50 Fun Facts About Christmas Around the World

A 1974 advertising campaign by an American fast-food chain turned which dish into a Christmas tradition in Japan?

Fried chicken "party barrels" were first pushed in 1970 by the manager of Japan's first KFC, as a stand-in for an American roast dinner. The "Kentucky for Christmas" slogan then took the idea nationwide.

Which object do Catalan children feed for weeks, then beat with sticks until it 'poops' out Christmas presents?

A wooden log called the Tió de Nadal wears a painted smile and a red sock hat. Children keep it warm under a blanket, then sing a song ordering it to deliver as they strike.

In Icelandic folklore, the giant Yule Cat eats anyone who has not received which gift before Christmas?

New clothes were the reward for farm workers who finished processing the autumn wool in time, so the monstrous cat was a threat aimed squarely at the idle.

Swedish television has aired a Disney special every Christmas Eve since 1960, known there by which character's name?

Donald Duck is so much more popular than Mickey Mouse in Sweden that the special was retitled in his name. In 1997 just over half the country tuned in.

When does the Philippines begin its Christmas season, often described as the longest in the world?

In September the "ber months" open, the four months whose names end in those letters. The season then rolls on past New Year to a feast in mid-January.

Dutch children are told that Sinterklaas arrives each November by steamboat from which country?

Spain may have entered the tale because the saint's relics were taken in 1087 to Bari, a city that later came under the Spanish crown. Another theory credits the mandarin oranges he hands out.

Which horned, chain-rattling figure of Alpine folklore joins Saint Nicholas on December 5 to punish naughty children?

Krampus swats children with a bundle of birch rods. In Styria the twigs are painted gold and kept on display all year as a reminder.

Which country has sent London's Trafalgar Square a Christmas tree every year since 1947 as thanks for wartime help?

Norway's gift from the city of Oslo is typically a spruce 50 to 60 years old and more than 20 metres tall.

Which country's postal service gives Santa Claus his own postal code, H0H 0H0, and answers every letter?

Canada receives about a million Santa letters each Christmas and replies to each in the language it was written in. Montreal postal workers began answering them on their own in 1974.

Which vegetable do carvers in Oaxaca, Mexico, turn into elaborate sculptures for a competition held every December 23?

Radishes grown oversized for the event are carved into whole scenes. The contest began with farmers shaping them to catch shoppers' eyes at the Christmas market.

In Italy, which broom-riding old woman fills children's stockings with sweets or coal on the night of January 5?

La Befana's "coal" is usually rock candy dyed black, handed to every child on the theory that all of them have misbehaved at least once in the year.

Which giant straw animal, built each Advent in the Swedish city of Gävle, has repeatedly been burned down by arsonists?

A goat first went up in the town square in 1966, built by the fire department. Burning it is a crime that normally carries a three-month prison sentence.

In Ukraine, which unlikely decoration is hung on Christmas trees because of a folk tale about a poor widow?

Spider webs recall a tale in which a spider dressed a poor family's bare tree overnight, and the morning sun turned the threads to gold and silver. The story is one explanation offered for tinsel.

In the Welsh Christmas custom of Mari Lwyd, which eerie object is carried from door to door on a pole?

A horse's skull draped in a white sheet and decked with ribbons leads the party, who must win a sung battle of wits with the householders before they are let in.

In which country is Rovaniemi, the city near the Arctic Circle promoted as the official hometown of Santa Claus?

Finland's Santa Claus Village stands there on the Arctic Circle line. One of its cabins was built in 1950 for a visit by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Saint Nicholas, the real bishop behind Santa Claus, served in the ancient city of Myra, in which modern country?

Turkey's town of Demre now stands beside the ruins of Myra. Sailors from Bari later stole the saint's relics from the city and carried them home across the sea.

'Mele Kalikimaka', the title of a 1949 song recorded by Bing Crosby, means 'Merry Christmas' in which language?

Hawaiian has no R or S sounds and cannot end a syllable with a consonant, so the borrowed English greeting came out reshaped almost beyond recognition.

Which saint is credited with staging the first live nativity scene, in a cave near the Italian town of Greccio?

Francis of Assisi staged it at Christmas 1223, inspired by a pilgrimage on which he had been shown the grotto where Jesus is said to have been born.

The Christmas Eve Midnight Mass known across Latin America as Misa de Gallo is named after which bird?

A rooster names the service, which is also called the Shepherds' Mass. In the Philippines a version known as Simbang Gabi runs for nine days from December 16.

Which older calendar, still used by the Russian and Serbian Orthodox churches, puts Christmas Day on January 7?

The Julian calendar now runs 13 days behind the one most of the world uses, so its December 25 lands in January. Ukraine's Orthodox church moved its celebration to December 25 in 2023.

Which gift-bringer delivers New Year presents to Russian children, helped by his granddaughter Snegurochka?

Ded Moroz took his modern form in Soviet times, when New Year replaced Christmas as the big winter holiday. In 1998 the town of Veliky Ustyug was declared his official home.

On December 13, a Swedish girl crowned with candles leads a procession carrying saffron buns to honour which saint?

Saint Lucia is said to have worn a wreath of candles so that both hands were free to carry food to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs.

Iceland's yearly pre-Christmas 'flood' of new releases has made which item the country's favourite Christmas gift?

Books took over in the 1940s, when currency restrictions choked off imported gifts but paper stayed easier to bring in. A free catalogue of the year's titles still goes to every household.

What do Iceland's 13 Yule Lads leave in the shoes of children who have misbehaved, instead of a small gift?

A rotten potato is the penalty. The brothers are each named for a favourite piece of mischief, among them Spoon Licker, Door Slammer and Sausage Swiper.

Which popular Christmas plant, native to Mexico, takes its English name from the first US minister to that country?

Poinsettia honours Joel Roberts Poinsett, who is credited with introducing the plant to the United States in the 1820s. Europeans first described it only in 1834.

Which nine-night Mexican tradition has neighbours re-enact Mary and Joseph's search for a room at the inn?

Las Posadas lasts as long as it does to stand for the months of Mary's pregnancy, and each evening's procession ends at a house chosen to play the inn.

The seven spikes on the traditional piñata broken at Mexican Christmas parties are said to stand for what?

The deadly sins are what each swing of the stick is aimed at. The clay pot itself stands for evil, and the fruit and sweets inside for its temptations.

Which African country marks Christmas on January 7 with a hockey-like game that shares the festival's name, Genna?

Ethiopia's stick-and-ball game is believed to have grown out of the way shepherds passed the night on which Jesus was born.

Which country renamed its December 26 public holiday from Boxing Day to the Day of Goodwill in 1994?

South Africa chose the new name so that the spirit of Christmas would carry over into the following day.

In Ireland, which small bird was traditionally hunted on Saint Stephen's Day and paraded on a holly-decked pole?

A wren was the quarry because, in one story, it woke the guards as Saint Stephen tried to escape captivity. The hunt has died out, but groups of wrenboys still parade with a fake bird in towns such as Dingle.

The caganer, a figurine tucked into Catalan nativity scenes for good luck, is shown doing what?

Defecating was read as fertilising the earth, so leaving the little peasant out of the scene was thought to invite a bad year. He wears the red Catalan cap called a barretina.

Danes hide which single item in their Christmas Eve rice pudding, with a marzipan pig for the finder?

A whole almond took over from the bean once baked into Three Kings cakes, a swap believed to date from around 1800. The pudding's name is borrowed from French, though the dish is Danish.

In the Czech Republic, which fish for Christmas Eve dinner is traditionally kept alive in the family bathtub beforehand?

Carp scales, shaped rather like coins, are slipped under the dinner plate or into a wallet in the hope of money in the new year.

Which Scandinavian Christmas dish is dried whitefish soaked in lye until it turns soft and jelly-like?

Lutefisk loses more than half its protein during the soak, which is what gives it the wobble. It usually reaches the table with green peas and white sauce.

Panettone, the tall domed fruit bread eaten at Christmas far beyond Italy, originated in which Italian city?

Milan's dialect supplied the name: panattón is simply an enlarged form of the local word for bread.

Which German city's Christmas market, the Striezelmarkt, is named after its famous fruit-filled stollen bread?

Dresden guards its loaf with an official seal showing King Augustus II the Strong. The market itself was first recorded in 1434, as a one-day event.

In Japan, the classic Christmas cake is a sponge covered in whipped cream and topped with which fruit?

Strawberries crown a cake that is traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve. Confectioners now sell it in many shapes and styles beyond the classic round white original.

Which hot drink, sold by the mug at German Christmas markets, is wine heated with spices such as cinnamon?

Glühwein roughly means "glowing wine", a nod to the temperature it is heated to. At Christmas markets in Alsace it is traditionally the only alcoholic drink on sale.

Chile's Christmas punch of aguardiente, milk, coffee and spices has a name that means which animal's tail?

A monkey with a long tail appeared on the label of an anise liqueur whose bottles the punch was once sold in, one theory for the name. Another blames a pun on a politician called Montt.

The parol, a bamboo-and-paper lantern hung across the Philippines at Christmas, is traditionally made in which shape?

A star with five points became the standard design during the American colonial period. The lanterns traditionally stay up until after Epiphany in January.

Because December 25 falls in summer there, some Australians hold a second, wintry 'Christmas in' which month?

July 25 is the usual date. The Southern Hemisphere is in midwinter then, so the party gets the cold-weather feel of a northern Christmas.

Which country nicknames the crimson-flowered pōhutukawa its Christmas tree because it blooms in mid to late December?

New Zealand's coastal tree was first called a Christmas tree in print in 1857, in a newspaper report of a feast. Each of its flowers is really a dense tuft of stamens.

Each December 25, villagers in Peru's Chumbivilcas province settle the year's grudges at Takanakuy by doing what?

Fist-fighting gives the festival its name, which is Quechua for "to hit each other". The bouts come with dancing, and women sing the music traditionally played alongside them.

Which Andean country opens its Christmas season on December 7 with a night of candles and paper lanterns?

Colombia lights up for the Day of the Little Candles, held on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is itself a public holiday there.

Which island nation is best known for Junkanoo, a costumed street parade held on Boxing Day and New Year's Day?

The Bahamas has turned Junkanoo into an organised parade with themed music and official prizes, danced to goatskin drums and cowbells. It is said to date back to the 1700s.

Which Latin-named blessing does the pope give from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica each Christmas Day?

Urbi et Orbi means 'to the city and the world'; the city is Rome, whose bishop the pope is. It is also given at Easter and when a newly elected pope is announced.

In which city do pilgrims sing carols in Manger Square before midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity?

Bethlehem keeps the feast more than once each winter: Roman Catholics celebrate on December 25 and Orthodox churches on January 7.

Which British monarch gave the first royal Christmas broadcast in 1932, reading a script written by Rudyard Kipling?

George V was wary of the untested medium of radio and had first been asked a decade earlier. He finally spoke from a temporary studio set up at Sandringham House.

In which country is December 25 a public holiday for the birthday of founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah as well as Christmas?

Pakistan calls the date Quaid-e-Azam Day, after Jinnah's title of "Great Leader". Its overlap with Christmas is pure coincidence, so citizens observe both at once.

Which Reformation leader promoted the Christkind as a gift-bringer to draw children away from Saint Nicholas?

Martin Luther's switch also moved the present-giving from the saint's feast on December 6 to Christmas Eve, where it has stayed across much of central Europe.