Christmas Dishes From Around the World

Dec 6 2024

The festive season showcases an incredible variety of traditional meals worldwide, reflecting each country’s rich culture and history. Here are some standout festive foods from around the world:

Denmark: Julesild

Herrid is a Danish staple year-round, but at Christmas, Julesild takes the spotlight. Spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and sandalwood, it’s served during julesfrokot ( festive lunches) with rye bread and remoulade, often alongside gravlax and cured meats.

Poland: Barszcz

Poland’s meat-free Christmas Eve feast begins with barszcz, a vibrant beetroot soup served with mushroom-filled dumplings, uszka. The 12-dish meal, symbolising the apostles and months of the year, also features carp, pierogi, and poppy seed desserts.

Philippines: Bibingka

After midnight mass on Christmas Eve, Filipinos enjoy bibingka, a rice-flour cake made with coconut milk, butter, and eggs. Traditionally cooked in banana leaf-lined clay pots over coals, it’s often topped with melted cheese, salted duck egg, and grated coconut for a salty-sweet treat.

Siciliy: Buccellato

Sicily’s Christmas dessert, buccellato, is a circular cake filled with dried figs, almonds, and pine nuts. Flavoured with marsala wine, it’s a festive alternative to Italy’s traditional panettone.

Finland: Lanttulaatikko

On Christmas Eve, Finland’s festive meal features roast ham, smoked fish, and casseroles like lanttulaatikko, a spiced swede bake made with cream, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, and treacle, topped with buttered breadcrumbs for a golden finish.

Mexico: Ponche Navideño

Mexico’s ponche navideño is a festive, alcohol-free punch made with guava, apples, sugar cane, cinnamon, and hibiscus. Traditionally served during Las Posadas, it can be spiked with tequila or brandy for a ponche con piquete.

Spain: Sopa de galets

In Catalonia, Christmas lunch starts with sopa de galets, a rich soup featuring meatballs and giant pasta shells. The broth, made from beef, ham bones, chicken, and vegetables, is simmered for hours for a hearty, festive dish.

Norway: Pinnekjøtt

On December 24th in western Norway, the air is filled with the aroma of pinnekjøtt, wood-fired lamb ribs. Dried, cured, or smoked, the meat is slowly cooked over birch wood until tender, served with swede and carrot mash, lingonberry jam, and often a shot of akevitt, a spiced Scandinavian spirit.

Venezuela: Pan de jamón

Venezuela’s pan de jamón, a sweet-savoury bread filled with roasted ham, raisins, and green olives, is a Christmas Eve tradition. Often served with hallacas and dulce de lechoza, it’s sometimes made with filo pastry and topped with cheese for an extra festive touch.

These festive feasts illustrate the incredible diversity of Christmas celebrations, highlighting the unique flavours and customs cherished across cultures.

Malta With Largest Increase In Passengers

Dec 6 2024

In 2023, Malta registered the largest increase in number of passengers travelling by air in the EU at 33.3%.

Malta was followed by Slovenia and Czechia which registered increases of 30.9% and 29.4% respectively.

Meanwhile, Estonia registered the lowest increase at 7.9%, followed by Greece and Lithuania at 9.6% and 12.3% respectively.

Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport registered the most passengers at 67.4 million passengers, a 17.3% increase when compared to 2022).

Meanwhile Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and Madrid’s Barajas airport registered the second and third highest amount of passengers at 61.9 million (+17.9%) and 60.1 million (+204%) respectively.

Meanwhile, Rome’s Fiumicino airport was the airport with the highest increase compared with 2022 out of the top 10 airports carrying the most passengers.

In 2023, the total number of passengers travelling by air in the EU was 973 million, an increase of 19.3% compared with 2022 (816 million).

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New Harry Potter Series Starts Filming On Original Set

Dec 6 2024

Filming for the highly anticipated Harry Potter series will begin next summer at Leavesden Studios, where the original films were shot. The series is set to dive deeper into the lives of Hogwarts students, with a completely new cast. The search for the lead trio has been extensive, with over 32,000 children auditioning. Shortlisted candidates will attend workshops in January.

Though HBO has not revealed much about the cast, reports suggest some exciting developments. Variety notes that Warner Bros. has reached out to Mark Rylance for the role of Dumbledore, while Paapa Essiedu has reportedly been offered the role of Severus Snape. Meanwhile, Hollywood Reporter confirms that the role of Hermione may be cast with a new, fresh face, though no details have been confirmed.

Ralph Fiennes, who portrayed Voldemort in the original Harry Potter films, has publicly expressed his hope that Cillian Murphy would take on the role of the Dark Lord in the upcoming series. With many casting decisions still to be made, as the series moves forward, showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod are tasked with navigating a loyal fanbase’s expectations while introducing a fresh perspective on familiar stories.

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Government Outlines MCAST Dispute Position: MUT Responds

Dec 6 2024

Both the government and the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) have released statements over the dispute regarding the collective agreement for MCAST lecturers.

At a press briefing, Permanent Secretary Joyce Cassar outlined the government’s position, revealing that while MCAST management had accepted several MUT requests—such as shortening the academic year, reducing lecturers’ teaching workload, and providing additional compensation for classes after 3:30 pm—some demands were deemed unacceptable.

Among these were a €400 allowance for correcting resit exams, additional vacation days, and a proposal to double remote working hours to 16 hours per week.

Cassar argued that the €400 resit allowance could lead to suspicions about lecturers failing students deliberately and criticised a demand to promote lecturers to senior positions without requiring a doctorate, saying it could harm MCAST’s academic standards.

The MUT rejected Cassar’s statements, calling them misleading and accusing the government of undermining education quality at MCAST.

The union argued that reductions in teaching hours per unit had drastically impacted experiential learning, with some syllabi now taught in half the originally allocated time.

It also criticised the lack of resources and staff replacements, which it claims have left MCAST stretched thin.

Ongoing industrial actions by lecturers—including withholding assessment marks, halting extracurricular activities, and limiting communication with students—have disrupted students’ learning. Cassar urged lecturers to reconsider their actions, emphasising the impact on students and parents.

The MUT insisted it remained open to dialogue, rejecting what it called the government’s “confrontational approach.” The union reiterated its commitment to quality education and called for renewed negotiations, emphasising the need for resources and support to improve teaching conditions at MCAST.

With negotiations entering their second year and no resolution in sight, the standoff has left students, parents, and educators in a state of uncertainty.

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