Global Christmas traditions: From witches to KFC

Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus by observing Christmas. Each culture puts its own spin on the celebrations.

Rolling up to church

Attending Christmas church services is common, but Venezuelans take it up a notch: On December 24, they roller-skate to Midnight Mass to commemorate the birth of Christ. The belief is that it's the Southern Hemisphere's summertime answer to sledding in the snowier North's winter. The practice, which began in the 1960s, remains popular. Traffic is blocked for the skaters' safety.

Star of wonder

The story of Christmas is never complete without mention of the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the Three Wise Men to the manger of Baby Jesus. In the Philippines, stars are depicted on vividly colored parols (from the Spanish "farol," which means lantern) that are hung outside homes during the Christmas season. Made of bamboo and Japanese paper, these festive lanterns symbolize hope and light.

Night of the Radishes

Radishes have long been part of life in Oaxaca City, Mexico. Back in 1897, the city's mayor hit upon a whimsical pre-Christmas activity: the Night of the Radishes. Every December 23, skilled artists carve scenes of everyday life into locally grown radishes and display them at the local Christmas market. Given the season, Christian themes such as Nativity scenes are often featured.

Heaven and Earth

Most Nativity scenes boast a "heavenly" look and feel, but in Catalonia, Spain, they include a distinctly human character: "El Caganer," or "the pooper." Often placed in a corner, it is a figurine of a peasant, wearing a traditional Catalan red cap, with his trousers down, defecating. Theories about its origins abound, but it's seen as a symbol of fertility among farmers, as fecal matter makes good manure.

Santa's menacing assistant

While St. Nick brings gifts to those who've been "nice," in Austria, his assistant Krampus deals with those who've been "naughty." The Krampusnacht Festival, held on December 5 — the eve of St. Nicholas Day — celebrates this being, who has "flaming coals for eyes, matted fur and twisting stag horns, who slaps people with birch twigs and kidnaps children ... so he can later drown or eat them."

Greetings from Donald Duck

Though "Mickey's Christmas Carol" may be better-known globally, every December 24 at 3 p.m., Swedish families sit down to watch a 1958 Disney Christmas special called "From All of Us to All of You." According to news publisher The Local in Sweden, more than 4.5 million people — almost half of the country's entire population — watched this hourlong special in 2020, making it Sweden's most-viewed TV show in modern history.

Glass pickle

German Christmas traditions are popular in the United States. One of them is supposedly hanging a "Christmas pickle made in Germany" on the tree. But very few people in Germany have ever heard of the custom, which isn't widespread in the United States, either. It is likely that the tradition was created by German-Americans in the late 19th century. At any rate, a fourth-generation glassblower from Thuringia, where the glass pickle was invented in 1880, has been producing the gherkins ever since.

La Befana, the Italian Christmas witch

The kindhearted Befana, from Italy, was meant to visit the newborn Jesus with the Magi, but she wanted to finish her work on the loom first. Later, the witch could not find her way alone, so, on the eve of Epiphany, January 5-6, she flies around the world looking for the child. She rewards good children with sweets; those who were bad get a lump of "coal" made from sugar.

Christmas in January

Though December 25 is widely celebrated as the birth date of Christ by many Catholics and Protestans, in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Christmas — called Ganna or Genna — is observed on January 7. Many Ethiopian Orthodox members also participate in a special Advent fast of up to 43 days preceding Christmas, which is also known as the "Fast of the Prophets" (or Tsome Nebiyat).

KFC instead of turkey

With less than 1% of Japan's population identifying as Christian, Christmas there is a secular holiday. Yet one tradition has evolved, featuring a jolly, bespectacled man with a white goatee who's not Santa Claus. Ever since the fast food chain formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken launched its "Kentucky for Christmas" marketing campaign in 1974, Colonel Sanders' famous fried chicken is now a Christmas tradition in Japan.

Gift of peace

Christmas is also not a typical cultural celebration in China, yet one distinctly local practice has recently evolved here. "Christmas Eve" in Mandarin translates to ping'anye, or "the evening of peace." That sounds like "pingguo," which means "apple." Thus, an innovative linguistic fusion has resulted in the popular gift of apples during Christmas known as "ping'anguo," or "peace apples."

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier