So, how does BU celebrate Christmas with its students?

On 8 December 2016, around 20 students from the Department of Tourism and Hospitality were gathered together to celebrate Christmas at the Inspire Lecture Theatre in the Fusion Building. There was free traditional Christmas food, like mince pies and apple wassail, for students to enjoy whilst networking and meeting new classmates or friends. Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Head of Department – Tourism & Hospitality, also appeared as Santa Claus to interact with students!

Dr Sean Beer, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality, took students back to the origin of Christmas to help them understand where Christmas came from and how it is celebrated in different countries. His funny and joyful delivery made it easier for international students to understand why Christmas is celebrated, and made them realise that Jesus was actually an international person, as his family was from Nazareth (Israel), he was born in Bethlehem (Palestine) and his family fled to Egypt when he was an infant!

During the event, Dr Beer also introduced the traditional Wassail Ceremony, which dates back to the early modern period when people went with a wassail bowl into the orchard and put slices of bread or toast on the roots or tied them to the branches of a tree, which was to ‘bless’ the tree to produce a good crop in the forthcoming season.

The sharing of the Christmas story was very meaningful for international students, even for EU and British students, as some of them don’t really look into the origin and know about the traditions surrounding this festival since the early ages.

Celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus at Bournemouth University – you will gain a whole lot of new Christmas knowledge and meet some new friends!