Christmas in Pictures: Lights and Color Mark the Season

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Middle East|Christmas in Pictures: Lights and Color Mark the Season

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/world/middleeast/christmas-photos-world-2024.html

Priests lead a procession on a cold Lithuanian night. A colorful celebration is brightened by candlelight in Mexico. Santa seems to appear everywhere, including on a street corner in the capital city of Cuba.

Christmas, the traditional Christian holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus, is being celebrated by people around the world, as has been done for centuries. For days and weeks leading up to Dec. 25, the city streets, homes and churches have been adorned with lights along with red and green decorations, capturing the optimism of the season.

Some draped evergreen trees in ornaments and tinsel, and many attended Mass or other religious ceremonies. Children in many places waited for Santa Claus to come bearing presents.

From the biblical birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank city of Bethlehem to the coastal suburbs of Florida, photographers captured these images of people gathered with family, friends and communities to observe the holiday.

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Credit...Nicole Tung for The New York Times

Syrian Christians protested in defense of the rights of Christians after a Christmas tree was set ablaze in the Christian-majority town.

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Credit...Alaa Badarneh/EPA, via Shutterstock

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, greeted a person dressed as Santa Claus during a Christmas Eve procession in the West Bank.

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Credit...Mindaugas Kulbis/Associated Press

Clergy walked in a procession to a midnight Mass to celebrate Christmas at the Cathedral-Basilica in Vilnius, Lithuania.

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Credit...Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA, via Shutterstock

Motorcycle riders stopped to photograph an inflatable Santa Claus by a street corner in Havana, Cuba.

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Credit...Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A woman and man, dressed as Mary and Joseph, re-enacted a Nativity scene at the Saint Antuan Church in Istanbul.

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Credit...Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters

Iraqi Christians gathered around a fire as they attended Mass on Christmas Eve at the Grand Immaculate Church in Hamdaniya, Iraq.

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Credit...Carlos Lopez/EPA, via Shutterstock

Tzotzil Indigenous people held candles as part of an ancestral celebration of Christmas in southern Mexico.

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Credit...Arif Kartono/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, foam played the part of snow during Christmas Eve celebrations.

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Credit...Divisione Produzione Fotografica/Vatican Media, via Associated Press

Pope Francis presided over the traditional Mass on Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

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Credit...Alaa Badarneh/EPA, via Shutterstock

A Palestinian man fixed the lights at the Church of the Nativity in the city of Bethlehem.

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Credit...Mykola Tys/EPA, via Shutterstock

Ukrainian children in folk attire ate traditional doughnuts at a Christmas parade in Lviv, Ukraine.

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Credit...Giorgio Viera/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A surfer dressed as Santa took to the waves in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

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Credit...Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press

People danced at a Christmas celebration organized by a community organization in Buenos Aires.

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Credit...Simon Maina/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Worshipers of the Legio Maria African Church Mission during a vigil Mass at St. Helena Mathare Parish in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Credit...Kin Cheung/Associated Press

Cuts of meat were displayed for customers during the annual Christmas Meat Auction at Smithfield Market in London.

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