KFC, Kites and Devil Bonfires: Seven Winter Traditions Worth Travelling For

November: With Christmas just weeks away, worldwide Google searches for "winter traditions" have risen by 200% in the past month*, as curiosity about how the season is celebrated around the world continues to build.

While the UK prepares for a December of crackers, mince pies and Christmas markets, adventure travel specialist Wild Frontiers is revealing seven winter traditions most British travellers have never seen, from gifts from the Snow Grandfather, setting fire to the tree, to KFC ordered weeks ahead for Christmas dinner.

Clare Tobin, CEO of Wild Frontiers, comments: “Winter is when cultures show what matters most to them. Across very different places, celebrations share the same instinct, to mark the turn of the year and leave the old one behind, whether that’s Georgians burning their chichilaki or Guatemalans burning the devil.

“Experiencing those traditions first-hand is one of the best ways to understand a place, and it’s exactly what we believe travel should do: break down barriers and replace assumptions with real connection. It’s also enormous fun. There are few better ways to meet people than flying kites on a rooftop in Ahmedabad or joining the dancing in the Kalash valleys.”

Seven Winter Traditions Most Brits Have Never Seen 

A bucket of KFC for Christmas dinner, Japan

Across the Christmas season, Japanese families tuck into KFC's festive chicken meals, with many ordering weeks ahead. The custom began with a 1974 marketing campaign, "Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii", or "Kentucky for Christmas". With Christmas largely a secular celebration in Japan, the campaign helped create a ritual that has endured for more than five decades, and Christmas Eve remains one of the chain's busiest days.

A few days earlier, on tōji, the winter solstice around 22 December, some hot-spring baths and bathhouses float yuzu fruit in their waters, a citrus-scented custom said to date to the Edo period. Even the animals join in: at Izu Shaboten Zoo, capybaras soak in their own yuzu baths.

Wild Frontiers recommends: A tailor-made trip to coincide with the festivities. 

Setting fire to the festive tree, Georgia

The chichilaki is Georgia’s traditional festive tree, a hazelnut or walnut branch shaved into curling white ribbons until it resembles a small, wispy tree. Families display them over New Year and Christmas, then traditionally burn them around Orthodox Epiphany on 19 January, leaving the old year’s troubles behind.

The festive calendar is different, too. Georgian Orthodox Christmas falls on 7 January, after the main New Year celebrations. At New Year, much depends on the mekvle, the first guest to cross the threshold, who is believed to influence the household’s luck for the year ahead.

From mid-December to mid-January, Tbilisi’s Christmas markets fill with lit-up wooden chalets selling local food and drink. Wild Frontiers’ Christmas departure ends in the capital with an evening at the markets.

Wild Frontiers recommends: Georgia: Winter In The Land of Myths and Mountains (Christmas Departure)

Presents from the Snow Grandfather, Uzbekistan

In Uzbekistan, children receive New Year presents from Qorbobo, the "Snow Grandfather", and his helper Qorqiz, the "Snow Girl". Their visits centre on New Year rather than Christmas, as Yangi Yil is one of the country's major national celebrations.

Families decorate a festive tree and gather for gift-giving and a New Year's Eve feast that may feature plov, a rice dish cooked with meat and carrots, followed by the president's televised address and midnight fireworks.

Wild Frontiers recommends: Uzbekistan: Winter In The Land of Silk Road Treasures (Christmas Departure)

Burning the devil, Guatemala

Every year on 7 December at 6pm, communities across Guatemala mark the Quema del Diablo, or "Burning of the Devil", with bonfires and burning devil effigies. Rooted in colonial-era celebrations on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the tradition came to symbolise cleansing homes of evil, and today it marks the beginning of Guatemala's Christmas season.

From 16 December, nightly posadas processions re-enact Mary and Joseph's search for shelter, building towards Nochebuena, Christmas Eve, when families gather for tamales and hot ponche de frutas, a spiced fruit punch, and fireworks light up the sky at midnight.

Wild Frontiers recommends: Guatemala: Tikal & Beyond (Christmas Departure)

Dancing through the winter solstice, Pakistan

Chawmos is the winter solstice festival of the Kalash, a small community with their own ancient faith, living in the Hindu Kush valleys of north-western Pakistan. Held over roughly two weeks in December, it is their most important festival, marked by purification rituals, animal sacrifice, wine and nights of dancing, as the Kalash welcome the new year and pray for their own wellbeing and that of the goats their mountain way of life depends on.

With bitter cold and snow settling over the valleys, Chawmos offers a rare glimpse into Kalash life, and in Wild Frontiers' words, it is a celebration that "precious few Westerners have ever seen".

Wild Frontiers recommends for 2027: Pakistan: Under a Pagan Moon (Kalash Winter Festival) 

Kite battles on the rooftops, India

Uttarayan is Gujarat's kite-flying celebration of Makar Sankranti, held around 14 January, with festivities continuing the following day. Associated in Hindu tradition with the Sun's northward journey, it brings families onto their rooftops to fly kites and cut their rivals' lines, with cries of "Kai po che!" ringing out each time a kite is cut loose.

Between the rooftop battles, families tuck into festival favourites such as undhiyu, a slow-cooked winter vegetable dish.

Wild Frontiers recommends: India: Gujarat & Rann of Kutch (Kite Festival)

Singing in the new year, Bhutan

Nyilo, the winter solstice, is one of the most auspicious days in the Bhutanese calendar. It marks the traditional new year of western Bhutan and is a national holiday, falling on 2 January in 2027.

On the eve of Nyilo, children gather in small groups and go from house to house singing Lolay, verses wishing each household a prosperous year ahead. Groups traditionally go in odd numbers, as even numbers are thought to bring bad luck, and the head of each household rewards them with rice, meat and other gifts, which the children pool for a feast the following day.

Wild Frontiers recommends: Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon (Christmas Departure)

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Editors notes

Sources

*Google searches were collected via Google trends looking at worldwide searches for ‘winter traditions’ in the past month (+200%). Data is correct as of 03/11.

About Wild Frontiers:  

Wild Frontiers is a B Corp award-winning adventure travel company, founded in 1998 by travel writer Jonny Bealby. They specialise in immersive small group tours and unique tailor-made trips worldwide. Wild Frontiers believes sustainable and community-focused travel can be a powerful force for good; breaking down barriers, dispelling myths and bringing people from different cultures and communities together.   

From the ancient heritage of the Silk Road to the foothills of Pakistan, Wild Frontiers are experts in off-the-beaten-track travel and draw on their extensive local knowledge and array of contacts to give travellers the best experience possible. They are firm believers that travelling is all about the experience, and the beauty is in the details – the places you stay, the transport and route that gets you there, and the people you meet along the way.