{"id":3216,"date":"2012-12-25T22:20:02","date_gmt":"2012-12-25T22:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/delightfull.eu\/blog\/?p=3216"},"modified":"2012-12-25T22:53:10","modified_gmt":"2012-12-25T22:53:10","slug":"top-ten-bizarre-christmas-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/2012\/12\/25\/top-ten-bizarre-christmas-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Top ten bizarre Christmas Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christmas is celebrated all over the world, but every community has developed its own unique holiday traditions. Discover which are the most bizarre!<\/p>\n

1. Bad spirits in Greece\u00a0Christmas Holiday\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

In Greece there is a need to ward off bad spirits.\u00a0 Kallikantzaroi are evil spirits that live deep inside the earth most of the year, but wreak havoc on Greek homes over the Christmas holiday.\u00a0 There are lots of ways to ward off these pests, which are described differently at every turn.\u00a0 Some say they look like people, some say they look like very tall things that wear metal shoes.\u00a0 I happen to like the description that says they have monkey arms and red eyes and are covered in fur.\u00a0 Just hang a pig jaw inside the chimney to keep them from coming down it.<\/p>\n

2. Skating to church in Venezuela<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"skate<\/a><\/p>\n

On a lighter note, the capital city of Venezuela has a neat tradition. The streets in Caracas are closed off in order to allow churchgoers to get there by roller-skate. Nothing like getting a little cardio in before a church service.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0In Australia, Santa Claus pulls up on a surf board<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"santa<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s summer down under on\u00a0Christmas Day<\/a>. Temperatures in December are between 68 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

So Santa pulls up on the beach on his surfboard. The country had a devastating Christmas in\u00a01974, when Cyclone Tracy came through the Northern Territory and more than 60 people were killed.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0In Austria, young men dress up as the Krampus and roam the streets to frighten children<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"santa<\/a><\/p>\n

In Austria, December is a time for festive events and frights.<\/p>\n

Young men walk around dressed up as the Krampus, a devil-demon creature equipped with cowbells and rods, and usually accompanied by Nikolaus, a version of Santa Claus.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Krampus<\/a>\u00a0will then roam the streets scaring adults and children.<\/p>\n

5. In Great Britain, children send their letters to Father Christmas by throwing them in the back of the fireplace<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"chid<\/a><\/p>\n

Children in Great Britain write their wish lists to Father Christmas and then instead of mailing the letters (though some do), they throw them in the back of the fire place, hoping the draft carries them up and to the North Pole.<\/p>\n

If the child\u2019s letter catches fire before it flies up the chimney, the child\u00a0must write a new letter<\/a>.
\n6 .\u00a0In Iceland, the 13 Yule Lads replace the traditional Santa Claus<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"iceland<\/a>
\n<\/a>Why have one Santa Claus when you can believe in 13?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what children do in Iceland, where the \u201c13 Yule Lads\u201d are said to come to town two weeks before Christmas, and leave after the holiday.<\/p>\n

Once depicted as mischievous, they have taken on a more benevolent role in recent years.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0In Oaxaca, Mexico, natives break plates to signify the year coming to a close<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"glass<\/a><\/p>\n

Christmas starts in Oaxaca with a parade of people walking down lantern-lit streets, and knocking on every door to re-enact\u00a0Mary and Joseph\u2019s search for shelter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, they break ceramic plates near the cathedral to signify the year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

8.<\/strong>\u00a0In Norway, families hide all of the brooms on Christmas Eve to stop the witches from playing mischievous tricks<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"norway<\/a><\/p>\n

It is believed in\u00a0Norway<\/a>\u00a0that on Christmas Eve, witches roam the skies along with other mischievous spirits.<\/p>\n

Since a witch\u2019s prime mode of transportation is a broom, families hide all of their cleaning supplies attached to sticks, to stop the witches from stealing them.<\/p>\n

9.In the Ukraine, families hide a spider web in the tree. Whoever finds it will have good luck<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Ukraine, there\u2019s a legend that a poor widow found a Christmas tree growing in her yard during the summer months. Her children were thrilled to finally have a tree, but she didn\u2019t have money to decorate it.<\/p>\n

When the family woke up Christmas morning, a spider had spun a web around the tree, decorating it for the family.<\/p>\n

When the youngest child opened the window on Christmas day and light hit the web, the web turned to silver and gold.<\/p>\n

Stemming from that legend, now people in the Ukraine hide\u00a0spider webs<\/a>\u00a0in their trees and whoever finds it Christmas day will have good luck that year.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0In Catalonia, Spain, kids beat the \u2018Ti\u00f3 de Nadal\u2019 log with a stick so he \u201cdrops\u201d presents<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cTi\u00f3 de Nadal\u201d is a popular Christmas tradition in Catalonia. The log is typically propped up on sticks, and children are encouraged to feed it and cover it with blankets on the nights leading up to Christmas.<\/p>\n

On Christmas day, the log is placed in the fireplace and beaten with sticks so that it \u201cdrops\u201d small presents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas is celebrated all over the world, but every community has developed its own unique holiday traditions. Discover which are the most bizarre! 1. Bad spirits in Greece\u00a0Christmas Holiday\u00a0 In Greece there is a need to ward off bad spirits.\u00a0 Kallikantzaroi are evil spirits that live deep inside the earth most of the year, but wreak havoc on Greek homes over the Christmas holiday.\u00a0 There are lots of ways to ward off these pests, which are described differently at every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":3219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[791,792,788,783,790],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}