Christmas in Pictures: Lights and Color Mark the Season

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.

An Orthodox Christian worshipper lighting a candle at a Christmas mass at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Pope Francis delivered his traditional Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi speech from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

Swimmers at the Christmas Day race for the Peter Pan cup in Hyde Park, London, on Christmas Day.

Christmas mass at Notre Dame in Paris, the first time Christmas mass was celebrated in the cathedral since the fire in 2019.

People took a selfie at the St. Joseph cathedral in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Worshippers of the Legio Maria, an African independent religious movement, attended the Christmas Eve vigil mass in Nairobi, Kenya, on Christmas Day.

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

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

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

Ukrainian soldiers of 117th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade pray before a Christmas dinner in the Donetsk region.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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