Seasonal traditions around the world

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Ever wonder what holiday traditions are like in different parts of the world? After some research you can find that there are some rather interesting ones. Here are some examples of these types of traditions.

Japan: KFC fried chicken dinner

Back in 1974, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) restaurants in Japan marketed their fried chicken meals to resemble a traditional holiday dinner that became extremely popular as a meal to have on December 25. To this day, 45 years later, people still form huge lines outside their local KFCs to get their chicken for the holidays. The chicken is so popular that the KFC chain stores ask customers to place their orders at least two months in advance.

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Venezuela: Roller skate mass

In Caracas, Venezuela, people head to Christmas morning mass in an unusual way. Large groups of residents make their way to churches while wearing roller skates. The tradition is so well-established that most streets are closed to traffic so people can safely arrive to their masses.

Ukraine: A cobweb Christmas

If you are afraid of spiders, don’t plan a trip to Ukraine during the Christmas holiday season. Instead of seeing baubles, tinsel and stars on the trees, you will mainly see spider webs. Ukrainians will try to mimic a spider web’s natural formation while decorating the tree. The art replicates a folktale where a group of spiders spin beautiful webs all over a poor family’s Christmas tree, when the family couldn’t afford to decorate the tree themselves.

Finland: Festive sauna

A lot of homes in Finland have saunas in them, and Christmas is when spirits of ancestors come out and use them too. On Christmas Eve, the family strips naked and takes a long and respectful stay in the sauna. Afterwards they leave to head to evening celebrations, allowing the spirits to go into the sauna and take their place. Oh, and apparently saunas are the home of legendary sauna ‘elves’ too.

Austria: Bad Santa

A mixture of Halloween and Christmas people go around in ghoulish costumes of Krampus, the evil accomplice of St. Nicholas that wanders the streets in search of bad children. In December you can expect to see terrifying masked people outside, roaming the streets, scaring kids and adults with ghastly pranks.

Norway: Hide all brooms

It is believed in Norway that Christmas Eve is when mischievous spirits and witches come out and take to the skies to create mischief and general pranking. As brooms are usually associated with helping witches fly, it’s tradition to hide any cleaning supplies that have sticks attached to them, so witches won’t be able to find them and fly off.

San Francisco: SantaCon

Literally the gathering of the Santa Clauses, men and women dressed as Santa all across the world gather together. The website has all the guidelines to be considered a ‘true’ Santa Claus since one cannot show up in only a Santa hat. A very interesting rule is that every single participant must address each other as Santa.

Wales: Carolling with dead horses

There’s no set date for this Welsh custom, which can take place sometime from Christmas to late January. A group of people go house to house singing in the hopes of being rewarded with food. It’s basically carolling, however one jarring difference is that one person accompanying the group has to dress up as a horse, using a real horse skull. It’s an old ritual said to bring good luck, also called Mari Lwyd.

Newfoundland: Mummering

An old tradition where people dubbed mummers will disguise themselves in elaborate costumes and try to change their voices to hide who they are to their neighbours, in which they go to visit. Mummers will sing, dance and sometimes perform short dance skits to remain anonymous to others. Homeowners guess who’s in the costume and if they get it right, they are gifted with food and drink.