Next Christmas, you may want to shake up your family traditions, and what better way to do than to go global? All around the world, people celebrate x-mas with some pretty out there customs, and surely you don’t want to be left in the cold with just a boring old tree and tinsel! So, scroll through these 11 odd ways to celebrate the season and get inspired to change everything you know about Christmas.
Because the most wonderful time of the year is about to get weird.
1. The Gavle Goat in Gavle, Sweden, is a traditional Yule Goat that sits in the town square every Christmas, but for some reason, it has become a second tradition to try to illegally burn it down.
Photo Credit: Tony Nordin [CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons]
2. In Austria, a horrible creature called Krampus is said to search for bad children to punish, so at Christmas, people wear monstrous masks and play scary pranks.
Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons
3. In South Africa, eating deep-fried Emperor Moth caterpillars is a Christmas tradition.
Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons
4. A traditional figure called Caganer (a pooping man) is part of the Christmas decor in Catalonian households, along with a pooping log that children beat with sticks until it defecates presents.
Photo Credit: By Roeland P. – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
5. Iceland has a Yule Cat that will eat anyone not wearing new clothes on Christmas Eve and who will only be appeased with an offering of wool.
Photo Credit: Redditblog
6. In Japan, Christmas is traditionally spent with a sweetheart and a romantic dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Photo Credit: Flickr
7. In Greenland, the traditional Christmas dinner is comprised of birds fermented for months inside seals.
Photo Credit: Modern Farmer
8. In the Ukraine, people decorate Christmas trees with sparkling spider webs and spiders.
Photo Credit: Flickr
9. Over Christmas, unmarried women in the Czech Republic stand in their doorways and toss their shoes over their shoulders. If the shoes land toes facing the door, they will be married within the year.
Photo Credit: Pxhere
10. Before Christmas Eve Mass in Estonia, it is customary for the whole family to take a naked sauna.
Photo Credit: Pixnio
11. In Britain, family members take turns stirring the Christmas pudding, usually made from an old family recipe, and then set it on fire.
