Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.

If suddenly your earworms are all about fireplaces, gifts, and snow,
it’s a sure sign that the magic sledges are already flying, and the world is gravitating towards Christmas!

It’s celebrated all over the word, and every country has it’s special way. So let’s have a little nose about.

Christmas was peculiar from the very origin of the holiday. Nowadays our Christmas trees have ornaments instead of apples, electric lights instead of candles, but Christmas is still a trove of curiousities.

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“On Chrismas Eve – look out! Strange things are all about”.
The motto sounds more suitable for Halloween, but people in Norway don’t think so. To this day, many Norwegians still hide their brooms in the safest place in the house, to stop them from being stolen on Christmas. The tradition dates back to the times, when people believed that witches came out on Christmas Eve looking for brooms to ride on.

People in Iceland often exchange books on Christmas Eve, then spend the rest of the night reading them and eating chocolate. The tradition is part of a season called Jolabokaflod, or The Christmas Book Flood.

In Sweden, Christmas kicks off with Saint Lucia’s Day on December 13. Lucia is a Christian saint, but the celebration is closely tied to the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year – and is a celebration of light. Swedish towns and villages have processions where kids dress up in white robes, with the girls carrying candles, and the boys carrying wands with stars..

Pagan traditions are also very prominent in one country a little below: a beast-like demon creature Krampus roams the winter streets of Austria. On Austrian Christmas, St. Nicholas rewards nice little boys and girls, while Krampus is said to capture naughty children and whisk them away in his sack.

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What about places on the map, where it’s warmer?

As Australia belongs to the Southern Hemisphere of our Earth, their December is a middle of a hot summer. Christmas is the time to hit the beach! There you might see surfers dressed up like Santa and Christmas trees set up on the sand. Christmas dinner is often made on the barbecue, and it’s said that when visiting Australia, Santa gives his reindeers a rest and gets kangaroos to pull his sleigh!

In Spain, in the Catalonic region, they have a special snowman – so-called Christmas Log. That’s a piece of wood, decorated with a face and a hat, and wrapped in a blanket. Children pretend to feed it for most of December. Then on Christmas Eve, kids whack the log with a stick while singing a song. They remove the blanket to discover hidden presents.

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In Mexico, as well as in many other Latin countries, Christmas is seen as a quiet holiday, while Three Kings Day in early January is a day for partying and exchanging gifts. Many children who celebrate Three Kings Day leave out their shoes in hopes that one of the Three Wise Men will leave them gifts.

Orthodox Eastern Slavic countries celebrate Christmas on January 7, and the main holiday for exchanging gifts is New Year. Eastern Santa is called ‘Old Man Frost’. He’s a wizard of winter and always followed by his granddaughter Snow Maiden.

When it comes to countries like Japan, Christmas isn’t an official holiday, but many people put up lights and Christmas trees. Christmas Eve is considered a very romantic time – like Valentine’s Day in USA.

Here our snowfall of interesting facts ends. And whether our Santa comes from the North Pole in a sleigh, arrives on water skis, or comes out of the jungle, let all of us have Merry Christmas!

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