Christmas

Christmas is a major, month-long Christian festival that coincides with the midwinter solstice in the northern hemisphere. Doctrinally, Christmas is a feast celebrating the birth of Christ, yet it has absorbed so many pagan and non-Christian practices that one need not be an observant Christian to enjoy the bounty. The season opens with Advent, starting on the Sunday four weeks prior to Christmas Day. Originally a fasting period, it is now a whirlwind of socializing, with different festivities that vary by country and culture. In areas with Roman Catholic and Protestant heritage, Christmas Eve (24 December), Christmas Day (25 December), New Year’s Eve and Day (31 December–1 January), and Twelfth Night (6 January) are the most commonly celebrated; less widespread are the Dutch St. Nicholas’s Day (6 December) and the Swedish St. Lucy’s Day (13 December). Eastern Orthodox Christians observe Christmas Day on or about 7 January.