No-one celebrates Christmas the same, whether you live next door to someone or on the opposite side of the world. We all have our unique traditions but some of them are arguably weirder than others. Here are five of the strangest Christmas traditions from around the globe.
Krampus and Perchta
Father Christmas and his trusty elves are a classic yuletide image that brings warmth to the hearts of millions. However, if you’re from the Alpine countries, the thought of meeting one of Santa’s little helpers is a scary one. In this region St Nick is accompanied on his rounds by two demonic figures known as Krampus and Perchta. If Children are bad, legend has it that Krampus would put them in a sack and drag them to hell. Yet, believe it or not, this is the best of the two options as when Perchta gets involved, she rips open the abdomen of naughty whippersnappers, pulls out their guts and fills them with straw.
Skating in Caracas
Roller blading and Christmas are two things you probably don’t think have much in common but in Caracas, Venezuela, you can’t have one without the other. Early on a Xmas morn, people take to the streets on their roller blades to skate to mass.
This isn’t the only slightly odd tradition going on in Caracas: children will often tie a rope to their toe before they go to sleep, hang it out of the window and when people skate by in the morning, they will tug on the rope to wake the children up.
Christmas meets Mother’s Day
In the former Yugoslavian republics, Christmas can be slightly more stressful for mothers than normal. In the two weeks before the big day, they essentially live in fear of their children sneaking up on them, tying their feet to a chair and demanding presents by singing “Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day, what will you pay to get away?”. If she wants to be free, she has to give them presents. Not to leave out Dad, the following week the kids do the same to him to get even more presents.
Throwing shoes
If you’re single in the Czech Republic, Christmas Eve is when you can find out what your love life has in store for the next 12 months. A woman would simply stand at her front door, turn around and simply throw a shoe over her shoulder. If the toe points towards the door then it’s time to celebrate as she’ll be married within the year. However, if it’s pointing away from the door it’s another year in singledom.
Tio de Nadal
December 8th in Catalonia marks the day when children bring a log into the house, start to feed it and cover it up to keep away the cold. Why? Because on Christmas Eve if you beat it hard enough it will ‘poop’ out presents. Aah, festive.
Why choose eShores?
One to One Service
Our experienced personal travel consultants will ensure you find the most suitable holiday, whilst taking care of every last detail. Everything from start to finish will be effortless.
100% Tailor Made
We can use any hotel, in any destination, so we will craft an itinerary to suit your exact needs. Also, as we can provide any itinerary, the only holiday we'll offer, is the one that's right for you.
Fully Protected
Our ATOL bonding provides you with the financial protection you need and as a member of the Travel Trust Association, you'll have 100% financial protection. Covering you for any eventuality.
Competitive Pricing
As a tour operator & travel agent, we'll search the market to ensure that we find you the best price. Also as an online business, we can ensure our prices are as competitive as possible.
-
Sharon
Kadie is so informative on the tours and countries we have visited. This is my 3rd trip with her. I wouldn’t use anyone else
Posted 2 days ago -
Dennis
Having sucessfully used eShores in the past, I decided to ask them to arrange a multi destination holiday to Greece this year. I told Rob what we had in mind, and he very quickly put together a number of hotel options for us to consider. Once we made our choice he confirmed everything, including airlines, flight times and transfers. Nothing was too much trouble for him, despite we making a few alterations along the way. Well done Rob.
Posted 2 days ago -
Colin& Sue
eshores helped us arrange our recent Feb /March 2024 trip to Cambodia ,Vietnam and Singapore with my wife . What a fantastic job sorting our holidays out for us, very professional , even changed the itinery to suit us . Chris Eves at eshores was brilliant nothing too much trouble and a great help and service .Will definitely use them again have also recommended the company to numerous people on our travels. Private transfers were organized from the different hotels and to and from the airport, this definitely made our trip much more enjoyable, everything on our trip ran like clockwork, our holiday finished off at Marina bay sands hotel in Singapore , although expensive it has to be on a bucket list .Keep up the good work cant wait for the next holiday .
Posted 2 days ago -
Elizabeth
Quick response to emails . Requested a lot of changes etc that were all dealt with promptly.
Posted 2 days ago -
Tony
Michelle is fantastic and has so much patience with Me which I thank Her for. On this occasion the pricing was more favourable than My last trip but again Michelle has been so supportive and met all My expectations.
Posted 4 days ago -
Jane
Second time booking with Michelle at e shores. Could not have been more helpful. Nothing was too much trouble. Would highly recommend.
Posted 4 days ago -
Maureen
Nick was very helpful in finding us a suitable 2 centre holiday in Greece. He quickly amended the original quote when we had to change the dates. He was very approachable, polite and friendly.
Posted 5 days ago -
Anonymous
Matt really helped with our booking. Nothing was too much trouble. Every time we changed our mind (which was quite a few) he rearranged the plans and got back to us promptly. I will definitely use this company again.
Posted 6 days ago -
Angela
Have just booked with eShores for the second time. Gavin planned a three week Caribbean Island hopping trip earlier this year which was fantastic and very well organised. We decided to do the same thing again and look forward to our next trip in January. Would definitely recommend this company and use them again.
Posted 1 week ago -
Paul
Absolutely a fab team ...Matt has been taking care of my holiday he is really so nice and helpful and responded to everything for me..
Posted 1 week ago