Christmas around the world

The day after Christmas is Boxing Day, originally a day for presenting gifts to postmen and employees, now a day for visiting friends and family and recovering from the excesses of Christmas Day.

Ray Moseley, based in London for 17 years as the Chicago Tribune's chief European correspondent, is now retired — in London — and still insists on mince pies for Christmas.

---

Istanbul: Joy in a Holiday Not Their Own

By Catherine Collins

One of the best things about celebrating Christmas in a Muslim country is that the weeks leading up to the holiday are not inundated by electronic versions of "Here Comes Santa Claus."

Every year, midnight mass is celebrated in St. Anthony of Padua Church on Istiklal Street in the historic Beyoglu district of Istanbul, with twice as many Muslims in attendance as Christians. Some pray in the Islamic way, with hands open to God. Some make the sign of the cross. Others simply burn candles and make wishes, wanting to participate in some small way in the magic of a holiday not their own.

"St. Anthony's is a church that doesn't belong only to the Christians," said Burak Senbak, a secular Muslim, who has attended the mass and likes to keep an eye on, and an equal distance from, all religions.

One of the holiday traditions that fascinate Istanbulites most belongs to the Orthodox Greek community. Every year, on Jan. 6, the Greeks celebrate the Epiphany Feast, or the baptism of Christ, by throwing a wooden cross into the several local bodies of water — Golden Horn, the Marmara Sea and the Bosporous — after prayer services. Then, young men leap into the frigid waters and race to retrieve the cross. Whoever gets there first is rewarded with a small gold cross on a chain. If the cross is not recovered, it is considered a bad omen.

Last year, a Muslim woman, Suna Yavuz, participated in the ceremony for the first time. Yavuz was quoted in the Turkish newspapers as saying afterwards, "My Greek friends congratulate me every Bayram (an Islamic holiday), and I have congratulated their feast this time."

While reporting for the Chicago Tribune from Istanbul for the last three years, Catherine Collins has tracked down a real tree each Christmas, though she has yet to find a source for candy canes.

---

Rome: Celebrating Across the Centuries

By Michael McGuire