For many people in Japan, KFC is a central part of their Christmas celebrations.

According to a clip shared by Instagram, 3.5 million Japanese families choose KFC every Christmas BBC.

According to the British news outlet, customers are lining up around the block to get their hands on the festive fast food, with some even pre-ordering their meals as early as October. The fried chicken is intended as a nod to the roast turkey that many cultures enjoy for holiday meals.

Christmas is not celebrated universally in Japan – only about 1% of the population identifies as Christian, although many celebrate it as a secular holiday. Some of the minorities who celebrate treat Christmas like Valentine’s Day and embrace the romance, they say BBC Journalist Tyler Edwards, while others take a more juicy approach.

The KFC tradition dates back to 1970, when the first KFC opened in Japan, a KFC Japan spokesman said BBC in 2016. The manager of that first restaurant, Takeshi Okawara, reportedly heard some foreigners complaining that there was no turkey at Christmas, which gave him the idea of ​​a Christmas “party keg.” So in 1974 he founded Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, or “Kentucky for Christmas”: the tradition of eating KFC on December 24th.

The Christmas tradition grew, from simple buckets of fried chicken to today’s Kentucky Christmas dinner packages with chicken, shrimp gratin, pie and more. The holiday spirit also extended beyond the food, as KFC’s Colonel Sanders (who shares his white hair and beard look with Santa Claus) began donning red and white suits at Christmas time.

There is also some exciting KFC news in the USA.

On Monday, December 23rd, a brand new chicken tenders restaurant called Saucy opened in Orlando.

Unlike typical KFC restaurants that sell everything from fried chicken pieces to nuggets to chicken sandwiches, the new venture focuses on crispy chicken tenders. The tenders are served with a choice of 11 signature sauces – a nod to the flagship’s famous 11 herbs and spices in the chicken breading.