10 unique Christmas traditions around the world

Junkanoo street festival in the Bahamas
Junkanoo, Bahamas/Adam Nowek, Flickr Creative Commons

For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas. For those who don’t, happy Travel Tuesday.

Today, in the U.S., tradition will see many people spending time with family, sharing gifts and cooking big meals to eat together. The little ones may have left cookies and milk out for Santa last night as a gesture of thanks for sledding the world to deliver gifts.

But Christmas traditions vary all over the world, each reflecting aspects of the culture and the people of the place. Check out 10 fun things people around the world are doing today and this Christmas season.

A Junkanoo Festival in the Bahamas

On Boxing Day (Dec. 26) in the Bahamas, the Junkanoo festival begins. It’s the islands’ biggest street carnival, where costumed dance troupes dance to music and rhythms kept on goat-skin drums and cowbells. Paraders move through the darkened streets of downtown Nassau (as well as other parts of the islands) from 2:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and sideline spectators join in the fete.

Fried chicken dinner in Japan

Though not widely celebrated as in other countries, recent years have seen fried chicken become a Christmas Day staple in Japan. Yep, it’s quite common for couples or families to relish the colonel’s Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas dinner, and the KFC Japan website even has its Xmas special promoted front and center.

A giant lantern festival in the Philippines

On the Saturday before Christmas Eve in the Philippines, it’s Ligligan Parul Sampernandu, or the Giant Lantern Festival in the city of San Fernando. To celebrate, villages across the country collaborate to create what they hope is deemed the grandest, most elaborate lantern—which can reach as high as 20 feet. The illumination from the lanterns are supposed to send a message of light and hope.

A Guinness for Santy in Ireland

Only in Ireland would Santa—or Santy as he’s more lovingly called there—get a Guinness and mince pies for delivering gifts instead of mere milk and cookies. I suspect Santy’s extra happy when in Ireland.

Burning a straw goat in Sweden

In Sweden, what started in 1966 as building a 13-meter (42-foot) straw goat in the center of Gävle’s Castle Square has evolved into also attempting to burn said goat down. As tradition goes, participants try each year to raze the goat, though they don’t always succeed. Wiki says since 1966 the goat has been successfully burned 37 times, the most recent of which was in 2016.

The Krampus who stole Christmas in Austria

You really wouldn’t want to be a naughty child in Austria. In the first week of December, young men dress as Krampus, St. Nick’s evil (and pretty scary looking) accomplice, dragging chains and bells and scaring little children. The legend goes that St. Nick will bring good girls and boys presents, while Krampus captures the naughty ones and steals them away in his sack.

Sauna before Santa arrives in Finland

In the sauna capital of the world, it’s customary to have a run in the hot room on Christmas Eve. As Christmas is a time to eat well and purify yourself, Finns go for a sauna in the afternoon of Christmas Eve before the spirits take their turn.

Yule Lads in Iceland

For the 13 days leading to Christmas, 13 troll-like Yule Lads dressed in traditional Icelandic costume, each with a different name and character visit children in their homes. Each night before bed, kiddies place a shoe in their bedroom window, and every night they’ll be visited by one Yule Lad, who will either leave sweets and small gifts, or rotting potatoes depending on how the child behaved that day.

Hiding brooms in Norway

Stemming from an age-old belief that witches and evil spirits came out on Christmas Eve in search of brooms to ride on, many people in Norway will hide their brooms in safe spots in the house to make sure they don’t get “stolen.”

Skating to church in Venezuela

In Venezuela, Christmas comes with some spunk. On Christmas Eve morning, Venezuelans head to church—on roller skates. The tradition is popular enough that streets are closed off for safe skating. After church, people skate back home and feast on tamales.