Festive Traditions Around the World

Since Christmas is still a long way from now, we can look at the various ways this festive tradition is celebrated around the world. If we can not enjoy the season right now, surely we can look into the unique ways Christmas is celebrated. Who knows you may get inspired and choose to tweak your festive celebrations this year.

KFC and Christmas

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Christmas is, indeed, all about food. Nobody complains about the full spreads for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we all end up gaining holiday weight. In Japan, this Christmas food comes from KFC. People in Japan flock to the American fast-food chain KFC to eat chicken and there is a common phrase in the country for this “Kentucky For Christmas!” The tradition of eating “(Fried) Christmas chicken” originated from a KFC marketing campaign in 1974 and to date, Christmas is when KFC revenue reaches record levels in the country!

No Brooms and Mops In Sight for Christmas

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Norwegians are a little superstitious and want to prevent evil spirits, which they believe will come by hiding their mops and brooms. Since the evil spirits, who return to Earth on Christmas, use brooms and mops to go on joyrides in the Christmas sky.

Christmas Spiders for Good Luck

Getty Images / Moment / Liliya Krueger

Spider webs on Christmas trees are believed to bring good luck. It is quite common in Ukraine to use spider web-shaped ornaments to decorate Christmas trees. People in Poland and Germany also believe spider webs to be a notion of good luck. This belief originates back to a story about a poor woman who couldn’t afford ornaments to decorate her tree with. The next morning when she woke up, her tree was covered with spider webs. And they looked breathtaking in the sunlight.