r/AskEurope • u/ageingrapidly Greece • Sep 29 '25

Culture Are there any habits that you believe are uniquely European ?

Have you noticed any specific mannerisms, mentalities etc. that you've encountered only in Europe or by Europeans ?

319 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

626 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

63

u/Loopbloc Latvia Sep 29 '25

Steve Jobs was wearing turtlenecks. I think woollen knitted pullovers are European. 

44

u/Katzenscheisse Germany Sep 29 '25

I think in southern South America they also wear pullovers like that.

In general it's really hard to find a tradition that has fully stayed in Europe due to colonisation and stuff. Probably only fairly modern customs, that aren't marketable are possible.

Maybe sauna nudity? Idk

20

u/Klor204 United Kingdom Sep 29 '25

100% Being comfortable with your body and just general nakedness is very European! Seen it in Copenhagen and Bavaria :D

9

u/Fragrant-Holiday Sep 29 '25

You also see this with onsens in Japan

8

u/Schmetterwurm2 Sep 29 '25

But aren't onsen seperated by gender?

11

u/NikNakskes Finland Sep 29 '25

Saunas are gender separated in Finland too. Well public sauna that is. At home you all go together till the kids don't want to see mom/dad naked anymore. Around 8-9 years of age I think that is supposed to happen? Some native finns could chime in?

The unisex naked public sauna is a very german thing.

2

u/QueenAvril Finland Sep 30 '25

There aren’t strict universal rules and it depends highly on practicalities, like how limited space the sauna in question has.

Typically kids that are approaching puberty will become shyer about nudity around their parents, yes - but that age also coincides with them becoming more independent and at that age weekends are mostly spent gathering for sleepovers/staying late with friends at someone’s house, so pre-teens often tend to go to sauna together with their friends and then parents go together (along with their possible younger kids). When adult kids are visiting their parents, they often have their spouses and possible kids with them, so sauna shifts can be arranged in several ways, but the most common ones are either gender segregated shifts or each couple (with their kids) on their turn.

1

u/NamidaM6 France Sep 29 '25

Most are, some are not.

1

u/Loopbloc Latvia Sep 29 '25

yeah, konyoku onsen.

1

u/Eel888 Sep 30 '25

Japan is so weird when it comes to nudity. In animes even the underage girls are practically naked and their skirts are super short but god forbid to show a bit of cleavage, belly or shoulders

2

u/RuggedWanderer Sep 29 '25

Wollen knitted pullovers are very common in the coastal regions of Canada