Christmas

Christmas traditions in Japan look nothing like the holiday most Westerners know — and that is exactly what makes them fascinating. In a country where Christians make up roughly one

Christmas traditions in Jamaica turn the holiday into a full-blown season of music, feasting, and community that stretches from the first cool breezes of December right through to New Year’s

Christmas traditions in Italy are not one tradition but twenty — one for each region, each convinced its own is the real Christmas. In Milan, the season opens with panettone

Christmas traditions in Ireland stretch across nearly a month — from December 8th, when the country traditionally begins its Christmas shopping and decorating, to January 6th, Nollaig na mBan (Women’s

Christmas traditions in India are a study in beautiful contrasts: a Hindu-majority nation where Christmas is a national public holiday, where midnight mass fills Goan churches built by the Portuguese

Christmas traditions in Iceland are unlike anywhere else on Earth: thirteen mischievous Yule Lads visit children on thirteen consecutive nights, a giant Christmas Cat prowls the snowy darkness looking for

Christmas traditions in Hungary glow with candlelight, taste of fish soup and poppy-seed rolls, and sparkle with szaloncukor — the foil-wrapped candies Hungarians hang directly on the Christmas tree. In

Christmas traditions in Germany are the reason the modern holiday looks the way it does across much of the world. The Christmas tree, the Advent calendar, the Advent wreath, and

Christmas traditions in Greece unfold against a backdrop unlike anywhere else in Europe: whitewashed island villages strung with lights, Athenian squares glowing beneath the Acropolis, fishing boats decorated in harbors

Christmas traditions in Finland carry a unique claim no other country can make: Finland is, by its own official declaration and much of the world’s cheerful agreement, the home of

Christmas traditions in France are, above all, a feast. The French do not simply eat on Christmas — they perform an all-night gastronomic ritual called the Réveillon, a multi-course midnight

Christmas traditions in Denmark are the world-famous home of hygge — that untranslatable Danish art of coziness, warmth, and contentment — and December is when hygge reaches its absolute peak.