10 Ways the World Celebrates the Winter Holidays

Hanukkah—or Chanukkah—is the Festival of Lights in the Jewish community. It commemorates the miracle of the ancient Macabee tribe, whose oil, which was only enough for one night, lasted for eight nights while they were trapped in a cave. Nowadays, modern celebrations include lighting a candle for each night of Hanukkah, exchanging gifts, and commemorating the Macabee people’s oil by eating fried foods such as latkes.

Cities around the world have their own individual Hanukkah celebrations, too. Budapest, home to the third largest Jewish community in Europe, completely lights up for the eight days. Meanwhile, Rome celebrates its Jewish community’s millennium-long history in the city with a lively celebration each night of Hanukkah and a menorah-lighting ceremony in the Piazza Barberini.

Related: Hanukkah: What You Need to Know

For many people around the world, Christmas has become a season of its own, beyond the day it’s officially celebrated. Across Europe and beyond, many communities have their own traditions.

Take Norway, where the Christmas season officially begins in early December. People gather in bars and at dinner parties called juleborder to indulge in holiday favorites, and decorate storefronts with wreaths, angels, hearts, stars, and Nativity scenes. Head south to the Netherlands, where Sinterklaas—the Dutch name for Santa Claus—visits in early November and parades through the city streets with his friends from the North Pole before Christmas Day, when children receive cookies and chocolate letters as symbols of good luck for the year ahead. Meanwhile, in Austria, the Krampus beast finds those on the naughty list on December 5—just before St. Nicholas brings treats to the good children the following night.

This holiday follows Christmas in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. While some origin stories say that Boxing Day began as a day off for domestic employees after Christmas, it’s now a day to spend with friends and family—typical Boxing Day activities include taking brisk winter walks, filling up on Christmas dinner leftovers, hitting the shops for Boxing Day sales, or catching a football (soccer) game.

Meanwhile, December 26 is known as St. Stephen’s Day or Wren Day in Ireland, and commemorates St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Traditional celebrations include attending St. Stephen’s Day mass or a Wren Day parade in some parts of the country. However, nowadays, one of the most enduring St. Stephen’s Day/Wren Day traditions involves going door-to-door and collecting money for charity.

Las posadas are a traditional novenario—a 9-day-long devotional prayer—commonly observed in Latin America and parts of the United States. Traditional celebrations include a reenactment of the Nativity procession on each of the nine nights leading up to Christmas Eve, during which the participants sing songs and end each candle-lit procession with a group meal.

However, modern celebrations focus more heavily on the party around the event, which serves as an opportunity to commune with friends and neighbors in the lead up to Christmas proper. Posadas usually include a special Christmas punch (ponche navideño); tamales; and party games—notably, hitting open piñatas to reveal the candy inside.

Buddhists around the world celebrate Bodhi Day, which commemorates the Buddha achieving enlightenment as he meditated under a Bodhi tree. Depending on the region, celebrations take place at different times. Practitioners in Southeast Asia and Tibet hold festivals in the spring, while in Japan this holiday is celebrated on December 8.

In other parts of East Asia, Bodhi Day is celebrated in tandem with the Laba Festival in early January. Customary ways to celebrate include eating congee (a savory rice porridge), meditating throughout the week leading up to Bodhi Day, and lighting lamps to represent the Buddha’s wisdom.

Kwanzaa celebrates African and African American culture at the end of December and early January. Celebrants observe the seven principles throughout Kwanzaa: unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), and faith (imani). In fact, families light a candle representing each principle in the kinara, a special candle holder, each night.

Other celebrations include offering libations to ancestors, as well as sharing a meal with family and community inspired by traditional foods from the African diaspora, or decorating the table with Kwanzaa symbols such as corn, fruit, and a traditional mat called the mkeka. Children also receive educational gifts from their parents that celebrate their African heritage, such as books and symbols honoring prominent Black figures.

Related: Kwanzaa: What You Need to Know

To commemorate the shortest day of the year, communities around the world participate in solstice traditions. American Indians of the Hopi tribes in the American Southwest take part in a ceremony called Soyal, during which celebrants welcome the kachinas, the tribe’s guardian spirits. This includes taking part in rituals for the 16 days leading up to the solstice, such as blessing homes and communities with prayer sticks called pahos.

In China, the Dongzhi Festival observes the solstice, representing a return to longer days and shorter nights and rebalancing the yin/yang energy. This holiday is commemorated with cozy foods including dumplings and, especially, rice balls called tangyuan. Celebrants also visit the graves of loved ones to leave them food and gifts.

Three Kings Day or Epiphany is celebrated as the day that the three kings were said to have reached baby Jesus, and also marks the end of the Christmas season for celebrants. This holiday is celebrated in many Latinx and other predominantly Catholic communities.

Traditionally, children leave their shoes out the night before Three Kings’ Day so the kings can leave inside, and sometimes leave hay and water for the camels as well. Families also celebrate by sharing a large meal finished with the traditional rosca de reyes. This is a ring-shaped sweet bread topped with colorful candied fruits or jellies. There is also a figurine (or several!) of baby Jesus baked into rosca de reyes; whoever receives a doll in their slice is said to have good luck for the year ahead, but is also tasked with hosting the Candlemas celebration for the family on February 2 … and providing the requisite tamales.

Orthodox families in Greece and the United States celebrate St. Basil’s Day along with the New Year at the beginning of January. This feast day celebrates the life and work of St. Basil, an early proponent and defender of Orthodox Christianity. Families gather together to eat, drink, and laugh over a traditional meal—usually a roast with side dishes such as salad, rice pilaf, pita breads, and gigantes (stuffed beans). However, an essential element of St. Basil’s Day celebrations is vasilopita, a sweet bread or cake with a coin baked in; whoever receives the piece with the coin is said to have good luck for the year ahead.

Around the world, it’s tradition to ring in the new year in style. While you may be familiar with the ball dropping in New York’s Times Square, other traditions focus on calling in hopes and goals for the year ahead. In Denmark, there’s a tradition of jumping into the New Year at the stroke of midnight; in Italy it’s common to enjoy lentils and pork, representing prosperity. Meanwhile, across Latin America, people walk around their block with an empty suitcase, hoping for a year full of travel—we’d recommend trying this one out.