Merry Christmas From Around The World

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Santa Claus: A Superhero Origin Story – Extra Mythology

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Krampus – Christmas Demon – European Legend – Extra Mythology

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Morning all. Merry Xmas
Did you know there are some WEIRD Christmas traditions around Europe?

I’d heard of a few, but until I started researching them, I didn’t realise just how many there are.

Here are a few of the most bizarre I’ve found, some of which you can do at home to bring a little European spirit to your Christmas.

The Anti- Santa (Austria)
Be grateful you weren’t brought up in Austria! Here, they have a terrifying anti-Santa called the Krampus.

Half-goat, half-demon beast, the anti-St. Nick whips naughty children with birch sticks and drags them down to his lair in hell!

The 5 December is (was!) known as Krampusnacht, or Krampus Night. Adults dress up to scare kids and there are often parades in the streets, where hundreds dress up as Krampus to party, blow off a bit of steam and give small children nightmares for years.

Putting a Spider on the tree (Eastern Europe)
Nope, they’re not just for Halloween. Spiders and cobwebs are considered a sign of prosperity and are common Christmas decorations in places like Poland, Germany and Ukraine.

According to legend, a hardworking widow couldn’t afford tree decorations, but a spider spun its web over the branches so they shone in the sunlight on Christmas morning.

Getting ‘caught short’ in the nativity (Spain)
Several Spanish traditions seem to involve…err… poop. There’s the pooping yule log (yes, for real), where children “feed” the log each night in the days leading up to Christmas, and on Christmas Eve, they beat it with sticks while singing traditional songs until it “poops” out small gifts and sweets.

But the one which really confuses me is the “Sh*tter” (I promise that’s his actual name). Look closely at any nativity scene in Catalonia, Andorra, and parts of Portugal and you’ll see a guy with his robes pulled up and… leaving a little present next to the Virgin Mary.

Getting naked with your family (Finland)
Did you know ‘sauna’ is a Finnish word? You’ll find them all over the place in Finland and it’s a common part of their culture.

It’s traditional for Finnish families to take a sauna together on Christmas Eve … naked…. to ‘purify their bodies’ and calm the mind before the chaos of Christmas.
Broomsticks or… porridge? (Norway)
It used to be traditional for Norwegians to hide their broomsticks away on Christmas Eve to stop witches from stealing them, but this no longer seems to be a widely-held tradition in Norway.

Much more common is leaving out a bowl of porridge for the family Nisse (pixie or guardian spirit) on Christmas Eve, as a thank you for looking after the family all year.

Another tradition in some parts of Norway is to indulge in a wood-smoked sheep’s head or smalahove.

Yule Trolls of Iceland
In Iceland, 13 mischievous troll-like creatures known as the Yule Lads visit children in the 13 nights leading up to Christmas. Each night, children place a shoe on the windowsill, and if they have been good, the Yule Lads leave a small gift. However, if they have been naughty, they receive a rotten potato instead.

Fancy making 13 desserts?? (France)
How, HOW are the French so slim? A popular tradition in France, especially in Provence, is the enjoyment of not one, not two but THIRTEEN desserts after the Christmas dinner.

Each treat is said to represent one of the 12 apostles and there’s an extra one for Jesus.

The desserts are usually served all at once and everyone must take at least a bite of each one. Traditions vary from home to home, but usually have certain elements of the Christian religion or superstitious customs, such as fruit and nuts or sweet flatbread with jam.

The French also love a Bûche de Noel (Chocolate Yule Log). You’ll find one in almost every household at Christmas.

Throwing your shoe (Slovenia)
In Slovenia, young women throw their shoes over their shoulders to see whether they will be married in the coming year. If the toe points to the bell on the door, a marriage will be celebrated in the coming year.

(It doesn’t tell if it will be theirs or not, but feel free to try it out.)

Keeping a fish in your bathtub (Poland)
In Poland, many people abstain from eating meat in the run up to Christmas. On Christmas Eve, it’s traditional to eat a freshly killed fish, meaning it’s very common to find a live fish (usually a carp, if you’re interested) swimming in the family bathtub just before Christmas Eve.

They also leave an extra place set at the table in case an unexpected guest might show up.

Christmas Witch (Italy)
In Italy, they tell the story of La Befana, an old woman who was invited by the Three Wise Men to join them when they visited the baby Jesus.

She declined (due to housework), but then changed her mind and went looking for them with a basket of homemade gifts for Mary and a broom so she could help clean. But she was unable to find them, despite running so fast that she was lifted into the sky on her broom.

Now, she visits all the homes in Italy on the night of 5 January – the eve of the Epiphany – searching for the Three Wise Men and Baby Jesus, leaving sweets for good children or coal for the naughty ones.

Put Garlic on the shopping list
In the Czech Republic, a bowl of garlic must be placed under the Christmas Eve dinner to protect the family against all the evil spirits of the year about to pass.

Goats and… Donald Duck?
Possibly the weirdest traditions of this list are both found in Sweden. First is the Gävle Goat. In the small town of Gävle, it has become traditional (since 1966) to build a giant goat made of wood and straw.

By giant, I mean it’s 13 metres and three-tonnes! This goat is erected in the marketplace to mark the beginning of the Christmas festivities. However, despite the time and effort taken to construct the structure, it has become part of the tradition for residents to attempt to burn it down! To date, the goat has only survived intact until Christmas Day a handful of times.

But even weirder is the tradition in Sweden for families to watch Kalle Anka, a Donald Duck Christmas special which was first aired in 1958. This is shown on TV every Christmas Eve at 3pm and lasts an hour (I guess a little like our ‘Snowman’.) It’s so popular that apparently there’s around a 20% decrease in 112 calls to the emergency services during ‘Donald Duck hour’!

A non-European one, did you know that in Japan, around 3.6 million families treat themselves to a KFC on Christmas Day. Yep- I do mean Kentucky Fried Chicken.

This unusual tradition started in the 1970s with a new marketing campaign called Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii (“Kentucky for Christmas”) and immediately took off. Today, families still share quality time together at the dinner table while enjoying some deep-fried chicken!

And ours, A fat bloke in a red suit and white beard flies around the world in 24 hours on a sleigh pulled by reindeers, jumps down chimneys and delivers presents to good boys and girls and shouts “Ho Ho Ho”

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Merry Christmas everyone.
Have a good one!

[Zuzannah]

Another one, but it’s new years eve. In Germany a short film “Dinner for One” is shown on T.V.

Quoted off a website (So I don’t get into trouble).

The sketch follows an elderly woman celebrating her 90th birthday with a dinner party, where her butler has to fill in for her four absent friends.

While the sketch might seem morbid to some, it’s actually a light-hearted way for Germans to say goodbye to the old year and ring in the new. “Dinner For One” is typically shown on New Year’s Eve and is one of the most watched TV programs in Germany each year

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