The holidays may bring universal feelings of joy, but they are celebrated differently around the world. Both foreign exchange students sent from Sandpoint High School and foreign exchange students currently attending SHS are experiencing new traditions regarding the holiday season.

SHS students Tanner Kohal and Aaron Cole are both experiencing the holidays in entirely new ways.

Kohal is in Sweden having a unique holiday experience and Cole is being exposed to the traditions of Germany.

According to Kohal, Sweden is beginning to adopt American traditions.

“Things like Halloween and Black Friday […] haven’t been a thing until the last two to three years, but this year both were pretty publicized,” Kohal said.

Kohal also found that Sweden had a lot of Christmas traditions that began earlier due to the fact that they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

Cole says that public decorations and shopping traditions are very elaborate. “Instead [of Thanksgiving], they set up Weihnachtsmarkts (translates to “Christmas Market”) in most larger cities which is a huge fair with Christmas foods right downtown,” Cole said.

Cole also mentioned that a major difference between Sandpoint and Germany was the lack of snow.

“We don’t get very much snow in the area because the North Sea warms the clouds in this part of the country,” he said.

It is not just SHS students that are facing the holiday season in different ways; foreign exchange students visiting SHS are also being introduced to a new culture.

For foreign exchange student Greta Caratozzolo, the holidays are different in America than they are in Italy. In Italy, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, and she states that Halloween is not as popular. However, the celebration of Christmas is still something Italy and the US have in common, and Caratozzolo’s favorite holiday tradition involves her family.

“On the 24th we have a huge family dinner, and we are all together, and we open our gifts,” Caratozzolo said.

It seems that no matter the country, family is a large part of the joy and magic of the holiday season.

For Moritz Berke, the presents and the market are the most significant difference  between Christmas in the States and in Germany.

“The biggest difference is that you get your presents on the 25th, and we get our presents on the 24th in the evening after dinner, and we also have big Christmas Markets,” said Berke. “You can buy presents for your family and they have lots of good food.”

In Germany, these Christmas markets are a major part of the holiday season.

People celebrate the holidays in different ways from country to country, city to city, town to town, and even just family to family. Yet no matter your traditions, everyone has the opportunity to experience different traditions and begin new ones.