Traditions are a powerful thing. I love hearing about various traditions in families, and it’s fun to see how many traditions are original and how many actually tie in to traditions across cultures around the world! I know in my own family we adopted traditions that definitely have their roots in other cultures.

Here are some beloved Christmas traditions from around the world!

• In China, the word for Christmas Eve is close to their word for apple. So they actually give each other apples for Christmas! Stores sell them gift wrapped and prettily decorated for this gift-giving tradition.
• In the Netherlands and Iceland (and other places!), children place their shoes by the fireplace so that Santa will leave little goodies in their shoes. This is a tradition my family has adopted. Growing up, the Elves always came one week before Christmas. Each morning we would find one of our shoes by the Christmas tree, and the Elves always left a small little treat for us to enjoy in anticipation for when the Big Man himself would come on Christmas Eve!
• Mince pies are a big holiday treat in England. Essentially, they are a pie filled with dried fruit and spices. Some children even leave mince pies for Santa instead of cookies!
• In Ukraine, families enjoy a large Christmas feast together- consisting of 12 courses! This represents the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. I’ve also read that this is done in Poland. Either way, I’m totally on board with a 12 course meal!
• In Japan, Christmas Eve is actually a huge night for feasting at KFC! People place orders 2 months in advance for their Christmas Eve chicken dinner! You can even see variations of Colonel Sanders dressed as Santa Claus in celebration of the occasion.
• In Poland, they don’t begin feasting until someone spots the first star in the sky! I wonder what they do when it’s cloudy? But seriously I think this is actually a very sweet tradition. They also leave an extra table setting, just in case someone shows up uninvited. What a hospitable group!
• In Germany they have another tradition that my family adopted when I was younger. The hunt for the pickle ornament! Santa hides an ornament that literally looks like a pickle. He hangs it somewhere on the Christmas tree, and the first to find it gets a special extra treat that Santa leaves.
  
  I wrote about this in more detail last year, but in Germany they also give Bunter Tellers- a beautiful Christmas plate full of special goodies. In some families each child receives their own, and in others a big plate is wrapped for the whole family.
  
  
• In Brazil they have a late family dinner, sometimes starting as late as 10 at night! They also attend a midnight mass, and often set off fireworks to celebrate the holiday.
• In Venezuela they roller skate to Christmas Mass! This tradition is so popular that many streets are closed to traffic to allow for safer pedestrian (roller skate!) travel. I think this sounds so fun! Just, maybe not where there’s snow….
• In Norway, you’ll want to hide your broom at night! It is said that witches and spirits use them to fly at night so they can create mischief. So they hide all brooms away for Christmas Eve!

I love these traditions. No matter where you are in the world, Christmas brings us all together. Christ brings us together.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

    Camille Hoffmann
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com