Weird Christmas Traditions From Around The World
With Christmas right around the corner, you might be getting your Christmas pickle ready, but there are other weird Christmas traditions done around the world. Just a note that some of these places don't celebrate Christmas, but they get into the Christmas spirit and do traditions.
First up in Austria. They do Santa in a weird take in that they celebrate with Evil Santa. People throughout December will dress up as the ghoulish creature called "Krampus." Krampus, the evil accomplice of St. Nicholas, is said to wander the streets in search of badly-behaved children.
Next, this happens in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, where tons of people make their way to mass on roller skates every year on Christmas morning. The tradition is so well known and done that the city streets are closed to traffic from 8 AM on the day so that the skaters can make it church safely.
Here's one of the weirder ones from Iceland, as they say a giant cat roams the snowy countryside at Christmas time. Traditionally farmers would use the Yule Cat as an incentive for their workers, cause those that worked hard got a new set of clothing but those that didn't got eaten by the cat. I know very strange! But people in Iceland will give new clothing as present on Christmas so that is why clothing and giant cats are tied in together.
You know how we hang stockings, well in The Netherlands they don't hang stockings, they place shoes by the fire. Dutch children eagerly place their shoes by the fire in hopes that Sinterklaas will fill them with small gifts and treats in the night. Children will also leave carrots in their shoes to feed the companion of Sinterklaas, a white horse named Amerigo. Oh also if you were bad that year children would get potatoes in their shoes instead of toys.
Christmas has its share of weird food like mincemeat pie but in South Africa they eat fried caterpillars. Obviously we might think this is strange, but these caterpillars aren't just normal insects; they are the Pine Tree Emperor Moth, or Christmas caterpillar. The caterpillars aren't just fried, they are covered in a festive mix and fried and supposed to bring good luck to you in the new year when eaten.
Finally here's one of the weirdest ones from Spain. They have a thing called Tió de Nadal or a Christmas log. Tió de Nadal is made from a hollow log, stick legs, a smile, and a red hat. Leading up to Christmas Eve children will feed this log with water and treats and cover it with a blanket -- and this isn't even the weirdest part. The weird part happens on Christmas Eve as children will beat the Tió de Nadal while singing songs with lyrics such as, "Poop log, Poop nougats, Hazelnuts and mato cheese, If you don't poop well, I'll hit you with a stick, Poop log!"After Tió de Nadal is properly beaten by the children and sung to the log will release candy and treats and the children will consider it useless and throw it into the fire for warmth.
Ok I know that last one was weird. If you want to check out other weird Christmas traditions around the world, you can find them here.