Bring your roller skates to Caracas, Venezuela, where they block the streets on Christmas Eve so that locals can roller-skate to church for Christmas service.

Don't swat the tree in Ukraine, where a fake spider and spider's web are placed on Christmas trees for decoration. It is believed that a spider web found on Christmas morning is a sign of good luck for the coming year.

On Christmas Eve in Norway, all the brooms in the house are hidden because it was believed that witches and evil spirits would come out on this night to steal their brooms for riding.

Make a wish when stirring in all the ingredients for Christmas pudding in England - but it will only come true if you stir in a clockwise direction.

In Japan, it's considered bad luck to give red Christmas cards or envelopes as funeral notices are usually written in red.

In Italy, locals celebrate Christmas - not by decorating a Christmas tree with tinsel and ornaments - but by decorating small wooden pyramids with fruit.

When in Belgium, you celebrate two Santa Clauses: St. Nicholas, the Santa that spies on children to sort them into naughty and nice; and Pere Noel, who does all the Christmas delivery work.

In Brazil, it's believed that Santa lives in Greenland, that the shepherds that sought out Jesus were actually women, and that the animals in the manger spoke when Jesus was born.

The oldest Christmas tradition in Estonia takes place on Christmas Eve when the whole family goes to visit the sauna together.

In Latvia, "Big Zimmer," the Latvian Santa Claus, brings presents not on just one day, but 12 days in a row. It's also here in Latvia that the Christmas tree tradition was first celebrated, although the holiday doesn't celebrate Jesus, but the re-birth of the Sun Maiden.

In the town of Urbania, Italy, an ugly witch named La Befana parades around town on her broomstick bringing gifts to children on Christmas Day. The tradition is believed to have come from the Vatican - who couldn't prove the existence of Santa Claus so decided to tell children that it was witches that delivered the presents.

During the Middle Ages, boar's head was known as a traditional Christmas dish. The custom began when a bear attached a student who saved himself by forcing Aristotle's books into the bear's mouth. The bear choked to death and the student cut off his head and brought it back to college.
In coastal towns like Brighton and in London's Serpentine Lake in England, many communities take part in a Christmas Day swim in frigid waters.

On Christmas Eve in Remedios, Cuba, locals celebrate Parrandas, a religious festival remembering the priests who would send altar boys into the streets to bang on pots and pans to awaken the townspeople for mass at midnight.

In France, on Christmas Eve, you put empty shoes on the doorstep or by the fireplace. It is said that The Christ Child will come during the night and put gifts in them.

If you live in the Netherlands, you put hay and sugar inside a shoe on the night before Saint Nicholas Day. Saint Nicholas' horse will eat the hay and sugar when they stop at your house. After the horse eats, Saint Nicholas repays you by filling your shoes with candy and tiny gifts.

In Spain, you put straw inside your shoes. The camels of The Three Kings will eat the straw. They will pass your house and leave gifts on Epiphany, twelve nights after Christmas.

In Italy you get your gifts in a large jar, called the Urn of Fate. It is said that a fairy queen flys down the chimney and fills each jar with gifts and goodies on Epiphany instead of Christmas. It was in Italy that the nativity scene became popular and spread through the Alps eventually making its way to the United States with German pioneers.

In some parts of Germany at Christmas you get gifts from a girl called Christkind. She wears a crown of candles and carries a basket full of gifts to the children. A dreadful demon called Hans Trapp goes with Christkind to deliver the gifts. Before Christkind gives any gifts, Hans Trapp waves a stick to threaten the naughty children.

At Christmas time in Sweden you might hear a thump at your front door or wake up the next morning to find gifts. It'll just be the old man and woman who go about on the night before Christmas throwing gifts inside children's front doors. No one in Sweden has ever found out who they are.

In other parts of Europe at Christmas time you might get a gift from a ferocious-looking man with a sooty face. It'll be Knight Rupprecht passing out gifts as he travels with Saint Nicholas.

Statuettes of well-known people defecating -- called "caganers" -- are a strong Christmas tradition in Catalonia, dating back to the 18th century. Catalonians hide caganers in Christmas Nativity scenes and invite friends to find them. The figures symbolize fertilization, hope and prosperity for the coming year. No public figure is safe -- not even the Statue of Liberty.