Celebrating the holidays around the world
South Korea’s Ewha Women’s University students dressed in Santa Claus perform during a ‘Thanks 2007 Welcome 2008’ event to celebrate Christmas in Seoul. Christmas is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in South Korea with Christians forming over half of the population. (CHOI WON-SUK, AFP/Getty Images)
Filipino Policemen exchange their standard ballcaps for Santa Claus caps as they prepare to conduct foot patrol around commercial centers to ensure the safety of shoppers as Manila locals prepare for the Yuletide Season. (ROMEO GACAD, AFP/Getty Images)
A shopkeeper assembles a model of Santa Claus with a saxophone for sale at a shop in Hanoi, Vietnam. Although it’s a Christian holiday, Christmas is becoming more familiar to residents in the cities of this mostly Buddhist country. (HOANG DINH NAM, AFP/Getty Images)
An Israeli family in the West Bank settlement of Elazar lights candles on the second night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The eight-day Jewish festival began December 4 at sundown and celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabee rebellion. (MENAHEM KAHANA, AFP/Getty Images)
A European graffiti artist paints a Christmas tree encircled by a depiction of Israel’s controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (MUSA AL-SHAER, AFP/Getty Images)
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert claps after lighting a candle at a ceremony marking the first night of the Hanukkah festival at a military base near West Bank city of Nablus. “Hanukkah”, which means “dedication,” is also referred to as “The Festival of Lights.” (OLEG POPOV, AFP/Getty Images)
Diver Andre Weiland sets up a Santa Claus figure at the Atlantic basin of of Dresden, Germany’s SeaLife Aquarium. The ceramics statue will stay at the aquarium until mid-January. (NORBERT MILLAUER, AFP/Getty Images)
Employees of a Berlin, Germany florist shop push a barrow with Christmas trees over the street. The Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana) is the most favored Christmas tree in Germany, due to its intense green, long durability and pleasant fragrance. (SEBASTIAN WILLNOW, AFP/Getty Images)
The Swiss Embassy in Berlin is illuminated in white and blue colors displaying stars and a writing “Switzerland and Zurich wish Merry Christmas.” Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter developed the light installation with different designs to promote Switzerland for June’s European Football Championship. (THEO HEIMANN, AFP/Getty Images)