Holiday greetings
| Christmas and holiday season | |
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Christmas tree in Japan. Christmas is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians around the world.
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| Also called |
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| Type | Varied |
| Significance | Christian and secular festive season |
| Observances | Gift giving, family meetings, religious services, parties, other holiday-specific traditions |
| Begins | Late November |
| Ends | Early January (usually after either New Year's Day or Epiphany) |
| Related to | Advent, Christmas Day (Eve), Boxing Day, New Year's Day (Eve), Thanksgiving (US), Hanukkah, Yule, Epiphany, Kwanzaa (US), Winter solstice, others |
The Christmas season, also called the festive season, the holiday season (mainly in the U.S. and Canada), or simply the holidays, is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and Western-influenced countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January, defined as incorporating at least Christmas, and usually New Year, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It incorporates a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season"), and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated, are traditions in many areas.
In the denominations of Western Christianity, the term "Christmas season" is considered synonymous with Christmastide, a term associated with Yuletide, which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 (Epiphany Eve), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas. However, as the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to become synonymous instead with the traditional Christian Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Day itself. The term "Advent calendar" survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December.
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