What do people in your city/country usually do on January 6th?

31 comments

1. Here in Italy,the 6th is a public holiday.

   In Sicily it is not really ‘celebrated’ much though.Small children usually get sweets/presents,brought by the ‘Befana’,on the evening of the 5th or the morning of the 6th.

2. Not much, it is not a holiday.

   The only special thing we do is that we eat a “[king cake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake)” (yummy !!!) and we crown a king/queen for the day (there is a sort of little statue hidden in the cake, and the person who gets it is then the winner). This tradition is sometimes followed also in small kids’s classes (if the holidays are over), or in some companies.

3. Its only a public holiday in 3 out of 16 states, so for the majority of people it will be a day like any other.

4. In Ireland, it’s [Nollaig na mBan](https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0102/1103975-the-roots-and-traditions-of-nollaig-na-mban/) or Women’s Christmas. Traditionally, it was a day where women took the day off and went and did something together after working hard the whole Christmas period.

   It varies around the country how much it’s been marked in households but we always celebrated it in our house and cooked for our mother or took her out for a meal, same as Mother’s day. My Dad’s from an area where it’s always been kept on as a strong tradition and kept it going in our family. A lot of restaurants and hotels etc. will have Nollaig na mBan promotions for women going out together.

   Edit: in more recent years, a lot of industries also have events aimed at women similar to International Women’s Day and there’s a lot of charity events too. There’s also a lot more official cultural stuff on like, there’s been illumination displays where buildings were lit up with images of Irish Goddesses, women from mythology, influential Irish women and that kind of thing.

5. Just what they usually do. January 6th isn’t a special day in the Netherlands

6. It’s a normal working day. Some Christians celebrate arrival of Three Kings (Gašper, Miha, Boltežar). There is traditions of carolers (koledniki), most often those are children, who are dressed as three kings and visit from house to house. They write on the house door G + M +B along with the numbers representing the new year: 20+G+M+B+22.

7. In my family the *loppiainen* (epiphany) is the time to take down all the Christmas decorations including the Christmas tree. It’s also a public holiday.

8. Public Holiday, basically end of Christmas/New Year Holidays. People will start taking down Christmas decorations/trees after this day.

9. We eat. As we did on Dec 24th, 25th, 31st, and on January 1st and 5th.

   Occasionally we’ll also fight with family, dur to the overload of family dinners&lunches.

   In case you hadn’t guessed, it’s Spain. It’s a holiday and kids play with the presents brought by the 3 Magi Kings.

   Traditional food today involves Roscón de Reyes & hot chocolate

10. It’s a day free from work. So non-religious people just enjoy it.

    The religious folk go to the church. There’s a special mass where they bless chalk and people take it home. Then they use the chalk to write K+M+B and the year on their door.

    The letters stand for the names of the three travelers that went to see Jesus birth. I think it’s done to have good lack for the following year.

    Edit: I’m an uneducated fool. Look for the K+M+B meaning in u/Vertitto comment.

11. “Badnji dan” it’s a day before Christmas and usually people prepare food and different things for Christmas, while kids go with their dad, grandpa or even just friends in the forest to cut [this tree](https://images.app.goo.gl/ko6mN29Ano4Si6Qy6) which is called “badnjak” and you usually burn later but we just put small branches in front of every door in the house

12. In Spain, it’s a public holiday and technically our original “Christmas Day”, were the Three Wise Kings come to visit and give presents to children.

    Like on December 25th, families wake up to find presents under the tree. Bad children receive coal, nowadays replaced by a sweet which resembles a piece of coal a lot. We eat the “roscón de reyes” (Ring cake of the Kings), made of sweet bread, cream and candied fruit. All roscones come with two “prizes” hidden in it: one is a little figurine made of plastic or ceramic, which means good luck for the year, and the other is a bean. Whoever gets the bean in their piece of cake, has to supposedly pay for the whole cake!

    Afterwards it’s all about visiting family and friends like you would on Christmas Day.

13. It is not a holiday in Denmark and we have no traditions for it. Some leave their Christmas decorations and tree up until Jan 6th, but it’s not a common practice.

14. Nothing.

    But we celebrate the end of Christmas the January 13th, [Saint Knut’s Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Knut%27s_Day).

15. In the past it was when people took their decorations down, these days people don’t tend to stick to this date.

16. It’s the Dreikönigstag (three kings day). There’s a church obviously and after that kids dressed as the three wise men go from house to house carrying a big star, sing songs at the door and bless the house in return for donations and sweets. That’s why you can see something like 20* C+M+B *21 written above many German doors; the CMB stands for Christus Mansionem Benedicat – may christ bless/protect this house.

    I suspect this is only a thing in southern Germany though and even there mostly in catholic regions…

17. It’s a normal day in Bulgaria but there’s a tradition where the priests from local churches throw a cross in a nearby lake or river if there’s one and young men jump into the water to take it out. Whoever brings the cross from the river, would have good health and happiness.

18. Epiphany is not a public holiday in Iceland, but there have traditionally been some bonfires and one or two public fireworks displays on that day to mark the end of the Christmas season, and it’s the second biggest day for setting off fireworks. Some people will have a special meal.

    Also, whenever the New Year’s Eve bonfires have to be cancelled because of bad weather, they are lit on Epiphany night instead (or the weekend closest to it).

19. Priests bless the waters. In previous years there was this custom where the priest throws a cross in the sea or River or fountain and whoever retrieves it is lucky for that year. Not sure if it’s going to be done now with COVID.

20. It’s Christmas Eve in Ukraine, people get together as families, cook traditional Christmas dishes like [kutya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutia). We also have a tradition called kolyada – children dress up and walk house to house in groups, singing Christmas carols and receiving candies or some money in return.

21. We have this sweet bread that is six buns fused together with a big seventh bun in the middle. One of them has a little figurine of a king inside it and whoever gets it is the King for this day.

    In catholic areas, the 20+C+M+B+22 shows up on doors, but I never witnessed how this happens. In some places, there are kids dressed up as the Three Wise Men going from house to house singing songs, and writing these signs, but not where I grew up.

22. It’s not a public holiday here, so we just go to work as normal. I don’t know anyone who does anything special that day, other than perhaps clear out the Christmas decorations.

23. Fairly regular day. Priests go door to door sprinkling holy water with some basil sprigs while chanting some troparion, and a cross is tossed in a deep river/lake/the sea and people dive for it. Otherwise not much.

24. I mean it’s a public holiday so they don’t go to work, but that’s about it.

25. Everyone with a name Jordan, Jordanka and it’s derivatives has a name day. Namedays are big in Bulgaria and it’s highly likely you know at least one person who has a name day on the 6th. Also there is a tradition that on the 6th priests are trowing a cross into a river or a lake and bunch of tipsy men jump to take it out. Whoever first reaches the cross will have luck and health through the year. Other that that it’s not a day off or a national holiday. Just a regular day.

26. We eat king cake, which in most of the country is a pie made of puff pastry with almond filling (frangipane.) In Provence, the traditional king cake is a brioche with candied fruit, but nowadays both coexist and the almond version is probably even more common.

    The cake contains a little figure or a golden coin (used to be mainly nativity scene characters but nowadays you see a lot of pop culture characters, like Smurfs, Astérix etc.) The cake is cut, the youngest kid goes under the table and says who gets each slice (to make sure they don’t see the hidden figure.) Whoever gets it is crowned king for the day.

27. In Spain it is the day after the night of the three wise men, wizard kings, whatever. Kids wake up to have their presents and we usually have for breakfast roscón. This has figurines hidden inside. The person that gets a king gets a crown, someone gets a haba (field bean i believe is the name in English) and has to pay for the roscón the following year… Etc

28. I think we give out some sweets but it isn’t celebrated as much as it is in Italy 🙂

29. In Armenia we celebrate Christmas on January 6. So your typical Christmas day activities with good food.

30. In Russia we have public holidays from 1st till 9th Jan.

31. For our family on the 6th we put down the christmas tree, divide the sweets.