Where to find yule lads, grannies downing vodka, the best Christmas markets and more...
#3. Pogost, Belarus
Belaurs Christmas drinking
Why: Belarus may be tricky for foreign visitors to enter, but what it lacks in accessibility it makes up for in eye-opening yuletide traditions.
The Belorussian festive season is all about the Koliady, a folk ritual that was originally a pagan holiday but later appropriated to coincide with Christmas and the New Year.
In villages such as Pogost, grannies down vodka by the bottle, and youngsters perform folk plays for the public during Koliady. Locals dress up as animals and carry animal’s heads on a stick to go trick-or-treating in village neighborhoods.
When: December 25 to January 7
www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/top-10-places-spend-your-christmas-810201