Contact Point’s Christmas calendar visited 24 international Christmas tables

We published the Christmas calendar on Facebook and Twitter. If you forgot to follow the journey on social media, don’t worry: you can still explore the atmosphere at Christmas tables worldwide.

Also, remember to check out country-specific information on health services at EU-healthcare.fi when planning to travel. The country-specific pages contain reliable information about the health services, access to treatment, fees, reimbursements and health care authorities of more than 50 countries.

Contact Point wishes everyone a happy New Year!

A peek at 24 Christmas tables around the world:

1. At a Danish Christmas table, you can savour traditional roasted duck, pickled red cabbage and potatoes.
2. How about a warm cabbage stew called Bigos after a winter outing? This Polish national dish is also traditionally served at the Christmas table.
3. The Christmas table also offers desserts to crown the meal. A Chilean Christmas table includes a sweet Christmas cake called Pan de Pascua.
4. Seafood and turkey are enjoyed at the Christmas table in the Canary Islands. You don’t need wool socks here: daytime temperatures rise to over 20 degrees.
5. On Christmas, friends and relatives gather together. In Iceland, board games and puzzles are played at the Christmas table.
6. On Finnish Independence Day, the banquet table is decorated with two candles. You can taste blueberries in the blue and white pastries. Happy Independence Day!
7. In Austria, Christmas cookies are part of the Christmas dinner. You get to dip your fingers in the dough and bake a big pile of different kinds of biscuits.
8. Christmas crackers are part of the English Christmas dinner. Traditional Christmas crackers contain a toy, joke or riddle, and a paper crown.
9. Large grey peas with bacon are a classic Latvian Christmas table dish.
10. In Romania, children go door-to-door singing Christmas carols. Then, they sit down at the Christmas table to enjoy, for example, Cozonac bread.
11. In the United States, the Christmas table is full of delicacies. Decorative red and white candy sticks also serve as a tasty dessert for the children.
12. In Germany, the table is decorated with an Advent wreath. People sing Christmas carols in the candlelight and feast on hot chocolate and Stollen Christmas bread.
13. In France, a beautiful table setting is as important as the food. The serving includes, for example, oysters, foie gras, smoked salmon, turkey and a yule log for dessert.
14. The flashing red poinsettia flower is the eye-catcher on the Christmas table. The flower is indigenous to Central America and Mexico.
15. Italian Christmas includes sweet and spiced Panettone bread often given as a gift to friends and relatives on the eve of Christmas. Panettone is enjoyed after the Christmas night mass with sparkling wine.
16. It’s barbeque time! In the warmth of Australia, Christmas is celebrated on the beach with friends and family over barbecue treats.
17. A traditional Estonian Christmas meal includes blood sausages, jellied head cheese and sauerkraut.
18. In Norway, gnomes known as ‘nisse’ or ‘tomte’ have their own Christmas table. Bowls full of porridge are left outside for the gnomes that are said to look after the domestic animals.
19. In Canada, the star of the Christmas table is a stuffed turkey with side dishes. For dessert, Nanaimo bars.
20. In Slovakia, Christmas dessert also predicts the future. A spoonful of Lokša pudding is thrown at the ceiling: the more that sticks, the better the luck.
21. Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii or Kentucky for Christmas – fried chicken on Christmas is a Japanese tradition that causes queues in front of fast-food restaurants.
22. Bulgarians feast on vegetarian food on Christmas Eve, with an odd number of dishes set on the table. Nuts are always a part of a Bulgarian Christmas table.
23. Carp is a symbol of Christmas in Czech and the highlight of the Christmas table. However, the Christmas carp is not always eaten: it can also be released back into the wild.
24. Dopparedagen is an alternative name for Christmas Eve in Swedish. It refers to the old tradition of dipping dry bread pieces in Christmas ham broth on that day.