Christmas

Where can I find information about Christmas?

(Years 5-8)

Close up colour photo of 3 golden baubles resting under the branches of a Christmas tree. — Image: Under the Christmas tree. (15867338637) by Bernard Spragg. NZ on Wikimedia Commons.

Entry last updated: 3/10/25

Introduction

For many Christians, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus. It is celebrated on 25 December in most countries around the world, and involves traditions like Santa Claus, decorating the Christmas tree and the gifting of presents. Christmas is in summer in Aotearoa New Zealand. Santa Parades and barbecues in the backyard are some of the ways the festival is celebrated here.

General websites

These websites look at when and where Christmas started. We'll also look at how Christmas traditions started and different customs and traditions around the world.

Britannica School

This is one of the EPIC resources, which is a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It’s put together for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.

Select the Primary level and enter the keyword 'Christmas' to bring up a list of results.
The article Christmas (holiday) is about the history of Christmas and how it is celebrated around the world.
Choose the article Santa Claus to read about the legend of Santa Claus.
Use the Navigator on the left of the page to move up to level 2, if you need more information on the customs and traditions of Christmas.

Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

NZ History

NZ History is a great website for information about New Zealand Aotearoa. If we go all the way down the page, we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

Enter 'Christmas' in the search box at the top of the page to find the page Christmas in New Zealand.
Choose a story about Christmas in New Zealand such as New Zealand's Christmas tree (pohutukawa tree) and Santa parades.

Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

WhyChristmas

This website is the work of a web designer from the United Kingdom who wants to share information on the story, customs and traditions of Christmas around the world.

The section on Christmas Traditions and Customs has links to the history of Christmas traditions such as Christmas Trees, Christmas Cards and Santa Claus.
Select the section on Christmas Around the World to read how Christmas is celebrated in other cultures, such as Brazil, Japan or Spain.
You can also watch, listen or read The Christmas Story as it happened long ago in Bethlehem.

Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About this site link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.

History.com

This is the official website of the History Channel. Although it focuses on US history, it has information on world history, science and culture.

Use the search box at the top of the page to enter the keyword 'Christmas'.
Choose the link called Christmas Traditions Worldwide.
Go down the page to read short paragraphs on Christmas celebrations in different countries.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. You can leave out small words like ‘the’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg Christmas. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

Kids World Travel Guide

This world travel guide has been put together by a teacher and a team of young people. You will find interesting facts on a range of countries, including maps, important places, landmarks and travel tips.

Look down the column on the left of the page till you come to Events & Celebrations.
Select the link called Christmas to read how children celebrate Christmas in different parts of the world.
Explore the links under More about Christmas to learn How to say Merry Christmas in different languages, and Christmas traditions and Christmas food from different countries.

Tips: You may see a message about cookies on this website. Cookies are a kind of data collector that is used by some websites to collect information about their users.

Tips: Some websites have advertisements (or ads) which ask us to buy something or tell us to ‘click here’. It’s best to ignore these ads and focus on the information we’re looking for.

Books

There are many books written about Christmas, including Christmas craft and cookbooks. Check out your local public or school library to see what they have.

Some recommended titles are: