The festive season has arrived, with sleigh bells ringing and the timely smattering of snow glistening on our streets.
Amid all the mince pies, carol singing and present-buying, it might be difficult to take a pause and remember why the date is in our calendar. Sky News looks at the origins of the traditional holiday and how it is celebrated across the globe.
What is Christmas?
Christmas comes every year on 25 December and is a Christian holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.
While many celebrate the holiday to honour Jesus’s birth, it has also become a worldwide cultural holiday and is often celebrated by non-Christians alike.
The English term “Christmas” – a merger of Christ and mass – is of comparatively recent origin, dating from the time when it was celebrated with a mass in the Catholic Church. The older term “Yule” dates from when the period was a celebration of the winter solstice, according to Britannica.
In other countries, the day of celebration may be called “Navidad” in Spanish, “Natale” in Italian and “Noal” in French, deriving from the term “nativity”.
Does everyone celebrate Christmas on 25 December?
While Protestants and Catholics celebrate on the 25th, a lot of countries and religious sectors may choose to embrace the festive period on a different day, this is in accordance with the Julian Calendar.
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Orthodox and Coptic Christians will celebrate Christmas on 7 January.
Here’s how Christmas is celebrated around the globe:
Poland – The breaking of bread
Image: Christmas in Poland. Pic: Reuters
On Christmas Eve, families gather to share Oplatiki. This tradition began with a simple white wafer, baked from flour and water and is designed with a display of Christmas images.
Traditionally, each person around the table breaks off a piece as they wish one another a merry Christmas.
Iceland – Book giving
Image: Book-giving tradition in Iceland. Pic: Reuters
Also known as “Jolabokaflod” which translates to “the Christmas book” is an Icelandic tradition of giving new books on Christmas Eve and reading them with family and friends.
After receiving a book to dive into, be sure to cosy up in bed or by the fireplace, with a hot chocolate for the night.
Mexico – Night of the Radishes
Image: Mexico, Noche de los Rabanos. Pic: AP
An annual event which is held on December 23 and is known as Noche de los Rabanos in Oaxaca City.
Radishes have always played an integral part in Oaxaca’s Christmas cuisine, as an essential ingredient and a decorative garnish.
The yearly radish carving competition dates back to 1897 and became a part of that year’s Christmas market. The tradition continues to this day.
Image: Colonel Sanders statue dressed as Santa Claus at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in Tokyo. Pic: Reuters
In Japan, families gather around the dinner table to eat a bucket of fried chicken to commemorate the festive season.
Some say that the first KFC enterprising manager in Japan, by the name of Takeshi Okawara, told a white lie in 1970 and marketed fried chicken as a traditional American Christmas food to encourage sales at the time.
Okawara’s venture set the tone for Christmas in Japan.
Austria – Krampus
Image: Traditional Krampus run in the village of Biberwier. Pic: Reuters
Every year, children in Austria get ready for St Nicholas to visit them and as the traditions go, if the children have been well-behaved, he’ll reward them. If the children have been bad, they’ll have to face Krampus.
The half-man, half-goat is known to chase around naughty children and drag them to hell, according to ancient Austrian folklore tales.
United Kingdom – Christmas pudding
Image: Flamed Christmas pudding. Pic: AP
First introduced to the UK in the 14th century, many Britons still keep to the tradition of placing a silver coin in the pudding that is said to bring good luck
The pudding is traditionally made with raisins, currants, prunes, wines, and spices and is an all-time favourite in the UK.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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6:50
Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.