Some of the strangest seasonal shenanigans from around the world

A cat that eats you if you don’t have new clothes? A resentful, cow-killing elf? Joy-riding evil spirits? Irish festive traditions have nothing on the weird and wonderful ways of Europe, Ellie O’Byrne discovers

Irish Christmas customs are a pick-and-mix of Judeo-Christian practices, Celtic traditions, and transatlantic poultry imports.

With their origins lost in the mists of time, it’s easy to be baffled as to how some of them evolved.