Do other people consider your Christmas traditions to be unusual? Weird? Strange?
Below are some Christmas traditions that I find a bit unusual.
Finland – How does spending a long time in a sauna on Christmas sound? It is cold outside and the sauna is nice and warm. Many homes in Finland come equipped with their own saunas too. The time spent in the sauna is meant to cleanse one’s body and mind. To make this even more relaxing, around Christmas, the sauna is associated with dead relatives. That would add a creepy tone to my time spent in there.
Iceland – During this festive time of year, a giant cat, the Yule Cat, is said to roam the snowy countryside searching out the ones who do not have new clothes. This cat apparently longs to be the bizarre head of the fashion police and will devour anyone that doesn’t have new clothes. Just a pair of new socks could save someone’s life.
Japan – Christmas isn’t a national holiday in this country, but thanks to a clever advertising scheme by Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1974, it is now
https://www.holidayextras.co.uk/travel-blog/wanderlust/unusual-christmas-traditions.html
Netherlands – In this country, small presents and treats are placed in shoes left by the fireplace during the night. I think that I would buy a new pair of shoes just for this occasion.
Ukraine – It would not do to live in this country around Christmastime if one has a fear of spiders. Their favorite decorations are ones that appear to be spider webs sparkling with dew. Their reasoning relates back to an old legend about spiders who helped to decorate a widow’s tree.
flickr
South Africa – What yummy foods do you look forward to eating on Christmas? Turkey? Ham? Mashed potatoes with gravy? Apple pie? Fried caterpillars? Wait. Fried caterpillars? If you live in South Africa, these fried caterpillars are a treat that you might be looking forward to. The caterpillars come from the pine tree emperor m
Sweden – One of the traditions in Sweden is to watch cartoons! Okay, to watch one cartoon specifically: “Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas!” It used to be that all of Sweden would plan their Christmas festivities around the airing of this cartoon at three in the afternoon, but now, only about 40% of them do. Still, it is a cute tradition.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2009/12/nordic_quack.html
Venezuela – Many go to church on Christmas morning, but how many of them skate through the streets to get there? In Caracas, Venezuela, it is tradition to do just that. This tradition is so well established, that many of their streets are closed to traffic during the time skaters will be traveling on them.
The traditions I talked about above are only a handful of the out-of-the-ordinary Christmas traditions that exist. Does your family have any unusual Christmas traditions? Please let me know about them in the comments.
Writing Prompts
Take any of the above traditions and write a story around it. Take the sauna tradition in Finland, for example. Write a story in which the ghosts of dead relatives that visit someone in the sauna decide that they want to come back to life. Or because of
Make up an unusual tradition of your own and use it in a story. Who knows? It could catch on and become a popular tradition. One of our unusual traditions was to hide the presents for our children in various places throughout the house instead of putting them beneath a tree. We would play a game of hot and cold with them until they found them.
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