- Whether you want your Christmas peaceful or rowdy, there’s a tradition for you to emulate.
Christmastime is when people embrace many old traditions. From caroling to decorating the Christmas tree, the entire holiday is built around various customs.
Those customs aren’t the same everywhere, though. Around the world, people celebrate Christmas in various ways — and that’s without mentioning the often wild ways of the past.
Here are seven unusual Christmas traditions from around the world, both past and present.
1. Broom Hiding
You won’t find any brooms in Norwegian homes around Christmas. It’s not that the people don’t want to clean for the holidays — they simply must protect themselves from witches.
According to Norwegian folklore, witches and other evil beings come out to cause havoc on Christmas Eve. Why this night in particular, we don’t know, but it’s what it is.
And what does a witch do if she finds a broom? Why, she’ll fly away on it, and you can bet she won’t return it.
So, to keep their brooms safe from pilfering hags, Norwegians hide them. We won’t list the most common hiding places out of concern that a witch might be reading this article.
2. Chasing St. Nicholas
In the town of Kussnacht in Switzerland, you’ll find the tradition of Klausjagen, which translates to St. Nicholas Chase. Technically, this tradition takes place on St. Nicholas Day in early December, but since it’s tied to the origin of Santa Claus, it counts as a Christmas tradition.
Today, Klausjagen consists of an orderly, solemn parade of people carrying stained-glass windows shaped like a bishop’s miter. In the past, however, this was one wild celebration.
Folks would run through the town, often intoxicated, while cracking whips, making noise, and causing all kinds of mischief. The purpose of the ruckus was to scare away evil spirits.
As Switzerland Christianized, the church fathers frowned on the unruly tradition and tried to stamp it out. However, people kept partying, so instead they co-opted the holiday and eventually turned it into the peaceful parade of today.
3. Cobweb-covered Christmas Tree
On a cold winter day, a spider crawled into the home of a poor Ukrainian widow and her children. Her kids tried to smash the spider, but the widow told them to leave the thing be — it was just trying to escape the winter weather.
On Christmas Eve, the family put up a Christmas tree. However, they were too poor to afford decorations, so they went to sleep next to a bare tree.
The next morning, they found the tree covered in beautiful, shimmering silver silk. The grateful spider had decorated the tree to reward the widow for her kindness.
And that folktale explains why Ukrainian families still hang tinsel spiderwebs on their Christmas trees.
4. KFC for Christmas
In Japan, there’s no turkey, ham, or pie on the Christmas meal. Instead, you’ll likely tuck into a bucket of KFC.
Japan’s bizarre Christmas meal tradition dates back into ‘70s. In 1974, KFC Japan ran the “Kentucky for Christmas” ad campaign, which promoted fried chicken as a readily available alternative to pricey chicken.
As a non-Christian country, Japan doesn’t have any real Christmas traditions, so KFC for Christmas took off. In addition, as Christmas is primarily a couples’ holiday in Japan, it’s common to share a special holiday bucket of chicken with that special someone.
5. Roller-skating to Church
As in so many other places, the people of Caracas, Venezuela, head to church on Christmas mornings. But whereas we might think of a snowy sleigh ride as the ideal vehicle for the trip, the people of Caracas embrace roller skates.
Between December 16 and 24, people sporting rollerblades and roller skates head to Mass through the streets of the city. The event is so popular that the authorities close streets in the morning to clear the way for sporty churchgoers.
Unfortunately, with the recent economic and political challenges in Venezuela, many have chosen to stick to more at-home Christmas traditions. Here’s hoping the roller-skating tradition, known locally as la patinata, can continue unimpeded in the future.
6. Night of the Radishes
December 23 is an… Odd day in Oaxaca, Mexico. On that date, the town’s main square fills with delicately carved, handmade sculptures of religious figures, animals, celebrities, and so on.
They’re just all made out of radishes.
Known as the La Noche de los Rabanos, or the Night of the Radishes, this tradition dates back to the mid-18th century. According to tradition, following an enormous bumper crop, local monks had no idea what to do with all the radishes before they went bad.
So, they fashioned them into sculptures and showcased them at a Christmas market. The radish-carving tradition has continued since, and was officially designated an Oaxaca holiday in 1897.
7. Montol
The town of Penzance (yes, the one from the pirate opera) explodes every December 21 with a hullabaloo of epic proportions. That’s when the Montol Festival rampages through town.
Now, Montol isn’t exactly a Christmas celebration, although you will see many Christmas traditions on display. It’s essentially a revival of every historical, pagan, and Christian yuletide festivity that people know of — and some that they’ve made up just for the party.
People sing and dance, eat and drink, and don traditional costumes. Horse skull-headed creatures called “obby oss” wander through town, pulling pranks on people by snatching their hats or treats in their jaws.
And the whole thing kicks off with a man carrying a green crate of sprouts through the city, yelling: “I have all the sprouts!”
Who knows what that’s about. But that’s the kind of madness you can expect if you attend Montol.