Top 5 Crazy Christmas Traditions: How to Celebrate with Festivus, KFC, and Poop
Think your family is weird because Uncle Terry passes out drunk in the egg nog after dinner? You haven't lived until you read about these top 7 bizarre Christmas traditions from around the world!
5. Eating KFC (Japan)
An extremely successful advertising campaign in the 1970s has bizarrely made eating KFC for Christmas dinner a nation-wide tradition in Japan. KFC stores get so busy during December that they take reservations for months in advance and you need to pre-order your Christmas feast so you can pick it up on the day. The catch phrase of the advertising campaign was 'Kentucky For Christmas' and it seems to have left quite an impression on the country, for whom Christmas isn't Christmas without finger licking goodness.
4. Rollerskating to Church (Venezuela)
In the days leading up to Christmas Day in Venezuela the people attend early morning mass. In the city of Caracas, the people are woken by fireworks. All the roads that are normally congested with traffic are cleared and closed to make way for the people... rollerskating to church! Traditionally the citizens of Caracas will rollerskate to church for about nine days leading up to Christmas Day.
3. Shoe Tossing (Czech Republic)
It's a Slovakian tradition for single women to stand at the front door of their home facing inward. They then remove one of their shoes and toss it over their shoulder. If the shoe lands with its heel facing towards the door, they are destined to spend the next year as a single woman. If the shoe lands with the toe pointing towards the door they're soon going to be married.
2. Festivus (Anywhere Seinfeld Airs)
This fictional holiday was invented by Daniel O'Keefe, father of one of the writers of the American sitcom Seinfeld, and introduced to viewers by Larry David. In the show, The Constanza family celebrate Festivus on 23rd of December instead of celebrating Christmas. With such traditions as "the airing of grievances" and "feats of strength", it's a way for the family to avoid the commercialism and money spinning of the traditional Christmas holiday. There's also The Festivus Pole, literally an aluminum pole, that stands in pride of place instead of a Christmas tree. Seinfeld fans through out the world have adopted the tradition of Festivus and it's now seen as a fairly legitimate holiday practice.
1. Poop (Spain)
You read that right: POOP. Feces. Excrement. Everyone loves Christmas figurines and mini-models of Bethlehem. But one of the marquee figurines of the Bethlehem Christmas scene in Spain is weird as hell. The caganer figurine has evolved from an ordinary community member of Bethlehem to a celebrity or politician defecating in an obscure location. And in case you're wondering, caganer translates as "the sh*tter" in English. Not to be out sh*tted, families in Catalonia incorporate poop into their holidays with Caga Tió. Caga Tió is a conspicuous four-legged log with a big nose and a smiley face. From Dec. 8 through Christmas Eve, he is covered with a blanket to avoid catching a cold, and then pampered with food. On Dec. 24, sh*t hits the fan. In a dramatic turn of events, Caga Tió is snatched up, tossed into the fire, beaten with sticks, and ordered to poop out candy as the family sings, "Poop log, poop log; hazelnuts and cottage cheese; if you don't poop well, I'll hit you with a stick." As anyone would respond after being pampered and then tossed into a fireplace, he poops. His last hoorah is a head of garlic or onions for the whole family.
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