The holidays are a time of happiness and cheerfulness that spreads with every touch. Some people celebrate Hanukah, Kwanza, or Christmas, but people also celebrate different types of traditions like going caroling from door to door or baking Christmas cookies with your friends. But among these, there are also many different and unique traditions. Today we’re diving deeper into these unique traditions that aren’t celebrated that much but still do deserve to be.
#1 Coins in a piece of Bread
This is a fun and simple Christmas tradition that requires fun baking and luck. Using already made bread batter, you wrap up a coin in plastic wrap and drop it in your dough to mix. Then spread the dough into a Bundt cake pan and bake for 20-30 minutes. Everybody takes a piece and tears it apart, hoping to get the coin. According to DYNAMIC Learning Academy, “…it was known that the individual who received the piece of pita containing the coin was considered blessed for the new year and would experience wealth and prosperity.” The whole thing is based on luck, but that’s what makes it one of the more fun traditions to do. It is mostly celebrated in Greece, which is also were the tradition originated from.
#2 KFC Chicken
When you or your parents don’t feel like cooking a big Christmas dinner, tell people that you’ve turned Japanese and celebrate by eating KFC Chicken! The whole idea started when a foreigner in Tokyo wanted turkey for Christmas, but because turkey wasn’t common around there, they weren’t able to get one for the holidays. Instead, they had KFC. When KFC heard about this, they used it as a marketing scheme and turned it into a Japanese tradition that now is celebrated by 3.6 million Japanese people! It’s also one of the most celebrated Japanese culture during the holidays, coming in as a close second to eating Japanese Christmas cake.
#3 Lyric Bowl
When Christmas carols call out to you, you must reply! This tradition tests your vocal skills and singing
voice. “Its super fun, you write down the lyrics on a sheet of paper and put them in a bowl, and then you pick one out and you have to sing it.” Julia Conroy commented. The tradition can only be done with the “12 days of Christmas Song” because you do it 12 days before Christmas begins, like a countdown. It began when the song wasn’t as popular, so it was a memory-and-forfeit game. Kids would be asked to recite a line and if they didn’t know it, they would give up a piece of candy or a treat.
#4 Pickle in a Tree
This is a fun and unique holiday tradition originates from Germany. “There’s a little pickle ornament, and my mom hides it in the tree before we wake up, so we have to find the pickle before we can open presents.” remarked Raquel Hill. It comes from an ancient tale about a captured Union Army soldier who was in a prison camp, famished from starvation. On Christmas Eve, he begged a guard for a pickle. When the guard impelled, the soldier said that it aided him and saved his life. When he went back home, he began the tradition of hanging a pickle on the tree every Christmas Eve. Even though it is pretty gross, it actually is celebrated by a widespread rage of people because it’s a German-American tradition.
These are very eccentric traditions celebrated by the lesser-known population and aren’t as recognized as eating a big holiday dinner or decorating a Christmas tree. However, we all love the holidays for different reasons because of the special traditions that we celebrate or holidays we relate to, and it doesn’t change the true significance of the holidays – a time of happiness, love, and cheer.
Christmas Traditions
By: Abby Sanfilippo, Lindsey Moore
Many people have different holiday traditions whether they celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas or any other holiday. Here at Landrum, students were asked what their favorite tradition was.
One common tradition students at LMS do is secret Santa. Secret Santa is where you pick a name out of a hat, and shop for that person. But the catch of the tradition, is that the person doesn’t know who is shopping for them. Ansleigh Wesseling’s favorite tradition is secret Santa. “I like to do secret Santa with my friends” she said, “I look forward to it, my favorite part is giving gifts to others.” Many other students could agree with Ansleigh.
Another tradition LMS students enjoy doing is making gingerbread houses and decorating a Christmas tree. Caia enjoys doing both with her family,” My favorite tradition is probably decorating my Christmas tree or making a gingerbread houses” she continued, “I normally just do it with my siblings, and I look forward to it. My favorite parts are having a good time, hanging out and having fun.” Decorating for Christmas is very common in the US. About 84% of people decorate for Christmas in America.
Just like Caia, Joanna enjoys making gingerbread houses. But she does it a bit differently, “With my family we all get together and instead of gingerbread house we make sugar cookie house.” Joanna has been doing this for a long time and enjoys it, “I look forward to it because it’s a fun tradition,
I like it because I get to use my creativity” This tradition is more out of the ordinary than most traditions students do here, but it seems fun!
Finally, lots of students have different traditions depending on where they are from and what they celebrate. Traditions go from making gingerbread houses to getting a Christmas tree. But no matter what you do, the holidays are for everyone to have fun!