1. Boat Parades
2. Holiday Songs
3. A Full Christmas Dinner
4. Christmas Boat Decorations
5. Sailing Superstitions
It is common practice for seaside communities to have ship or boat parades for Christmas. The ONE15 Christmas Boat Light Parade™ is an ode to that tradition.
Read more about the 2019 ONE15 Christmas Boat Light Parade here.
Sailors have a long tradition of entertaining themselves with song. Much before the Christmas carols we know came about, songs related to the story of Christmas such as “The First Noël,” “The Holly and the Ivy,” and “I Saw Three Ships” were contemporary with 18th-century pirates.
On board the Royal Navy during the First World War, Christmas was celebrated with a religious service on the ship, after which the Captain and the officers would visit the messes in the lower decks. It is tradition for them to take a seat and sample every dish at each of them.
Nikolaos, the patron saint of Greece, is known as the protector of sailors and seamen. It is tradition in Grecian islands to set out small fishing boats decorated with lights on Christmas in his honour. He is traditionally also represented in brine-soaked clothes and face covered with perspiration as he has been fighting storms to save ships and sailors from drowning.
It is considered bad luck to set Sail on a Friday, as it alludes to the Crucifixion of Jesus, whereas it is Good luck to begin on a Sunday, The day of the resurrection.
