December 1, Festival of Pallas Athene (Ancient Greece)
December 2, Festival of Shiva (Hindu)
December 3, St. Xavier’s Feast Day
December 4, International Hug Day
December 5, International Volunteers Day
December 6, St. Nicholas Day, precursor to St. Nick
December 7, Burning the Devil Night in Guatemala, La Quema Del Diablo
December 8, Festival of Ix Chel, Mayan lunar goddess
December 9, Virgin of Guadalupe first appears (1591)
December 10, International Human Rights Day
December 11, Pilgrimages at Tortuga, New Mexico
December 12, Pilgrimages at Guadalupe in Mexico, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe
December 13, Saint Lucia Day in Sweden
December 14, Feast of St. John of the Cross
December 15, Consualia in Rome
December 16, Las Posadas in Mexico, procession commemorating the Holy Family’s search for lodging
December 17, Saturnalia begins
December 18, Virgin of Solitude Day in Oaxaca, Mexico
December 19, Feast of Saint Boniface, the apostle of Germany
December 20, Commerce God Festival in Japan
December 21, Winter solstice
December 22, Saint Chaeremon Day
December 23, Laurentalia, Roman festival of hallowing the home
December 24, Mother Night (Anglo-Saxon)
December 25, Christmas Day
December 26, First day of Kwanzaa (Afro-American)
December 27, Freya’s Day (Teutonic)
December 28, Holy Innocents Day (Mexico)
December 29, Saint Thomas of Canterbury’s Day
December 30, Nia, or Purpose Night during the celebration of Kwanzaa
December 31, Hogmanay (Scotland)
Nearly every solar god is celebrated in December—Baal, Attis, Adonis, Apollo, Ra, Baldur, and Mithra, to name a few. Scots celebrate Hogmanay, a secular holiday with roots in the worship of the ancient solar god, Hogmagog. Yule is one of the pagan sabaats, or the eight holidays of the wheel of the year, and is celebrated on December 21, the shortest day of the year. The word Yule comes from the Germanic jol, and means midwinter. The old tradition was to have a vigil and a bonfire from dusk to dawn to make sure the sun does indeed rise again on this longest night of the entire year.
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