Hi, and welcome to Christmases around the world. I'm Z Michelson, and this podcast is where we are gonna travel the globe exploring the most fascinating, surprising, and heartwarming holiday traditions. So today we're gonna kick it off with one of the very best legends, lights, and a whole lot of Christmas magic. So, speaking of Christmas magic, what were your holiday traditions? I would love to hear from you. So please feel free to contact me at my email, and that's zmichelson at gmail.com and let me know your holiday traditions. And again, don't forget Z is spelled Z-E-E. So starting off today, I want to talk about something that I thought was really, really cute. And number one on my list today is La Bafana. That's Italy's Christmas witch. Yes, I said Italy's Christmas witch. Now we're in Italy, believe it or not, Christmas involves a witch. La Bufana visits on January 5th, gliding through the night sky on a broomstick. But don't worry, she's not spooky at all. La Bafana is warm, kind, and always carrying a bag of gifts. Children hang up stockings hoping she'll leave them sweets or fruit or some small toys. How did this story start? Well, here's how it goes. La Bafana was invited by the three wise men to visit baby Jesus. But she was just too busy sweeping her house. So now she regretted her decision. So now she travels every year searching for the Christ child and leaving gifts as she goes. Can you imagine? La Bufana, Italy's Christmas witch. I just love that. That's very cool. So what was your Christmas tradition? I still want to hear from you. Now we're going to go from Italy over to Exaca, Mexico, the night of the radishes. How many people eat radishes? I like radishes in my salad. They're pretty good. It's a little bit of a spice to it too. However, we're gonna zoom over to Mexico where people actually carve the radishes. Yes, they carve the radishes. Entire nativity scenes sculptured into large red radishes. They sculpture these things. These little tiny radishes. And every December 23rd, the city hosts La Noche de Rambianos, the night of the radishes. Artists spend hours carving these intricate scenes from the Christmas story. The displays are part of an art show, part of the festival, and completely unforgettable. So believe it or not, in Mexico, they are carving radishes of the nativity scene. Do you carve anything? I know I don't have the talent to do the carving, but I would love to see this. That must be unbelievable. So when you think of Christmas, what country do you you think of? Well, my family history, I come from Germany and Ireland. So when I think of Christmas, I think of a lot of different things because German side, Irish side, two different types of celebrations that had come together in my household. But right now we're gonna go over to Germany. Saint Nicholas Day. Now, Saint Nicholas Day is in Germany. Santa isn't the only figure bringing gifts. On December 5th, that's right I said December 5th, children place their polished shoes outside their door. It's overnight, they put them outside the door overnight. And Saint Nicholas, not Santa, fills them with treats like fruit or coins or little chocolates. However, be warned, if you've been naughty, you might wake up to sticks or twigs instead. So you really don't want to be naughty. Saint Nicholas Day in Germany. Just put your shoes out, make sure they're nice and clean, make sure you've been a good boy or girl, and hopefully you won't get any sticks or twigs. Now I've heard about this one before. We're gonna go up to Sweden. Now in Sweden, and I always pronounce this name wrong, I believe it's called a govel goat. And that's what Sweden does. This is our last stop in Sweden, where an enormous straw goat becomes the center of attention. And I mean this thing is really, really big. If you look at my website way back when or my Facebook pages, I posted a picture of this gobel goat years ago. Now the gobble goat is massive. It's called the Yule Goat. It's built every December, and almost every year someone tries to burn it down. It's become a playful international guessing game. Will the goat survive this year? Or will the flames win again? So yes, it does get set on fire. Believe it or not, it really does get set on fire. Well, that's it for today's little Christmas traditions around the world. But this was only our first journey. You'll have to tune in next week and we'll explore some more incredible Christmas traditions. And you probably won't believe they actually exist. Some of them are a little odd, believe it or not. And again, I want to ask everybody to send me an email of your Christmas traditions, and maybe they will be talked about on my podcast. My email is zmichelson at gmail.com. And remember, Z is spelt Z-E-E. Traveling really opens up the world to you with all the traditions that are there to be had. So remember, shoot for the stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. Talk to you next week. Thanks for listening.