16
Japan and India each have 16 public holidays a year. That’s even more than Germany, where the number of holidays varies depending on a region’s dominant faith. Bavaria, in the mostly Catholic south, enjoys 13 public holidays a year, whereas the mostly Protestant north (including Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and the city-states Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin) make do with only nine.
Done your Christmas shopping yet? Buying online is always an option, but the more personal alternative would be to attend one of these courses and make your own gifts.
Put an end to classic perfume bottles under the Christmas tree! A perfume is a far more thoughtful gift if you create it especially for the person you love, for instance at the Musée du Parfum in Paris.
There’s a timeless beauty to kanjis, calligraphic designs using Japanese characters. Learn the craft at a kanji workshop given by a shodō master in Tokyo.
Fermented foods and drinks are all the rage, and you can make them yourself at Ferment Works of
Applegate near Portland, Oregon – or online.
Culture clash
The world in a bowl of soup: Some soups are revered as miracle cures, others are shrouded in mystery and legend.
Heavenly grub
Borscht is the classic beet soup of Slavic Christmas parties and funerals. At the latter, the soul of the deceased is said to ascend to heaven with the steam. Speaking of heaven: While in orbit, cosmonauts can even eat borscht from a tube.
Fiery potage
Ancient dish? Not exactly. City dwellers across the world happily tuck into their pho, but the Vietnamese rice-noodle soup was only invented around 100 years ago. Rumor has it that the name comes from pot-au-feu, the classic French beef stew.
Wonder worker
Chicken soup is universally held to be good for a cold, but scientists claim that Japan’s miso is the real wonder soup. It eases stomach and menopausal complaints, and possibly even helps prevent cancer. Here’s a New Year’s recipe: miso with sweet mochi rice cakes.
In Caracas at Christmas, city streets are blocked off so that people can safely inline skate to mass. How the tradition began is something of a mystery, but it has to be the most athletic way of getting to church.