Unusual Christmas customs and characters (12 photos)

Orthodox Christians are still preparing to celebrate one of the most important holidays of the year, while Catholics have already celebrated it. Interestingly, some peoples have come up with strange and even frightening customs for this holiday.





And the characters match them - noir, mysterious, unusual. And some are even funny.

Horned Krampus



The forerunner of Christmas in many localities in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic and several other countries is Krampus (from the German krampen - “claw”). This frightening-looking demonic beast comes from European folklore.





The “Christmas Devil” is the antithesis of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and his main task was to punish naughty children. The tradition of releasing the horned Krampus into the streets dates back to the 8th century. And in some regions it has survived to this day.

The many faces of radish



The day before Christmas Eve, Radish Night begins in the Mexican city of Oaxaca. Participants compete in the skill of creating sculptures from this root vegetable. The winner traditionally receives a cash prize, the amount of which varies from $625 to $1,500.



It is believed that the tradition was started in the 18th century by two Dominican monks who discovered strange mutant vegetables on a piece of unharvested land in December. The radishes grew so large that they looked like strange monsters.



The holy brothers were not at a loss and took their finds to the Christmas market, where they literally charmed everyone. Modern masters carve incredible masterpieces from radishes, from Egyptian gods to copies of paintings by ancient masters.

Carnivorous cat



The character with the unpronounceable name Jolakotturinn is a traditional hero of the Christmas epic in Iceland. It is a monstrous black giant cat whose task is to eat naughty and mischievous people.



Instead of gifts, children who misbehaved will receive a one-way trip to the cat's digestive tract. According to one version, the image of a cat is a troll transformed into an animal. According to another, Yolakotturinn is the pet of the evil witch Grila, the female antipode of Santa.



As civilization developed, Grila and the Yule cat became kinder and stopped eating harmful children, deciding to be content with putting all sorts of nasty things like a piece of coal or rotten fruit in their socks instead of good, long-awaited gifts.

Useful kaganer



But the Christmas tradition widespread in the Catalan lands only brings a smile. The fact is that little men are released especially for this holiday. Not ordinary ones, but frozen in a certain position - in order to relieve a natural need.



The exact reason for the appearance of the Kaganers (“Seruns”) is unknown. But with a high degree of probability, the figurines are associated with fertility, since physiological fixations were used to fertilize the soil and, accordingly, increase its fertility while simultaneously increasing the level of well-being of the people after the sale of the harvest.



Kaganers come in a wide variety of guises. For your Christmas interior, you can choose politicians, athletes, movie and stage stars, and more. Somehow, the Barcelona authorities decided to abandon the use of caganer in the main city Christmas nativity scene. And they caused such a storm of indignation among the townspeople that the next year everything returned to normal. And people can be understood, in the end, what is natural is not ugly. And the holiday should bring positive emotions, which the Kaganers certainly do a great job of helping with.