For many, Winter is spent looking forward to holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years Eve, Las Posadas, Chinese New Year, and Yule but what other celebrations around the world might most of us be oblivious to?
The night of the radishes, or Noche de los Rábanos, is a 3 day long Mexican festival in which a radish carving contest is held in Oaxaca’s main square and contestants are judged on their ability to create life-like depictions of religious figures or symbols.
Hiding brooms is a Nordic Christmas Eve tradition inspired by ancient tales of witchcraft that require hiding all brooms or mops on Christmas Eve to prevent them from being stolen in the night by witches and other mischievous beings in search of transportation.
Norway, however, isn’t the only place where tails of witches and demons are part of Christmas tradition.
In Italian folklore, there is a Christian holiday celebrated on January 5th that commemorates the visit of three wise men who come to Jesus. During this holiday, the Befana – a witch like old women – delivers presents to children all across Italy to mark the end of the Christmas season.
Germany also celebrates a darker Christmas legend involving much more torture and hell, and much less presents and children left alive then Norway and Italy while still keeping the theme of demons and witches on Christmas. Krampus is a demon from hell who pays a visit to the naughty children and beats them, eats them, or takes them to hell while Saint Nick leaves presents for the nice children. To prevent Krampus from coming, a parade is held on December 6th, a tradition adapted from “Krampus run”, a Middle Ages day where people would dress up as Krampus and chase children through the streets of Germany warning them against bad behavior.
The Japanese Sapporo snow festival is a much lighter and happier winter celebration then that of Krampus and is an annual February festival held in Odori park scene 1950 when a group of local middle and high school students built 6 snow sculptures around the park, this celebration of snow has grown greatly in popularity, mostly because of the giant snow sculptures built by large organized teams along 12 blocks of the city’s Central Park.
The night of the radishes, hiding brooms, la Befana, Krampus, and Sapporo snow festival are only a few of the many elaborate and fascinating traditions and celebrations that unfold all over the world during Christmas and in the winter months, some even say Americans are missing out on all of the awesome holidays of Mexican, Nordic, Italian, German, and Japanese culture that make the coldest months of the year more interesting.
