* Poodle pins, Christmas tree pins, and other Christmas jewelry

Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain holidays: chocolate bunnies and eggs are popular on Easter, chocolate coins on Hanukkah, Santa Claus and other holiday symbols on Christmas, and chocolate hearts or chocolate in heart-shaped boxes on Valentine's Day.

He also provided the voice of Jack Skellington, the main character in Tim Burton's animated Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas ( 1993 ), and has since reprised the role in many other subsequent productions, including the Disney / Square video games Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II and the Capcom sequel to the original film, Oogie's Revenge.

Unlike in many other Christian countries, St. Nicholas does not play a major role in Polish Christmas, but instead, is celebrated on his Saint feast day of December 6.

The wearing of costumes has become an important part of such holidays and festivals as Mardi Gras and Halloween ( see Halloween costume for more information ), and ( to a lesser extent ) people may also wear costumes in conjunction with other holidays, such as Christmas and Easter.

In the Western world, Christmas carols and other traditional songs preserve religious lore in song form.

In addition to The Killers, Burt Lancaster's debut and a Hellinger / Universal coproduction, Siodmak's other important contributions to the genre include 1944's Phantom Lady ( a top-of-the-line B and Woolrich adaptation ), the ironically titled Christmas Holiday ( 1944 ), and Cry of the City ( 1948 ).

A similar figure with the same name ( in other languages ) exists in several other countries, including France ( Père Noël ), Spain ( Papá Noel, Padre Noel ), almost all Hispanic South America ( Papá Noel ), Brazil ( Papai Noel ), Portugal ( Pai Natal ), Italy ( Babbo Natale ), Armenia ( Kaghand Papik ), India ( Christmas Father ), Andorra ( Pare Noel ), Romania ( Moş Crăciun ) and Turkey ( Noel Baba ).

The Christmas and holiday season surrounds the winter solstice, Christmas and other holidays, and is celebrated by many religions and cultures.

Some other big markets are of course the Christmas Markets of the City of Hanover in the Old Town and city centre and the Lister Meile.

* 2012 – A boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 other missing,

Christians were allowed to openly celebrate Christmas, Easter and other such festivals, and the Jesuits were even given an allowance and gifts to carry on with their work, with a few Indians converting to Christianity.

The album was only available during this Christmas period, and featured Belle & Sebastian and Snow Patrol, as well as numerous other bands such as The Flaming Lips and Teenage Fanclub.

Fraser stated: " One of the things we should say to the Americans, quite simply, is that if the United States is not prepared to involve itself in high-level diplomacy concerning Iraq and other Middle East questions, our forces will be withdrawn before Christmas.

The stages where Samson and Delilah, Sunset Blvd., White Christmas, Rear Window, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and many other classic films were shot are still in use today.

Later Victorian booths, particularly those used for Christmas parties and other indoor performances, were gaudier affairs.

The first Puritans of New England certainly disapproved of Christmas celebrations, as did some other Protestant churches of the time.

Many Humanists also celebrate the winter and summer solstice, the former of which ( in the northern hemisphere ) is the root of the celebration of Christmas, and the equinoxes, of which the vernal equinox is associated with Christianity's Easter and indeed with all other springtime festivals of renewal.

Services operate 24 hours a day, every day ( including throughout Christmas and all other holiday periods ), with service frequency never falling below half-hourly.

Many Unitarian Universalist churches celebrate observances associated with other religious traditions, including Buddhist-style meditation groups, Jewish Seder, Yom Kipur and Passover dinners, iftaar meals ( marking the breaking of Ramadan fast for Muslims ), and Christmas Eve / Winter Solstice services.

Terms with an etymological equivalent to Yule are used in the Nordic countries for the Christian Christmas ( with its religious rites ), but also for other holidays of the season.

Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism which peaks during the Christmas season when Christian pilgrims throng to the Church of the Nativity.

Many of the population of the Western hemisphere could broadly be described as cultural Christians, due to the predominance of the Christian faith in Western culture, as well as widely celebrated religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas.

Celebration of Christian holy days is considered Avodah Zarah or idolatry and is forbidden ; however some secular Jews in the West treat Christmas as a secular holiday.

The custom of Christmas night liturgy was introduced in the Christian churches after the second half of the 5th century.

as some of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, Charles Dickens ' " Christmas Books ", and Lewis Carroll's Alice books.

It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865.

* Christmas Day, Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Lewis, a children's author and Christian, preferred the traditional Father Christmas because of his clear connection with the Christian holiday of Christmas.

Christian holidays are defined as part of the liturgical year, the chief ones being Easter and Christmas.

Christian hymns are often written with special or seasonal themes and these are used on holy days such as Christmas, Easter and the Feast of All Saints, or during particular seasons such as Advent and Lent.

* 1870 – The Christian holiday of Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States.

Many Christian African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in addition to observing Christmas.

As Europe became Christianized, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and either changed into popular secular celebrations, as with May Day, or were merged with or replaced by new Christian holidays as with Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and All Saint's Day.

Yule or Yuletide (" Yule time ") is a religious festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples and some neighboring peoples, before later being absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas.

" This saga is set soon after Iceland converted to Christianity and identifies Yule with Christmas: " No Christian man is wont to eat meat this day Eve, because that on the morrow is the first day of Yule ," says she, " wherefore must men first fast today.

While references are anecdotal, it seems to be a tradition that morphed into early European Christian tradition of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

With Otto III's approval, Stephen was crowned as the first Christian king of Hungary on Christmas Day, 1000.

In his Nativitate Domini, in the Christmas Day sermon " Christian, Remember your Dignity " Leo appears to articulate a fundamental and inclusive human dignity and equality: The saint, the sinner, and the unbeliever are all equal as sinners, and none is excluded in the call to " happiness ":

In the Christian liturgical calendar there are two principal feasts, properly known as the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord ( Christmas ) and the Feast of the Resurrection, ( Easter ).

Bock is historically associated with special occasions, often religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter or Lent.

Winterval was a name given to a whole series of winter festivals, and was not a renaming of Christmas.

Use of paper or plastic bobèches is common at events where candles are distributed to a crowd or audience, such as Christmas carols or other concerts / festivals.

Other attractions include rides like the Ferris wheel along with many seasonal festivals for Halloween and Christmas.

Marillion continued to tour throughout 2005 playing several summer festivals and embarking on acoustic tours of both Europe and the United States, followed up by the " Not Quite Christmas Tour " of Europe throughout the end of 2005.

Particular types of cake may be associated with particular festivals, such as stollen or chocolate log ( at Christmas ), babka and simnel cake ( at Easter ), or mooncake.

There can be many different types of festivals, like Halloween, Saturnellia, and Christmas.

These are still seen in public at Army campaigns, as well as at other festivals, parades and at Christmas.

Two local festivals attract visitors from far and wide: the Spirit of Christmas, always held in early December.

The Midway Carousel was open and a horse drawn carriage gave behind the scenes tours of the park and the midway held many Christmas festivals including a Christmas trees.

Annual festivals and events in Blowing Rock include: the " Art In The Park " festival, a monthly summertime ( May-Oct ) event in downtown Blowing Rock where artists set up booths to sell their work to tourists ; the Fourth of July festival and parade ; Blowing Rock Winterfest in November ; the Blue Ridge Wine and Food Festival in April ; Christmas in the Park and Lighting of the Town festivities, including a Holiday Parade ; the Symphony by the Lake at Chetola Resort ; and the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show which has been a tradition for 84 years.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states the Church's view on the latter claim by saying that while midwinter pagan feasts such as Saturnalia may have helped influence the eventual choice to fix the date of Christmas, this does not mean that Christian Christmas traditions find their origin or inspiration there: " though the abundance of analogous midwinter festivals may indefinitely have helped the choice of the December date, the same instinct which set Natalis Invicti at the winter solstice will have sufficed, apart from deliberate adaptation or curious calculation, to set the Christian feast there too.

" This liturgical day is followed for all days in the Eastern rite and the custom of beginning Christmas celebration ( as well as Sunday and the other major festivals ) in the preceding evening is preserved in western Churches that have altered the liturgical day to start at midnight, for example the Roman Catholic Church.

The Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter are national public holidays in Australia and Christian charitable organisations, hospitals and schools have played a prominent role in welfare and education since colonial times.

The Christian festivals of Easter and Christmas are public holidays in Australia.

In addition to the Christmas markets and other smaller traditional and modern folk festivals, the Annaberger Kät is the most famous and largest Ore Mountain folk festival.

Each year Head-Smashed-In hosts a number of special events and native festivals known throughout the world for their color, energy and authenticity, including a special Christmas festival called Heritage Through My Hands, which brings together First Nations artists and craftspeople who display a wide variety of jewelry, clothing, art and crafts.

The bélé tradition has declined in the 20th and 21st century, but is still performed for holidays like Easter, Independence Day, Christmas, Jounen Kwéyòl and patron saint festivals held annually in the Parishes of Dominica, especially in the Fèt St .- Pierre and the Fèt St .- Isidore for fishermen and workers respectively.

Histriomastix represents the culmination of the Puritan attack on the English Renaissance theatre and celebrations such as Christmas, as noted in the following: " Our Christmas lords of misrule, together with dancing, masks, mummeries, state players, and such other Christmas disorders, now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian festivals, which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate them.