Christmas Celebrations and New Year's Celebrations

The English Christmas has gone through a number of striking transformations in its nearly two-thousand-year history.

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is an ethnically and religiously diverse society.

In Spain, as in many other southern European countries, Easter is a more important holiday than Christmas.

South Africa is located on the southernmost tip of the African continent.

Contemporary Russian Christmas celebrations mix traditional folk and religious customs with remnants of the secular celebrations instituted during the Communist era (1917-91).

The people of Poland celebrate Christmas with many old folk and religious customs.

The first Europeans settled in Iceland in the ninth century. They were from Scandinavia and the Celtic lands, and some researchers believe that they brought with them a midwinter festival called Yule.

The Philippines is the only nation in Asia where the majority of people are Christian.

When Christianity came to Norway, its inhabitants abandoned some old beliefs and practices and adapted others to the new religion.

The west African nation of Nigeria, once a colony of Great Britain, is the most ethnically diverse country in all of Africa.

The Marshall Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, about 3,000 miles southwest of the Hawaiian Islands.

Lithuanian folk tradition treats the Christmas season as a time of religious mystery and folk magic.

The vast majority of Latvians are Christians. Most are Lutherans but sizeable Roman Catholic and Orthodox minorities exist.

Italians favor the Nativity scene above all other Christmas decorations. As Christmas approaches, they appear in churches, homes, shops, and public places of all kinds.

In Ireland families prepare for Christmas by baking cakes and buying candles. The roads and bus stations are crowded on Christmas Eve as people journey home to spend Christmas with their families.

The vast majority of Iraqis are Muslims. Christians make up less than five percent of the population of this Middle Eastern nation.