7 bizarre Christmas traditions from around the world

1 - Family Sauna

In Estonia, families often gather everyone to have a sauna on Christmas Eve before attending church. Have you ever thought about your whole family in a Christmas sauna?

2 - Hidden Cucumber

The origin of this practice is not known for sure, but US families have the habit of hiding a cucumber on the Christmas tree. The child who meets the cucumber first receives a special gift.

3 - That super-strange Christmas delicacy

In Greenland, people eat a Christmas dish called Kiviak that is basically made with seals stuffed with rotten birds. The seal, however, is prepared not to rot too, if that is any consolation. The birds are rotting for a period ranging from 3 to 18 months, and then when the seal is opened, the idea is to eat everything raw. Hmmm!

4 - At Christmas you can ask a shoe about your love life

Many people in the Czech Republic enjoy Christmas to make a typical sympathy of the time. Here's how it works: Outside your house, you should throw a shoe behind your shoulders on Christmas Day. If the shoe falls pointing to the door, you will get married soon; but if you look the other way, you're not very lucky. Better to try again at Christmas next year.

5 - That ritual to get rid of demons

In Guatemala, Christmas also serves as a time of freedom. On December 7, people participate in La Quema Del Diablo, which is basically a parade in which families leave their homes with images of the Bad Thing on fire. They believe this is a way to get rid of demonic influences.

6 - That Innocent Christmas Story

In South Africa, there was the custom of leaving cookies for Santa at Christmas time, so families always deposited some goodies for Good Old Man. It turns out that many children, knowing the tradition, began to steal such cookies, and the bizarre story of a boy named Danny was born.

Look how pedagogical: parents tell the story of the boy Danny to this day, who tried to steal Santa's cookies once, but was caught in the act by his grandmother, who simply decided to KILL the boy. Not that bizarre enough, the story goes on now with the spirit of Danny, who looks for mischievous children at Christmastime. End.

7 - Have you heard of the Christmas Witch?

In Eastern Europe, one of the stories told about Christmas involves the Christmas witch Frau Perchta. The one whose has two faces, one of which is nice, and is shown to good children; now the witch's evil face is only seen by children who do not behave. She goes to the kids' house at midnight and leaves a little bit of silver on the well-behaved children's shoes.

Children who do not behave, on the other hand, are punished for surgery. The witch arrives, opens the belly of the children, removes their organs and replaces them with straw. That's an efficient way to create trauma, isn't it?

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