‘Bizarre’ Celebrations - 6 Countries and their Unusual Ways of Christmas Celebrations


  Christmas - the most celebrated festival world over. The mention of the word Christmas brings to mind pictures of beautifully decorated Christmas trees, traditional dishes like fruit cake, pumpkin pie, roast turkey, mulled wine etc. It is that season when people cheerfully exchange greetings and wishes. However, few countries follow unique celebrations as part of their Christmas festivities.

A peek into the Christmas celebrations of few countries where it is bizarre if not unique.

Christmas equals KFC (Japan)
In Japan Christmas and KFC go hand in hand. KFC gets a humongous profit during Christmas. Since the beginning of their marketing campaign in Japan, it has been associated with Christmas. KFC sells barrels of chicken during Christmas.

Let’s remember (Finland):
   The people in Finland visit the graves of their loved ones on Christmas. Yes! They visit the graves of their relatives and light candles irrespective of how far they are.

Shoe Socks as a sign (Philippines):
   The celebration in Philippines is extensive. It goes on till January. The children leave their neatly polished shoes and freshly washed socks on the window sill for the three Kings to leave them gifts. This marks the end of Christmas celebration.

Bananas and Christmas (India):
   The Christian population in India is very low. The Christians here celebrate Christmas in their own way. The Christmas tree for Indians is not pine or fir but, banana tree. You will find mango and banana trees everywhere; the leaves of the trees are used to decorate their houses.

Burning the Goat (Sweden):
   Here is a very peculiar story. In the year 1966 a 13 meter tall goat was built out of straw which went up in flames on the night of Christmas. But people never stopped building the goat, and the vandals never stopped burning it. This is a very unique way of celebrating Christmas.

A Webbed Celebration (Ukraine):
   In place of glittering decorations and tinsel, the Christmas trees are decorated with spider webs. The story behind this is, there was a poor woman who could not afford to decorate her Christmas tree. The next morning, her children woke up to see the tree covered with webs and when the first light of Christmas morning touched the web threads, they turned into gold and silver. It is believed that seeing spider webs on Christmas morning brings luck.

Each country is unique, so are their Christmas celebrations; however, the spirit of Christmas is universal – love, share and smile.

Merry Christmas!

Location: Southern Asia

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