Just as Victorians were fascinated by Christmas traditions of the past, they were also fascinated by the ways in which the holiday was celebrated in other parts of the world. This section looks at Christmas as it was celebrated outside the traditional Victorian home - whether "outside" was in the cold snows of Russia or battling the heat and mosquitoes in Australia!

A Christmas Scene in Madrid (Cassell's Family Paper, 1859)

A very short article with a nice illustration.

Arctic Festivities (Leisure Hour, 1860)

Christmas celebrations aboard a ship in the Arctic.

Beffania (Illustrated London Almanack, 1863)

Brief description of an Italian Twelfth-Night Custom

Christmas in the North (Demorest, 1873)

Christmas traditions in Scandinavia and Russia.

Christmas in the Far West, by W.H. Wiltshire (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1878)

What Christmas was like on the bleak, empty, freezing Kansas prairie (illustrated with a picture of a log cabin surrounded by heavy woods!).

St. Nicholas's Eve in Belgium (Demorest 1879)

In Belgium, the visit of St. Nicholas on December 6 is far more significant than Christmas Day!

Uncle Gilbert's Return, or, Christmas Decoration of the Home (Girl's Own Paper, 1885)

A look at a Christmas celebration in Canada.

Christmas in a French Boarding School (Girl's Own Paper, 1887)

Christmas in the German Fatherland (Girl's Own Paper, 1887)

A look at a traditional German Christmas Eve ceremony.

Christmas in Italy (Girl's Own Paper, 1887)

Christmas celebrated in an Italian villa.

How I Spent Christmas in the Fatherland (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1888)

A look at Victorian-era Christmas customs in Germany.

The Worries of a New Chum, by Rev. Frederick Hastings (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1890)

Christmas on the other side of the world -- in Australia, where one is more concerned with mosquitoes than snow!

Christmas in Norway (Girl's Own Paper, 1891)

Big picture, small article!

Reminiscences of Christmas, by an Anglo-Canadian (Girl's Own Paper, 1891)

Reminiscences of Christmas in London and in Canada.

Christmas Customs Here and Elsewhere, by William Cowan (Girl's Own Paper, 1895)

Customs "elsewhere" include the feast of onions, the dragging of the bachelors, the Polish "Christmas-guest," and the hunting of the wren.

Popular Christmas Festivities in Naples (Girl's Own Paper, 1896)

Christmas Day Festivities in Italy (Girl's Own Paper, 1897)

The Christmas Kalends of Provence, by Thomas A. Janvier (Century Magazine, 1897A)

A long but fascinating article on how Christmas was celebrated in Victorian-era Provence, from the gift of grain to St. Barbara to the offering of the lamb on Christmas Eve.

Summer at Christmas-Tide [in Jamaica], by Julian Hawthorne (Century Magazine, 1897A)

Merry Christmas in the Tenements, by Jacob Riis (Century Magazine, 1898A)

A charming look at how Christmas is celebrated by members of many different ethnic groups (and especially the children) in the New York tenements.

Christmas at the Front, by W.B. Wollen, R.I. (Cassell's, 1900)

A reminiscence of Christmas at Modder River, South Africa.

Christmas in Old Germany, by Constance Hill (Sunday Strand, 1902)