For over 700 foreign students at NIU, going home for Christmas means more than just catching a Greyhound into Chicago.

For most foreign students, going home for the holidays means taking a plane ride across the ocean where celebrations and cultures are very different from the United States.

Thecla Cooler, assistant director of International Student Services, said NIU has students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, with the largest number of foreign students coming from Malaysia and India.

Many of the students come from countries with very different religious backgrounds, and as a result many of them do not celebrate Christmas, she said.

Since these countries are so far away, the majority of the students from these countries are unable to go home for Christmas break, Cooler said.

However, the office does notify the students of special programs and seminars offered to foreign students over the semester break, she said.

Some of these foreign students spend the holidays with “foster families.” Z Amhad, a Malaysian graduate student, said he usually spends Christmas with a DeKalb family with whom he has become quite close.

Amhad said he usually gets together with his adopted family for a tree trimming celebration after finals and celebrates with them on Christmas day.

Christmas also is celebrated in Malaysia, but since there are many religions, it is not the same type of celebration that it is in the United States, he said.

“Most of the Christians go to mass, and usually invite their friends over for an open house,” Amhad said, adding that Malayasians of all religions attend the open house celebrations.

Malaysian Muslims celebrate Aid-I-Fitri as their major holiday, which will be celebrated in late April this year. Although he might be celebrating at home this year, Amhad said he usually celebrates with his Muslim friends here at NIU.

Luis Munoz, an NIU student from Mexico, said Christmas is celebrated very differently in his country. “Our main celebration in Mexico centers around the Posada,” he said.

Munoz described the Posada as a Mexican tradition in which the young people of the community re-enact Mary and Joseph on their search for lodging on Christmas Eve.

The church picks two teenagers to play Mary and Joseph who ride a donkey to various houses in the community asking for “posada”, or lodging.

Mary and Joseph are accompanied by the young children in the community. At a selected house the Posada ends with a special prayer service followed by a large celebration complete with games, candy, and pinatas, Munoz said. The posadas occur during the seven days before Christmas with the final celebration taking place at the local church, he said.

There is no Santa Claus in Mexico, but instead the “Ninito Jesus”, or baby Jesus, delivers gifts to the children, Munoz said. One present also is saved for the Day of the Three Wise Men, celebrated on Jan. 6.

“On Christmas Eve we have a large family get together,” Munoz said, adding “usually Mexican families are very large, there are about 300 of us in my family.”

“The thing I like most about celebrating Christmas in Mexico is it is not as materialistic as it is in the United States. Although it is a time for fun, it is also very religious,” Munoz said.

“I think Christmas has a much deeper meaning in Mexico, than here,” he said, adding “I’d rather spend Christmas in Mexico than anywhere else.”

Siri Bergsmo, an NIU business major from Norway, will be going home for the holidays. Bergsmo said although Christmas celebrations in Norway are somewhat similar to celebrations here in the United States, there are several major differences.

One Norwegian traditon is for the children to join hands and walk around the Christmas tree, singing carols on Christmas Eve, he said.

“In Norway, our main celebration is on Christmas Eve,” Bergsmo said, “then the family gets together for a huge breakfast on Christmas morning.”

“Christmas is a time for us Norwegians to pig out,” he said, adding Norwegians are known for being very health conscious, but during the holiday season they usually splurge.

“There is a tradition in Norway that says it is bad luck if a family does not have at least seven different kinds of homemade cookies on hand during the Christmas season. With all those cookies around its no wonder we eat so much during the holidays,” Bergsmo said.