A look at Christmas festivities and traditions around the world

John Yang:

And before we go, tonight on this Christmas week, we want to take a look at how Christians around the world are celebrating the season.

Across Europe, there are Christmas markets filled with gift stalls, hot drinks, and twinkling lights. In Mexico City, vibrant displays of poinsettia, the plant's association with Christianity. Christmas is said to have originated with a Mexican legend.

Around the world, Christmas spirit takes many forms. Some Christmas trees are celebrities New York City's iconic Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree, Chicago's official tree in Millennium Park. And in Washington, D.C. the Capitol Christmas tree, or People's Tree, cut each year from a national forest, a gift from the people to the people.

This year's came from Nevada's Humboldt Toyubee National Forest. And not all Christmas trees are natural. An environmentalist in Ghana used hundreds of plastic bottles to build a glowing tree.

Intricate and elaborate Nativity scenes are on display in Krakow, Poland, which holds in annual competition.

Andrzej Kocek, Nativity Maker (through translator):

I've been working on this larger Nativity scene for practically a year, well, 10 months, so a year.

John Yang (voice-over):

In this creche. It's not exactly a stable where Jesus is born.

Marek Markowshi, Nativity Maker (through translator):

All Nativity scenes depict Jesus, as scripture dictates, born in humble circumstances. The Krakow Nativity scene, however, differs from all of them. And that Christ is born in a palace. But it's not a real palace. It's a fantasy palace fabricated completely in the minds of the nativity scene makers.

John Yang (voice-over):

These palaces depict the holy family, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a manger. Some Polish nativities include a Wawel dragon, a legendary beast from Polish mythology.

An altogether different material is used. In Spain's Canary Islands, artists from around the world carved detailed Nativity scenes into the sands of Las Canteras Beach.

Aday Rodriguez, Sand Nativity Director:

We had a super strong storm with a lot of wind and water. We faced several problems, which makes it all the more commendable.

John Yang (voice-over):

During the Christmas Holidays, more than 200,000 people are expected to view these scenes, crafted by artists over a period of several weeks.

And in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, for a fourth year in a row, celebrations go on even as air raid sirens warn of imminent Russian attacks. There are decorations and lights despite ongoing power cuts resulting from Russian attacks on the country's infrastructure.

And in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, there are public Christmas celebrations for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli Hamas war in Gaza. Now they've returned, perhaps in hopes of achieving what the Bible says the angel proclaimed when announcing Jesus birth, peace on earth and goodwill to men.