Start your festivities on December 23rd and try your hand at carving radishes just like they do in Oaxaca, Mexico. La Noche de los Rabanos (Night of the Radishes) is celebrated in the main square and features artists carving sculptures out of overgrown radishes. The tradition began in 1897 with vendors trying to make their vegetables more appealing by making sculptures out of them. This became so popular the mayor of Oaxaca decided to turn it into a contest and the tradition has been in place ever since.
Continue with the spirit of the season by imagining yourself in Southern Wales. The locals will be celebrating Mari Lwyd, a tradition where carollers go from house to house carrying the skull of a dead horse, decorated with ribbons and a sheet as a body. The idea is that the group is to earn food and drink by winning a battle of rhymes with the inhabitants of the houses they are visiting.
Take a peek outside and check for n you are ready for dinner if you were in Poland it may not begin until the first star appears in the night sky. would not Christmas Eve dinner in Poland and, traditionally, an extra setting is left at the table should someone show up uninvited. This extra place setting can also represent a family member who passed away in the previous year.
One of Norway’s Christmas Eve traditions that dates back centuries is the act of hiding all the brooms in the house. This act deprives the witches and evil spirits of finding something to ride on.
In Sweden, they construct a giant straw goat, known as The Yule Goat, which is over 42 feet high, 23 feet wide, and weighs over 3 tons. Every year, the goat is built in the same spot. If you are not able to view the Yule Goat in person, you can watch a live stream from the first Sunday of Advent until after it is taken down at the beginning of the New Year.
