We’ve all heard of “common” Christmas traditions, decorating the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night, having a meal with loved ones on Christmas Eve, baking goods or Elf on the Shelf, but these are primarily done in just the United States. What about the rest of the world?

Philippines
In the Philippines, they have a huge display of lanterns representing the Star of Bethlehem, The lantern display is held in San Fernando. The lanterns are a part of a festival called Ligligan Parul. “Each parol consists of thousands of spinning lights illuminating the night sky. The festival has made San Fernando the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines.”

Iceland
Just as we celebrate 12 days of Christmas Iceland does something similar with 13 days of Christmas. Every night before Christmas children all over Iceland are visited by 13 yule lads. The children leave their shoes by their front door and head to bed. The next morning they will either wake to candy in their shoes proving that they were good throughout the year or their shoes will be filled with rotten potatoes.

Martinique
In the French Caribbean, there is an island, Martinique where there is a long-standing tradition of la ribote. Families will visit their neighbors through the holiday season singing Christmas carols in the early morning and bringing food like pork stew, boudin créole, pâtés salés, and yams. The citizens of Martinique even changed some of the carols to Creole verses.

For more information go to 20 Unique Christmas traditions around the World.

To see yesterday’s Christmas Advent Calendar post about winter drinks, use this link.