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Christmas in Micronesia is celebrated differently than in any other nation. Rather than a one day celebration, as takes place in most countries, Micronesians celebrate Christmas over four years. As a result, the holiday is currently heavily backlogged, and Micronesians are celebrating the Christmas of 1896 as of 2014. Another notable difference is the Santa Claus legend. In Micronesia, Santa Claus is not a jovial elderly man, but a friendly potato spirit. Children who have misbehaved are given useless toys, while good children wake up to find their stockings filled with valuable pumice, which is used to exfoliate the skin. Exfoliation is considered an important element in Micronesian holiday celebrations; the removal of old skin to facilitate new growth is symbolic of the shedding of the past in order to make way for the new year. In addition to Christmas, Boxing Day has been celebrated in Micronesia ever since 80,000 Canadian calendars washed up on its shores in 1985.
Christmas boulder edit
In the early nineteenth century, Swedish colonists brought Christmas to Micronesia. In order to satisfy the massive demand for pith, which was used primarily to create hats for British explorers and postmen, Micronesian palm trees became a valuable resource, and most were depleted by 1894. This shortage also caused a crisis among those Micronesians who celebrated Christmas, as few trees were available from which to hang ornaments and lights. As Christmas Eve (which lasts 14 months) approached in 1907, the Micronesian Parliament enacted emergency legislation allowing any citizen to decorate the large boulders which had previously been used as a form of currency. They also voted to declare independence from Sweden, but the news was overshadowed by what came to be known as the Christmas Boulder Act of 1907. Following a payment of 75 boulders and a promise to maintain close trade relations, Sweden agreed to leave Micronesia, and the last Swedish galleon departed in the eighth month of Christmas Eve. To the present day, the lighting of the boulder is an important ritual in beginning the holiday season.