Christmas is celebrated in countless ways by various nationalities, each one different and special.
Here are some of the most unusual ones we could find on the net, summing up some bizarre Christmas traditions from around the world (bazaar to us here in the UK at least).
Could you imagine some of these happening in a Brend Hotel in Devon or Cornwall?
Norwegians hide all their brooms on Christmas Eve, a preventative measure against evil witches, as apparently Christmas Eve is a prime broom-joyriding time in Norway.
In Britain, legend has it that if the Christmas pudding is mixed in a clockwise direction and you make a wish, the wish will come true.
Singletons in the Czech Republic toss one of their shoes over their shoulder. If it lands with the toe facing the door, it means they’ll get married within the year.
The ‘consoda’ feast takes place Christmas Day in Portugal. An extra place is set at the table for the souls of the dead. By offering them food, it is supposed to bring luck for the entire year.
In Catalonia, El Caganer is a figurine for the nativity scene. He’s a red-capped peasant, or a monk, or another type of figure (nowadays often famous people). He is placed at a small distance from the rest of the figures in a nativity scene, in his "defecator" position. It’s not sacrilegious – the “fertilizer” means the year will yield a good harvest.
Apparently, in Austria, St Nicholas has an evil counterpart called Krampus. He 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 chains and a basket for abducting especially bad children and hauling them to hell.
In Ukraine, Christmas trees are decorated with all the typical kinds of ornaments - and one not so typical. An artificial spider and web are hidden in the tree and good luck is given to the one who finds it. A Ukrainian folk tale says that a poor widowed mother could not afford decorations for her family’s Christmas tree. One Christmas morning she awoke to find a spider had beautifully decorated the tree with its web, making for a very happy Christmas.
In the capital city of Caracas, during the week leading up to Christmas, Venezuelans attend a daily church service called Misa de Aguinaldo ('Early Morning Mass'). It is customary to travel to the church service on roller skates.
