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Scots Gaelic samhainnOld Irish samain "summer's end", from sam "summer" and fuin "end" is a festival on the end of the harvest season in Gaelic and Brythonic cultures, with aspects of a festival of the dead. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year.

The term derives from the name of a month in the ancient Celtic calendar, in particular the first three nights of this month, with the festival marking the end of the summer season and the end of the harvest. The Gaelic festival became associated with the Catholic All Souls' Day, and appears to have influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween.

Samhain is also the name of a festival in various currents of Neopaganism inspired by Gaelic tradition. Samhain and an t-Samhain are also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic names of November, respectively. The Irish word Samhain is derived from the Old Irish samain, samuin, or samfuinall referring to November 1st latha na samna: Its meaning is glossed as 'summer's end', and the frequent spelling with f suggests analysis by popular etymology as sam 'summer' and fuin 'sunset', 'end'. Whitley Stokes in KZ The Irish samain would be etymologically unrelated to 'summer', and derive from 'assembly'.

But note that the name of the month is of Proto-Celtic age, cf. Gaulish SAMON[IOS] from the Coligny calendar, and the association with 'summer' by popular etymology may therefore in principle date to even pre-Insular Celtic times. Old Irish gem-adaig 'winter's night'. This interpretation would either invalidate the 'assembly' explanation given above, or push back the time of the re-interpretation by popular etymology to very early times indeed.

The Gaulish calendar appears to have divided the year into two halves: The entire year may have been considered as beginning with the 'dark' half, so that the beginning of Samonios may be considered the Celtic New Year's day. The celebration of New Year itself may have taken place during the 'three nights of Samonios' Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]the beginning of the lunar cycle which fell nearest to the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

The lunations marking the middle of each half-year may also have been marked by specific festivals. The Coligny calendar marks the mid-summer moon see Lughnasadhbut omits the mid-winter one.

The seasons are not oriented at the solar year, viz. It appears that the calendar was designed to align the lunations with the agricultural cycle of vegetation, and that the exact astronomical position of the Sun at that time was considered less important. In medieval Ireland, Samhain became the principal festival, celebrated with a great assembly at the royal court in Tara, lasting for three days.

After being ritually started on the Hill of Tlachtga, a bonfire was set alight on the Hill of Tara, which served as a beacon, signaling to people gathered atop hills all across Ireland to light their ritual bonfires. The custom has survived to some extent, and recent years have seen a resurgence in participation in the festival.

Samhain was identified in Celtic literature as the beginning of the Celtic year and its description as "Celtic New Year" was popularised in 18th century literature From this usage in the Romanticist Celtic Revival, Samhain is still popularly regarded as the "Celtic New Year" in the contemporary Celtic cultures, both in the Six Celtic Nations and the diaspora.

For instance, the contemporary calendars produced by the Celtic League begin and end at Samhain. It is important to remember that all of the written documents in places like Ireland and Wales date to a time after the arrival of Christianity in the 5th century.

Thus, while evidence such as folklore and ancient sagas may suggest certain associations with Samhain, these all are observed in a Christian context. There is absolutely no evidence as to whether and how this time might have been observed in any pre-Christian culture. The Samhain celebrations have survived in several guises as a festival dedicated to the harvest and the dead.

It represents the final harvest. It is still the custom in some areas to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night. Traditionally, Samhain was time to take stock of the herds and grain supplies, and decide which animals would need to be slaughtered in order for the people and livestock to survive the winter.

This custom is still observed by many who farm and raise livestock because it is when meat will keep since the freeze has come and also since summer grass is gone and free foraging is no longer possible.

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities celebrated down through the last several centuries, and up through the present day in some rural areas of the Celtic nations and the diaspora. Villagers were said to have cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames. In the pre-Christian Gaelic world, cattle were the primary unit of currency and the center of agricultural and pastoral life.

Samhain was the traditional time for slaughter, for preparing stores of meat and grain to last through the coming winter. With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together.

Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well. Divination is a common folkloric practice that has also survived in rural areas. The most common uses were to determine the identity of one's future spouse, the location of one's future home, and how many children a person might have.

Seasonal foods such as apples and nuts were often employed in these rituals. Apples were peeled, the peel tossed over the shoulder, and its shape examined to see if it formed the first letter of the future spouse's name. Nuts were roasted on the hearth and their movements interpreted - if the nuts stayed together, so would the couple.

Egg whites were dropped in a glass of water, and the shapes foretold the number of future children. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from how many birds appeared or the direction the birds flew. The Ulster Cycle is peppered with references to Samhain. Many of the adventures and campaigns undertaken by the characters therein begin at the Samhain Night feast.

One such tale is Echtra Nerai 'The Adventure of Nera' concerning one Nera from Connacht who undergoes a test of bravery put forth by King Ailill. The prize is the king's own gold-hilted sword.

The terms hold that a man must leave the warmth and safety of the hall and pass through the night to a gallows where two prisoners had been hanged the day before, tie a twig around one man's ankle, and return. Others had been thwarted by the demons and spirits that harassed them as they attempted the task, quickly coming back to Ailill's hall in shame. Taking etymology into consideration, it is interesting to note that the word for summer expressed in the Echtra Nerai is samraid.

The other cycles feature Samhain as well. The Cath Maige Tuireadh Battle of Mag Tuired takes place on Samhain. The tale The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn includes an important scene at Samhain. Through his ingenuity Fionn is able to stay awake and slays Aillen, and is given his rightful place as head of the fianna. In parts of western Brittany, Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou, cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his 'cuckold' horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld.

The Romans identified Samhain with their own feast of the dead, the Lemuria. This, however, was observed in the days leading up to May 13th. With Christianization, the festival in November not the Roman festival in May became All Hallows' Day on November 1 st followed by All Souls' Day, on November 2nd. Over time, the night of October 31st came to be called All Hallow's Eve, and the remnants festival dedicated to the dead eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.

The Welsh equivalent of this holiday is called Nos Galan Gaeaf. As with Samhain, this marks the beginning of the dark half of the year and it officially begins at sunset on the 31st. The Manx celebrate Hop-tu-Naa, which is a celebration of the original New Year's Eve. Traditionally, children dress as scary beings, carry turnips rather than pumpkins and sing an Anglicized version of Jinnie the Witch.

They go from house to house asking for sweets or money. Samhain is observed by various Neopagans in various ways. As forms of Neopaganism can differ widely in both their origins and practices, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some Neopagans have elaborate rituals to honor the dead, and the deities who are associated with the dead in their particular culture or tradition.

Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the Ancient Celts and Living Celtic cultures have maintained the traditions, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, Celtic culture being only one of the sources used. Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire. Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy, and base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts.

At bonfire rituals, some observe the old tradition of building two bonfires, which celebrants and livestock then walk or dance between as a ritual of purification. According to Celtic lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans.

It is the time of the year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. Though Celtic Reconstructionists make offerings to the spirits at all times of the year, Samhain in particular is a time when more elaborate offerings are made to specific ancestors.

Often a meal will be prepared of favorite foods of the family's and community's beloved dead, a place set for them at the table, and traditional songs, poetry and dances performed to entertain them.

A door or window may be opened to the west and the beloved dead specifically invited to attend. Many leave a candle or other light burning in a western window to guide the dead home.

Divination for the coming year is often done, whether in all solemnity or as games for the children. The more mystically inclined may also see this as a time for deeply communing with the deities, especially those whom the lore mentions as being particularly connected with this festival. Samhain is one of the eight annual festivals, often referred to as 'Sabbats', observed as part of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. It is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four 'greater Sabbats'.

It is generally observed on October 31st in the Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died.

In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility. It is largely a secular celebration, but some Christians and Pagans have expressed strong feelings about its religious overtones.

Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America during Ireland's Great Famine of The day is often associated with the colors orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching horror movies. Halloween has origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain; from the Old Irish samain, possibly derived from Gaulish samonios.

The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic Pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Celts believed that on October 31st, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops.

The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to copy the evil spirits or placate them.

In the 9th century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body, containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the "head" of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions. Welsh, Irish and British myth are full of legends of the Brazen Head, which may be a folk memory of the widespread ancient Celtic practice of headhunting - the results of which were often nailed to a door lintel or brought to the fireside to speak their wisdom.

The name jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk.

In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America, where pumpkins were not only readily available but much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark.

In America, the tradition of carving pumpkins is known to have preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration. The carved pumpkin was originally associated with harvest time in general, in America and did not become specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

The imagery surrounding Halloween is largely an amalgamation of the Halloween season itself, works of Gothic and horror literature, in particular novels Frankenstein and Dracula, and nearly a century of work from American filmmakers and graphic artists, and a rather commercialized take on the dark and mysterious.

Halloween imagery tends to involve death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include the Devil, the Grim Reaper, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, pumpkin-men, goblins, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies, skeletons, black cats, spiders, bats, owls, crows, and vultures. Particularly in America, symbolism is inspired by classic horror films which contain fictional figures like Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy.

Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. The two main colors associated with Halloween are orange and black. Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.

Costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows, movies, and other pop culture icons. Started as a local event in a Philadelphia suburb in and expanded nationally inthe program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit.

InUNICEF discontinued their Halloween collection boxes in parts of the world, citing safety and administrative concerns. There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties.

One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin to make things even more challenging, try removing the stems from the apples.

A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face.

Kids can play a "kill the witch game" by drawing and coloring a witch on a large piece of paper, cutting out circles from black construction paper and sticking tape on the back to make the witch's warts. Then blindfold the players, spin them around three times and have 'em pin ugly warts on the witch! The player who sticks the wart closest to the nose wins. Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination.

The saucers are shuffled, and the seated person then chooses one by touch; the contents of the saucer determine the person's life during the following year.

In 19th-century Ireland, young women placed slugs in saucers sprinkled with flour. A traditional Irish and Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name. This custom has survived among Irish and Scottish immigrants in the rural United States. Unmarried women were frequently told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror.

However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties.

Episodes of TV series and specials with Halloween themes with the specials usually aimed at children are commonly aired on or before the holiday, while new horror films, are often released theatrically before the holiday to take advantage of the atmosphere.

Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons; most are seasonal Halloween businesses. Origins of these paid scare venues are difficult to pinpoint, but it is generally accepted that they were first commonly used by the Junior Chamber International Jaycees for fundraising. They include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown.

This increase in interest has led to more highly technical special effects and costuming that is comparable with that in Hollywood films. Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apples also known as toffee, caramel or taffy apples are a common Halloween treat made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts. At one time, candy apples were commonly given to children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples.

While there is evidence of such incidents, they are quite rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free x-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering.

Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy, and there have been occasional reports of children putting needles in their own and other children's candy in need of a bit of attention.

It is said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany. Other foods associated with the holiday:. Halloween is not celebrated in all countries and regions of the world, and among those that do the traditions and importance of the celebration vary significantly.

Celebration in the United States has had a significant impact on how the holiday is observed in other nations. The history of Halloween traditions in a given country also lends context to how it is presently celebrated. In North America, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. Celtic Christians may have Samhain services that focus on the cultural aspects of the holiday, in the belief that many ancient Celtic customs are "incompatible with the new Christian religion.

Christianity embraced the Celtic notions of family, community, the bond among all people, and respect for the dead. Throughout the centuries, Pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry hodgepodge of celebrations from October 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.

Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Roman Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church sees Halloween as having a Christian connection.

Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "If English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem.

If it is just a game, there is no harm in that. Other Christians, primarily of the Evangelical and Fundamentalist variety, are concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they believe it trivializes and celebrates "the occult" and what they perceive as evil. A response among some fundamentalists in recent years has been the use of Hell houses or themed pamphlets such as those of Jack T.

Chick which attempt to make use of Halloween as an opportunity for evangelism. Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its origin as a Pagan "Festival of the Dead. Many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy.

Religions other than Christianity also have varied views on Halloween. Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to "real witches" for promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches". All Saints' Day also called All Hallows or Hallowmasoften shortened to All Saints, is a feast celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honour of all the saints, known and unknown.

In terms of Western Christian theology, the feast commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven. Specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Souls' Day, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven.

Among Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, All Saints Sunday Greek: The feast of All Saints achieved great prominence in the ninth century, in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor, Leo VI "the Wise" — His wife, Empress Theophano - commemorated on December 16—lived a devout life. After her death, her husband built a church, intending to dedicate it to her. When he was forbidden to do so, he decided to dedicate it to "All Saints," so that if his wife were in fact one of the righteous, she would also be honored whenever the feast was celebrated.

According to tradition, it was Leo who expanded the feast from a commemoration of All Martyrs to a general commemoration of All Saints, whether martyrs or not. This Sunday marks the close of the Paschal season. To the normal Sunday services are added special scriptural readings and hymns to all the saints known and unknown from the Pentecostarion.

The Sunday following All Saints Sunday—the second Sunday after Pentecost—is set aside as a commemoration of all locally venerated saints, such as "All Saints of America", "All Saints of Mount Athos", etc. The third Sunday after Pentecost may be observed for even more localized saints, such as "All Saints of St. Petersburg", or for saints of a particular type, such as "New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke.

The Western Christian holiday of All Saints Day falls on November 1st, followed by All Souls' Day on November 2nd, and is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Latin Rite Roman Catholic Church. The origin of the festival of All Saints as celebrated in the West dates to May 13, orwhen Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs; the feast of the dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since.

The chosen day, May 13th, was a Pagan observation of great antiquity, the culmination of three days of the Feast of the Lemures, in which the malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated. Liturgiologists of the Middle Ages based the idea that this Lemuria festival was the origin of that of All Saints on their identical dates and on the similar theme of "all the dead".

The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III — of an oratory in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world", with the day moved to November 1.

This usually fell within a few weeks of the Celtic holiday of Samhain, which had a theme similar to that of Lemuria, but which was also a harvest festival. The Irish, whose holiday Samhain had been, did not celebrate All Hallows Day on this November 1 date, as extant historical documents attest that the celebration in Ireland took place in the spring: A November festival of all the saints was already widely celebrated on November 1 in the days of Charlemagne.

It was made a day of obligation throughout the Frankish empire inby a decree of Louis the Pious, issued "at the instance of Pope Gregory IV and with the assent of all the bishops", which confirmed its celebration on November 1st. The octave was added by Pope Sixtus IV — The festival was retained after the Reformation in the calendar of the Anglican Church and in many Lutheran churches.

In the Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden, it assumes a role of general commemoration of the dead. In the Swedish calendar, the observance takes place on the Saturday between October 31st and November 6th.

In many Lutheran Churches, it is moved to the first Sunday of November. It is also celebrated by other Protestants of the English tradition, such as the United Church of Canada and the Wesleyan Church. In the United Methodist Church, All Saints' Day is on the first Sunday in November. It is held, not only to remember Saints, but also to remember all those that have died from the local church congregation.

A candle is lit by the Acolyte as each person's name is called out. Then, a liturgical prayer is offered for each soul in Heaven. In the Roman Catholic Church All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning going to Mass on the date is required.

However, All Saints Day is not considered a Holy Day of Obligation when it falls on Monday or Saturday, as well as having no obligation at all in Hawaii. In Portugal and Spain, ofrendas offerings are made on this day. In Spain, the play Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed.

In Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain people bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives. In Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Croatia, Austria, Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Catholic parts of Germany, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives. In the Philippines, this day, called "Undas", "Todos los Santos" literally "All Saints"and sometimes "Araw ng mga Namayapa" approximately "Day of the deceased" is observed as All Souls' Day.

This day and the one before and one after it is spent visiting the graves of deceased relatives, where prayers and flowers are offered, candles are lit and the graves themselves are cleaned, repaired and repainted. In English-speaking countries, the festival is traditionally celebrated with the hymn "For All the Saints" by William Walsham How.

The most familiar tune for this hymn is Sine Nomine by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Day of the Dead Spanish: The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.

It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday. The celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day November 1st and All Souls' Day November 2nd. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl. In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones.

Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures. The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous cultures.

Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,—3, years. In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.

The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the god known as the "Lady of the Dead", corresponding to the modern Catrina. In most regions of Mexico, November 1st honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2nd. People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages as well as photos and memorabilia of the departed.

The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them.

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Celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed. Plans for the day are made throughout the year, including gathering the goods to be offered to the dead. In modern Mexico, this name is sometimes replaced with the term Flor de Muerto "Flower of the Dead". These flowers are thought to attract souls of the dead to the offerings. Toys are brought for dead children los angelitos, or "the little angels"and bottles of tequila, mezcal or pulque or jars of atole for adults.

Families will also offer trinkets or the deceased's favorite candies on the grave. Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto "bread of the dead"and sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased. Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrendas food, so even though the celebrators eat the food after the festivities, they believe it lacks nutritional value.

Pillows and blankets are left out so that the deceased can rest after their long journey. In many places, people have picnics at the grave site as well. Some families build altars or small shrines in their homes; these usually have the Christian cross, statues or pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pictures of deceased relatives and other persons, scores of candles and an ofrenda.

Traditionally, families spend some time around the altar, praying and telling anecdotes about the deceased. In some locations, celebrants wear shells on their clothing, so that when they dance, the noise will wake up the dead; some will also dress up as the deceased.

Public schools at all levels build altars with ofrendas, usually omitting the religious symbols. Government offices usually have at least a small altar, as this holiday is seen as important to the Mexican heritage. Those with a distinctive talent for writing sometimes create short poems, called calaveras "skulls"mocking epitaphs of friends, describing interesting habits and attitudes or funny anecdotes.

This custom originated in the 18th or 19th century, after a newspaper published a poem narrating a dream of a cemetery in the future, "and all of us were dead", proceeding to "read" the tombstones.

A common symbol of the holiday is the skull colloquially called calaverawhich celebrants represent in masks, called calacas colloquial term for "skeleton"and foods such as sugar or chocolate skulls, which are inscribed with the name of the recipient on the forehead. Sugar skulls are gifts that can be given to both the living and the dead.

Other holiday foods include pan de muerto, a sweet egg bread made in various shapes from plain rounds to skulls and rabbits, often decorated with white frosting to look like twisted bones.

Posada's striking image of a costumed female with a skeleton face has become associated with the Day of the Dead, and Catrina figures often are a prominent part of modern Day of the Dead observances. The traditions and activities that take place in celebration of the Day of the Dead are not universal and often vary from town to town.

On November 1 of the year after a child's death, the godparents set a table in the parents' home with sweets, fruits, pan de muerto, a cross, a rosary used to ask the Virgin Mary to pray for them and candles. This is meant to celebrate the child's life, in respect and appreciation for the parents. There is also dancing with colorful costumes, often with skull-shaped masks and devil masks in the plaza or garden of the town.

At midnight on November 2, the people light candles and ride winged boats called mariposas Spanish for "butterflies" to Janitzio, an island in the middle of the lake where there is a cemetery, to honor and celebrate the lives of the dead there.

In contrast, the town of Ocotepec, north of Cuernavaca in the State of Morelos, opens its doors to visitors in exchange for veladoras small wax candles to show respect for the recently deceased. In return, the visitors receive tamales and atole. This is only done by the owners of the house where somebody in the household has died in the previous year. In some parts of the country especially the cities, where in recent years there are displaced other customschildren in costumes roam the streets, knocking on people's doors for a calaverita, a small gift of candies or money; they also ask passersby for it.

This custom is similar to that of Halloween's trick-or-treating and is relatively recent. Some people believe that possessing Day of the Dead items can bring good luck. Many people get tattoos or have dolls of the dead to carry with them. They also clean their houses and prepare the favorite dishes of their deceased loved ones to place upon their altar or ofrenda. In many United States communities with Mexican residents, Day of the Dead celebrations are held that are very similar to those held in Mexico.

In some of these communities, such as in Texas and Arizona, the celebrations tend to be mostly traditional. For example, the All Souls Procession has been an annual Tucson event since The event combines elements of traditional Day of the Dead celebrations with those of pagan harvest festivals.

People wearing masks carry signs honoring the dead and an urn in which people can place slips of paper with prayers on them to be burned. In other communities, interactions between Mexican traditions and American culture are resulting in celebrations in which Mexican traditions are being extended to make artistic or sometimes political statements. An updated, inter-cultural version of the Day of the Dead is also evolving at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. There, in a mixture of Mexican traditions and Hollywood hip, conventional altars are set up side-by-side with altars to Jayne Mansfield and Johnny Ramone.

Colorful native dancers and music intermix with performance artists, while sly pranksters play on traditional themes. Oakland is home to Corazon Del Pueblo in the Fruitvale district. Corazon Del Pueblo has a shop offering handcrafted Mexican gifts and a museum devoted to Day of the Dead artifacts. In Missoula, Montana, skeletal celebrants on stilts, novelty bicycles, and skis parade through town. It also occurs annually at historic Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

People bring offerings of flowers, photos, mementos, and food for their departed loved ones, which they place at an elaborately and colorfully decorated altar. A program of traditional music and dance also accompanies the community event. Guatemalan celebrations of the Day of the Dead are highlighted by the construction and flying of giant kites in addition to the traditional visits to grave sites of ancestors.

A big event also is the consumption of fiambre, which is made only for this day during the year. In Ecuador, the Day of the Dead is observed to some extent by all parts of society, though it is especially important to the indigenous Kichwa peoples who make up an estimated quarter of the population.

Indigena families gather together in the community cemetery with offerings of food for a day-long remembrance of their ancestors and lost loved ones. Ceremonial foods include colada morada, a spiced fruit porridge that derives its deep purple color from the Andean blackberry and purple maize. This is typically consumed with guagua de pan, a bread shaped like a swaddled infant, though variations include many pigs—the latter being traditional to the city of Loja.

The bread, which is wheat flour-based today but was made with cornmeal in the pre-Columbian era, can be made savory with cheese inside or sweet with a filling of guava paste. These traditions have permeated into mainstream society as well, where food establishments add both colada morada and gaugua de pan to their menus for the season. Many non-indigenous Ecuadorians partake in visiting the graves of the deceased and preparing the traditional foods as well. The Brazilian public holiday of Finados Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 2.

Similar to other Day of the Dead celebrations, people go to cemeteries and churches with flowers, candles, and prayer. The celebration is intended to be positive to celebrate those who are deceased. In Haiti, voodoo traditions mix with Roman Catholic observances as, for example, loud drums and music are played at all-night celebrations at cemeteries to waken Baron Samedi, the Loa of the dead, and his mischievous family of offspring, the Gede.

In pre-Columbian times, indigenous Andeans had a tradition of sharing a day with the bones of their ancestors on the third year after burial; however, only the skulls are used today. Traditionally, the skull of one or more family members are kept at home to watch over the family and protect them during the year. On November 9th, the family crowns the skull with fresh flowers, sometimes also dressing it up in various garments, and makes offerings of cigarettes, coca leaves, alcohol, and various other items in thanks for the year's protection.

The skulls are also sometimes taken to the central cemetery in La Paz for a special Mass and blessing. In many countries with a Roman Catholic heritage, All Saints Day and All Souls Day have long been holidays in which people take the day off work, go to cemeteries with candles and flowers, and give presents to children, usually sweets and toys.

In Portugal and Spain, ofrendas "offerings" are made on this day. In Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Ireland, people bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives and say prayers over the dead.

In Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Finland, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives. In Tyrol, cakes are left for them on the table, and the room kept warm for their comfort. In Brittany, people flock to the cemeteries at nightfall to kneel, bareheaded, at the graves of their loved ones and to anoint the hollow of the tombstone with holy water or to pour libations of milk on it. At bedtime, the supper is left on the table for the souls.

A Mexican-style Day of the Dead has been celebrated in Prague, Czech Republic, as part of a promotion by the Mexican embassy. Local citizens join in a celebration of the Day of the Dead put on by a theatre group with masks, candles, and sugar skulls. In the Philippines, the holiday is called Todos Los Santos All Saints DayUndas from Spanish andas, or possibly honraor Araw ng mga Patay "Day of the Dead"and has more of a family reunion atmosphere. The traditions were imported during the Philippines' Spanish colonial era.

Tombs are cleaned or repainted, candles are lit, and flowers are offered. Entire families camp in cemeteries and sometimes spend a night or two near their relatives' tombs.

Card games, eating, drinking, singing and dancing are common activities in the cemetery. It is considered a very important holiday by many Filipinos after Christmas and Holy Weekand additional days are normally given as special non-working holidays but only November 1 is a success trading binary options holiday.

Mexican-style Day of the Dead celebrations can also be found in Wellington, New Zealand, complete with altars celebrating the deceased with flowers and gifts.

Many other cultures around the world have similar traditions of a day set aside to visit the graves of deceased family members. Often included in these traditions are celebrations, food and beverages, in addition to prayers and remembrances of the departed. The Bon Festival O-bon or only Bon is a Japanese Buddhist holiday to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors.

In Korea, Chuseok is a major traditional holiday, also accountancy jobs working from home uk Hangawi. People go where the spirits of one's ancestors are enshrined and perform ancestral worship rituals early in the morning; they visit the tombs of immediate ancestors to trim plants, clean the area around the tomb, and offer food, drink, and crops to their ancestors.

The Ching Ming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival usually occurring around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar. Along with Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar, it is a time to tend to the graves of departed ones.

In addition, in the Chinese tradition, the seventh month in the Chinese calendar is called the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits come out from the underworld to visit earth. During the Nepali holiday of Gai Jatra "Cow Pilgrimage"every family who has lost a family member during the previous year makes a construction of bamboo branches, cloth, paper decorations and portraits of the deceased, called a gai.

Traditionally, a cow leads the spirits of the dead into the next land. Depending on local custom, either an actual live cow or a construct representing a cow may be used. The festival is also a time to dress up in costume, including costumes involving political comments and satire. In some cultures in Africa, visits to the graves of ancestors, the leaving of food and gifts, and the asking of protection serve as important parts of traditional rituals.

One example of this is the ritual that occurs just before the beginning of hunting season. In some tribes of the Amazon, they believe that the dead return as flowers rather than butterflies. Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving in Canada falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the United States.

Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is celebrated. Thanksgiving in North America had originated from a mix of European and Native traditions. Typically in Europe, festivals were held before and after the harvest cycles to give thanks for a good harvest, and to rejoice together after much hard work with the rest of the community.

At the time, Native Americans had also celebrated the end of a harvest season. When Europeans first arrived to the Americas, they brought with them their own harvest festival traditions from Europe, celebrating their safe voyage, peace and good harvest.

Though the origins of the holiday in both Canada and the United States are similar, Americans do not typically celebrate the contributions made in Newfoundland, while Canadians do not celebrate the contributions made in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The origin of the first Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to the explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean.

Frobisher's Thanksgiving celebration was not for harvest, but in thanks for surviving the long journey from England through the perils of storms and icebergs. On his third and final voyage to these regions in Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Frobisher Bay in Baffin Island in present Day Nunavut to give thanks to God and in a service ministered by the preacher Robert Wolfall they celebrated Communion, the first ever service in these regions.

Years later, the tradition of a feast would continue as more settlers began to arrive to the Canadian colonies. The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving can also be traced to the French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century, who also took to celebrating their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing their food with the indigenous peoples of the area.

Champlain had also proposed for the creation of the Order of Good Cheer in As many more settlers arrived in Canada, more celebrations of good harvest became common. New immigrants into the country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, would also add their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.

In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. There is also evidence for an earlier harvest celebration on the continent by Spanish explorers in Florida citibank exchange rate calculator ukas well as thanksgiving feasts in the Virginia Colony.

The initial thanksgiving observance at Virginia in was prompted by the colonists' leaders on the anniversary of the settlement.

The Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. In later years, the tradition was continued by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford who planned a thanksgiving celebration and fast in While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this did not become a regular affair in New England until the late s.

According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the genuine websites to earn money services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden inwhile they were staying in Leiden.

The claim of where the first Thanksgiving was held in the United States, and even the Americas has often been a subject of debate. Author and teacher Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon, of the University of Florida, have argued that the earliest attested "Thanksgiving" celebration in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8,in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida. Similarly, many historians point out that the first thanksgiving celebration in the United States was held in Virginia, and not in Plymouth.

Thanksgiving services were routine in what was to become the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as A day of Thanksgiving was codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia in The reason for the earlier Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada has often been attributed to the earlier onset of winter in the north, thus ending the harvest season earlier.

Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a fixed date until the late 19th century. Prior to Canadian confederation, many of the individual colonial governors of the Canadian provinces had declared their own days of Thanksgiving.

The first official Canadian Thanksgiving occurred on April 15, when the nation was celebrating the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness. By the end of the 19th Century, Thanksgiving Day was normally celebrated on November 6. However, when World War I ended, the Armistice Day holiday were usually held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing with one another, in the Canadian Parliament proclaimed Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date on the second Monday of October.

Sincewhen the American Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect, the American observance of Columbus Day has coincided with the Canadian observance of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in the United States, much like in Canada, was observed on various dates throughout history.

The dates of Thanksgiving in the era of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln had been decided by each state on various dates. The first Thanksgiving celebrated on the same date by all states was in by presidential proclamation. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date of Thanksgiving in most U. And so, in an effort by President Abraham Lincoln influenced by the campaigning of author Sarah Josepha Hale who wrote letters to politicans for around 40 years trying to make it an official holidayto foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states, proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November.

It was not until December 26,that the unified date changed to the fourth Thursday and not always final in November -this time by federal legislation. Roosevelt, after two years earlier offering his own proclamation to move the date earlier, with the reason of giving the country an economic boost, agreed to sign a bill into law with Congress, making Thanksgiving a national holiday on the fourth not final Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day Canadian French: Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner. Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is nonetheless, recognized and celebrated regardless of its status. In the West Indian island of Grenada, there is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day which is celebrated on October Even though it bears the same name, and is celebrated at roughly the same time as the American and Canadian versions of Thanksgiving, this holiday is unrelated to either of those celebrations.

Instead the holiday marks the anniversary of the U. In the West African country of Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November. Many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation had resided in the city of Leiden from —, many of whom had recorded their birth, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerk. To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.

In the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre-World War II American observance on the last Thursday of the month.

This means the Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships. Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November by federal legislation inhas been an annual tradition in the United States by presidential proclamation since and by state legislation since the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Historically, Thanksgiving began as a tradition of celebrating the harvest of the year. Andrew's Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew. It is celebrated on November 30th. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and St. Andrew's Day Scottish Gaelic: Latha Naomh Anndra is Scotland's official national day.

Inthe Scottish Parliament designated St. Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday. Although most commonly associated with Scotland, Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, Russia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In Germany, the feast day is celebrated as Andreasnacht "St. Andrew's Night"in Austria with the custom of Andreasgebet "St. Andrew's Prayer"and in Poland as Andrzejki "Andrews". Inthe Scottish Parliament passed the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday Scotland Actwhich designated the Day as an official bank holiday. If 30 November falls on a weekend, the next Monday is a bank holiday instead.

The notion that the day should be an official bank holiday was first proposed by Dennis Canavan, Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West in However, the Bill he introduced to the Parliament was initially rejected as the Executive did not support it.

A compromise deal was reached whereby the holiday would not be an additional entitlement. Then First Minister, Jack McConnell, stated that he believed that employers and employees should mark the day with a holiday, but that this should be as a substitute for an existing local holiday, rather than an additional one.

Although it is a bank holiday, banks are not required to close and employers are not required to give their employees the day off as a holiday. St Andrew's Day is an official flag day in Scotland. The Scottish Government's flag-flying regulations state that the Flag of Scotland The Saltire shall fly on all its buildings with a flagpole. The Union Flag is also flown if the building has more than one flagpole. The arrangements for the United Kingdom Government in Scotland are the can you buy fractional shares of stocks. They fly the Union Flag, and will only fly the Saltire if there is more than one flagpole.

The flying of the Saltire on St Andrew's Day is a recent development. Prior tothe Scottish Government followed the UK Government's flag days and would only fly the Union Flag on St Andrew's Day. This led to Members of the Scottish Parliament complaining that Scotland was the only country in the world that could trade stocks no minimum deposit fly its national flag on its national day.

The regulations were updated to state that the Union Flag would be removed and replaced by the Saltire on buildings with only one flagpole. The flying of the Union Flag from Edinburgh Castle on all days, including St Andrew's Day causes anger among some Scottish National Party politicians who have argued that the Saltire should fly on 30 November instead.

However, the Union Flag is flown by the British Army at the Castle as it still is an official British Army flag flying station, and all Army installations fly the Us patent and trademark office trademark electronic search system Flag at ratio 3: Historic Scotland, a Scottish Government agency, lease part of the Castle to the British Army.

The British Army has been criticised for refusing to fly the Saltire no deposit 100 in binary options bonus 2016 Edinburgh Castle, but dropping the Union Flag in its recruitment campaigns in Scotland instead preferring the Islamic forex broker uk, a decision branded hypocritical by SNP politicians.

The University of St Andrews gives the day for all the students as a free holiday. In parts of GermanyAustriathe Czech Republic gatt trading system, SlovakiaPolandand Romaniabelief exists that the night before St.

Andrew's Day is specially suitable for magic that reveals a young woman's future husband or that binds a future husband to her. Many related customs exist: In some areas in Austria, young women would drink wine and then perform a spell, called Andreasgebet Saint Andrew's prayerwhile nude and kicking a straw bed.

This was supposed to magically attract the future husband. Yet another custom is to throw a clog over one's shoulder: In some parts of the Czech Republic and Slovakiayoung women would write down the names of potential husbands on little pieces of paper and stick these into little pieces of dough, called Halusky.

When cooked, the first one to float to the surface of the water would reveal the name of their future husband. In Poland, some women put pieces of paper on which they have written potential husbands under the pillow and first thing in the morning they take one out, which allegedly reveals their future husband. In Romania, it is customary for young women to put 41 grains of wheat beneath their pillow before they go to sleep, and if they dream that someone is coming to steal their grains that means that they are going to get married next year.

Also in some other parts of the country the young women light a candle from the Easter and bring it, at midnight, stock market asx 200 a fountain. Andrew to let them glimpse their future husband.

Andrew is also the national saint of Romanians and Romanian Orthodox Church. In BarbadosSaint Andrew's Day is celebrated as the national day of Independence in Barbados. As the patron saint of Barbados, Saint Andrew is celebrated in a number of Barbadian symbols including the cross formation of the Coat of Arms, and the nation's national honours system which styles persons as Knights or Dames of St.

Yule or Yule-tide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a Pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas.

The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined by the lunar Germanic calendar. The festival was placed on December 25th when the Christian Julian calendar was adopted.

Some historians claim that the celebration is connected to the Wild Rich forex hotel shunde or was influenced by Saturnalia, the Roman winter festival.

Terms etymological equivalent to "Yule" are still used in the Nordic Countries for both the Christian Christmas, but also other religious holidays of the season. In modern times this has gradually lead to a more secular tradition under the same name as Christmas. Yule is also used in a lesser extent in English speaking countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule.

In modern times, Yule is observed as a cultural festival and also with religious rites by some Christians and by some Neopagans. This word is also the root of the English word "jolly.

This theory may be more based on similarities between the words jul and hjul with a mute h in modern Scandinavian languages, than on older cognates or historical sources. Yule is attested early in the history of the Germanic peoples; from the 4th century Gothic language it appears in the month name fuma jiuleis.

About ADthe English historian Bede wrote that the Anglo-Saxon calendar included the months geola or giuli corresponding with either modern December or December and January. He gave December 25 as the first day of the heathen year and wrote that the Anglo-Saxons celebrated all night long to honor the Germanic divine "mothers":. One of the names provided is "Yule-beings.

Ynglinga saga, the first book of Heimskringla, first mentions a Yule feast in Afterstock market update 2016 vs 2016.5 is the main feast of the year.

The saga states that when Haakon arrived in Norway he was confirmed a Christian, but since the land was still altogether heathen and they retained their practices, Haakon hid his Christianity to receive the help of "great chieftains". In time, Haakon had a law passed that established that Yule celebrations were to take place at the same time as when the Christians held their celebrations, "and at that time everyone was to have ale for the celebration with a measure of grain, or else pay fines, and had to keep the holiday while the ale lasted.

Yule had previously been celebrated on midwinter night for three nights, according to the saga. Haakon planned that when he had solidly established himself and held power over the whole country, he would then "have the gospel preached. Haakon spent most of can you make money with a concession trailer time in Trondheim, Norway. When Haakon figured that he wielded enough power, he requested a bishop and other priests from England, and they came to Norway.

Upon their arrival, "Haakon made it known that he would have the gospel preached in the whole country. A description of heathen Yule practices is provided notes are Hollander's own:. It was ancient custom that when sacrifice was to be made, all farmers were to come to the heathen temple and bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted.

At this feast all were to take part of the drinking of ale. Also all kinds of livestock were killed in connection with it, horses also; and all the blood from them was called hlaut [sacrificial blood], and hlautbolli, the vessel holding the blood; and hlautteinar, the sacrificial twigs [aspergills].

These were fashioned like sprinklers, and with them were to be smeared all over with blood the pedestals of the idols and also the walls of the temple within and without; and likewise the men present were to be sprinkled with blood. But the meat of the animals was to be boiled and served as food at the banquet. Fires were to be lighted in the middle of the temple floor, and kettles hung over them. The sacrificial beaker was to be borne around the fire, and he who made the feast and was chieftain, was to bless the beaker as well as all the sacrificial meat.

The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. This toast was called "minni [memorial toast]". The Grettis Saga refers to Yule as a time of "greatest mirth and joyance among men. Yule was an indigenous midwinter festival celebrated by the Germanic peoples, which was progressively absorbed into the Christian observations surrounding Christmas.

Simek says that Odin was associated with Yule, and that the tradition of the Wild Hunt undoubtedly contributed to walgreens pharmacist stock options association of the two. According to Simek "it is uncertain whether the Germanic Yule feast still had a function in the cult of the dead and in the veneration of the ancestors, a function which the mid-winter sacrifice certainly held for the West European Stone and Bronze Ages.

Specific dating is problematic. The time of Yule falls within around the time of a month that corresponds with the end of the modern calendar year. Andy Orchard says that "in practice, it relationship between cash and retained earnings difficult to specify the yule-tide period more accurately than at some point between about mid-November and the beginning of January.

Andy Orchard and Rudolf Simek theorize a connection between Yule and the Wild Hunt. According to Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick, the Yule feast may have originated from the Roman winter festival of Saturnalia. Danes celebrate on December 24, which is called Juleaftensdag literally, Yule Eve Dayor simply Jul. An elaborate dinner is eaten with the family, consisting of roast pork, roast duck or roast goose with potatoes, red cabbage and gravy.

For dessert is rice pudding with a cherry sauce, traditionally with an almond hidden inside. The lucky finder of this almond is entitled to a small gift. Then the children often hand out the presents which are opened immediately. Some Danish families also celebrate December 23 as Lillejuleaften Little Christmas Eve. On the eve of the Finnish Joulu, children are visited by Joulupukki, a character similar to Santa Claus. The word Joulupukki means "Yule Goat" and probably derives from an old Finnish tradition where people called nuuttipukkis dressed in goat hides circulated in homes after Joulu, eating leftover food.

Joulupukki visits people's homes islamic forex broker uk rides a sleigh pulled by a number of reindeer. He knocks on the front door during Jouluaatto, rather than sneaking in through the chimney at night. Presents are given and opened immediately. He usually wears red, warm clothes and often carries a wooden walking stick.

His workshop is in Korvatunturi, Lapland, Finland, rather than at the North Pole like Santa Claus, or in Greenland. He is married to Joulumuori tr. Typical Finnish yule dishes include ham, various root vegetable casseroles, beetroot salad, gingerbread and star-shaped plum-filled pastries. Other traditions with a non-Christian yule background include joulukuusi "Yule spruce" and joulusauna "yule sauna".

Usually celebrated the same way how the Finnish people do it. Is a thousands of years old holiday to celebrate the winter solstice. It is a custom to eat hamborgarhryggur smoked pork loin or rock ptarmigan. The first one comes to town from the mountains December 11 and the last one arrives 13 days later on December Children leave their shoe in the window and the Yule Lads leave something in the shoe when they arrive in town.

If the children are naughty they might get a potato but if they are nice they might get something good, like candy, an apple or a toy. The Yule Lads all carry a specific name that describes his actions.

For instance, the sixth one is Pot-Scraper and what he does best is to scrape leftovers from pots. December 26 is generally reserved for family gatherings. It involves a lot of eating with relatives, usually with cousins and aunts and uncles. The main Yule event for Norwegians is on julaften "Yule Eve" or "Christmas Eve" on December 24, when the main feast is served and gifts are exchanged.

As a continuation of older customs, some set out a bowl of porridge to the nisse on the 24th. Earlier in December many gather for a julebord "Yule table", where people from workplaces or organizations get together to eat traditional dishes and often drink alcoholic beverages before Yule. In the period between the 24th and New Year's Eve, children dress up in costumes and visit neighbours, where they sing Yuletide carols and receive candy, nuts and clementines.

This tradition is called "to go julebukk". In the Shetland Islands of Scotland the Yules are considered to last a month beginning on December 18 and ending January The main Yules celebration occurs on December The rest of Scotland eventually adopted "Hogmanay" the name of the New Years presents as the name for the festival. As in many other countries in northern Europe Jultomten brings presents on julafton "Yule Eve"December 24, the day generally thought of as the main jul day.

The julbord is traditionally served with beer, julmust, mumma a mix of beer, liquor and svagdricka and snaps. The currency trader insider comments vary throughout the country. Businesses invite staff to a julbord dinner or lunch in preceding weeks, and people go privately to restaurants offering julbord during December.

Gifts are distributed either by Jultomten usually from a sack or from under the Christmas tree. The following day some people attend a julotta and even more venture to the movies, as December 25 is a day of big premieres. As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can stock market symbol for geico considerably despite the shared name.

Some celebrate in a way as close as possible to how they believe Ancient Germanic Pagans observed the tradition, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources including Germanic. In Germanic Neopagan sects, Yule is i want to become a stock trader with gatherings that often involve a meal and gift giving. Further attempts at reconstruction of surviving accounts of historical celebrations are often made, a hallmark being variations of the traditional.

Groups such as the Asatru Folk Assembly in the US recognize the celebration as lasting 12 days, beginning on the date of the winter solstice. In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great God, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner.

Some have private ceremonies at home, while others do so with their covens. The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observer's hemisphere. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal calculating work days between two dates in excel the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days.

Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs some time between December 21 and December 22 each year in the northern steel stock market symbols nasdaq, and between June 20 and June 21 in the southern hemisphere, during either the shortest day or longest night of the year. Though the winter solstice lasts an instant, the term is also colloquially used like "midwinter" to refer to the full hour period of the day on which it occurs.

Worldwide, interpretation forex trading software for mac the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time. The word solstice derives from Latin sol sun and sistere to stand still.

Since 45 BCE, when the 25th was established in the Julian calendar as the winter solstice of Europe, Latin: Brumathe difference between the calendar year Yearly, in the Gregorian calendar the solstice still fluctuates slightly, but in the long term, only about one day every years. How cultures interpret the solstice is varied, since it is sometimes said to astronomically mark either the beginning or middle of a hemisphere's winter.

Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but the winter solstice itself is clearly calculated to within a second. For Celtic countries, such as Ireland, the calendarical winter season has traditionally begun November 1 on All Hallows or Samhain.

Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc or Candlemas, which is February 1 or 2. This calendar system of seasons may be based euro blaster forex ea the length of days exclusively.

Most East Asian cultures define the seasons by solar terms, with Dong zhi at the winter solstice as the middle or "extreme" of winter. This system is based on the Sun's apparent height above the horizon at noon. And many European solar calendar midwinter celebrations still centre upon the night of December 24 leading into the December 25 gatt trading system the north, which was considered to be the winter solstice upon the establishment of the Julian calendar.

In the Jewish Talmud, the day of the winter solstice, is recorded as the first day of the "stripping time" or winter season. Persian culture also recognizes it as the beginning of winter. Due to the Earth's elliptical orbit and axial tilt, neither the earliest sunset nor the latest sunrise fall exactly on the winter solstice. The earliest sunset occurs earlier than the solstice by a few daysand the latest sunrise later.

For one or two weeks surrounding both solstices, both sunrise and sunset get slightly later or earlier each day. Even on the equator, sunrise and sunset shift several minutes back and forth through the year, along with solar noon.

This effect is plotted by an analemma. The solstice itself may have been a special moment of the annual cycle of the year even during neolithic times. Astronomical events, which during ancient times controlled the mating of animals, sowing of crops and metering of winter reserves between harvests, show how various cultural animal crossing city folk turnip trends and traditions have arisen.

This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological capm china stock markets such as Stonehenge in Britain and New Grange in Ireland.

The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise New Grange and the winter solstice sunset Stonehenge. Significant in respect of Stonehenge is the fact that the Great Trilithon was erected outwards from the centre of the monument, i. The winter solstice may have been immensely important because communities were not certain of living through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months.

Starvation was common in winter between January and April, also known as the famine months. In temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was almost the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available.

The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the beginning of the pre-Romanized day, which falls on the previous eve.

Since the event is seen as the reversal of the Sun's ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common and, in cultures using winter solstitially based cyclic calendars, the year as reborn has been celebrated with regard to life-death-rebirth deities or new beginnings such as Hogmanay's redding, a New Years cleaning tradition.

In Greek mythology, the gods and goddesses met on the winter and summer solstice, and Hades was permitted on Mount Olympus. Also reversal is another usual theme as in Saturnalia's slave and master reversals. Many outside traditions are often adopted by neighboring or invading cultures.

Some historians will often assert that many traditions are directly derived from previous ones rooting all the way back to those begun in the cradle of civilization or beyond, much in a way that correlates to speculations on the origins of languages. Even in modern cultures these gatherings are still valued for emotional comfort, having something to look forward to at the darkest time of the year. This is especially the case for populations in the near polar regions of the hemisphere.

The depressive psychological effects of winter on individuals and societies are for the most part tied to coldness, tiredness, malaise, and inactivity. Also, insufficient sunlight in the short winter days increases the secretion of melatonin in the body, throwing off the circadian rhythm with longer sleep.

Exercise, light therapy, increased negative ion exposure which can be attained from plants and well ventilated flames, burning wood or beeswax can reinvigorate the body from its seasonal lull and relieve winter blues by decreasing melatonin secretions, increasing serotonin and temporarily creating a more even sleeping pattern. Midwinter festivals and celebrations occurring on the longest night of the year, often calling for evergreens, bright illumination, large ongoing fires, feasting, communion with close ones, and buy credit event binary options (cebos) physical exertion by dancing and singing are examples of cultural winter therapies that have evolved as traditions since the beginnings of civilization.

Such traditions can stir the wit, stave off malaise, reset the internal clock and rekindle the human spirit. The following is an alphabetical list of observances believed to be directly linked to the winter solstice. The Saami, indigenous people of Finland, Sweden and Norway, worship Beiwe, the sun-goddess of fertility and sanity. She travels through the sky in a structure made of reindeer bones with her daughter, Beiwe-Neia, to herald back the greenery on which the reindeer feed.

On the winter solstice, her worshipers sacrifice white female animals, and with the meat, thread and sticks, bed into rings animal crossing city folk turnip trends ribbons. They also cover their doorposts with butter so Beiwe can eat it and begin her journey once again.

In the ancient traditions of the Kalash people of Pakistan, during winter solstice, a demigod returns to collect prayers and deliver them to Dezao, the supreme being. The men pour water over their heads while they hold up bread. Then the men and boys are purified with water and must not sit on chairs until evening when goat's blood is sprinkled on their faces.

Following this purification, a great festival begins, with singing, dancing, bonfires, and feasting on goat tripe and other delicacies". Christmas or Christ's Mass is one of the most popular Christian celebrations as well as one of the most globally recognized midwinter celebrations. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the God Incarnate or Messiah, Jesus Christ.

The birth is observed on December 25, which was the Roman winter solstice upon establishment of the Julian Calendar. Christian churches recognized folk elements of the festival in various cultures within the past several hundred years, allowing much of the folklore and traditions of local Pagan festivals to be appropriated.

This is why Yule and Christmas are considered interchangeable in Anglo-Christendom. Universal activities include feasting, midnight masses and singing Christmas carols about the Nativity. Good deeds and gift giving in the tradition of St. Nicholas by not admitting to being the actual gift giver is also observed by some countries. Many observe the holiday for twelve days leading up to the Epiphany. Deuorius Riuri was the annual great divine winter feast, observed by the Coligny Calendar.

The lunisolar Coligney Midwinter returned to solar alignment every two and a half years. Theologically, Maidyarem is associated with Vahman, the Amesha Spenta or Holy Immortal who created the primal bull, and all cattle, and is associated with good plans and intentions. Maidyarem is celebrated in Dey, the tenth month of the Zoroastrian calendar, from the sixteenth Mihr to the twentieth Bahram day. There are also speculations that by the Persian calendar many celebrated on the last day of the Persian month Azar, the longest night of the year, when the forces of Ahriman are assumed to be at the peak of their strength.

The next day, the first day of commercial kitchen for rent in stockton ca month Dey, known as khoram ruz or khore ruz the day of sun belongs to God Ahura Mazda.

Since the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, this day marks the victory of Sun over the darkness. The occasion was celebrated in the ancient Persian Deygan Festival dedicated to Ahura Mazda, and Mithra on the first day of the automated trading binary options easy Dey.

The New Years Eve celebration of Scotland is called Hogmanay. The name derives from the old Scots name for Yule gifts of the Middle Ages. The early Hogmanay celebrations were originally brought to Scotland by the invading and occupying Norse who celebrated a solstitial new year England celebrated the new year on March Inwith the Scottish application of the January 1 New year and the church's persistent suppression of the solstice celebrations, the holiday traditions moved to December The festival is still referred to as the Yules by the Scots of the Shetland Islands who start the festival on December 18 and hold the last tradition a Troll chasing ritual on January The most widespread Scottish custom is the practice how to analyze volume in stocks trading first-footing which starts immediately after midnight on New Years.

This involves being the first person usually tall and dark haired to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbor and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt less common todaycoal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun a fruit pudding intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder.

Food and drink as the gifts, and often Flies cemetery are then given to the guests. The Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun was a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the sun god Inti. It also marked the winter solstice and a new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere.

One ceremony performed by the Inca priests was the tying of the sun. In Machu Picchu there is still a large column of stone called an Intihuatana, meaning "hitching post of the sun" or literally for tying the sun. The ceremony to tie the sun to the stone was to prevent the sun from escaping. The Spanish conquest, never finding Machu Picchu, destroyed all the other intihuatana, extinguishing the sun tying practice.

The Catholic Church managed to suppress all Inti festivals and ceremonies by The Monte Alto culture may have also had a similar tradition. Junkanoo, in The Bahamas, Junkunno or Jonkanoo, in Jamaica, is a fantastic masquerade, parade and street festival, suspected to be derived from Dzon'ku 'Nu tr: Witch-doctor of the West African Papaws, an Ewe people.

It is traditionally performed through the streets towards the end of December, and involves participants dressed in a variety of fanciful costumes, such as the Cow Head, the Hobby Horse, the Wild Indian, and the Devil. The parades are accompanied by bands usually consisting of fifes, drums, and coconut graters used as scrapers, and Jonkanoo songs are also sung.

A similar practice was once common in coastal North Carolina, where it was called John Canoe, John Koonah, or John Kooner. John Canoe was likened to the wassailing tradition of medieval Britain.

John Canoe was interpreted by many Euro-Americans to bear strong resemblance to the social inversion rituals that marked the ancient Roman binary options izhevsk of Saturnalia.

It was celebrated by Slavs on the longest night of the year.

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On this night, Hors, symbolising the old sun, becomes smaller as the days become shorter in the Northern Hemisphere, and dies on December 22nd, the December solstice. He is said to be defeated by the dark and evil powers of the Black God. In honour of Hors, the Slavs danced a ritual chain-dance which was called the horo.

Traditional chain-dancing in Bulgaria is still called horo. In Russia and Ukraine, it is known as khorovod. On December 23rd Hors is resurrected and becomes the new sun, Stock market performance under democrats. On this day, Western Slavs burned fires at cemeteries to keep their departed loved ones warm, organized dinings in the honor of the dead so as they would not suffer from hunger and lit wooden logs at local crossroads.

Work from home jobs in wilkes barre pa ancient Slavonic cultures, the festival of Kaleda began at Winter Solstice and lasted for ten days.

In Russia, mlb stock market festival was later applied to Christmas Eve but most of the practices were lost after the Soviet Revolution. Each family made a fire in their hearth and invited their personal household gods to join in the festivities. Children disguise themselves on evenings and nights and as Koledari, visited houses and sang wishes of good luck, like Shchedryk, to hosts.

As a reward, they were given little gifts, a tradition called Kolyadovanie, much like the old wassailing or mummers Tradition. In the Aegean civilizations, the exclusively female midwinter ritual, Lenaea or Lenaia, was the Festival of the Wild Women.

In the forest, a man or bull representing the god Dionysus was torn to pieces and eaten by Maenads. Later in the ritual a baby, representing Dionysus reborn, was presented. Lenaion, the first month of the Delian calendar, derived its name from the festival's name. By classical times, the human sacrifice had been replaced by that of a goat, and the women's role had changed to that of funeral mourners and observers of the birth.

Wine miracles were performed by the priests, in which priests would seal water or juice in a room overnight and the next day they would have turned into wine. The miracle was said to have been performed by Dionysus and the Lenaians. By the 5th century BCE the ritual had become a Gamelion festival for theatrical competitions, often held in Athens in the Lenaion theater.

The festival influenced Brumalia, an ancient Roman solstice festival honoring Bacchus, generally held for a month and ending December The festival included drinking and merriment. The name is derived from the Latin word bruma, meaning "shortest day", though the festivities almost always occurred at night.

Lucia or Lussi Night happened on December 13, what was supposed to be the longest night of the year. The feast was later appropriated by the Catholic Church in the 16th century as St. It was believed in the folklore of Sweden that if people, particularly children, did not carry out their chores, the female demon, the Lussi or Lucia die dunkle would come to punish them. In Ireland's calendars, the solstices and equinoxes all occur at about midpoint in each season.

The passage and chamber of Newgrange Pre-Celtic or possibly Proto-Celtic 3, BCEa tomb in Ireland, are illuminated by the winter solstice sunrise. A shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber.

The dramatic event lasts for 17 minutes at dawn from the 19th to the 23rd of December. The point of roughness is the term for the winter solstice in Wales which in ancient Welsh mythology, was when Rhiannon gave birth to the sacred son, Pryderi.

Mummer's Day referencing the animist garbs, or Darkie Day referencing the soot facing ritual, is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on December 26 and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall.

It was originally part of the Pagan heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated all over Cornwall where people would guise dance and disguise themselves by blackening up their faces or wearing masks.

In Penzance the festival has been given the name Montol believing it to be the Celtic Cornish word for Winter Solstice.

Crowds of people, called wrenboys, take to the roads in various parts of Ireland, dressed in motley clothing, wearing masks or straw suits and accompanied by musicians supposedly in remembrance of the festival that was celebrated by the Druids. Previously the practice involved the killing of a wren, and singing songs while carrying the bird from house to house, stopping in for food and merriment.

In England, during the 18th century, there was a revival of interest in Druids. Today, amongst Neo-druids, Alban Arthan Welsh tr. In Sweden and many surrounding parts of Europe, polytheistic tribes celebrated a Midvinterblot or mid-winter-sacrifice, featuring both animal and human sacrifice.

Midvinterblot paid tribute to the local gods, appealing to them to let go winter's grip. The folk tradition was finally abandoned bydue to missionary persistence. It was believed that dreams on this night foretold events in the upcoming year.

Byit was thought by Bede to have been observed by the Anglo-Saxons on the eve of the winter solstice. After the reemergence of Christmas in Britain it was recognized by many as one of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

They baked yeast cakes shaped like shoes, which were called Hertha's slippers, and filled with gifts. When the family and serfs were gathered to dine, a great altar of flat stones was erected and here a fire of fir boughs was laid.

Hertha descended through the smoke, guiding those who were wise in saga lore to foretell the fortunes of those persons at the feast". There are also darker versions of Perchta which terrorize children along with Krampus. Many cities had practices of dramatizing the gods as characters roaming the streets.

These traditions have continued in the rural regions of the Alps, and various similar traditions, such as Wren day, survived in the Celtic nations until recently. In twelfth century Russia, the eastern Slavs worshiped the winter mother goddess, Rozhnitsa, offering bloodless sacrifices like honey, bread and cheese. Bright colored winter embroideries depicting the antlered goddess were made to honor the Feast of Rozhanitsa in late December.

And white, deer-shaped cookies were given as lucky gifts. Some Russian women continued the observation of these traditions into the 20th century.

Derived from a pre-Zoroastrian festival, Shab-e Chelleh is celebrated on the eve of the first day of winter in the Persian calendar, which always falls on the solstice. According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at the end of this night after the long-expected defeat of darkness against light. Usually families gather at their elders' homes.

Different kinds of dried fruits, nuts, seeds and fresh winter fruits are consumed. The presence of dried and fresh fruits is reminiscence of the ancient feasts to celebrate and pray to the deities to ensure the protection of the winter crops. Watermelons, persimmons and pomegranates are traditional symbols of this celebration, all representing the sun.

It used to be customary to stay awake Yalda night until sunrise eating, drinking, listening to stories and poems, but this is no longer very common as most people have things to do on the next day. Although both terms are used interchangeably, Chelleh is more commonly accepted for this occasion.

Originally celebrated by the ancient Greeks as Kronia, the festival of Cronus, Saturnalia was the feast at which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of Saturn, which originally took place on 17 December, but expanded to a whole week, up to 23 December.

A large and important public festival in Rome, it involved the conventional sacrifices, a couch set in front of the temple of Saturn and the untying of the ropes that bound the statue of Saturn during the rest of the year.

Besides the public rites there were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents saturnalia et sigillaricia and a special market sigillaria.

Gambling was allowed for all, even slaves during this period. The toga was not worn, but rather the synthesis, i. Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with disrespect. The slaves celebrated a banquet before, with, or served by the masters. Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals which led to more tomfoolery, marked chiefly by having masters and slaves ostensibly switch places, temporarily reversing the social order.

In Greek and Cypriot folklore it was believed that children born during the festival were in danger of turning into Kallikantzaroi which come out of the Earth after the solstice to cause trouble for mortals.

Some would leave colanders on their doorsteps to distract them until the sun returned. The Night of Winter Kurdish: The night is considered one of the oldest holidays still observed by modern Kurds and was celebrated by ancient tribes in the region as a holy day. The holiday falls every year on the winter solstice. Since the night is the longest in the year, ancient tribes believed that it was the night before a victory of light over darkness and signified a rebirth of the sun.

The sun plays an important role in several ancient religions still practiced by some Kurds in addition to its importance in Zoroastrianism. In modern times, communities in the Kurdistan region still observe the night as a holiday. Many families prepare large feasts for their communities and the children play games and are given sweets in similar fashion to modern-day Halloween practices. Sol Invictus "the undefeated Sun" or, more fully, Deus Sol Invictus "the undefeated sun god" was a religious title applied to at least three distinct divinities during the later Roman Empire; El Gabal, Mithras, and Sol.

A festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti was celebrated by the Romans on December On this, the first day after the six day solar standstill of the winter solstice, the duration of daylight first begins to increase, as the sun once again begins its sunrise movement toward the North, interpreted as the "rebirth" of the sun.

With the growing popularity of the Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth came to be given much of the recognition previously given to a sun god, thereby including Christ in the tradition. This was later condemned by the early Catholic Church for associating Christ with Pagan practices. Soyalangwul is the winter solstice ceremony of the Zuni and the Hopitu Shinumu, "The Peaceful Ones," also known as the Hopi Indians. It is held on December 21, the shortest day of the year.

The main purpose of the ritual is to ceremonially bring the sun back from its long winter slumber. It also marks the beginning of another cycle of the Wheel of the Year, and is a time for purification. Pahos prayer sticks are made prior to the Soyal ceremony, to bless all the community, including their homes, animals, and plants.

The kivas sacred underground ritual chambers are ritually opened to mark the beginning of the Kachina season. Wayeb' or Uayeb, referencing the unlucky god N, were actually five nameless days leading up to the end of the Haab, the solar Maya calendar. It was thought to be a dangerous time in which there were no divisions between the mortal and immortal worlds, and deities were free to cause disaster if they willed it. To ward off the spirits, the Maya had a variety of customs they practiced during this period.

For example, people avoided leaving their houses or grooming their hair. Calendar Round rituals would be held at the end of each 52 year round coincidence of the three Maya calendars4 wayeb to 1 Imix 0 Pop, with all fires extinguished, old pots broken, and a new fire ceremony symbolizing a fresh start. The next Calendar Round will be on the winter solstice ofbeginning a new baktun.

Haab' observations are still held by Maya communities in the highlands of Guatemala. We Tripantu Mapudungun tr: It is the Mapuche's equivalent to the Inti Raymi. The ancestral incertidubre stayed up throughout the year's longest night with anxiety that the next day would not come. After three days it became clear that the winter was diminishing. The Pachamama Quechua tr: Mother EarthNuke Mapu uke' Mapu begins to bloom fertilized by Sol, from the Andean heights to the southern tip.

Antu PillanInti Aymaraor Rapa rapanui Sol, the sun starts to come back to earth, after the longest night of the year: Todo start to bloom again. Originally the name Giuli signified a 60 day tide beginning at the lunar midwinter of the late Scandinavian Norse and Germanic tribes.

The arrival of Juletid thus came to refer to the midwinter celebrations. By the late Viking Age, the Yule celebrations came to specify a great solstitial Midwinter festival that amalgamated the traditions of various midwinter celebrations across Europe, like Mitwinternacht, Modrasnach, Midvinterblot, and the Teutonic solstice celebration, Feast of the Dead.

For some Norse sects, Yule logs were lit to honor Thor, the god of thunder. Feasting would continue until the log burned out, three or as many as twelve days.

The celebration continues today throughout Northern Europe and elsewhere in name and traditions, for Christians as representative of the nativity of Jesus on the night of December 24, and for others as a cultural winter celebration on the 24th or for some, the date of the solstice. However it has been pointed out that this is not really reconstruction as these traditions never died out - they have merely removed the Christian elements from the celebration and replaced the event at the solstice.

In Wicca, a form of the holiday is observed as one of the eight solar holidays, or Sabbat. In most Wiccan sects, this holiday is celebrated as the rebirth of the Great God, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. Although the name Yule has been appropriated from Germanic and Norsk Paganism, elements of the celebration itself are of modern origin. Adapting the Egyptian Osiris Celebrations, the Babylonians held the annual renewal or new year celebration, the Zagmuk Festival.

It lasted 10 days overlapping either the winter solstice or vernal equinox in its center peak. It was a festival held in observation of the sun god Marduk's battle over darkness. The Babylonians held both land and river parades. Sacaea, as Berossus referred to it, had festivals characterized with a subversion of order leading up to the new year.

Masters and slaves interchanged, a mock king was crowned and masquerades clogged the streets. This has been a suggested precursor to the Festival of Kronos, Saturnalia and possibly Purim.

During the ensuing feast, a space at the table was reserved for Ghosts, who was said to arrive on a sleigh. During the feast, certain foods were always eaten: The holiday was later adapted by Christians in the middle ages. It is now celebrated on the 24th, 25th and 26th of December and largely recognized as both a Christian and secular cultural observance.

Lithuanians of the Romuva religion continue to celebrate a variant of the original polytheistic holiday. In the Druidic tradition, Alban Arthan is a seasonal festival at the Winter solstice. The name derives from the writings of Iolo Morganwg. Alban Arthan translates to Light of Winter. An older and more poetic meaning is Alban Arthuan, and this translates to Light of Arthur.

On the Solstice, druids would gather by the oldest Mistletoe clad Oak. The Chief Druid would make his way to the mistletoe to be cut whilst below, other Druids would hold open a sheet to catch it, making sure none of it touched the ground.

With his Golden Sickle, and in one chop, the Chief Druid would remove the mistletoe, to be caught below. The early Christian church banned the use of mistletoe because of its association with Druids. The holiday is observed in a manner that commemorates the death of the Holly King identified with the wren bird symbolizing the old year and the shortened sun at the hands of his son and successor, the robin redbreast Oak King the new year and the new sun that begins to grow.

The Battle of the Holly King and Oak King is re-enacted at rituals, both open and closed. The battle is usually in the form of words but there have been some sword battles. The scene to the left depicts the Oak King's final strike against his brother, the Holly King and to ultimate victory, at least for the next six months.

The battle shown took place at the Anderida Gorsedds open ritual for the Winter Solstice or Mean Geimrech in at The Long Man of Wilmington. Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday generally observed on December 25th with alternative days of January 6th, 7th and 19th to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.

The exact birthday of Jesus is not known, and historians place his year of birth some time between 7 BC and 2 BC. Narratives of his birth are included in two of the Canonical gospels in the New Testament of the Bible. The date of Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after Christians believe Jesus to have been conceived, the date of the Roman winter solstice, or one of various ancient winter festivals.

Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.

Although nominally a Christian holiday, Christmas is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians worldwide, and many of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly.

In addition, several figures, known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Santa Claus, among other names, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season.

Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, including many whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some non-Christian countries, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration e. Hong Kong ; in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan and Korea, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of the secular aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees.

Notable countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include People's Republic of China, excepting Hong Kong and MacaoJapan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Thailand, Nepal, Iran, Turkey and North Korea. Christmas celebrations around the world can vary markedly in form, reflecting differing cultural and national traditions. Among countries with a strong Christian tradition, a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed that incorporate regional and local cultures.

For Christians, participating in a religious service plays an important part in the recognition of the season. Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance. In Catholic countries, the people hold religious processions or parades in the days preceding Christmas. In other countries, secular processions or parades featuring Santa Claus and other seasonal figures are often held.

Family reunions and the exchange of gifts are a widespread feature of the season. Gift giving takes place on Christmas Day in most countries.

Others practice gift giving on December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day, and January 6th, Epiphany. The practice of putting up special decorations at Christmas has a long history. From pre-Christian times, people in the Roman Empire brought branches from evergreen plants indoors in the winter.

Decorating with greenery was also part of Jewish tradition: In the 15th century, it was recorded that in London it was the custom at Christmas for every house and all the parish churches to be "decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green".

The heart-shaped leaves of ivy were said to symbolize the coming to earth of Jesus, while holly was seen as protection against pagans and witches, its thorns and red berries held to represent the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus at the crucifixion and the blood he shed. A Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, New York City Nativity scenes are known from 10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Asissi fromquickly spreading across Europe. Different types of decorations developed across the Christian world, dependent on local tradition and available resources.

The first commercially produced decorations appeared in Germany in the s, inspired by paper chains made by children. In countries where a representation of the Nativity Scene is very popular, people are encouraged to compete and create the most original or realistic ones. Within some families, the pieces used to make the representation are considered a valuable family heirloom. The traditional colors of Christmas are green and red.

White, silver and gold are also popular. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion, while green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter. The Christmas tree is considered by some as Christianisation of Pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship.

The English language phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in and represents an importation from the German language. The modern Christmas tree tradition is believed to have begun in Germany in the 18th century though many argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century.

From Germany the custom was introduced to Britain, first via Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and then more successfully by Prince Albert during the reign of Queen Victoria.

By the Christmas tree had become even more widespread throughout Britain. By the s, people in the United States had adopted the custom of putting up a Christmas tree. Christmas trees may be decorated with lights and ornaments.

Since the 19th century, the poinsettia, a native plant from Mexico, has been associated with Christmas. Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus. Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with these plants, along with garlands and evergreen foliage. The display of Christmas villages has also become a tradition in many homes during this season.

The outside of houses may be decorated with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures. Other traditional decorations include bells, candles, candy canes, stockings, wreaths, and angels. Both the displaying of wreaths and candles in each window are a more traditional Christmas display.

The concentric assortment of leaves, usually from an evergreen, make up Christmas wreaths and are designed to prepare Christians for the Advent season. Candles in each window are meant to demonstrate the fact that Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light of the world. Both of these antiquated, more subdued, Christmas displays are seen in the image to the right of Saint Anselm College.

Christmas lights and banners may be hung along streets, music played from speakers, and Christmas trees placed in prominent places. It is common in many parts of the world for town squares and consumer shopping areas to sponsor and display decorations. Rolls of brightly colored paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured for the purpose of wrapping gifts.

In some countries, Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night, the evening of January 5th. The first specifically Christmas hymns that we know of appear in 4th century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis Of the Father's love begotten by the Spanish poet Prudentius d.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in North European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas.

In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. By the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, under the influence of Francis of Asissi, a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in the native language developed.

Christmas carols in English first appear in a work of John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty-five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house. The songs we know specifically as carols were originally communal folk songs sung during celebrations such as "harvest tide" as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church. Traditionally, carols have often been based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound.

Some carols like "Personent hodie", "Good King Wenceslas", and "The Holly and the Ivy" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages. They are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung.

Adeste Fidelis O Come all ye faithful appears in its current form in the midth century, although the words may have originated in the 13th century.

Child singers in Bucharest, Singing of carols initially suffered a decline in popularity after the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe, although some Reformers, like Martin Luther, wrote carols and encouraged their use in worship.

Carols largely survived in rural communities until the revival of interest in popular songs in the 19th century. The 18th century English reformer Charles Wesley understood the importance of music to worship. In addition to setting many psalms to melodies, which were influential in the Great Awakening in the United States, he wrote texts for at least three Christmas carols. The best known was originally entitled "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings", later renamed "Hark!

Felix Mendelssohn wrote a melody adapted to fit Wesley's words. In Austria in Mohr and Gruber made a major addition to the genre when they composed "Silent Night" for the St. Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern contained the first appearance in print of many now-classic English carols, and contributed to the mid-Victorian revival of the festival.

Completely secular Christmas seasonal songs emerged in the late 18th century. In the 19th and 20th century, African American spirituals and songs about Christmas, based in their tradition of spirituals, became more widely known.

An increasing number of seasonal holidays songs were commercially produced in the 20th century, including jazz and blues variations. In addition, there was a revival of interest in early music, from groups singing folk music, such as The Revels, to performers of early medieval and classical music.

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A special Christmas family meal is traditionally an important part of the holiday's celebration, and the food that is served varies greatly from country to country.

Some regions, such as Sicily, have special meals for Christmas Eve, when 12 kinds of fish are served. In England and countries influenced by its traditions, a standard Christmas meal includes turkey or goose, meat, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, sometimes bread and cider. Special desserts are also prepared, such as Christmas pudding, mince pies and fruit cake. In Poland and other parts of eastern Europe and Scandinavia, fish often is used for the traditional main course, but richer meat such as lamb is increasingly served.

In Germany, France and Austria, goose and pork are favored. Beef, ham and chicken in various recipes are popular throughout the world. The Maltese traditionally serve Imbuljuta tal-Qastan, a chocolate and chestnuts beverage, after Midnight Mass and throughout the Christmas season.

The eating of sweets and chocolates has become popular worldwide, and sweeter Christmas delicacies include the German stollen, marzipan cake or candy, and Jamaican rum fruit cake. As one of the few fruits traditionally available to northern countries in winter, oranges have been long associated with special Christmas foods. Christmas cards are illustrated messages of greeting exchanged between friends and family members during the weeks preceding Christmas Day.

The traditional greeting reads "wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", much like that of the first commercial Christmas card, produced by Sir Henry Cole in London in The custom of sending them has become popular among a wide cross-section of people with the emergence of the modern trend towards exchanging E-cards.

Christmas cards are purchased in considerable quantities, and feature artwork, commercially designed and relevant to the season. The content of the design might relate directly to the Christmas narrative with depictions of the Nativity of Jesus, or Christian symbols such as the Star of Bethlehem, or a white dove which can represent both the Holy Spirit and Peace on Earth. Other Christmas cards are more secular and can depict Christmas traditions, mythical figures such as Santa Claus, objects directly associated with Christmas such as candles, holly and baubles, or a variety of images associated with the season, such as Christmastime activities, snow scenes and the wildlife of the northern winter.

There are even humorous cards and genres depicting nostalgic scenes of the past such as crinolined shoppers in idealized 19th century streetscapes.

Some prefer cards with a poem, prayer or Biblical verse; while others distance themselves from religion with an all-inclusive "Season's greetings". A number of nations have issued commemorative stamps at Christmastime.

Postal customers will often use these stamps to mail Christmas cards, and they are popular with philatelists. These stamps are regular postage stamps, unlike Christmas seals, and are valid for postage year-round. They usually go on sale some time between early October and early December, and are printed in considerable quantities. In a Canadian stamp was issued to mark the inauguration of the Imperial Penny Postage rate. The stamp features a map of the globe and bears an inscription " XMAS " at the bottom.

InAustria issued two "Christmas greeting stamps" featuring a rose and the signs of the zodiac. InBrazil issued four semi-postal stamps with designs featuring the three kings and a star of Bethlehem, an angel and child, the Southern Cross and a child, and a mother and child.

Both the US Postal Service and the Royal Mail regularly issue Christmas-themed stamps each year. The exchanging of gifts is one of the core aspects of the modern Christmas celebration, making the Christmas season the most profitable time of year for retailers and businesses throughout the world.

Gift giving was common in the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, an ancient festival which took place in late December and may have influenced Christmas customs. Christmas gift giving was banned by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages due to its suspected Pagan origins. It was later rationalized by the Church on the basis that it associated St. Nicholas with Christmas, and that gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were given to the infant Jesus by the Biblical Magi.

Legendary gift-bringing figures Main articles: Santa Claus and Father Christmas See also: Saint Nicholas and Saint Basil Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas, considered by many to be the original Santa Claus.

A number of figures of both Christian and mythical origin have been associated with Christmas and the seasonal giving of gifts. The most famous and pervasive of these figures in modern celebration worldwide is Santa Claus, a mythical gift bringer, dressed in red, whose origins have diverse sources. The name Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means simply Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, during the 4th century.

Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the care of Children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast on the 6th of December came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts.

Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a gift or not.

By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other parts of central and southern Europe. At the Reformation in 16th—17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, corrupted in English to Kris Kringle, and the date of giving gifts changed from December the 6th to Christmas Eve. The modern popular image of Santa Claus, however, was created in the United States, and in particular in New York.

The transformation was accomplished with the aid of notable contributors including Washington Irving and the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast — Following the American Revolutionary War, some of the inhabitants of New York City sought out symbols of the city's non-English past.

New York had originally been established as the Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam and the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition was reinvented as Saint Nicholas. Inthe New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City.

At his first American appearance inSanta Claus was drawn in bishops' robes. However as new artists took over, Santa Claus developed more secular attire. Nast drew a new image of "Santa Claus" annually, beginning in By the s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the robed, fur clad, form we now recognize, perhaps based on the English figure of Father Christmas.

The image was standardized by advertisers in the s. Father Christmas, a jolly, well nourished, bearded man who typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, predates the Santa Claus character. He is first recorded in early 17th century England, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness rather than the bringing of gifts.

In Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa. In Italy, Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus, while La Befana is the bringer of gifts and arrives on the eve of the Epiphany. It is said that La Befana set out to bring the baby Jesus gifts, but got lost along the way. Now, she brings gifts to all children. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter. In other versions, elves make the toys. His wife is referred to as Mrs. There has been some opposition to the narrative of the American evolution of Saint Nicholas into the modern Santa.

It has been claimed that the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded untilalmost half a century after the end of the American War of Independence. Moreover, a study of the "children's books, periodicals and journals" of New Amsterdam by Charles Jones revealed no references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas. However, not all scholars agree with Jones's findings, which he reiterated in a booklength study in ; Howard G.

Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York was alive and well from the early settlement of the Hudson Valley on. Current tradition in several Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Colombia holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes, a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.

Nikolaus wears a bishop's dress and still brings small gifts usually candies, nuts and fruits on December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered sun". Modern scholars have argued that the festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered". Christ should be born", Cyprian wrote.

John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord. A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.

Modern Christmas customs include: Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul.

In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas, a usage first recorded in The New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus. Around ADClement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on 25 Pashons. This corresponds to May However, in Chronographai, a reference work published inSextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the spring equinox, popularizing the idea that Christ was born on December The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December.

De Pascha Computus, a calendar of feasts produced ingives March 28 as the date of the nativity. Inthe theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners like Pharaoh and Herod " celebrated their birthdays. InChristian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods.

However, since Christmas does not celebrate Christ's birth "as God" but "as man", this is not evidence against Christmas being a feast at this time. Moreover, the fact that the innovation rejecting Donatist Church of North Africa celebrated Christmas suggests that the feast had been established before the living memory of those who began that Church in The earliest known reference to the date of the nativity as December 25th is found in the Chronography ofan illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome.

In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany January 6although this festival emphasized celebration of the baptism of Jesus. Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in The feast was introduced to Constantinople inand to Antioch in about The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop inalthough it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the magi.

But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" which began on November 11, the feast of St.

Martin of Toursnow known as Advent. In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent. Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas December 25 — January 5 ; a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days. The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas.

King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten. The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.

In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale. Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens. Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord. The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques and pageants.

InKing James I insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games. It was during the Reformation in 16th—17th century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.

Following the Protestant Reformation, groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery" or the "rags of the Beast. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old style Christmas generosity.

Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans. The book, The Vindication of Christmas London,argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", and carol singing.

The Restoration of King Charles II in ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland also discouraged observance of Christmas. James VI commanded its celebration inhowever attendance at church was scant. In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas.

Celebration was outlawed in Boston from to The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the midth century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region. At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas.

The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian German mercenaries on Christmas during the Battle of Trenton inChristmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.

By the s, sectarian tension had eased in Britain and writers, including William Winstanly, began to worry that Christmas was dying out. These writers imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday.