5 global Christmas traditions we love, from pickles to poo logs

Celebrants of Christmas tend to cling closely to their own time-honored traditions—whether that’s listening to their favorite holiday albums, enjoying certain desserts or trimming the tree a specific way. But while for some people, Christmas dinner includes a ham, for others it’s KFC in a party barrel. And while many families drive to Christmas mass, others prefer to roller skate (for real). All over the world, Christmas customs unlike ours abound. Here are five we promise will surprise you.

Santa’s terrifying counterpart

Krampuslauf | Flickr CC: tribp

Arguably, the creepiest trait of the otherwise Jolly Old Elf known as Santa Claus is that whole “He sees you when you’re sleeping / He knows where you’re awake” thing. We get that he’s supposed to be monitoring kids’ behavior so he can figure out who’s naughty/nice, but it’s still unsettling. And yet…that’s nothing compared to Krampus, legendary figure of Austro-Bavarian alpine folklore, a “half-goat, half-demon” who is said to punish misbehaving children by swatting at them with sticks. While Santa supposedly travels with a sack full of presents and a reindeer entourage, Krampus rolls with chains and a wicker basket for carting wicked kids to Hell. In certain Alpine towns in early December, adults dress up like the horned Christmas devil for a booze-fueled “Krampus run.” A quick Google image search of “Krampuslauf” will haunt your nightmares from now ’til New Year’s.

Kentucky Fried Christmas

KFC in Japan | Flickr CC: Robert Sanzalone

KFC is the go-to meal for Christmas in Japan. It’s not because Colonel Sanders looks like Santa’s distant cousin from the American South (and he definitely does) or even that many Japanese people celebrate Christmas in the religious sense. (The country has only a small percentage of Christians.) Rather, it’s the result of good old-fashioned advertising. A 1974 marketing campaign declaring “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!”—”Kentucky for Christmas!”—promoted a bucket of fried chicken as the all-American meal of choice for the holiday. Now lines snake out the door of the franchise around Christmastime, and many Japanese families will order special KFC meals—a party barrel might come with cake and ice cream—as early as October.

Skating to Christmas mass

In Venezuela, an early-morning, music-centric Christmas mass called Misa de Aguinaldo is held every day starting on December 16, culminating in a midnight mass on December 24 called Misa de Gallo. Many Venezuelans attend at least one of the nine carol services, if not all. Fireworks go off and bells are rung to call congregants to church in the wee hours of the morning. The capital city of Caracas provides an extra incentive to get up before dawn (and simultaneously Starlight Express-yourself): The streets are closed until 8am during the Christmas season so that residents can safely roller skate to mass.

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Find the pickle

Christmas Pickle | Flickr CC: Tricia

What seems to have started due to fake history has become a big dill (groan) in certain American homes: the Christmas pickle. In the late 19th century, Woolworth stores began selling glass ornaments imported from Germany, many of them fruit and vegetable shaped. Among the selection? Pickles. Seeing an opportunity, someone—a pickle-ornament peddler perhaps?—invented a story about how it was German tradition to hang the pickle ornament last on the Christmas tree, and whichever child found it hidden among the boughs received an extra present. (So maybe an enterprising kid invented it.) Germany doesn’t actually observe this custom. But that doesn’t stop Berrien Springs, Michigan, from celebrating its annual Christmas Pickle Festival every December, replete with a pickle parade led by the Grand Dillmeister.

A log that “poos” presents

Tio de Nadal

Maybe the most unusual Christmas tradition of all derives from Spain. The Tió de Nadal, or Christmas log, is a hollowed-out piece of wood decorated with a smiley face, attached nose, little wooden legs and floppy red cap. According to Aragonese and Catalan mythology, this anthropomorphic log—also popularly called Caga tió, or “poo log”—”defecates” small presents on Christmas Day…candy, nuts, that kind of thing. (The Three Wise Men, meanwhile, are said to bring big presents, because how much loot can you reasonably expect from an empty log wearing a goofy expression?) Starting with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, children in parts of Spain make sure the tió is “fed” and kept warm, often by covering it with a tiny blanket, so it will be all ready to do its “business.” When the time comes, the family beats the tió with sticks and orders it, via singing traditional Christmas log songs, to poop out presents. What a world!