Whichever holidays you celebrate and indeed, however you celebrate them, I thought, for some holiday fun, it would be entertaining to share some different and fun holiday traditions from around the world:
?? #10 KFC in Japan – yes for 45 years now Japenese locals have flocked to KFCs across the country to savor the traditional KFC Christmas meal – apparently, you need to order two months in advance just to be assured of a place. So if you are in Japan at Christmas and have a hankering for the Colonel’s recipe don’t think you can just wander into a KFC at the last moment!!
?? #9 In Finland people visit the graves of loved ones on Christmas Eve and place lanterns and candles on them to remember those who are no longer with us. A nice tradition I think you will agree.
?? #8 In Ethiopia there is a pretty intense game called Ganna played with a ball and stick – apparently, the shepherds in biblical times played it – so Ethiopians play it at Christmas time and it is not for the fainthearted either, the ball is made of olive wood or leather and can easily knock out players (new meaning to having a sore head after the festivities). The size of the field has no standard dimensions and often the games end with no score because the goals are so far apart!
?? #7 Ukrainians decorate their Christmas trees with spider webs decorations to honor the fairy tale about the poor family who couldn’t afford to decorate their tree but woke up on Christmas morning to find that spiders had woven webs all over their tree and it sparkled and shone in the morning sun as bright as any tinsel. Nice work by our arachnid friends!
?? #6 The Italians dispensed with the jolly old Santa man and instead children believe their present by an old witch named La Befana who uses her broom to clean untidy houses – if that is the case she is welcome in my home any day of the year!
?? #5 The Guatemalans take cleanliness to another level with their ceremonial burning of the devil just before Christmas. Apparently the devil and other evils spirits hang out in any dark, dirty corners of your home and so the people sweep up all the trash, bring it outside, stick an effigy of the devil on top and burn the lot and so an evil free Christmas is ensured for all. For those of you with teenage sons, you will likely agree that there are certainly some evil smells lurking in the corners of their rooms and maybe a good bonfire would encourage them to be a little neater (just a thought, I take no responsibility for anyone that implements this idea).
?? #4 In Oaxaca in Mexico the locals carve radishes and create an amazing display of carved figures, nativity scenes, and other Mexican events. The radishes are grown especially for this event and it lasts from December 23rd and lasts for three days.
?? #3 In Caracas, Venezuela many people put on their rollerblades on Christmas morning and rollerblade to mass – it is so popular that the authorities close off streets so everyone can rollerblade safely to their place of worship.
?? #2 Children in Austria, Romania, and some other Balkan countries are extremely motivated to be good and receive a pleasant visit from Santa – the alternative is a visit from the terrifying Krampus if you have been naughty. He is one scary dude so these countries must have the best-behaved kids in the world is all I can say!
??????? #1 Our Welsh friends have a tradition called Mari Lwyd where groups of people wearing skeletal horse heads arrive at the door of your home or pub and challenge you to a singing or rhyming competition.
If you can outsing them then you win and if not you have to invite them in for drinks and food – hopefully you are not one of the last visits on the list as I am sure it would be hard to get rid of a bunch of horse head wearing folks who have drunk their way through your local Welsh village. (photo by By R. Fiend)
?So whatever your holiday traditions are, enjoy them and have a great Holiday Season from all of us at Sales POP!?
Comments (1)
Good to know,