If the Christmas holidays in France are often associated with an increased consumption of chocolates, this is not the case in the city of Oaxaca in Mexico.
Indeed, every December 23, La Noche de Rabanos ("The Night of the Radishes") is celebrated there, a festival during which traders and artisans sell radishes intricately carved to represent nativity scenes, fauna and local architecture, as well as other relevant representations.
The radish carvings are sold as Christmas centerpieces, and the creator of the best radish drawing wins a cash prize.
An unusual Christmas tradition, certainly, but guaranteed without a liver attack.
The legend of Krampus (Germany, Austria, Hungary).
Have you ever heard of Krampus?
In Germany, Austria or Hungary, it is a name that makes people shiver.
And for good reason: Krampus is none other than the diabolical and furry alter-ego of Santa Claus.
According to legend, if Santa Claus brings toys to “nice” children, the Krampus has the mission to punish the children on the “naughty” list.
Most of the time, he is content to scare children with his bestial demeanor, but he is said to throw particularly naughty children into his bag, or chain them in his basket to take them to hell.
It is for this reason that in Austria and neighboring countries, people often dress up as Krampus in early December and roam the streets to scare children.
The famous game to form crosswords on squares which bring more or less points is, him, well born from the crisis of 1929.
Alfred Mosher Butts, a New York architect in his thirties with a passion for anagrams (these words made up of the same letters), finds himself unemployed.
Idle, he imagines a game to put his passion for words within everyone's reach. He has the idea of token letters.
To determine the number of each letter and its value according to frequency in English, he analyzes a dictionary and three newspapers including the New York Times.
The game is called Lexiko. He deposited it in 1948, in the United States.
Now called Scrabble, it landed in France in 1955.
It got off to a mixed start, but Club Med activity leaders… gradually introduce holidaymakers to it.
Today, almost all French people (nearly 60% have one, according to its publisher Mattel) know Scrabble.
There is a French federation, a competition, a magazine...
Nearly 150 million Scrabble games have been sold in 121 countries, in 36 languages, including Latin and... Braille.
He would even be at the origin of the Trivial Pursuit.
The genesis of Monopoly is one of the most amazing.
In the midst of the economic crisis, in Philadelphia, south of New York, an unemployed man had cobbled together, on a piece of cardboard, land to buy or rent.
From the start, there was a box for prison, one for making money...
Charles Darrow became the inventor of a game symbolizing capitalism.
The problem is that Charles Darrow copied Elisabeth J. Maggie's game.
When she registered her game in 1904, Elizabeth Magie's objective was to demonstrate the excesses of monopoly.
Cie Parker is going to redeem its rights for a pittance.
Since then, 275 million Monopoly, now owned by Hasbro, have been sold.
The game has several hundred versions in 111 countries in 43 languages.
Since 2009, Monopoly has also been played on screen.
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