Jersey's International Christmas

Jersey is home to a vibrant and diverse community, with islanders hailing from cultures all around the world. At Christmas, a time of celebration and community, cultural identity is celebrated with loved ones through the traditions of the season, most often with food rituals and feasting. In celebration of this diversity, Jersey Post is releasing their annual Christmas stamp set entitled Jersey’s International Christmas on 11 November 2024. 

Featured on the 60p stamp, Buche de Noel is a delicious, rolled sponge cake filled with buttercream, covered in chocolate and presented in the shape of a wooden log. The traditional cake is popular in France and represents the age-old practice of burning a yule log on Christmas Eve, a custom that dates back centuries, symbolising light, warmth and bringing people together in celebration. 
 
The second stamp in the issue is Jersey’s very own, Lé Podîn d'Noué. A traditional steamed Christmas pudding made from a recipe used in Jersey for generations. With the addition of breadcrumbs and suet, spices and dried fruit, the pudding is lighter and quicker to make than the traditional British version.
 
A traditional Polish dish, the Barszcz czerwony has been included as the next 98p stamp of the issue. Barszcz czerwony is a sour, aromatic beetroot soup with a deep red colour. The soup is made with fermented beetroot juice and is traditionally served on Christmas Eve at the start of the celebratory meal. 

Stamp four of the issue, showcases the Romanian dish Sarmale. This Romanian delicacy has distinctly Balkan influence, with similarities to stuffed vine leaves, can be served year-round but plays a key role during celebratory feasts such as Christmas, New Year, and wedding celebrations. While families enjoy their own variations on the dish, Sarmale is stuffed cabbage leaves with fillings ranging from staple foods such as pork and rice to bacon and tangy sauerkraut before being slow cooked and served with sour cream and polenta.

Also known as Christmas Eve cod, the £2.15 stamp features the Portuguese dish Bacalhau da Consoada. This salted cod dish is rooted in the seafaring traditions of Portuguese history as it made an ideal staple for long sea voyages. Religious and festive occasions in Portugal often feature cod dishes as a centrepiece, such as Christmas Eve when families traditionally come together with a celebratory meal. 

Glazed gammon is the South African Christmas dish found on the sixth stamp of the issue. Many traditions originated with early European settlers in South Africa, particularly Christmas traditions brought in by Christian missionaries and settling families. While many South Africans enjoy a variety of festive feast foods, gammon has a longer shelf life and benefits from being served both hot and cold, useful for a Christmas that falls in the middle of hot summer.

The £3.75 stamp features a traditional Christmas cake. While the fruity Christmas cake is a tradition adopted across many countries, it is central to Irish festive celebrations. Spices and dried fruit in the recipe represent the exotic gifts brought by the three Wise Men. Many families have their own recipe variations which are passed down through the generations. 

The final stamp of the issue showcases a dish highly associated with Christmas, Roast turkey and trimmings. Turkeys were originally introduced to British culture in the mid-1500s but did not gain popularity at Christmas time until the 1950s when they became more widely farmed. Today, the bird is a staple on British festive tables served with delicious trimmings such as stuffing and roast vegetables.

Each meal found in this issue will be accompanied by a recipe, which can be found online on the Jersey Stamps website from Tuesday 12^th November 2024. Jersey Post would like to thank the various communities around the Island for their assistance with this issue. We hope you all enjoy learning about the diverse ways Christmas is celebrated on our Island. From the whole team at Jersey Stamps, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas.