Christmas Traditions Around the World: 13 Countries, 13 Customs

Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated holidays on the planet, but what it looks like on the ground varies wildly from country to country. While Brits are busy hanging stockings and watching the King’s speech, other parts of the world are hiding brooms, feeding elves porridge and waiting for a witch to deliver presents. Whether you’re planning a festive break or simply curious about how the world marks the season, here’s a look at some of the most fascinating Christmas traditions from around the globe.

Germany: Christmas markets and advent calendar traditions

If you love counting down the days with an advent calendar, you have Germany to thank for it. The tradition began with German families marking chalk lines on a wall to count the days until Christmas, and it has since evolved into the chocolate-filled calendars we know and love today.

Germany is also the spiritual home of the Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market. Dating back to the 15th century, these festive markets fill town squares across the country with mulled wine, gingerbread, handmade crafts and glittering lights. The markets in Nuremberg, Cologne and Dresden are among the best-known in Europe and and draw large crowds each December.

Spain: the Caga Tió and 13 days of lottery

Christmas in Spain runs from 8 December through to 6 January, and it is packed with unique customs. In Catalonia, families take part in the Caga Tió tradition, where a hollow log wearing a little red hat is “fed” small treats each evening from the Feast of the Immaculate Conception until Christmas Eve. On the big night, children beat the log with sticks and sing songs until it “poops” out sweets and small gifts.

Elsewhere in Spain, the biggest moment of the festive season is El Gordo, one of the world’s largest lottery draws by total prize payout, held on 22 December. Entire communities buy shares in the same ticket numbers, so if your number comes up, the whole neighbourhood celebrates together.

Italy: La Befana and the Feast of the Epiphany

In Italy, the real gift-giver is not Father Christmas. It is La Befana, a friendly old witch who flies in on her broomstick on the night of 5 January to fill children’s stockings with sweets and presents. Good children get treats; naughty ones find coal (or a coal-shaped sweet, for softer modern versions). The Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January is a public holiday, and in many Italian households it is the main event of the whole festive period.

Cities like Rome and Florence transform beautifully at this time of year, with nativity scenes, festive lights and seasonal food stalls selling panettone and torrone throughout December and into January.

Iceland: thirteen Yule Lads and a Christmas cat

Iceland has not one but thirteen gift-givers, collectively known as the Yule Lads. These mischievous characters from Icelandic folklore arrive one by one on each of the 13 nights leading up to Christmas, leaving small gifts or a potato in children’s shoes depending on how well-behaved they have been. Each Yule Lad has a distinctive name linked to a particular misbehaviour, including the Spoon Licker, the Door Sniffer and the Candle Beggar.

Iceland also has the Jólakötturinn, or Yule Cat: a fearsome giant cat said to roam the snowy countryside on Christmas Eve, devouring anyone who has not received new clothes as a gift before Christmas. More than a tradition, it doubles as an effective incentive to be generous.

Norway: porridge for the Nisse

In Norway, the festive season involves leaving out a bowl of porridge for the Nisse, a small household elf believed to protect the home and farm. The Nisse is a deeply cherished figure in Norwegian folklore, and if he is not kept happy with his risgrøt (rice porridge), he is said to turn mischievous. It is a charming custom that reflects the warm, storytelling culture of Scandinavia.

Norway also takes its Christmas tree traditions seriously. The country donates a tree to the UK each year as a thank you for British support during the Second World War, and it stands proudly in Trafalgar Square throughout the festive season.

The Netherlands: Sinterklaas arrives by boat

The Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on 5 December, which is a bigger occasion than Christmas Day for many Dutch families. The festivities begin in mid-November when Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat from Spain, travelling across the country before the big evening of Pakjesavond (Gift Evening), when presents are exchanged. Children leave their shoes by the fireplace filled with carrots and hay for Sinterklaas’s horse, hoping to find sweets and gifts by morning.

Amsterdam is a wonderful destination in December, with its canal-side ice skating rinks, light festivals and the festive energy of Sinterklaas celebrations throughout the city.

Finland: the home of Father Christmas

For the Finns, Christmas is deeply personal. Joulupukki, the Finnish Father Christmas, is said to live in Lapland’s Korvatunturi. On Christmas Eve, families across Finland visit the sauna together, a ritual that symbolises cleanliness and peace before the celebrations begin. It is also traditional to visit the graves of family members on Christmas Eve to leave candles. The result, across Finnish cemeteries, is a sea of candlelight.

A trip to Finnish Lapland at Christmas is genuinely magical, with reindeer safaris, the Northern Lights, snow-covered forests and the very real possibility of meeting Father Christmas himself.

Poland: spider webs on the Christmas tree

In Poland, finding a spider or spider web on your Christmas tree is considered very good luck. The tradition stems from a folk tale about a poor widow who could not afford to decorate her tree, until spiders wove beautiful webs across it overnight, which then turned to silver and gold in the morning sunlight. Today, Polish families hang decorative spider ornaments on their trees as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune for the year ahead.

Polish Christmas also includes Wigilia, the Christmas Eve supper, which is the most important meal of the year. The feast begins only when the first star appears in the sky, and the table always has one extra place set for an unexpected guest.

Austria: the legend of Krampus

While Father Christmas rewards good children across Europe, in Austria he is accompanied by a far more unsettling figure. Krampus is a horned, half-goat creature from Alpine folklore who travels with Saint Nicholas on the night of 5 December. Rather than leaving presents, Krampus is said to punish naughty children with birch rods. Towns across Austria hold Krampusnacht processions, where people dress in elaborate Krampus costumes and parade through the streets, much to the delight (and mild terror) of onlookers.

Cities like Salzburg and Innsbruck are worth visiting at Christmas for the markets, mulled wine, alpine scenery and Krampus season.

Czech Republic: fasting to see the Golden Pig

One of the more unusual Czech Christmas customs involves fasting on Christmas Eve in hopes of seeing a vision of a Golden Pig. According to tradition, anyone who manages to go without food throughout the day may be rewarded with a magical apparition of the pig in the evening, which is seen as a symbol of good luck and prosperity. Children especially take this seriously, holding out for the reward.

Prague’s Old Town Square hosts a Christmas market each December, surrounded by Gothic and Baroque architecture. The stalls sell handmade ornaments, roasted chestnuts and svařák (Czech mulled wine), beneath the medieval Astronomical Clock of the Old Town Hall.

Japan: Christmas chicken and strawberry shortcake

Christmas is not a public holiday in Japan, but it has been embraced with some wonderfully distinctive local flavour. Thanks to a hugely successful marketing campaign in the 1970s, KFC has become the go-to Christmas dinner for millions of Japanese families, with orders often placed weeks in advance. Christmas Eve is also widely celebrated as a romantic occasion, similar to Valentine’s Day, with couples exchanging gifts and sharing strawberry shortcake, the iconic Japanese Christmas dessert.

Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto are lit up with festive illuminations throughout December, and many department stores and shopping districts go all out with Christmas displays and decorations. In Tokyo, neighbourhoods like Roppongi and Shiodome put on large-scale light shows that draw crowds throughout the month.

Mexico: Las Posadas and piñatas

In Mexico, the Christmas season kicks off on 16 December with Las Posadas, a nine-night celebration re-enacting Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem. Neighbours gather each evening for candlelit processions, carol singing and the breaking of a star-shaped piñata filled with sweets and fruit. The festivities run until Christmas Eve, when families attend Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass) before coming home to a late-night feast.

Christmas in Mexico is vibrant, communal and deeply rooted in both Catholic tradition and indigenous culture. Food plays a central role: families gather around ponche navideño (a warm fruit punch made with tejocotes and sugar cane) and plates of tamales on Christmas Eve.

Australia: a midsummer Christmas

For Australians, Christmas falls in the middle of summer, which means it looks and feels rather different from the snow-globe version familiar to Brits. Barbecues on the beach, cold seafood platters and outdoor cricket games are just as typical as turkey and roast potatoes. Carols by Candlelight events are held outdoors under the stars across the country, and many families spend Christmas Day at the beach or in the park.

Cities like Sydney and Melbourne put on spectacular Christmas light displays, and the festive season has a relaxed, sunny energy that is a real contrast to the cosy, indoor version of Christmas most Brits are used to.

Ready to experience Christmas around the world?

From Krampus parades in the Austrian Alps to KFC dinners in Tokyo, Christmas looks very different depending on where you are in the world. The markets in Germany and Prague are reason enough to travel in December. So is Finnish Lapland, where the Northern Lights and a real chance of meeting Father Christmas make it a trip unlike most. December flights go quickly, so the sooner you search, the better your options.