Christmas Traditions: American Customs, Origins and Traditions Around the World (2026)

Christmas traditions are the rituals, foods, decorations and stories that people repeat each holiday season, whether they come from church, family or culture. Some are centuries old, while others, such as Japan’s KFC dinners or the NORAD Santa Tracker, started in living memory. In this guide, you will learn where the best-known customs came from, how America celebrates, what families do in Germany, Mexico, the Philippines and beyond, and which new traditions are worth starting this year. For dates, gifts, food and movies, see our complete Christmas 2026 guide.

Because many popular stories about holiday origins are legends, we lean on historians and official sources throughout and flag anything that remains debated.

What Are Christmas Traditions and Where Did They Come From?

Most Christmas traditions grew out of three sources: Christian worship of the birth of Jesus, older European winter festivals, and 19th-century reinventions that turned the holiday into a family celebration. In other words, the modern holiday is a patchwork, and each country stitched it together differently.

First, the date itself. The Bible gives no birth date for Jesus, and according to HISTORY, Pope Julius I chose December 25 in the fourth century, likely so the church could absorb the customs of Saturnalia, the Roman winter festival honoring the god Saturn. Similarly, Norse communities in northern Europe kept Yule, a multi-day feast around the winter solstice when families burned large logs.

However, Christmas was not always popular. Puritans actually outlawed it in Boston from 1659 to 1681, and anyone caught celebrating could pay a five-shilling fine. Then, in the 1800s, writers such as Washington Irving helped reshape a rowdy, carnival-like holiday into a quieter, home-centered one. Finally, Christmas became a U.S. federal holiday on June 26, 1870.

Why Do We Put Up Christmas Trees? The Origins of 5 Classic Customs

We put up Christmas trees because devout Christians in 16th-century Germany began bringing decorated evergreens into their homes, and royal fashion later carried the custom to Britain and America. The other classic symbols, from Santa to mistletoe, have similarly layered histories.

The Christmas tree

By the 16th century, German families were decorating trees indoors, and some used wooden "Christmas pyramids" with evergreen sprigs and candles instead. A popular story credits Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, with adding lit candles after seeing stars through the branches on a winter walk, although that tale is legend rather than record. Meanwhile, Moravian Germans in Pennsylvania displayed a candle-lit community tree as early as 1747, according to HISTORY’s history of Christmas trees.

Then, in 1846, the Illustrated London News published a sketch of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children around a tree. As a result, the custom became fashionable in Britain and among East Coast American society. Americans were selling trees commercially by about 1850, and electric lights eventually put trees in town squares nationwide.

Where did Santa Claus come from?

Santa Claus comes from St. Nicholas, a Christian bishop born around A.D. 280 in what is now Turkey, who became known as the protector of children; his feast day is December 6. Dutch families in New York honored him as "Sinter Klaas," and that nickname eventually became "Santa Claus."

Next, American writers and artists built the modern Santa. Washington Irving called St. Nicholas the patron saint of New York in his 1809 History of New York. In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas" for his daughters, giving Santa his sleigh and eight reindeer. Later, cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa for Harper’s Weekly; his 1881 image gave us the red suit with white fur, the North Pole workshop, the elves and Mrs. Claus, according to HISTORY’s Santa Claus history.

Christmas stockings

Hanging stockings by the fireplace dates back at least to 1804 in America, when John Pintard of the New-York Historical Society handed out woodcuts of St. Nicholas showing stockings filled with toys and fruit over a hearth. Moore’s 1822 poem then cemented the image with stockings "hung by the chimney with care."

Mistletoe

Mistletoe was a symbol of fertility and vitality long before it became a Christmas decoration, partly because it stays green all winter. For instance, the Celtic Druids prized it, and one Norse myth makes it a symbol of love through the goddess Frigg. Even so, the kissing custom probably began among English servants in the 18th century before spreading to the middle classes. Under the early rule, people plucked one berry for each kiss and stopped when the berries ran out, as HISTORY explains.

Santa at the store and the parade

Department-store Santas also have a long history. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa model. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army dressed unemployed men as Santa to collect donations in New York, and Macy’s Santa began closing out the Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924.

American Christmas Traditions: How the US Celebrates

American Christmas traditions mix immigrant customs with homegrown ones, so a typical US household might decorate a tree, hang stockings, watch holiday movies, open gifts on Christmas morning and track Santa online on Christmas Eve. Here are the customs most Americans recognize.

Tradition	When it started	What happens
National Christmas Tree lighting	1923	The president lights a tree near the White House each December
Rockefeller Center tree	1931 (workers’ tree); first lighted tree 1933	A giant tree goes up in Midtown Manhattan for the season
Santa in the Macy’s parade	1924	Santa’s arrival closes the Thanksgiving Day Parade
NORAD Tracks Santa	1955	Military staff "track" Santa’s Christmas Eve flight
Christmas stockings	Documented in New York by 1804	Small gifts and treats fill stockings by the fireplace
Christmas as a federal holiday	1870	Most federal offices and many businesses close on December 25

Tree lightings in Washington and New York

On Christmas Eve 1923, President Calvin Coolidge pushed a button to light the first National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse south of the White House, according to the National Park Service. In New York, construction workers at Rockefeller Center put up a small, unadorned tree in 1931, during the Great Depression; a lighted tree followed in 1933, and the tradition continues today.

Tracking Santa with NORAD

NORAD Tracks Santa began by accident in 1955, when a Sears ad in a Colorado Springs paper printed a phone number one digit off from the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), the predecessor of NORAD. Col. Harry Shoup played along, and his radar team "tracked" Santa for callers, as the U.S. Government Publishing Office recounts. Today, NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, still runs the tracker every Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve customs

Christmas Eve is often the busiest night of the season in the US. For example, many families attend a candlelight or midnight church service, leave cookies and milk for Santa, or let kids open one present early. In addition, many families now pack a Christmas Eve box with pajamas, a movie and treats; see our Christmas Eve box ideas if you want to try it.

Traditions that immigrants brought to America

Many US holiday customs arrived with immigrant families and still thrive in their communities:

• Feast of the Seven Fishes: a Christmas Eve seafood dinner that is a uniquely Italian-American tradition rather than a custom in Italy, rooted in the Catholic practice of skipping meat before holy days.
• Las Posadas: Mexican-American and other Latino communities reenact Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging over nine nights, often ending with tamales and a piñata.
• Simbang Gabi: Filipino-American parishes hold the nine-day series of pre-Christmas Masses, though US dioceses often schedule them in the evening.
• German Christmas markets: German-style markets now open every November in Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and other cities.

Christmas Traditions Around the World

Christmas traditions around the world vary most in three ways: who brings the gifts, which day matters most, and what lands on the table. In much of Europe and Latin America, for instance, Christmas Eve or January 6 outranks December 25. This table compares eight countries at a glance.

Country	Gift bringer	Key dates	Signature tradition
Germany	St. Nicholas (Dec 6); the Christkind or Weihnachtsmann on Christmas Eve	Advent Sundays; Dec 6; Dec 24	Christmas markets with Glühwein (mulled wine) and Lebkuchen (gingerbread)
Mexico	Santa Claus and the Three Kings	Dec 16–24 (Las Posadas); Jan 6	Posadas processions, piñatas and rosca de reyes
France	Père Noël (Father Christmas)	Dec 24 (Réveillon)	Late Christmas Eve feast and bûche de Noël, a log-shaped cake
Spain	The Three Kings	Dec 22 (El Gordo lottery); Jan 6	Christmas lottery draw and Three Kings gifts
Italy	La Befana (and Babbo Natale)	Jan 6 (Epiphany)	A kindly old woman fills stockings on Epiphany Eve
Philippines	Santa Claus	Dec 16–24 (Simbang Gabi)	Dawn Masses and parol star lanterns
Japan	Santa Claus	Dec 24–25	KFC fried-chicken dinners since a 1974 campaign
Iceland	13 Yule Lads	Dec 12–24; Jan 6	Book giving on Christmas Eve (Jólabókaflóð)

Christmas traditions in Germany

Christmas traditions in Germany revolve around Advent, the four weeks before Christmas. Families light one more candle on an Advent wreath each Sunday, count down with Advent calendars, and visit Christmas markets that typically run until Christmas Eve, according to the University of Southampton’s German department. On the night before December 6, children put out their shoes, and St. Nicholas fills them with sweets and small gifts. Meanwhile, in parts of Bavaria and Austria, the horned Krampus, a goat-like figure who punishes naughty children, appears alongside him.

Christmas traditions in Mexico

Christmas traditions in Mexico center on Las Posadas, nine nights (December 16 to 24) that reenact Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem. Each evening, neighbors walk in procession, sing at a designated "inn" and then share food, drinks such as ponche, and a piñata, as the Smithsonian describes. After Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), the season continues to Día de Reyes on January 6, when children receive gifts and families cut a rosca de reyes, a crown-shaped sweet bread with a tiny figurine hidden inside.

France: Réveillon and the Yule log cake

In France, the main event is Le Réveillon, a long Christmas Eve dinner that can run past midnight, often starting with oysters. Dessert is usually a bûche de Noël, a sponge cake rolled and decorated to look like a log. In Provence, many families also set out the "13 desserts," which traditionally represent Jesus and the twelve apostles.

Spain: El Gordo and the Three Kings

Spain’s season unofficially begins with the Christmas lottery draw, nicknamed El Gordo ("the fat one"), held on December 22. Yet the biggest gift day is January 6, when the Three Kings bring presents. Additionally, families in Catalonia keep the Caga Tió, a smiling log that children "feed" and then tap with sticks to make it "deliver" sweets.

Italy: La Befana

In Italy, La Befana, a kindly old woman on a broomstick whose name comes from the Italian word for Epiphany, fills children’s stockings on the night of January 5. According to legend, she turned down the Magi’s invitation to visit the Christ Child and now searches for him every year, leaving gifts along the way.

The Philippines: Simbang Gabi and parols

Filipino Catholics attend Simbang Gabi, nine dawn Masses from December 16 to 24, and then share rice cakes such as bibingka and puto bumbong outside church. Homes and churches also glow with parols, star-shaped lanterns that represent the Star of Bethlehem.

Japan: Christmas KFC

In Japan, Christmas is mostly a secular celebration, and millions of families eat fried chicken. According to KFC’s own history, the "Kentucky for Christmas" campaign began in 1974 after a foreign customer in Tokyo remarked that he could not find turkey, and Christmas Eve is now the chain’s busiest day there.

Iceland: The Yule Lads and the Christmas book flood

Iceland has 13 Yule Lads, mischievous folklore figures who arrive one per night starting December 12 and leave small gifts, or a rotten potato, in shoes on windowsills. Moreover, Icelanders give books on Christmas Eve, a custom called Jólabókaflóð (the Christmas book flood). As Visit Iceland explains, it grew during World War II, when paper was one of the few things not rationed, and the book trade has mailed a catalog of new titles to households every year since 1944.

What Are the 12 Days of Christmas?

The 12 days of Christmas run from December 25 through January 5. The evening of the twelfth day is Twelfth Night, and the next morning, January 6, is Epiphany, which marks the visit of the Magi. Some traditions instead count December 26 through January 6.

So the famous carol counts days after Christmas, not before. That is also why Spain, Mexico and Italy save gifts for January 6, and why many Americans with European roots keep their tree up until Epiphany. In contrast, many Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas itself on January 7 because they follow the Julian calendar.

Christmas Markets in the US for 2026

German-style Christmas markets are now among the most popular American Christmas traditions, and several big-city markets have already announced 2026 dates. Admission to the markets below is free, although food, drinks, skating extras and parking cost money.

Market	City	2026 dates	Good to know
Christkindlmarket (Daley Plaza)	Chicago, IL	Nov 20 – Dec 24	30th anniversary season; Wrigleyville location runs to Dec 31 (closed Dec 25); Aurora runs Thu–Sun to Dec 24
Christmas Village	Philadelphia, PA	Nov 21 – Dec 27	At LOVE Park and City Hall; closed Nov 23–25 and Dec 25
Denver Christkindlmarket	Denver, CO	Nov 20 – Dec 23	On the Tivoli Quad at Auraria Campus while Civic Center Park is under renovation
Winter Village at Bryant Park	New York, NY	Oct 28, 2026 – Feb 28, 2027 (shops to Jan 3)	25th season; 180+ holiday shop vendors and a free-admission skating rink

For Chicago details, see NBC Chicago’s 2026 announcement. Philadelphia’s organizers list their schedule on the official Christmas Village site, and Time Out reported Bryant Park’s 2026 dates.

Fun Family Christmas Traditions to Start This Year

The best family Christmas traditions are simple, repeatable and cheap, so they survive busy years. Pick one or two from this list rather than ten; what matters is doing them every year.

New family Christmas traditions ideas

• A new ornament each year: let each child pick or make one, and write the year on the back.
• Christmas Eve book exchange: borrow Iceland’s Jólabókaflóð and give everyone a book plus cocoa.
• Shoes out on December 6: fill shoes with small treats for St. Nicholas Day, the German way.
• A neighborhood posada night: invite neighbors for tamales, carols and a piñata.
• Lights drive: rate your town’s best displays from the car with a homemade scorecard.
• Movie marathon: work through a classic each night of Advent with our best Christmas movies list.
• Track Santa together: follow the NORAD tracker on Christmas Eve before bedtime.
• Giving day: choose one charity, food bank or neighbor to help as a family each December.

Fun Christmas traditions for kids

Younger kids love traditions with a daily payoff, so Advent calendars, a visiting elf and a countdown chain all work well. If you already have an elf, our Elf on the Shelf ideas will keep December mornings fresh.

Christmas traditions for couples and adults

Adults can keep the season special, too. For instance, try a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner, a Réveillon-style late supper with a bûche de Noël, or a weekend trip to one of the US Christmas markets above.

Frequently Asked Questions