The appearance of
multiple simultaneous Santa Clauses is a sure sign that mankind's most
widely recognized and commercialized religious holiday is near. It's
also a sign that the holiday is celebrated by many more people than just
faithful Christians, for better or worse. From the traditional
Christmas markets in Germany to elfin divers feeding dolphins in Japan
to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem where it all began, Christmas
is observed worldwide for commercial, irreverent, and religious
reasons. Gathered here are images of people as they herald the advance
of an entire season built, loosely or faithfully, around the birth of
Jesus Christ. -- Lane Turner (37 photos total)
2
A
diver dressed as Santa Claus swims with a dolphin at Hakkeijima Sea
Paradise in Yokohama on November 27, 2012. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters) #
3
Workers
fill the beard of a helium balloon in the shape of Santa Claus ahead of
the Thanksgiving parade in New York on November 21, 2012. (Carlo
Allegri/Reuters) #
4
Volunteer
Santas are reflected in a fountain during their 110th annual Sidewalk
Santa Parade in New York on November 23, 2012. The donations they raise
are used for a holiday food voucher program for needy residents.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press) #
5
Finished
hand-made, wooden christmas figures are displayed at the Seiffener
Volkskunst Christmas decorations factory on November 20, 2012 in
Seiffen, Germany. Seiffen is home to a number of workshops that
specialize in hand-painted wooden Christmas decorations and carvings.
(Joern Haufe/Getty Images) #
6
The
Rockettes dancers perform on opening night of the 2012 Radio City
Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York on November
13, 2012. (Amanda Schwab/Starpix/Associated Press) #
7
Claire
Robertson from Scottish Ballet poses dressed as the Good Snow Flake
inside a lifesize snow globe during a promotion for their production of
The Nutcracker on November 20, 2012 in Glasgow. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
Images) #
8
Shoppers
walk through fake snow on Oxford Street during a traffic-free Christmas
shopping day in central London on November 24, 2012. (Olivia
Harris/Reuters) #
9
Booths
offer traditional Thuringian handcrafts and sweets and a big Ferris
wheel at the Christmas Fair in Erfurt, Germany on November 28, 2012.
(Jens Meyer/Associated Press) #
10
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is lit on November 28, 2012 in New York. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) #
11
Shoppers
walk on a snow-like carpet as they visit a Christmas home show on
November 14, 2012 in London with over 400 exhibitors at the Earls Court
exhibition centre. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) #
12
Hundreds
of people gather in the rain to attend the opening of the traditional
Christmas Market on the Roemerberg square in Frankfurt on November 26,
2012. (Michael Probst/Associated Press) #
13
Amidst
a fanfare ceremony with fireworks, the Christmas lights are switched on
at Harrods department store in London on November 1, 2012. (Andrew
Matthews/PA/Associated Press) #
14
Fireworks
explode over the state Capitol following the lighting of the state
Christmas tree on November 16, 2012, in Lansing, Mich. (Al
Goldis/Associated Press) #
15
People
enjoy Christmas LED lights that change colors in Tokyo's Shiodome on
November 26, 2012. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images) #
16
Gardener
Sue Dale inspects poinsettia plants prior to their shipment from the
Ravensworth nursery near Richmond, England on November 13, 2012. The
Nursery has grown 18,000 plants. (Nigel Roddis/Reuters) #
17
James
Parker lifts a Christmas tree at Garrocher Tree Farm on November 10,
2012 in Creetown, Scotland. The tree grower won the title of Champion
Christmas Tree Grower 2012 at the 14th Annual British Christmas Tree
Growers' Association and will now deliver a sixteen foot six inch tree
to take up residence outside 10 Downing Street. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
Images) #
18
Abraham
Plaza (left) and Eduardo Rosales drag a Christmas tree through a field
at the Omni Farm in West Jefferson, N.C. on November 17, 2012. Crews at
the farm will harvest nearly 20,000 Christmas trees this season. North
Carolina has 1,500 Christmas tree growers with nearly 50 million Fraser
Fir Christmas trees on over 35,000 acres. (Chris Keane/Reuters) #
19
Joe
Balku, who donated the tree, drives a stake into the Rockefeller Center
Christmas tree before workers stood it up on November 14, 2012 in New
York City. The tree, an 80-year old Norway Spruce, weighs approximately
10 tons and measures 80 feet tall. (John Moore/Getty Images) #
20
Marching band members attend the 2012 Hollywood Christmas Parade in Los Angeles on November 25, 2012. (Phil McCarten/Reuters) #
21
A
believer visits the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the
birthplace of Jesus, at the beginning of the Christmas season in the
West Bank city of Bethlehem on November 24, 2012. (Marko
Djurica/Reuters) #
22
A child looks at a christmas-themed shop display on November 28, 2012, in Paris. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images) #
23
Carly
Serepetti checks out the decorated Christmas trees on display in
Dearborn, Mich. on November 25, 2012. (David Guralnick/Detroit
News/Associated Press) #
24
A
woman poses for a photograph at a Lego Christmas attraction set up
outside a shopping mall in Hong Kong on November 22, 2012. (Anthony
Wallace/AFP/Getty Images) #
25
A
girl touches a Christmas tree made out of over 2000 glass baubles on
the main street of Valletta, Malta on November 28, 2012. (Darrin Zammit
Lupi/Reuters) #
26
An
employee places a newly painted glass Christmas and New Year decoration
in a drying rack at the "Biryusinka" toy factory in Russia's Siberian
city of Krasnoyarsk on November 27, 2012. The factory, founded in 1942,
produces decorative glass spheres, which can be found on Christmas trees
all over the country and in Moscow's Kremlin in particular, during the
festive season. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters) #
27
Artists
join in a show at Strasbourg's Christmas market, one of the largest and
oldest French Christmas markets, on November 24, 2012 in Strasbourg,
France. With over 300 market chalets, Strasbourg attracts over 1.6
million visitors during the Christmas season. (Patrick
Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images) #
28
A
Japanese woman dressed as a reindeer poses for a picture before the
start of the Santa Claus Winter Games in Gallivare, above the polar
circle in northern Sweden on November 17, 2012. Santas from all over the
world gather for the games. (Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images) #
29
A
postal employee dressed as Santa Claus displays letters as he poses for
the opening day of the Santa Claus secretariat in Libourne post office
in France on November 6, 2012. Since 1962, they have operated as one of
the postal addresses for mail sent to Santa Claus written by children
from 160 countries. 1,400,000 letters and 180,000 emails have received
replies during the 2011 Christmas holiday season. (Regis
Duvignau/Reuters) #
30
A
Christmas teddy bear is wheeled on a trolley at the Steiff stuffed toy
factory on November 23, 2012 in Giengen an der Brenz, Germany. Founded
by seamstress Margarethe Steiff in 1880, Steiff has been making stuffed
teddy bears since the early 20th century ever since her nephew Richard
Steiff exhibited the first commercially produced teddy bear in Europe in
1903. (Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images) #
31
Children
run inside a pinata store in Managua on November 12, 2012. The
government will distribute 250,000 pinatas to families across the
country as part of Christmas celebrations(Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters) #
32
Chatsworth
staff member Rosie Hodgkinson appears as Cinderella in the painted hall
of Chatsworth as the stately home's Christmas events get underway on
November 6, 2012 in Chatsworth, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty
Images) #
33
Spectators
look up at the stage at Macy's Herald Square Christmas Window Unveiling
on November 15, 2012 in New York. (John Minchillo/AP Images for
Macy’s) #
34
A
chocolate Santa Claus waits in a display window of a boutique on
November 11, 2012 in Munich. (Peter Kneffel//AFP/Getty Images) #
35
Workers
prepare a tray of traditional 'frutas escarchada' at the Peces
Mazapanes bakery on November 28, 2012 in Consuegra, Spain. The company
opens annually during the three months leading up to Christmas, hiring
32 workers to produce traditional Spanish Christmas cakes called
Mazapanes. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images) #
36
Adam
Briere filled his cart with gifts for his children in a department
store during Black Friday at a mall in Braintree, Mass. on November 23,
2012. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)#
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