How do Americans exchange gifts? Who’s the Grinch? And how do parents get their kids to be on their best behavior? Leading up to the holidays, Americans use many unfamiliar words and phrases to describe traditions and feelings associated with the season. More often than not, these phrases are related to Christmas. Even though Christmas is associated with Christianity, Christmas traditions are celebrated by people from many religions in the United States.
I have Jewish friends who put up decorated trees and Muslim friends who open gifts from Santa on Christmas Day. Though many groups do not celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas, the holiday is deeply embedded in American culture and represents a time to be with family and to be thankful for one another. Similarly, traditions from celebrations other than Christmas have blended in with the American holiday season. Everyone can appreciate the season of giving with their family, so join us as we explore festive American vocabulary and a few traditions!
Secret Santa/White Elephant/Pollyanna
Before the holidays, friends exchange gifts with each other, but it is difficult and expensive to exchange gifts with each individual friend. Many times, I have joined a group of my friends in a Secret Santa exchange. Typically, the group of friends will meet ahead of time and draw a name out of a hat. Then, they will shop for that person within a specified budget and exchange gifts on a designated day.
Secret Santa is the most common type of gift exchange, but there is another variant: the White Elephant. This type of gift exchange is most commonly called a White Elephant, but in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it is called a Pollyanna. In a White Elephant exchange, everyone brings a wrapped gift to the party, but they do not know who is going to receive the gift. Everyone at the party is assigned a number, and starting with the lowest number, the first person will unwrap a gift. The second person then opens a new gift and can choose to keep their gift or steal the gift from the person before them. Typically, the people with the highest numbers are at an advantage.
“Feliz Navidad”
Well, this isn’t quite an English phrase, but it is something that you will hear quite frequently in the United States. Thanks to the 1970 song “Feliz Navidad” by José Feliciano, most Americans know what this Spanish phrase means. It translates to Happy Christmas in English. The song is easy to understand and has both lyrics in Spanish and English.
“Feliz Navidad” speaks to the bilingual and even multilingual culture of the United States. The song itself builds a bridge between English and Spanish speakers by representing both languages. As the Latinx population continues to grow, knowing how to wish our Spanish-speaking neighbors a happy holiday is as important as ever.
“Don’t be a Grinch” and “Don’t be a Scrooge”
The Grinch is a character from a Dr. Seuss book. He goes around, stealing all of the Christmas gifts from the townspeople, but then suddenly, he has a change of heart and returns the gifts to the townspeople. Similarly, Ebenezer Scrooge is a character from Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol. He is grumpy and ungiving at the start of the book, but after he takes a journey to the past, present, and future, he realizes what Christmas is all about.
Americans will often call people who are unhappy during the holiday season “a Grinch” or “a Scrooge.” Calling someone this usually isn’t offensive, but it points out that they should try to put on a smile and appreciate what they have in life. Like the Scrooge and the Grinch, they should try to come to their senses and be generous to others.
Photo: Empire Online
“Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
When Americans use this phrase, they are referring to either the 1934 song “Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town” or the 1970 movie Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town. The movie is based on the song, and both detail how Santa prepares for Christmas Eve. The song also instructs children to be on their best behavior so that Santa will give them gifts: “So be good for goodness sake.” The song has been remade many times by popular artists, like Michael Bublé, Pentatonix, and DNCE.
Outside of the origins of the phrase, there is also a very specific set of imagery that it evokes. When I was younger, my mom would always remind me that, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” so I would behave well during the holiday season. As a child, I would imagine Santa arriving on my rooftop in his sleigh with the reindeer. My mother’s reminders and the thought of gifts definitely encouraged me to do my best to be on the nice-list.
Vocabulary list:
embedded (adj.) — deeply fixed or rooted in something
specified (v.) — to be made clear or to be given with special instructions
budget (n.) — an allotment of money
designate (n.) — to give something a specific role or title
bilingual (adj.) — speaking two languages
multilingual (adj.) — speaking more than two languages
latinx (adj.) — relating to Latin American culture or people; a new gender neutral term that replaces Latino
Dr. Seuss (n.) — a famous American children's author and illustrator
“change of heart” (phrase) — to change your opinion or feelings about a situation or thing
Charles Dickens (n.) — an English writer of the Victorian era
grumpy (adj.) — unpleasant or irritable
“come to their senses” (phrase) — to start to behave reasonably after being foolish or irrationality
generous (v.) — showing kindness to others through giving
origin (n.) — the place or point where something begings
evoke (v.) — to bring about or to remember
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bridgette Lang is an undergraduate student studying International Relations at Boston University. On campus, she helps run a collegiate Model United Nations Conference and manages finances for BU College Democrats. In her free time, Bridgette enjoys traveling, trying to learn Spanish, and visiting with her friends and family back home in Pennsylvania.