Manoevering the Christmas minefield
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As Europe hits the festive season, Christmas tends to take over all areas of life: Frenzied present-buyers scour the shops to the sound of carols, families plan parties, Santa visits schools. But, while everyone else goes Christmas crazy, how do Europe's non-Christians cope with the holiday period?
Negotiating a way around all these Christian celebrations poses a dilemma for many Europeans of different religions.
In Germany, the 3 million-strong Muslim community - the country's largest religious minority - has developed a variety of strategies for coping with the festive season, with many simply making the most of the days off work to unwind and spend extra time with their families.
Families with school-age children, however, often find they have to field questions from their puzzled kids who want to know who baby Jesus is and, perhaps more importantly to them, why all their friends are getting presents when they aren't.
Aydin Süer, the son of Turkish immigrants, explains that some families in the Turkish Muslim community have come up with the solution mixing up the two cultures, throwing their own Turkish-style party and giving their children presents. Some even have a Turkish-speaking Santa turn up for the festivities!
While Mr Süer stresses that this "is not a religious thing, it's just making the children happy", local religious leaders generally frown on this practice. They believe it is better to keep a clear divide between the two worlds, and instead favour the solution of putting more emphasis on Muslim festivals, such as Ramadan, by celebrating them in a bigger, more public way.
