Crazy Christmas Stories: The Weirdest Holiday Traditions Around the World

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;46868" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-46868" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;12&sol;Nikolaus&lowbar;krampus&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-46868 " title&equals;"Nikolaus&lowbar;krampus" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;12&sol;Nikolaus&lowbar;krampus-300x266&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"266" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-46868" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Krampus Celebrates Christmas with Family&comma; 1896<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><em>&&num;8212&semi; Nicholas Morine<&sol;em><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Christmas Will Never Be The Same &lpar;After you read this article&excl;&rpar;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Look&comma; all of us love Christmas and the Christmas season&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you don’t&comma; you’d best stick around just in case&semi; there are a few things you might learn here that you can use against the perpetually merry who irritate you at a holiday party&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now &&num;8212&semi; just because we all love Christmas doesn’t mean that the holiday doesn’t have some serious flaws&&num;8230&semi; aside from the rampant commercialism and materialism that has begun to dominate the spirit of the season&period; Just because we all have an addiction to shiny presents and amazing turkey dinners with homemade stuffing doesn’t mean that Christmas stops there&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Oh no&period; Christmas goes a lot deeper than that in some countries&comma; for some people&period; Dark places&period; Scary places&period; At times&comma; bathroom places&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And with that teaser&comma; let’s get down to the butter and potatoes of this argument&period; Consider this&comma; Christmas fans &&num;8212&semi; the strangest Christmastime traditions you’ve ever seen from all across the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Krampus &lpar;see above&rpar;&colon;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The Krampus is the <strong><em><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;">King of Weird Christmas Traditions<&sol;span><&sol;em><&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is honestly no way that things could get any more bizarre than the legendary Christmas Krampus&comma; a beast of legend who would terrorize the children of the villages of Austria&comma; Bavaria&comma; Croatia&comma; Hungary&comma; and other nations near the beginning of the month of December&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Demonic and wild in appearance&comma; with thick animal fur and large&comma; evil eyes&comma; the Krampus cuts a rather impressive figure&period; Downright terrifying as an epic bogeyman for generations&comma; the Krampus threatened to whip children and to carry them away on a sack in his back to his lair&comma; or worse&comma; to the underworld&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In more common practice &lpar;and perhaps much more interesting&rpar;&comma; the Krampus tradition continues to be highly controversial in many Alpine nations&comma; as young men are encouraged to take to the streets&comma; fueled by alcohol and with a thirst for mischief&period; We’re not sure which is more frightening &&num;8212&semi; the myth or the real-world tradition&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>KFC is BIG in Japan &lpar;for Christmas&rpar;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Yea&comma; we don’t get it either&period; Fried chicken for Christmas sounds great and all&comma; and of course the gravy is consistent with what we all might imagine at the festive dinner&comma; but doesn’t this really prove the strength of modern marketing&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Turns out that in the mid-seventies&comma; a group of western expats in Japan was having great difficulty finding their turkey for Christmas dinner and settled for fried chicken instead&period; A lightbulb went off at KFC in Japan and they immediately started a huge advertorial campaign&comma; complete witha bottle of wine to aid the digestion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nowadays the commercials may be more modern&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;sGwGTrRhXxM" frameborder&equals;"0" width&equals;"420" height&equals;"315"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But they still reflect the absolute joy with which the Japanese celebrate their marriage of fried chicken and Christmas cheer&period; Weird&quest; Yes&period; Understandable&quest; Also yes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>The Christmas Pickle<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;46869" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-46869" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;12&sol;800px-Weihnachts&lowbar;Gurke&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-46869 " title&equals;"800px-Weihnachts&lowbar;Gurke" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;12&sol;800px-Weihnachts&lowbar;Gurke-300x162&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"162" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-46869" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Photo&colon; Christbaumschmuck der Firma Inge-Glas<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Okay&comma; this one isn’t really that weird&period; In fact&comma; more and more of these festive brined cucumbers are showing up on Christmas trees every year as word of mouth delivers the news&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The original story surrounding the Christmas Pickle relates to&comma; well&comma; absolutely nothing&semi; but it’s quite clear that the real reason it’s such a smash hit is because it’s straight funny&excl; Who doesn’t want a Christmas Pickle&quest; &&num;8212&semi; I think that’s the better question&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Inexpensive&comma; amusing&comma; memorable&comma; and usually offering a secret present from Santa to whomever is the luckiest to find it first&comma; this tradition may be a bit weird but it’s still modern enough to start up with this year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Tio de Nadal&colon; A Very Special Yule Log<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>This one takes the cake&semi; and you’d best not be eating one at the moment or you’d might prefer to set it down a moment&period; The Tio de Nadal is a radically different take on your traditional &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;yule log”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For you see&comma; the Tio de Nadal is a longstanding Catalonian tradition of finding a 30cm hollow log&comma; placing a broad grinning smile on one end&comma; and ensuring that the tiny little log stays fed every night&period; Children or adults will also place a blanket over the Tio to ensure that it stays warm overnight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;46870" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-46870" style&equals;"width&colon; 230px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;12&sol;460px-Cagatio&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-46870" title&equals;"460px-Cagatio" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;12&sol;460px-Cagatio-230x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"230" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-46870" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Photo Credit&colon; Toniher<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Things get even stranger when the time comes for the Tio de Nadal log to perform its ritual duty&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;pooping” presents &lpar;quite literally&comma; though even stronger language is used in the original Catalan&rpar; from its rear while children beat upon it with sticks while singing songs about the process&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When we say it’s the thought that counts&comma; do we mean the spirit behind this Catalonian tradition&quest; The candy excreted by the log is to be shared amongst all present&comma; and there is a great amount of imagination involved&period; Maybe that makes up for the rest of it&semi; or maybe it doesn’t&semi; not content with the oddity of the Tio de Nadal log&comma; the very same bodily function is expressed in the local nativity scene&comma; by the character of the Caganer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; some Catalonian nativity scenes feature a figure dropping trou and celebrating in the same fashion as our Tio de Nadal log &&num;8212&semi; and no&comma; it’s not considered offensive &&num;8212&semi; in fact&comma; the locals take it with a great helping of good cheer and good humour&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Still&comma; we can’t recommend any DIY improvements to the office nativity scene &lpar;or at home&rpar; without asking the boss first&period; Perhaps it’s best not to ask at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Yes&comma; these are all serious traditions&comma; and not jokes<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>While some of the above traditions&comma; or perhaps all if you happen to be a perennial practical joker&comma; may seem downright scary or offensive&comma; the truth is that humour and laughter are the true binding agent to all holidays&period; Who ever heard of a deadpan serious Christmas that didn’t involve passive-agressive arguments at the dinner table or a social faux-pas that ruined the entire evening&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We don’t want to hang out with those sorts&comma; and we’re sure that you don’t either&period; For that very reason we should celebrate these quirky&comma; strange&comma; and downright deranged Christmas fashions for their bizarrest qualities&period; The funnier&comma; the better&period; Absurdly awesome&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We’re sure that Saint Nick would approve&semi; at least one of us does&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>Merry Christmas Pickle&comma; from all of us at London Glossy&excl;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e31da9c8c29">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; 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