Top 10 Weirdest Christmas Traditions

This celebration is called Tió de Nadal.

image credited to ca.wikipedia.org

This celebration is called Tió de Nadal.

Claire D., Writer

  1. In Germany and Austria, there is an evil “Christmas demon” who comes to haunt and punish misbehaving children on Christmas Eve night called the Krampus. Incidentally, there has been a movie about the Krampus by the same name!
  1. In Venezuela, it is an old tradition to roller skate to church services because of the festivals during the holiday. This is so widely known that the roads are cleared to let the worshipers across.
  1. One staple of the Portuguese Christmas is to set a table place and leave a meal for a deceased relative. It is said that if families do this, they will have good luck for the coming year.
  1. Norwegians think that winter brings wickedness and evil to their households, basically a Halloween repeat. They believe that witches travel to homes and look for brooms to ride, so logically Norwegians make sure to hide their brooms on Christmas Eve.
  1. German children get to celebrate early, because they start festivities on December 5. On that night, they make sure to leave a shoe or boot on the front porch, and if the children have been good, a stick will have been found, covered with sweets.
  1. Along with the normal ornaments, Ukrainians put special spider-themed decorations on their trees, believing the pretty webs will bring them luck throughout the new year.
  1. In Italy, there is a kind witch called La Befana who hands out treats to good children during Christmas.
  1. During the Christmas season, Estonians will traditionally head to the sauna!  Yes, really. This might be to get warm while enjoying the season. It’s actually repeated twice again, once during the middle of summer, and once again to celebrate New Year’s Day!
  1. Even the British have their own strange traditions, which might explain why some Brits enjoy jumping into the icy-cold waters of the Irish Sea to celebrate the Christmas fun! These people are nuts.
  1.  In Japan, instead of Santa Claus there is Santa Kurohsu, who has eyes on the back of his head, to keep an eye on naughty children. Talk about a stalker!
  1. Women in the Czech Republic believe in the tradition of throwing a shoe or boot behind their back. Weird, right? There is an explanation: Brides-to-be make sure to check if the toe points towards the door. If so, they believe they will be married within the next year.
  1. The very weirdest Christmas tradition we could find was the tradition of tió de Nadal, which literally means “Christmas log.” Okay, let me explain. The more festive residents of Catalonia, Spain, make sure to carve a character from a small log in early December, “feeding” it every day with candy, nuts, and other sweets, with a blanket covering its butt. After the log is full, on Christmas Eve, everyone takes a turn beating the log with a stick (while singing a traditional song) , so it “poops” out the candy, and all the children pick up the Christmas treats, much like a piñata used in the US and Mexico.

Special thanks to the Telegraph for providing information on these strange customs.