6 Unique Christmas Traditions Around The World

Around the world, Christmas traditions take many magical forms. While the UK enjoys mince pies, mulled wine, and cosy evenings by the fire, countries from Sweden to Japan have their own unique Christmas traditions worth discovering. From festive feasts and quirky characters to centuries-old customs, these Christmas traditions around the world show just how differently people celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.

So, while you’re nestled into the sofa on Christmas Eve, here are some of the most unique ways people will be celebrating Christmas across the world.

Photo via Seppo Laine, Wikimedia Commons

Swedish Christmas Traditions – The Yule Goat

When you think of Christmas animals, you probably imagine reindeer, robins, turkeys, maybe even penguins – but how about goats? In Sweden, it’s not really Christmas without the Yule Goat, a traditional part of the Christmas celebrations dating back to pagan festivals and ancient Scandinavian history.

This legend became much more literal in 1966 when the first Gävle Goat was constructed. This ginormous goat figure is built each year out of straw in Slottstorget, Gävle. This magnificent figure stands more than 12 metres high and 7 metres wide, weighing over 3,000 kilograms! You can even keep up to date with the goat on social media to see what they’re up to (not much usually as it can’t move). Photo from Seppo Laine.

Japanese Christmas Traditions – KFC Christmas Dinner

This Christmas, while you’re digging into your roast turkey with stuffing, pigs in blankets, and Christmas pudding (yum!), families in Japan will be gathering around the table to enjoy a traditional meal of KFC. After the first KFC store opened in Japan in the 1970s, they introduced the idea of a barrel of chicken to eat at Christmas, calling it Kentucky for Christmas.

Christmas was not widely celebrated in Japan at the time, so the idea quickly gained fame, thanks in part to a series of adverts showing happy families digging into KFC as a seasonal tradition. To this day, the fried chicken restaurant has become an essential part of the festive celebrations, with millions of Japanese residents opting to go for the festive KFC meal each year, consisting of fried chicken, lasagne, and chocolate cake.

However, if you fancy a piece of the action, you’re best off ordering from the comfort of your home, as KFC is so popular at this time of year in Japan that you could be left queueing for hours to get your hands on some of their fried chicken.

Photo via GrupdAlliberaciodeTiosdenadal, Wikimedia Commons

Spanish Christmas Traditions – Caga Tió (Poop Log)

Yup, you read that right. A traditional way of celebrating Christmas in Spain involves a Caga Tió, or poop log. This log is often painted with a face and a Christmas hat, and it’s quite normal to see these interesting characters in markets everywhere across Catalonia in the run-up to Christmas.

Kids are then encouraged to feed the log so that it’ll poop out gifts for them. To get the log to poop, kids will beat it with sticks and sing a traditional song encouraging it to poop nougat (and specifically asking it not to poop salted herring). The log is usually placed on a blanket, under which the parents hide gifts, so that the log has ‘pooped out’ for the kids to discover. While it’s not what you might expect, there’s no denying that it’s definitely more interesting than Santa delivering presents through the chimney!

Ukrainian Christmas Traditions – The Legend of the Christmas Spider

The legend of the Christmas Spider is a surprisingly wholesome story told in Ukraine and Eastern Europe at Christmas. This adorable tale tells of a widow living with her children who couldn’t afford to decorate the pine tree outside her home at Christmas time. However, on Christmas Day, they awoke to see the tree covered in spider webs, which caught the sunlight and made the tree appear to be draped in silver and gold decorations, to the delight of the widow and her children.

As a result, it’s become a tradition in some areas to decorate Christmas trees with spiderweb ornaments, and it’s even said that this story could have started the tradition of using tinsel to decorate trees, representing the spider webs catching the morning light.

For an animal with a pretty bad reputation, it’s great to see how this cute Christmas tale paints them in a different light, although whether you’d want spiders on your tree this Christmas is up to you!

Photo via Ramon FVelasquez, Wikimedia Commons

Filipino Christmas Traditions – Ligligan Parul (Giant Lantern Festival)

The Ligligan Parul, or Giant Lantern Festival, is a major annual light festival held in San Fernando at Christmas time. This beautiful celebration features giant, carefully decorated lanterns – some of which measure up to an incredible 15 feet in diameter! These lanterns are said to represent the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to baby Jesus in the nativity story.

Each year, a winner is crowned, and they never fail to impress with some absolutely stunning designs. You can check out some of the previous winners here (and maybe even draw inspiration for some creative homemade bauble decorations!)

Photo via Understand Iceland

Icelandic Christmas Traditions – The 13 Yule Lads

In Iceland, it’s not Santa Claus that children get excited expecting the arrival of, but the 13 Yule Lads. These mischievous but merry characters visit in the 13 nights leading up to Christmas. Each lad has their own unique personality, dating back to Icelandic folklore. For these 13 nights, children leave their shoes out on the windowsill for the Yule Lads to fill with sweets or small presents. Although traditionally, if the children have been naughty, the Yule Lads would fill the shoes with potatoes (or rotting potatoes!).

It’s not all adorable characters and gifts, however. Traditionally, these Yule Lads were much more terrifying than they are today, with my parents using them to scare children into good behaviour. This changed, though, when, in the 18th century, a royal decree banned parents from telling horror stories about monsters like the Yule Lads to children, causing the legend to take on a much more friendly and playful tone.

What About Countries That Don’t Celebrate Christmas?

While it might be hard to imagine, as Christmas is so prevalent in many countries, many places around the world don’t celebrate Christmas at all or at least it’s much less significant. For example, Christmas isn’t recognised as an official public holiday in Japan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, or Vietnam, just to name a few.

While some of these countries might have traditions associated with the holiday or celebrate in their own unique way (like Japan with KFC dinners!), there’s no official holiday on December 25th.

Why We Love These Unique Christmas Traditions Around the World

These unique Christmas traditions around the world show just how wonderfully different festive celebrations can be. From Swedish Yule Goats to Japanese KFC dinners, every country brings its own special touch to the holiday spirit. Together, they remind us that no matter where you are, Christmas traditions are all about joy, togetherness, and celebrating in your own unique way.

So, this year, while you’re opening your presents or enjoying a mince pie or two on Christmas day, why not show off how smart you are and see how many of these unique holiday traditions your friends and family have heard of? Feel free to let us know which ones were your favourites too!

And if you still haven’t got your Christmas shopping done, don’t worry! You can order a huge range of amazing Christmas presents with quick delivery, perfect for pairing with a festive Funky Pigeon personalised Christmas card.