30 People Are Sharing Weird And Wholesome Traditions That Make Their Christmas Special

The holiday season is all about making memories that will keep you feeling warm and fuzzy for the rest of the year. Gathering with friends and family members to participate in time-honored traditions are some of the simplest ways to make your holiday celebrations even merrier.

To find out more about the importance of holiday rituals, their history, and what they mean to us in these modern times, we reached out to Alex Palmer, a freelance writer and the author of The Atlas of Christmas: The Merriest, Tastiest, Quirkiest Holiday Traditions from Around the World. He said that there are a huge number of reasons why we feel drawn to create and continue following rituals.

"Many Christmas traditions specifically developed out of midwinter activities (feasting, singing, gathering with loved ones) meant to keep people warm and boost spirits during the chilly months," the writer explained. "Beyond meeting physical/mental needs, holiday rituals, of course, meet our spiritual needs while also helping to strengthen bonds between members of a family or community."

The author has researched a wide variety of ways in which different countries and cultures celebrate the holiday season. According to him, how a group spends their holidays is less important than the fact that they have gathered together to follow rituals they do each year.

"Whether gathering around the table to eat a feast of eel (the main course at Christmas in parts of Southern Italy), cooking up a turkey or roasting a pig, the act of sharing the same meal together year after year helps bond those people together, and puts us in a good mood (for the most part)."

When people maintain such traditions and give meaning to them, they tend to elevate what might just be another get-together. "This is true not only of more religiously focused rituals, but even fun games or songs can take on greater significance when understood as part of an annual tradition," Palmer said. "In Finland, a trip to the sauna on the day before Christmas is treated as a special outing, even though it's not much different than the visits to the sauna that take place most other winter days."

"In Ethiopia, a game of ganna (a mix between street hockey and soccer) is played on Christmas Eve day amidst the more sober ceremonies, and even though it's meant to be fun, it's treated with a level of ceremony such activities would not usually receive," the writer continued. "When seen as part of a long tradition, otherwise mundane behavior feels more meaningful and connects us with our fellow celebrants in a deeper way."

It also shows the bond that we have with our friends and family and how strong our relationships are. Alex Palmer mentioned that "traditions are typically shared with those we consider closest to us, those we trust and with whom we share a connection whether familial or otherwise."

The rituals we create "may be playful, such as a holiday game, or more serious, such as attending church service or honoring ancestors. The tone of the tradition and the way we practice it can say a lot about the relationships we have with those who join us in the ceremony."

The author continued that some traditions have evolved over time. "These changes may be out of convenience (opting for store-bought Christmas cookies rather than baking them all yourself), safety concerns (for example, the illuminated crowns that kids wear during Sweden's Saint Lucia parade no longer use actual candles), or any number of cultural or political shifts (following the establishment of the USSR, the gift-bringing character of Ded Moroz shifted from honoring Christmas to honoring New Years as celebrating religious holidays were banned)."

In some countries, Christmas has proven to be very adaptable: "While some cultures continue to observe it as a solemn religious holiday, others have embraced it in almost exclusively secular ways. While we think of Christmas as a cold-weather holiday, it has been adapted to warm weather in creative ways from Australia to The Bahamas."

Maybe you already have interesting and fun holiday traditions that you share with others and follow every year. Or maybe it’s time to find new ideas, put your family’s twist on them and incorporate them into your own annual celebrations. If that’s the case, then you’re in the right place, because these stories are filled with good cheer that will inspire you and make your Christmas all the more memorable and fun.