Christmas

According to the Gospel tradition, Jesus Christ was born on December 25 in Bethlehem, so, with the differences in calendars, that date is respected in the entire Christian world as the beginning of a new era and a new history of mankind.

As Greeks celebrate Christmas on Friday, authorities are warning of the dangers of ignoring coronavirus regulations during the festive season and urging the public to stay safe.

Christmas festivities began on Dec. 25, with hundreds of millions across the world under coronavirus restrictions celebrating a pared-down version of a holiday typically marked by travel and large gatherings.

The gift we can make this year, this holiday, is to protect our loved ones, President Klaus Iohannis says in a Christmas video. "Wherever we are in the world, on Christmas, the roads take us back home, with family and friends. This year, because of the epidemic, we have to spend our holidays away from those we love so much and miss.

This Christmas was celebrated differently in the Biblical birthplace of Jesus.

There will be no foreign tourists and  pilgrims due to a coronavirus travel ban on foreign nationals.

St Paul's Anglican Church has arranged to hold its Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services online via Zoom this year. For details and registration codes, visit anglicanchurchathens.gr, where copies of the service sheet will also be posted.

Greece's coronavirus task force has prohibited traditional caroling this Christmas season to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias told a press briefing on Tuesday.

For yet another year, Sofia's Christmas decorations are more than miserable. The municipality relies on private companies to take out the old and unappealing garlands for advertising purposes, so that there is at least some feeling of the brightest holidays ahead. In recent years, nothing has changed - the decoration is banal, tasteless, inconspicuous and the same for years.

Citizens who will choose to share their Christmas day or New Year's lunch with family or friends should send an SMS with the number 6 to leave their home, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Tuesday, but warned against widening the social bubble during the festive season.

He rides a reindeer-drawn sleigh, makes toys in the North Pole with the help of elves and brings gifts to children through chimneys. Father Christmas is an indispensable part of Christmas every year across the world. But little is known that he was a native of what is today Antalya, a tourist hotspot on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.