FREE KINDLE FOR PC

FREE KINDLE FOR PC
So you can read my books

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

You're doing WHAT for CHRISTMAS?



1.) THAT'S SANDERS NOT SANTA FOR CHRISTMAS!


Japan: KFC for Christmas dinner

In many Japanese homes a KFC bucket with fried chicken is the main dish at Christmas.

Thanks to a lack of turkeys and smart marketing by KFC the fried chicken is so popular you have to order weeks in advance for the holidays.


2.) GOING BANANAS FOR CHRISTMAS

In India, only about 2.3% of the population are Christians, but because of the large population they have, we are talking about 25 million people here!

Christians here celebrate Christmas with midnight mass and gift-giving like the rest of the world,

but with the absence of fir trees or pine trees to decorate, they usually made do with banana trees and mango trees instead.





3.) CHRISTMAS LOG ... JAM:

Christmas log

The bizarre Catalonian tradition of caga tiĆ³ (or "defecating log" in English) involves creating a character out of a small log -

often complete with a grinning face and hat –

which sits on the dining room table during the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

It has to be fed every day with fruit, nuts and sweets, and then

on Christmas Eve

the entire family beats the log with sticks, while singing traditional songs, forcing the log to excrete its treats.

You couldn't make it up.


4.) SHADES OF CHARLES DICKENS!

The ghost of Christmas past

During "consoda", the traditional Christmas feast in Portugal, families will sometimes set extra places at the dining table for deceased relatives.

It is thought that the practice will ensure good fortunes for the household.


5.) TOSS YOUR FATE AND YOUR SHOES AT CHRISTMAS:

If you don’t want to celebrate another Christmas single, then try this:

stand with your back to the door and throw a shoe over your shoulders on Christmas day!

If the shoe lands with the toe pointing to the door, congratulations, you’re going to get married soon!

There’s no clue as to how long before you meet your prince charming though.





6.) LET THE GOAT LIVE!

In 1966 a 13-metre tall goat figure made of straw was erected in the town square of Gavle, Sweden.

 At the stroke of midnight, Christmas Eve, the goat went up in flames.

But the town never stopped building it year after year, and vandals never stopped trying to burn the goat down!

By 2011, the goat has already been burned down 25 times.

The burning of the Gavle goat happened so often that bookmakers began taking bets for the survival of the goat since 1988.


7.) AH, YOU ARE AWARE YOU ARE TERRIFYING CHILDREN?

Krampusnacht

As watchers of the TV show, GRIMM, know ...

 St Nicholas's evil accomplice in Austrian tradition, Krampus, is a demon-like creature that punishes bad children.

Men dressed as Krampus roam the streets during the festive period, frightening the little ones.


8.) DON'T CALL ORKIN!

In Ukranian homes, people hide a (hopefully artificial) spider and its web inside their Christmas tree.

The person who finds the eight-legged creature is granted good luck.

The tradition comes from an old folk tale about a widow who was too poor to decorate the family tree.

A spider spun its web around it.

When the Christmas day sun touched the threads, they turned to gold and silver making for a very happy and prosperous holiday.


9.) WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?

Don’t expect to find a broom in a Norwegian household after Christmas Eve dinner.

Families hide them so that witches and other mischievous spirits won’t steal them to terrorize the town.





10.) CHRISTMAS IS THE SEASON FOR CHILDREN AND COUNSELING!

Mari Lwyd

Christmas carols in some Welsh villages take a twisted turn during the ritual of Mari Lwyd.

Donning a decorated mare’s skull (sometimes with a spring-loaded jaw so the mouth can snap at children) and white sheet,

a person parades the streets with a group singing songs hoping to be granted admittance into stranger’s homes for food, fun, and drink.


10 comments:

  1. And I had thought that my family had some weird celebratory habits...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elephant's Child:
    The world is stranger than we believe, isn't it? Mark Twain wrote: Everyone is normal until you get to know them! :-) Merriest of Christmases!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I have a fridge magnet which says that the only normal people are those you don't know very well. I hadn't realised it was a Twain paraphrase. The merriest of Christmases to you too.

      Delete
  3. That last one wins for weirdness. Although the burning goat is rather funny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Folks around the world sure are strange, but I am sure they say the same about us!! :-)

      Delete
  4. My Yule Goat stays on top of my china cabinet, safe from dogs and other vandals. I loved this post, except for learning about that goat in Gavle. I have to go Google it now to learn more.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, protect that Goat. Misfits from Gavle may come looking for it! But no fear. They will have to contend with Samson and Faith ... Galve doggie kibble!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fascinating post, Roland. We should keep in mind that early America didn't even celebrate Christmas. There was no Biblical justification, so the Puritans considered Christmas a pagan holiday.

    Christmas wasn't considered a holiday here until the mid-nineteenth century. Give us a few hundred years to catch up, and I bet we can come up with some a few more interesting traditions of our own. ;)

    VR Barkowski

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VR:
      The Spanish settled in America pretty early on - in Florida in 1559 and, being Catholics, would have celebrated Navidad, Christmas and Pascua, Easter and others. That colony failed but one established a bit later - St Augustine in 1565 - has been occupied ever since. The ancestors of our Latino friends were the first to celebrate a major European holiday - Christmas or Easter depending on the date they arrived.

      But you're right: Prior to the civil war Christmas was not widely celebrated in the USA. Commercialism gave it a kickstart when store owners found they could use the celebration of christmas as a way to boost sales during a time when many people were in the "lean" months of their savings.

      The first documented Christmas controversy was Christian-led. Puritans (including those who fled to America) sought to remove elements they viewed as "pagan" (because they were not biblical in origin) from Christianity. During this period of Christian oppresion, the English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas entirely, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior. The Army were sent to raid homes and confiscate any cooked meat.

      This led to such resentment that it provoked riots.

      During the colonial period, celebrating Christmas was punishable by a fine and in 1776 it was still not widely celebrated.

      The U.S. did not even make Christmas a federal holiday until 1870.

      In the end, it all comes down to what of America folks lived. Here in Louisiana, we would have celebrated Christmas from the start.

      Up where you live, the Puritans, those party-poopers, nixed it early on! They had those nifty witch trials to conduct and all! :-)

      Delete
  7. Hi Roland .. amazing traditions - I knew nothing about them .. the Catalonian log sounds a little extreme ... while the Scandinavian and eastern European traditions and I don't think I'll be visiting Japan for Christmas ... fun to read these .. thanks for sharing - Hilary

    ReplyDelete