Holiday traditions differ around the world. Exploring different cultures will show you how each celebrates a specific holiday. The same holiday celebration varies depending on the culture of a country.
We explore different cultures and their holiday traditions around the world so that we can learn more about other people. We want to experience each other’s ways of living, customs, beliefs, and languages. Cultural curiosity is one of the biggest travel motivations that exist.
You can go on holiday to visit different cultures around the world and explore their traditions for yourself. Also, travelling packages and deals where you can visit destinations purely to explore their traditions and cultures can be available online. Travelling packages and these holiday deals have you saving big with First Choice.
Holiday Traditions Around the World
Typically, when someone talks about “The Holidays”, they are talking about Christmas. It can also be another day celebrating something, and where people don’t have to go to work or school. A holiday can also be an extended time of leisure and recreation that you spend away from home while travelling. This means that you can go on holiday for a holiday. Some countries celebrate the same holiday, just with different traditions. One of the most popular holidays that is celebrated all over the world is Christmas.
Krampus, Several European Countries
Picture a half-goat demon figure with fur and horns. He sometimes carries a basket or sack for abducting children who have been especially naughty and drags them to hell. This is Krampus. His job is to punish bad children before Christmas. This holiday tradition is celebrated at Krampusnacht parties and Krampus Runs, where celebrators frolic through town while wearing beastly costumes.
Mari Lwyd, Wales
This translates to “Grey Mare” and involves horses or people dressed as horses. Groups of people take horses or horse figures from door to door and demand to enter by singing traditional Welsh songs. The homeowners can counter the group’s demand for entrance by initiating a sort of rhyme contest that goes back and forth between the two parties. When, or if, they are allowed to enter, there is a lot of music and partying involved. No one really knows when this tradition started, but it has been going on for centuries.
Beach Parties, Australia
Being in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia’s Christmas is in the middle of summer. The perfect weather for a Yuletide Beach Party, where thousands of people go to concerts and parties held on the beach. They also have the tradition of Carols by Candlelight, where people light candles and sing holiday songs in parks and other outdoor venues.
Kentucky Fried Chicken, Japan
In Japan, the traditional Christmas dinner for a lot of people is a bucket of KFC. Most people in the country are not Christian but still take part in the secular celebration. The tradition comes from a 40-year-old KFC advertisement wherein fried chicken was claimed to be a traditional American yuletide feast. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, you can find many of the Colonel Sanders statues in Japan wearing Santa clothes, and the food packaging is holiday themed.
Spider Web Decorations, Ukraine
Ukrainian Christmas trees are also decorated with spider webs made from different materials, including crystal, paper, metal, and plastic. This tradition stems from a folk tale where a family too poor to afford tree ornaments wake up on Christmas morning to find that their tree had been decorated by spider webs throughout the night. The spider webs then turned gold and silver.
Consoada, Portugal
This is a traditional holiday dinner on Christmas Eve that honors dead friends and family who can no longer join holiday celebrations. Moreover, an empty seat is left at the table for the “souls of the dead” who may be present at the feast.
Night of the Radishes, Mexico
In Oaxaca, Mexico, December 23 is the Night of the Radishes. This tradition celebrates oversized radishes, which are carved into detailed displays. This is a yearly Christmas market event that started over 120 years ago when market vendors carved radishes to attract customers.
Yule Lads, Iceland
Iceland has a lot of different Christmas traditions, including the Christmas Book Flood and customary leaf bread. Then there are the Icelandic Yule Lads. During the 13 days before Christmas, Yule Lads come down from the mountains to give children gifts or potatoes. Children put their shoes out at night, and the next morning they will find either a gift or a potato in the shoe. The item depends on if the child was good that year.
Exploring Different Cultures
Culture is the combination of a particular society or people’s ideas, beliefs, customs, art, and social behaviour. Culture serves to define our sense of who we are and where we belong. It is deeply ingrained into that society and is unique to its people. Our different traditions are a fundamental part of our different cultures. Whether we take part in certain traditions or not, we know a lot about who we are and aspire to be as a people. Tradition and culture are inseparably linked and have developed over generations.
There are various ways to immerse yourself in the cultures of places that you visit.
- Research local customs and traditions before going on your holiday.
- Read their literature to have a better understanding of the people.
- Maintain good communication by asking questions.
- Learn spoken and body language.
- Explore the landscape, and visit destinations that are not so popular.
- Indulge in local food and drink.
- Take public transport to visit art exhibits and museums.
- Work or volunteer abroad to get a better sense of the culture.
- Join local celebrations with an open heart and open mind.
Exploring new cultures is the best part of travelling because you’ll widen your perspective on the world while learning more about different people. You will meet new people and make new friends. It will teach you more about your own culture and help you improve as a person.
Conclusion
This article explains some holiday traditions around the world and explores different cultures. Here are some Christmas traditions from different countries, and ways to immerse yourself in other cultures. The benefits of exploring other cultures are briefly touched upon.
