Christmas is just around the corner and everyone is busy going through their shopping lists. Many are also trying to make sure they get to follow their family’s Christmas traditions passed on from one generation to another.
Just in case you’re wondering, we compiled some of the strangest Christmas traditions from around that world that you probably haven’t heard about!
The ‘Pooping’ Log
In Catalonia, Spain, people make cute characters out of small logs. These characters usually have large, smiling mouths that have holes all the way to the back. The little logs are then placed on the dining table starting the fortnight before Christmas; then, these are ‘fed’ with nuts, sweets, and fruits during dinner time.
On Christmas Eve, as the family gathers around the table,they sing traditional Christmas songs while beating the little log with sticks until the contents are ‘excreted’. LOL. Would you still want to eat that ‘poop’?
The ‘Caganer’ Statue at the Nativity Scene
It seems that the people of Spain have a strange sense of humor when it comes to making Christmas traditions. Aside from the ‘pooping’log, they also have the ‘Caganer’, a figurine that depicts a defecating man.
Amazingly, this figure is part of the nativity scene in the region! Aside from being present in nativity displays in Spain, the Caganer can also be found in parts of Portugal, Italy, and Andorra.
It is now largely unknown how this figure found its way to the nativity scene but it is believed to have been part of the tradition in this region for at least a couple of centuries.
Thankfully, the Caganer is ‘hidden’ from view and set aside from the rest of the figures in the nativity scene because it is supposed to be hiding so the others could not see that it was pooping.
The Scary ‘Krampus’
When you say ‘Christmas’, a lot of kids would easily associate it with gifts and Santa Claus or St. Nicholas, right? While that holds true in Austria and several parts of Europe as well, they also have this figure called ‘Krampus’ who is supposed to be Santa’s ‘evil twin’!
In this tradition, Santa gives gifts to the good children while the bad kids get frightened by Krampus with his scary monster face. This is supposed to encourage children to stay good so that they wouldn’t have to encounter Krampus on their own.
A ‘Krampus Night’ is even celebrated in the region, with men dressing up as monsters on December 5 which also happens to be the eve of St.Nicholas Day. The guys dressed up as Krampus are supposed to ‘beat’ the bad guys with their sticks. Ooooops.
What do you think of these strange traditions?