Europe (Commonwealth Union)_Venezuelans skate to church, Norwegians hide their brooms, and Catalans are obsessed with festive pooping. We reveal some of the weird and wonderful festive traditions around the world…
Christmas around the world is celebrated in a myriad of ways. Although hanging advent calendars, eating roast turkey dinners, and waiting for Santa Claus to squeeze down the chimney are popular parts of the festive season in countries worldwide, some nations and regions have more… unique traditions. We have selected here, some of the most weird but wonderful across the globe.
1. Japan
All I want for Christmas is… KFC
Forget the Christmas turkey. For many Japanese, traditional Christmas dinner is having Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Reservations have to be made to eat at a KFC on Christmas Day, owing to a combination of tiny Japanese ovens and a clever marketing campaign convincing locals that fried chicken is a traditional American Yuletide feast,
Colonel Sanders statues outside KFC’s Japanese outlets wear Santa gear during the run-up to Christmas and the chicken is served in special holiday packaging.
Demand is such that an online service has been created which is to order your Xmas Family Bucket in advance and have it delivered.
2. Norway
Hide your broom
Norwegians believe that Christmas Eve coincides with the arrival of evil spirits and witches and as such, Norwegian householders hide all their brooms before they go to sleep.
3. Caracas, Venezuela
Get your skates on
Venezuelans attend a daily church service called Misa de Aguinaldo (Early Morning Mass) in the week leading up to Christmas,
In Caracas, the capital, it is customary to travel to the church service on roller skates.
So widespread is the practice Indeed and many roads in the capital are closed until 8am to provide Christmas worshippers with a safe passage.
4. Austria
Facing your Christmas demons
In Austria, St Nicholas has an evil counterpart called Krampus who is the bad cop to St Nick’s good cop, a demon-like creature with one task: to punish bad children before Christmas.
Men dressed in devil costumes roam the streets, carrying a basket and chains for abducting especially bad children and hauling them to hell.
It is certainly one way to keep the kids off the streets.
5. Sweden
Yule love this giant goat
This unusual tradition has a lengthy history. Its origins begin in the 11th century, with a mentioning of a ‘man-sized’ goat figure that accompanied Saint Nicholas. Now, it’s got a lot bigger.
Cities across Sweden construct ‘Yule Goats’ at the beginning of advent every year, with the most famous being in Gävle, a staw structure that often reaches a whopping 40 feet.
It does, unfortunately, attract people who want to turn it into a giant bonfire, and the display has been sadly destroyed around 36 times since 1966.
6. Ukraine
Deck the halls with… spider’s webs?
In addition to the standard tinsel, fairy lights and baubles, Ukrainians like to throw an artificial spider and web on the tree as well.
The tradition has its origins in an old tale of a poor woman who could not afford to decorate her tree and woke on Christmas morning to discover a spider had covered it in a glorious, sparkling web.
It’s for good luck. It’s not about poor housekeeping.
7. Germany
Fill your boots
On the evening of 5th December, German children leave a boot or a shoe outside their bedroom door. If they’ve been good, in the morning, they will wake to find the shoes filled with sweets. If they have haven’t, they will find only a branch.
Obviously, it is best to leave out the newest pair of shoes you own which is preferably, fresh out of the box.
