Pantos are humorous, slapstick entertainment for the whole family, often featuring men dressed in drag. They are sometimes based on a famous fairy tale or story, like "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," or "The Wizard of Oz." 

Pantomimes rely on specific tropes. For example, there's often a villain who will sneak up on the protagonist intermittently throughout the play. It's then the role of the audience to scream, "He's behind you!" to the main character while he or she struggles to figure out what's going on.

A traditional British roast dinner wouldn't be complete without Yorkshire puddings filled with Bisto or homemade gravy. Yorkshire puddings — not to be confused with sweet puddings — are made of eggs, flour, and milk or water.

After they're cooked in hot oil in the oven, they end up with a distinct hole in the middle. They closely resemble what Americans know as popovers.

While Yorkshire puddings are commonplace at Sunday dinners throughout the year, they're also eaten at Christmastime, though some argue they have no place on a Christmas plate.

While some do refer to old Saint Nick as Santa Claus in the UK, it is widely accepted that Father Christmas is his more traditionally British name.

"Santa Claus" is seen as an Americanism, and The Telegraph reported that even the British National Trust said that "Santa Claus should be known as 'Father Christmas' in stately homes and historic buildings because the name is more British."

In America, Christmas stockings are hung by the fireplace with care. However, some British children hang their stockings at the ends of their beds for Father Christmas to fill up while they're sleeping. 

Thanksgiving weekend is seen as an opportunity in the United States for students to reunite with friends from high school or middle school. In the UK, it's a tradition for school friends to come together on Christmas Eve, often at the local bar or pub.

A Christmas pudding is a dense fruit cake often made weeks or even months in advance. This time allows the dried fruit to soak up alcohol that's regularly poured onto the cake in the weeks before it's consumed.

On Christmas, the cake is set alight and then topped with a sauce of brandy butter or rum butter, cream, lemon cream, ice cream, custard, or sweetened béchamel. It is also sometimes sprinkled with caster or powdered sugar.

For many years, Queen Elizabeth II even gifted each member of her staff a Christmas pudding from Tesco.

While fruit cake is certainly a polarizing dessert wherever you are, Brits seem to make it a little better with thick, sweet white icing. Oftentimes, Christmas cake also comes topped with festive holly decorations. 

The BBC reported that the first-known mince-pie recipe dates back to an 1830s-era English cookbook. By the mid-17th century, people reportedly began associating the small pies with Christmas.

At the time, they were traditionally filled with pork or other kinds of meat, sage, and other spices. Nowadays, the pies are filled with dried fruits and sugar powder.

The perfect accompaniment to Christmas pudding and mince pies, brandy butter consists of butter and sugar beaten together before brandy is added. Rum butter is an alternative.

The result is still butter-like in consistency, and it's served cold alongside desserts. Americans might know it as "hard sauce."

You might remember a scene from the first "Harry Potter" movie in which Ron says, "Happy Christmas, Harry!" While this may sound strange to an American, saying "Happy Christmas" is commonplace in the UK, as opposed to "Merry Christmas." 

Christmas crackers are often pulled at the start of the meal, and the paper hats found inside are worn throughout the meal. Also inside each cracker is a "banger," which makes a loud pop when the cracker is pulled, a joke, and a small prize.

The jokes are usually cheesy and festive. For example: "Why did Santa's helper go to the doctor? Because he had low elf esteem!" 

However, be sure not to pack them if you're traveling to or from the UK on an airplane — they're not permitted to go through TSA in carry-on luggage.

On Christmas, the BBC usually runs a holiday special of the since-retired show "Top of the Pops," which features performances from the year's most popular musicians.

The program ran weekly from 1964 until 2006, when it was canceled. People were so upset that the BBC decided to keep the Christmas special, which airs late in the morning on December 25.

Every year, families gather to watch the royal Christmas address, informally known as the Queen's or King's speech.

The Telegraph reported that the first Christmas address was 251 words long, but Queen Elizabeth II later came to average 656 words in each speech. It is often one of the most-watched television programs on Christmas Day in the UK.

While Super Bowl commercials are highly scrutinized in the US, Brits pay just as close attention to Christmas commercials.

Not only is the John Lewis ad, or "advert," a Christmas tradition, but almost every supermarket and clothing brand tries to get in on the buzz with a talked-about Christmas commercial.

The British "Christmas No. 1" has been a tradition for over half a century. Starting in 1952, the top song on the British singles chart has been a coveted spot every Christmas. Christmas No. 1 alums include The Beatles, Queen, Ed Sheeran, and more.

While some Christmas No. 1s have indeed been Christmas songs — "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid II in 1989, for example — they don't have to be.

While religious elementary schools in the United States may put on nativity plays, they are arguably much more popular and part of the culture in Britain.

In the popular British Christmas movie "Love Actually," the characters even attend a Christmas nativity play.

Boxing Day is typically called British Black Friday, but there are some differences between the holidays. Boxing Day, which is a public holiday in the UK, falls the day after Christmas and has a rich cultural history in Great Britain.

Originating in the mid-1600s, the day was traditionally a day off for servants. On this day, servants would receive a "Christmas Box," or gift, from their master. The servants would then return home on Boxing Day to give "Christmas Boxes" to their families.

Another difference between US and UK Christmas customs comes after all of the festivities have ended. 

In the UK, it's tradition to take down your tree and decorations 12 days after Christmas — known as Twelfth Night — to avoid bad luck in the new year.

In the Anglican tradition, Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, is the day before Epiphany, which celebrates the coming of the Magi to baby Jesus and marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas. 

The Christmas season in the Philippines lasts for almost half the year.

Decorations start going up in September, and the holiday fervor doesn't end until the first Sunday in January.

Many people hang up paper lanterns called paróls and eat a big family meal on Noche Buena, or Christmas Eve.  

In Japan, Christmas is celebrated in a more secular way than in other predominantly Christian countries.

It's considered a romantic day for couples, and many Japanese families treat themselves to what has become the traditional Christmas meal: a bucket of KFC fried chicken.

Christmas in Poland is celebrated with gift-giving, church services, and fasting on Christmas Eve before a 12-dish feast, which usually features carp for good luck. 

Most people simply buy a cut of fish from the market, but the old tradition was for the lady of the house to keep a live carp in the bathtub for a few days before preparing it for the Christmas meal. 

This tradition is also popular in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and Croatia.

In Finland (and many other countries around the globe), St. Lucia Day on December 13 is one of the main events of the holiday season.

On this date, the eldest girl in each family sometimes dons a white robe and a crown of candles before serving her family buns, cookies, coffee, or mulled wine to kick off the holiday season. 

On Christmas Eve, many Finnish families visit the sauna to relax or go to cemeteries to remember loved ones who have died before attending midnight mass. 

For Christmas lunch, the traditional meal is a porridge containing a hidden almond — although it's likely that this originated in Sweden. Whoever finds the almond will have good luck for the rest of the year.

Rather than hanging Christmas stockings over the fireplace, families in the UK typically place them at the foot of their beds.

On Christmas Day, families break open crackers filled with small toys, jokes, and paper crowns — which are traditionally worn throughout the midday Christmas meal. 

The reigning monarch gives an annual broadcast speech on Christmas Day, during which they discuss what the holiday means to them. 

Boxing Day, December 26, is also a national holiday in the UK.

Like many places around the world, some Croatian families celebrate Christmas with an Advent wreath made of straw or evergreen.

The wreath has four colored candles that symbolize hope, peace, joy, and love.

On the night of December 5, children in Croatia make sure to clean their boots and place them by the window for St. Nicholas to fill with treats. However, naughty kids might only receive a few twigs from the Christmas monster, Krampus.

Christmas Eve is typically celebrated with a light, seafood dinner in preparation for the heavier feast on Christmas Day, complete with roasted meats and poppyseed rolls. 

Greece is primarily a Greek Orthodox nation, and in addition to attending midnight church services on Christmas, families might also keep their fires burning or sprinkle holy water from a basil-wrapped cross to ward off the "kallikantzaroi" — evil creatures that creep into homes through the chimney and cause mischief.

Around Christmas, many Greek cities also hold a festival called the Night of Wishes where people gather to make wishes and release paper lanterns into the sky. 

Some holiday traditions in Greece also include making Christopsomo (Christmas bread) and decorating boats.

Since December is a summer month in the southern hemisphere, most of Australia is bathed in balmy temps during the holidays.

Accordingly, those in Australia frequently celebrate Christmas with a lunchtime barbecue on the beach. Friends and family gather to indulge in prawns, lobster, and sweets before playing a game of cricket or taking a dip.

In Argentina, many families put up their Christmas trees on December 8 — the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary — and decorate them with cotton balls to look like snow. 

Fireworks are typically launched at midnight on Christmas Eve after a late dinner, and families with children also often light paper lanterns to send into the sky.

Some people continue the festivities and attend overnight parties, so Christmas Day is usually a more relaxed holiday in the country. 

Like many Orthodox countries, Ukraine uses the Julian calendar for its church festivals. This means some individuals there celebrate Christmas on January 7 rather than December 25.

Whenever the festivities begin, it's traditional to delay eating Christmas dinner until the first star in the sky is spotted.

Caroling in the streets and Vertep, the Ukrainian puppet theater, are also common holiday traditions.

Families in the US often leave cookies and milk out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve in the hopes that they wake up to presents under the tree and in their stockings, which are hung by the fireplace.

Many families also have Christmas dinner complete with ham or roast beef and eggnog.

Cities typically put up lights and other decorations, and it's common for families to do the same in front of their own houses. 

In New York City, people who celebrate Christmas often look forward to traditions like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree or the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. 

Rather than unwrapping goodies on Christmas Day, most families in Spain open their presents on January 6, or Epiphany, which is the day that the three wise men are said to have brought gifts to the infant Jesus.

Many families in Spain decorate their houses with ornate nativity scenes and enjoy a seafood feast on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

There's also an annual Christmas lottery, called El Gordo ("The Big One"), which is the biggest of its kind. The grand event has roots tracing back to the 1800s.

Much of the holiday celebration in Brazil takes place on December 24, when families and friends will often get together for a party that includes ringing in Christmas at midnight. 

The holiday feast, which is typically eaten on Christmas Eve, is usually packed with hearty portions of pork, ham, rice, nuts, and fruits.

A version of Secret Santa called "Amigo Secreto" is also popular for gift-giving. 

Although Hinduism is the prominent religion in India, the country also has a large population of Christians — which means Christmas is still widely celebrated. 

The holiday is usually observed by attending midnight mass and sharing a meal (and plenty of festive sweets) with family and neighbors.

Like many other festivals and holidays in the country, many towns and cities decorate for Christmas with plenty of lights, streamers, and flowers. 

Families might also hang mango leaves, star-shaped paper lanterns, or nativity scenes outside their homes. Inside, some people even decorate mango or banana trees.

Instead of waking up to presents under the tree, many families in India pack up boxes of sweets on Christmas morning and take them to their neighbors and friends. 

In Russia, New Year's Eve is usually the day of celebration complete with a New Year tree and a visit from the Slavic character Father Frost, who leaves unwrapped presents for children. 

On January 7, some Russian households enjoy a meatless Christmas feast that traditionally includes 12 dishes representing the 12 apostles. 

One Latvian Christmas tradition involves reciting a poem, playing an instrument, or singing a song in exchange for receiving one of your presents.

Christmas markets that sell foods, drinks, and gifts are also popular in the country, and it claims to be the home of the first decorated Christmas tree.

One of the oldest recorded uses of an evergreen tree to celebrate Christmas dates back to the year 1510 in Riga, the country's capital, though it's hard to know if it was indeed the first use of the tradition.

In Kenya, families often see family for Christmas. Many attend midnight Christmas vigils and indulge in a big meal that often includes goat, sheep, and rice.

Instead of evergreen trees, those in Kenya sometimes decorate cypress trees or local evergreen trees with lights and ornaments. 

Though Pakistan is a predominantly Islamic country, Christians often celebrate Christmas by caroling with family and friends or setting up a Nativity scene in their homes and churches.

On Christmas Day, some families attend Bara Din celebrations at church. This festive event calls for spending time with family and feasting on delicious food.

Children carol house to house in Romania, receiving traditional sweets and cakes in return for their efforts.

In some parts of the country, it's also traditional for one person to dress up as a goat with a colorful mask and cause mischief among the carolers. However, in other parts, a similar tradition exists but with one caroler dressing up as a bear. 

On Christmas Eve, many families start decorating their trees and hanging mistletoe in their houses for good luck. 

In Germany, preparing for Christmas often includes strolling through markets while sipping mulled wine. 

Families also decorate their trees with angel ornaments and light candles in their windows. 

A few traditional holiday desserts include stollen, a cake filled with dried fruit and sprinkled with powdered sugar, and lebkuchen, a large spiced cookie that often features a message written in frosting. 

Christmas in France usually involves strolling through festive markets and cutting into a lavishly decorated bûche de Noël cake.

An actual Yule log is also often burned in the fireplace on Christmas Eve after being sprinkled with red wine to make it smell even nicer.

The holiday feast, called le réveillon de Noël, is typically eaten around midnight on Christmas Day, and in some parts of France, it's traditional to eat 13 different desserts.

This story was originally published in December 2018, and most recently updated on December 17, 2024.

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