WEIRD CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE

Europe does Christmas beautifully.

It also does Christmas with horned demons, horse skulls, child-eating trolls, giant goats, witches on broomsticks, medieval saints, exploding traditions, suspicious pastries, enormous bonfires, and enough mulled wine to make all of this seem perfectly reasonable.

WEIRD CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE is a funny, story-packed journey through the strangest, oldest, and most unforgettable Christmas traditions on the continent. Travel by train, tram, ferry, cable car, and occasionally questionable footwear from Germany’s legendary Christmas markets to Austria’s terrifying Krampus runs, from the decorated canals of Alsace to Italy’s nativity workshops, from Welsh horse-skull visitors to Iceland’s thirteen Yule Lads and the enormous cat that may apparently eat you if your wardrobe disappoints it.

Along the way, explore Nuremberg’s Christkind and gingerbread, Dresden’s gigantic Stollen, Strasbourg’s claim to being the Capital of Christmas, Vienna’s imperial holiday traditions, Prague’s devils and astronomical clock, Kraków’s extraordinary nativity competitions, Barcelona’s pooping Christmas log, Portugal’s winter bonfires, London’s Victorian ghosts, Sweden’s repeatedly endangered giant Christmas goat, and Finland’s transformation of the Arctic Circle into Santa’s international headquarters.

But this is not simply a list of Christmas markets.

Behind the lights are centuries of religion, folklore, political upheaval, local legends, strange food, royal drama, mountain superstition, winter survival, and communities that somehow decided the darkest months of the year required both candles and monsters.

Written with a funny, cheeky travel-book voice, WEIRD CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE is for travelers, Christmas fanatics, history lovers, folklore enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever looked at a perfectly normal holiday celebration and thought, This could really use a horned creature carrying chains.

Pack a scarf.

Europe has been preparing for Christmas for a very long time, and normal was apparently never part of the plan.