Your holiday season might be all gifts, lights, and food, but in other countries, people celebrate with fire, quirky good-luck rituals, and KFC (yes, this is real). Here are eight countries that celebrate the holidays in ways you’d never expect.
8. Catalonia, Spain
In Catalonia, holiday preparations include welcoming Tió de Nadal. It’s a wooden log with a painted face and a bright red hat. Starting December 8th, children “care” for the log by feeding it fruit peels and sweets, then keeping it warm under a blanket. On Christmas Eve, kids cheerfully beat the log with sticks while singing songs urging it to “poop” treats. Hidden nuts, candies, and small gifts fall out, bringing a mix of humor and joy to families.
7. Venezuela
In Caracas, Christmas morning turns the city into a giant skating route. Streets close to cars so families can roller skate safely to the early Misa de Aguinaldo. Children often tie strings to their toes and dangle them out the window the night before so passing skaters can gently tug them awake. It’s a charming holiday tradition blending fun and faith.
6. Greenland
Greenland has one of the most distinctive holiday feasts in the world. Families serve kiviak, which are little auk seabirds preserved inside a sealskin and fermented underground for months. This is followed by mattak or thin slices of whale skin and blubber known for their chewy texture. While unfamiliar to outsiders, the dishes represent tradition and survival in Greenland’s extreme climate.
5. Japan
In Japan, Christmas doesn’t mean home-cooked turkey. It means KFC. Thanks to a wildly successful 1970s campaign, “Kentucky for Christmas” which became a cultural phenomenon. Today, millions of families order special holiday buckets featuring fried chicken, sides, cake, and even champagne. Reservations are made weeks in advance just to secure a spot in line.
4. Wales
Wales celebrates the season with Mari Lwyd, an eerie yet playful tradition featuring a horse skull mounted on a pole and draped in flowing sheets. A group of revelers parades the Mari from house to house, challenging residents to pwnco (a spirited exchange of improvised rhyming verses). If the household loses, the Mari gains entry for drinks, snacks, and singing. In the end, this holiday ritual is far from frightening.
3. Guatemala
On December 7th, Guatemalans usher in the holiday season through La Quema del Diablo, or the Burning of the Devil. Families clean their homes and gather unwanted clutter to create symbolic devil figures, which are burned in large bonfires. The fiery act is meant to purge negativity and drive away evil spirits from the past year.
2. Poland
Poland’s Wigilia is one of the most meaningful Christmas Eve traditions in the world. The feast begins when the first star appears, a nod to the Star of Bethlehem. Families prepare 12 symbolic meatless dishes and place hay under the tablecloth to honor Jesus’s birth. An extra seat is always left empty to welcome unexpected guests or honor absent loved ones.
1. The Philippines
Every December, San Fernando hosts the Giant Lantern Festival, transforming the city into a showcase of artistry and devotion. Massive parols (some reaching 20 feet wide) are crafted from steel frames and thousands of synchronized lights controlled by elaborate mechanisms. The festival requires months of preparation, with the lanterns symbolizing hope, unity, and the Filipino spirit of joyful celebration.
