and welcome.

I can't believe we kind of almost made it.

[Sighs]

You can find the other videos in this series linked in the description down below.

Since we are now almost at the end of our festive time together,

and soon regular programming will resume on the channel,

I wanted to take this chance

to tell you about some of the other ways Christmas is celebrated around the world.

Since so many of you did seem to enjoy the weird British Christmas traditions video.

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This video is inspired by Clara,

my best friend and carer, who is Spanish,

and thus celebrates Kings' Night; a tradition all but forgotten in England.

Clara is going to explain little about Kings' Night and how it's celebrated in her country

before I tell you about other interesting ways Christmas is celebrated around the world.

I didn't give her any prior warning of this – sorry.

Clara: Well, hello.

Clara: Spanish person

right here, explaining her traditions.

Clara: When I was a child, Christmas didn't used to be the big day

because our big day in Spain is actually January the 6th,

which is the day where the three kings, or wise men

(we call them kings - los tres reyes magicos -

"the three magic kings")

That's traditionally when the three kings would bring the presents to baby Jesus.

So that's when we would get our presents.

Christmas used to be - yes,

a day when you meet your family and friends and you get together

and all of that, and Christmas Eve -

but it was never really a present thing.

I don't know if other people in Spain - in the comments - actually got their presents then,

but I always got all my presents either

the night of the 5th,

which is Kings'…

Kings' Day Eve,

or then on the 6th, which is Kings' Day.

Pretty much like Christmas.

You meet your relatives and...

you have a lot of food.

My parents love to host it.

It's a day of whimsy and magic for the children

and just like you would leave cookies and milk for Santa,

you would leave food for the camels.

'Cause, yes, the three wise men

- or the three kings - came by camel.

Yeah, that's basically it.

Clara: By the way, I forgot to mention, we also eat this traditional dessert; it's called...

Clara: It's this pastry that looks like a massive doughnut

and inside, it has two things:

one is a little figurine

and if you get it on your piece, you are the king and you get the crown;

and if you get black bean,

you lose and you have to pay for it the year after.

Christmas has become now the official day for presents, I would say,

but I think it's because of, you know, cultures getting together and movies and all of that.

Christmas just gets like earlier and earlier

every year.

Some kids are lucky and get presents both times.

Me and my family now exchange presents both days.

And yes, it's obviously a Catholic thing

as Jessica explained before.

The 6th of January – Kings' Night – is also known by the Epiphany, Denha, or Little Christmas.

Epiphany is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God as Jesus Christ.

In Western Christianity,

the feast commemorates principally the visit of the Magi, or three kings

as you'll know them if you ever did a nativity play in school,

to baby Jesus and thus physical manifestation to the Gentiles

(which means non-Jews).

Denha is celebrated by Syrian Christians, who are an Eastern branch of Christianity

found in present day Lebanon, Palestine, Israel,

Syria, Turkey, Iraq,

and Iran.

Large area.

Of course, it is worth noting that since Christianity began in the Middle East

in Jerusalem among Aramaic-speaking

Jews and then spread to other Aramaic-speaking

Semitic peoples along the Mediterranean coast

and also the inland parts the Roman Empire

and beyond that into the Parthenon Empire and to the later

Thasian Empire, including Mesopotamia,

but it's not really…Eastern

so much that it is the epicentre and everything else is east

or west.

On the other hand, Little Christmas (also known as Old Christmas

and Women's Christmas)

is a traditional celebration amongst Irish Christians and Amish Christians.

Again, for the 6th of January.

Among some Anabaptists, such as the Amish, Old Christmas is celebrated as the Julian calendar

(remember those calendars from episode one?)

and was retained for liturgical feasts.

Interestingly, in the fourth century, the churches of the Eastern Roman Empire

were celebrating Christmas on the 6th of January

and those in the Western Roman Empire were celebrating on the 25th of December,

and thus the time between those two dates came to be known as the twelve days of Christmas, because…

Calendars: confusing.

In the Scottish Highlands, the term 'Lttle Christmas' is applied to New Year's Day

also known as [attempts pronunciation]

[Continues attempting pronunciation]

I mean, I'm deaf, so...

excuses all over.

Epiphany is also known as

another word I can't pronounce

Er, the Feast Day of Kings.

However, the Transalpine Redemptorists,

a part of the Catholic Church of Aberdeen and who are based

(it's really tiny)

on the Orkney Island of Papa Stronsay,

celebrate Little Christmas on the 25th day of every single month

except for December,

where the twenty-fifth day is celebrated as Christmas Day.

Think on that.

A Christmas

every month.

In even more out-there customs,

we have the Giant Lantern Festival of the Philippines

which is held each year on the Saturday before Christmas Eve

in the city of San Fernando,

the Christmas capital of the Philippines.

So, eleven different villages take part in the festival

and the competition is so fierce that everyone helps in the whole village in trying to build the most elaborate lantern.

Originally, these were really simple creations; they were about half a metre in diameter,

made from a type of Japanese origami paper.

And lit by a candle.

Kind of similar to the lanterns that I showed you in the…

video that I made about

candles; I'm gonna say that was day nine.

In the Brighton Festival, Burning of the Clocks.

Today, however,

the lanterns are made from a variety of materials and have grown to around

six metres in size!

They're illuminated by electric bulbs

and have kaleidoscopic patterns and colours.

Slightly more traditional in the snowy Christmas sense,

we have Sweden's Gävle Goat.

Stop trying to pronounce things, Jessica.

Which, since 1966,

they've erected a 13-metre-tall Yule goat

in the centre of Gävle's Castle Square

for the whole Advent.

But, the real tradition is actually people trying to burn it down.

Since 1966, the goat has actually been successfully burnt down twenty-nine times;

the most recent disruption was in 2016.

All in good fun, though.

Much like the apparently “fun,” yet actually terrifying,

Krampus in Austria.

He's a beast-like demon creature that roams city streets

frightening children and punishing the bad ones.

In Austrian traditions, St. Nicholas rewards nice little children,

while Krampus is said to capture

the naughtiest children

and whisk them away in his sack.

In the first week of December, young men dress up as Krampus

[disturbed shudder]

and frighten children with clattering chains and bells.

Related to Krampus, we have the Yule Lads

(which is a name I love)

in Iceland.

They're thirteen tricksy troll-like characters

and they come out to play in the thirteen days leading up to Christmas.

So, for each night of Yuletide,

children place their best shoes by the window

and a different 'Yule Lad' visits

('Yule Lad' - I can't get over it),

leaving gifts

for very good children

and rotting potatoes

for the bad ones.

...Oh.

Clad in traditional Icelandic costume,

these chaps are…pretty mischievous .

OK, yeah. So that's pretty ancient, I suppose.

But! Japan take the biscuit when it comes to modern times,

with their traditional

Kentucky Fried Christmas dinner.

Christmas has never really been a big deal in Japan; aside from a few small secular traditions, such as

gift-giving and

lighting displays, Christmas largely remains a novelty.

However,

they have a new quirky tradition:

a Christmas Day feast

...of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

From which we move to a tradition that dates back centuries:

the hiding of brooms on Christmas Eve in Norway.

People apparently believed that witches and evil spirits came out on Christmas Eve

looking for brooms to ride on.

So, to this day, many people still hide their brooms in a safe place in the house to stop them from being stolen.

Well, I suppose if you make it into a tradition, then yeah, people are probably gonna...

just want some brooms.

And, even more traditional:

is St. Nicholas Day in Germany.

Not to be confused with Father Christmas,

Nicholas travels by donkey in the middle of the night on December the 6th.

Saint Nicholas also visits children in schools

or at home, and in exchange for sweets or small present

a child must recite a poem,

sing a song, or draw a picture.

To be—actually, wait… Yeah.

No, one of the traditions in my Swedish family is that

on Christmas Eve you must perform in order to be given your dinner.

Well, pudding. You're not allowed pudding. Which is always rice pudding.

You're not allowed rice pudding

until you have performed.

We don't have shy people in our family, clearly.

But it isn't always fun and games.

St. Nicholas often brings along Farmhand Rupert.

A devil-like character dressed in dark clothes covered in bells with a dirty beard,

Farmhand Rupert carries a stick or a small whip

in hand to punish any children who misbehave.

Children get punished a lot, actually.

Is Christmas really just a way to make children be good

by threatening them with pain?

Oh, and sliding in at the end,

we have the truly fabulous Venezuela;

where, for reasons utterly unknown,

every Christmas Eve the city's residents head to church in the morning on roller-skates.

A unique tradition.

but it's so popular that the roads across the city are closed to cars

so that people can skate to church in safety.

No one knows where that tradition's come from;

it's just really cool.

Are you from one of these countries?

How do you celebrate Christmas?

Is it a little off the wall?

Please let me know in the comments down below.

I have loved learning about all of these.

[Gentle, jolly festive music]