8 of the Craziest Christmas Traditions in the World

At Couch we love Christmas! For us there is nothing better than snuggling up on the sofa with the fire crackling in the background and watching endless reruns of Only Fools and Horses. But for thousands around the world, Christmas gets a whole lot weirder. In fact, when you take some time to have a look you’ll find that there are a lot of really weird Christmas traditions out there

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Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

30 Creative Illustrations of the Christmas Man: Santa Claus | Naldz Graphics

Everybody knows Canadians for their nicety, but even their post office are ridiculously nice – nobody says that about the Post Office! If any Canadians send a letter to “Santa Claus, North Pole, Canada, HOHOHO” then they will receive a personal reply from Santa on behalf of Canada Post. That has to be a full time job in itself! Frankly, we’d much rather lounge all over the couch and watch the Queen’s speech followed by loads of classic Christmas films.

a white bowl filled with food on top of a table

Slovak Desserts

Slovak Christmas

Traditional Christmas Eve Dinner

Eastern European Recipes

Christmas Bread

Traditional Loksa Pudding - Most people would be annoyed if someone threw pudding on the ceiling of their house, but in Slovakia it is widely encouraged. Every Christmas the most senior member of the family will take a spoonful of traditional loksa pudding and launch it at the ceiling – the more that sticks there the better the New Year will be. We wouldn’t recommend trying this at home!

an ornament is hanging on the christmas tree

Christmas In Ukraine

Vancouver Christmas Market

Ukrainian spiderweb Christmas decoration - Where you may enjoy decorating your Christmas tree with lights, tinsel and baubles, the Ukrainians do something very different. They dress their trees with an artificial spider and metres of fake web – needless to say it looks more like Halloween than Christmas around there! This is truly crazy, why would anybody use a spider for cheerful decoration?

a group of people standing on top of a white tile floor next to each other

Kfc Christmas

Lemony Snicket Series

YouTube

Never underestimate the power of advertising. Back in 1976 KFC released an advert that changed tradition in Japan forever. Now, every Christmas eve millions of Japanese people flock to their nearest KFC for a bucket of chicken. We guess it isn’t too far away from a roast turkey and it is much, much more appealing than a deep-fried caterpillar!

Guns in Santa's Grotto What happens when you mix a love of guns with a love of Christmas? Santa and Machine Guns of course! Arizona’s Scottsville Gun Club host one of the strangest Santa’s grottos in the world, where families get to select their choice of weaponry – including AK-47s, grenade launchers and machine guns – and pose with Santa for their Christmas photo. Only Fools And Horses, Christmas Photo, What Happens When You, Christmas Santa, Christmas Traditions, Christmas Photos, Around The Worlds, The World, Christmas

Only Fools And Horses

Christmas Photo

What Happens When You

Guns in Santa's Grotto What happens when you mix a love of guns with a love of Christmas? Santa and Machine Guns of course! Arizona’s Scottsville Gun Club host one of the strangest Santa’s grottos in the world, where families get to select their choice of weaponry – including AK-47s, grenade launchers and machine guns – and pose with Santa for their Christmas photo.

a banana tree with lots of fruit hanging from it's branches in front of a house

Going bananas! As you may well expect, the traditional pine tree isn’t something that is universally accepted. In fact, in India you won’t see pine trees anywhere but instead you’ll find millions of brilliantly decorated banana and mango trees. Interestingly, these trees aren’t taken inside the house but are decorated and lit up in the streets with some leaves from the trees being taken to be used to bring Christmas into their homes.

the food is prepared and ready to be eaten

Christmas In South Africa

Deep Fried Caterpillars - South Aftican Christmas Lunch! Where you may be eagerly anticipating a delicious roast turkey or goose for Christmas, in South Africa they eat something entirely different. The delicacy for this time of year is deep-fried caterpillars of the Emperor Moth, not exactly something you’d cover in gravy and eat with a Yorkshire pudding!

a broom sitting on top of a red tiled floor

Cleaning in Norway Nobody likes cleaning around the Christmas period, but in Norway there is a whole superstition based around it! Absolutely no cleaning is allowed and every single broom is hidden away so that they can’t be stolen by witches or evil spirits. We reckon there may be something in this, no cleaning for us this Christmas!