From setting up the Christmas tree to baking cookies to leave for Santa Claus, as Christmas Day begins to approach, many of us have our own little traditions we do either before or during the holidays. There are truly a myriad of ways people celebrate the old holiday and some countries have more unique traditions around Christmas than others. From dressing up as goats to hosting a townwide fight, here are six of the odder Christmas celebrations from across the world:
Men Dressed as Goats
Among the many odd traditions for Christmas in the Balkans. In Romania, on Christmas Eve, you may catch men dressed as goats, called capra, walking through the streets joined by singers. The traditional clothes worn by the capra are brightly colored with a wooden goat mask and sheepskin on the back.
Yule Goats
Continuing on from the goat theme, one tradition of people in Scandinavia is to create straw goats wrapped in ribbon. The tradition is very ancient, going back to pagan times, where the goat was used as a sacrifice to the god of harvest. It evolved to a symbol of Saint Nicholas’s control over evil in the 11th century. Now, the goat is seen as the giver of gifts. Every Christmas season, a massive goat is made in Slottstorget Castle Square, around 200 miles north of Stockholm. Unfortunately, the goat becomes a target for vandalism most years, with it being seen as both a badge of honor and a Christmas tradition if the goat is able to be burnt down.
Christmas KFC
“Why Xmas = KFC in Japan” by Danny Choo (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Japan is host to its own unique holiday traditions, one of which being that for many in Japan, a traditional Christmas dinner is not turkey or ham, but fried chicken from the popular fast food establishment KFC. Due to the clever marketing by the fast food company dating back to the 1970s, which marketed fried chicken as a traditional American Christmas food. This tradition has continued to this day with an estimated 3.6 million gathering to share a bucket each year..
Defecating Logs
Known as caga tió or “defecating log,” locals in Catalonia will make a character out of log, drawing a face on it and giving it a hat, before spending the next two weeks “feeding” it with nuts, berries and sweets. Finally, on Christmas Eve, the family will get together and beat the log with sticks while singing the traditional song that translates to “if you don’t crap well, I’ll beat you with a stick.” It is also tradition for the families to decorate with small figurines of well known characters with their pants around their ankles.
Shoe Throwing
In a similar way to how a bride will throw a bouquet at a wedding, Czech women will throw a shoe over their shoulder out of their front door to see if they will get married. If she lands with its toe pointing at the door then the woman will be married the coming year, but if the shoe points any other direction it is believed to be bad luck and the woman will have to wait the following year to see.
Townwide Fights
“Takanakuy • 25/12/2014 • Perú” by midianinja (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Coming from the province of Chumbivilcas, Peru, Takanakuy entails a townwide fight on Christmas Day as a way of settling conflicts. The capital of the province, Santo Tomás, has only three police officers and few in the town have the money or time for court dates, so every year between the 24 and 26 of December, people settle outstanding disagreements via fighting. Each fight starts and ends with a hug, which helps solidify a fresh new slate for those in conflict. The tradition’s name comes from the Quechua words Takar, meaning “to hit” and Nakuy, meaning “reciprocally.” Many of the people wear traditional andean ski caps, which originally served as a way for people to fight those more powerful than them like bosses, as well as leather jackets, horse riding chaps and dead animal skulls. Finally, the most important rule is that there is no winner; instead it is left to the people who fought to interpret the fight how they please.
