Five strange Christmas traditions that are worth the trip

According to Norwegian tradition, Christmas eve brings the summoning of witches and evil spirits to look for brooms to ride. To counter this bad omen of the jolly season, all brooms around the house are hidden and Norwegian men are sent outside, shotgun in hand, to fire a shot and scare bad spirits away!

Christmas dinner has never sounded so appealing in Japan, with Kentucky Fired Chicken at the top of the menu! Apparently, the American creation of KFC is so popular on Christmas Day that families have to make reservations at KFC in order to secure their spot to eat.

Make like the polar bears and dive into freezing water if you plan to spend NYE in the USA or Canada. In its early stages of ‘tradition’ status, it has become progressively acceptable to gather with a large group of people around a lake or river and jump in! Clothes are optional, of course! According to the polar bear divers themselves, the closer to midnight you jump in the more luck you have coming your way in the New Year. [Disclaimer: Fast Cover Travel Insurance doesn’t cover polar diving!

If you are heading to countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil to celebrate New Year’s Eve, wearing a pair of brightly coloured underwear is tradition to ring in the new year. Wearing red will bring you true love, while wearing yellow underwear when the clock strikes midnight will bring you wealth and prosperity in the new year. Who knows.

Seeing New Year’s Eve as the prime opportunity to find out if they will live another year as a single lady, Belarus bachelorettes participate in a series of fortune telling activities involving placing piles of corn in front of each single woman and letting a rooster loose. Based on the pile of corn eaten, the rooster signifies which single women will be snapped up, and who will remain single another year. Yep. Apparently…