all peoples free of cost to eat a good, healthy and fresh meat of different natures.
Every religion and culture have its own traditions and styles to celebrate their events but now a days world is becoming a global village and every one is converting towards a global culture and style of celebrations of events. Older peoples are trying to follow the traditional style but the new generation is always follows the new global media generated style BUT i think we should try to keep alive our traditional style too with modern day rock style Coz that traditions are our identity.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
13 Sep 10
Thank you for your detailed response. It was interesting to read about your celebrations, and you told me several things that I didn't know. We also have some celebrations in my country, but they are different from yours. Yes, today we live in a global society and in many ways that is different from life in the past. The parties that I described are common among the older generation, but young people tend to do things in a different way. The food at the traditional parties is traditional Danish food, but young people often prefer foreign food instead, and there are other differences as well.
@Downwindz (2537)
• Netherlands
12 Sep 10
See now it is very different in the Netherlands, but yet some aspects are alike, it also depends on family traditions.... I find it hard to explain because im getting mixed cultured....
But my family are also Danish and it indeed sounds exactly like the birthday parties of my grandmother when she used to be alive :)
1 person likes this
@32FlavorsAndThenSome (149)
• Philippines
12 Sep 10
This is really interesting. Nice to know something new, like the traditions in your country. We usually have small parties to celebrate birthdays and we don't follow traditions. We usually serve pasta, fried chicken, desserts. The wealthier ones serve roasted pigs. Now, karaoke has become a trend so you usually hear people singing their hearts out during these special occasions.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
12 Sep 10
Pasta, fried chicken and dessert sound delicious. In my country some people also eat roasted pig at parties, but we have never had that in my family. Karaoke isn't that popular in Denmark I think. It exists, but at the traditional parties we usually sing together. We either sing the traditional birthday songs, party songs or songs that the guests have written. Sometimes those songs are hard to sing, because they weren't written by professional songwriters, but we try our best.
