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One of the many joys of traveling is to learn about and experience how folks in other countries do things.
The food, the way they dance and celebrate, their sports, etc.
The possibilities are endless! But not all traditions translate across cultures.
So, what traditions from your country don’t make sense to the rest of the world?
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.
1. Sauna life.
“When you go to the sauna you’re supposed to get a bundle of these birch twigs and hit yourself and others with them in the steamy sauna.
It’s a purifying act and helps the blood circulation but it’s something foreigners often find strange.
Also, cutting a hole into the ice in the middle of winter and going ice swimming. People are sometimes surprised to hear that doing this doesn’t kill you.”
2. In Norway.
“Norway:
Teenagers graduating high school have a unique celebration called the “Russ” period where they wear special clothes, get drunk, do elaborate pranks and just party for several weeks… before final exams.”
3. Moving day!
“In Quebec almost everyone who rents apt moves the same day July 1st.
In the rest of the country its Canada Day but in Quebec its moving day.”
4. Day of the Dead.
“Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is pretty known to be celebrated in Mexico but there’s this tradition of Death’s Day of writing a “Calaverita”.
Which is a poem you write to a friend or member of the family, narrating how they died or would die in a comedic way. Basically making fun of the demise of our loved ones.”
5. Wow.
“Dyngus Day.
The day after Easter when men sprinkle women with water, usually with squirt guns now, and tap their bu**s with p**sy willows.
There is a heavy Polish influence on my area in the States.”
6. The holidays.
“I live in Colombia. And here, we start celebrating Christmas 9 days before the actual 24th of December.
Let me explain..
We have something called the ‘novenas’, which would be literally translated as ‘ninths’, but I know it doesn’t make sense, so we’re just gonna call them ‘novenas’.
Here, we invented a weird version of Christmas, in which it took Jesus Christ 9 days for him to go from wherever he was before, to Jerusalem. And as here in Colombia we celebrate everything for an excuse not to work, so we celebrate all 9 days of Jesus’ trip.
In those 9 days we usually go to other people’s homes, we pray the ‘novena’, which is what we invented, we open gifts, we eat… a lot… and then we just leave. And that is for 9 days previous to the 24th.
So.. yeah. Here in Colombia we start celebrating Christmas 9 days before everyone in the world.”
7. Sounds fun!
“We have a sport in which we carry our wives/girlfriends across a swamp and whoever wins gets their wife’s weight in beer.”
8. It’s a party!
“There is this religious festival in a particular province in my country that holds literal crucifixions.
Full size cross and nails through the hands and feet. The works. Participants are volunteers, of course. “
9. A little privacy.
“In Myanmar teenage couples go to the park and sit behind “privacy umbrellas.”
On sunny days the parks are dotted with all these open umbrellas with young couples hiding behind them.”
10. Yuck.
“After killing your first animal you need to eat its genit**s.
South Africa.”
11. You don’t want bad luck.
“In Russia, if I leave my house door and go outside but forget something and I have to go back I have to sit down in quiet for a second look into a mirror after and then I can leave.
Otherwise it’s bad luck if I just leave without doing that.”
12. Walking into the sea.
“When walking into the sea, skipping over the first 7 waves that hit you. This is mostly done at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Brazil is Christian AF, but even the most devout Catholics do that… unaware that the tradition comes from Candomblé and Umbanda, which are religions connected to the enslaved African that were brought here centuries ago.
They call Umbanda and Candomblé devil worshipping AND YET here they are with their jumping on the beaches every single year.”
What are some traditions from your country that the rest of the world finds odd?
Talk to us in the comments.
We can’t wait to hear from you!
