Christmas around the world 2021

Doctors and nurses share a Christmas day lunch together in the COVID-19 intensive care unit of the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Friday, Dec. 25, 2021. Marseille’s La Timone Hospital, one of France’s biggest hospitals, has weathered wave after wave of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A homeless child holds a sandwich and a toy received as a donation during an inter-religious event on Christmas Day in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/ Marcello Chello)

Indian Christians receive the holy communion from a priest after attending a Christmas mass at Saint Mary’s church in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Priest Julio Lancellotti invites a homeless person, laying on the floor, to participate in the Christmas event, before an inter-religious event is held to celebrate Christmas Day with homeless people in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/ Marcello Chello)

Visitors to a mall look at Christmas decorations and Santa Claus on a giant LED screen during Christmas in Beijing, China, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. Not traditionally celebrated in China, Christmas is mostly a commercial attraction to close the year end sales at retail outlets. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him during a Christmas Day dip at Sandy Cover near Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

An Indian woman takes a selfie with a man dressed as Santa Clause during Christmas celebrations in Hyderabad, India, early Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Launch teams monitor the countdown to the launch of Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket carrying NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, in the Jupiter Center at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

People wearing a face mask, walk past a Christmas tree, at a shopping mall in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’ ) Christmas’ day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Carnaby Street in central London as it lies empty on Christmas Day, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

Christians attend a Christmas mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral, in Lahore, Pakistan, on Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

People sit at a Christmas day soup kitchen for fragile people, the poor, the homeless, and asylum seekers, set by the Sant’Egidio Community, at the Santa Maria in Trastevere Basilica in Rome, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Junior doctor Tom Ballas looks into the room of a patient as doctors and nurses share a Christmas Eve meal together in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Marseille’s La Timone Hospital, one of France’s biggest hospitals, has weathered wave after wave of COVID-19. On Christmas Eve, medical personnel decorated a fir tree in the corridor and seized a moment for a communal meal in their scrubs, trying to maintain a semblance of holiday spirit in between rounds. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Churchgoers wear face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 as they attend a Mass at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Sayyid Abdul Azim)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – DECEMBER 24: (L-R) Aquarists Rafaela Cerejo, Felippe Luna, Angelica Vasques greet the public inside a tank dressed as Elf, Santa Claus and Mrs Claus during the activities to celebrate Christmas at AquaRio on December 24, 2021 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

SOFIA, BULGARIA – DECEMBER 24: A Christmas decoration is seen on a window of a coronavirus patient room in the intensive care unit of SBAL Children’s Hospital Professor Doctor Ivan Mitev on December 24, 2021 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Infection cases in Bulgaria since the pandemic started is 724,793, with 10,105 of those being reported in the last ten days. Bulgaria has the lowest vaccine rate in Europe, with just over 25 per cent of the adult population fully vaccinated against Covid-19. (Photo by Hristo Rusev/Getty Images)

PHRA NAKHON SI AYUTTHAYA, THAILAND – DECEMBER 24: Elephants dressed in Santa Costumes give out hand sanitizer to children at the Jirasat Wittaya elementary school on December 24, 2021 in Phra Nakhon si Ayutthaya, Thailand. Each year, elephants from the Royal Elephant Palace in Ayutthaya are dressed up in Santa Claus costumes and visit children at the Jirasat Wittaya elementary school to perform and hand out presents. This year elephants distributed balloons and hand sanitizer to students dressed for the holidays. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 24: A puppet of Santa Claus is seen as people gather in the outdoor area ahead of Christmas Day at the Queen Victoria Market on December 24, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. Victoria has reintroduced rules for masks to be worn in indoor settings, as COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise. From 11:59pm on Thursday 23 December, all Victorians aged 8 and up are required to wear a mask in all non-residential indoor settings. Masks must also be worn while moving around at major events attracting at least 30,000 people, but can be taken off by patrons while sitting down. (Photo by Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

Iraqis celebrate Christmas eve in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern, on December 24, 2021. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED / AFP) (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

This photo taken on December 24, 2021 shows Christmas-themed puppetry played by puppet master Indra Suroinggeno in Bantul, Yogyakarta. – A small community in Indonesia is celebrating Christmas by telling stories about the birth of Jesus through a traditional puppet show in the shadow of coronavirus pandemic that shuttered most public performances. (Photo by AGUNG SUPRIYANTO/AFP via Getty Images)

Catholic faithful attend Christmas mass in their destroyed church in Alegria, Surigao del Norte province on December 25, 2021, more than a week after Super Typhoon Rai devastated the province. – More than a week after the typhoon cut a swathe through the archipelago, killing nearly 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, survivors clung to family and faith after their homes — and planned festivities — were wiped out. – (Photo by FERDINANDH CABRERA/AFP via Getty Images)

A man dressed as Santa Clause walks around residents’ rooms to give out presents during the residents’ Christmas party at Crown Heights Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Brooklyn, New York on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP) (Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)

Mohamed Maarouf, 28, while dressed in Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) costume, distributes Christmas gifts to impoverished children living in slums near the centre of Iraq’s southern city of Basra on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP) (Photo by HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Children perform at the Mother Teresa Cathedral during the midnight Christmas mass in Pristina on December 25, 2021. (Photo by Armend NIMANI / AFP) (Photo by ARMEND NIMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

A man and a woman dressed as Santa Claus pose for a picture with children in the hall of a supermarket in Abidjan on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP) (Photo by SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty Images)

People watch Christmas performances in front of Central World shopping mall in Bangkok on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP) (Photo by LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 24: Christmas decorations at Annabel’s private club on December 24, 2021 in London, England. Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that no new pandemic-related restrictions will be announced for England prior to Christmas, but that they are “keeping the situation under review.” This week, Wales and Scotland announced stricter measures to take effect after Christmas. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

People gather on Bondi Beach as they celebrate Christmas in Sydney, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Tony O’Connor, originally from Manchester, England, rides a surfboard while wearing a Santa hat as he celebrates Christmas at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

With the Washington Monument in the background, visitors look at the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, third from left, archbishop of the archdiocese of Denver, greets actors Jill Brun, left, James Joseph, second from left, and David Martinez, as they take part in a live nativity scene outside the Cathedral Basilicia of the Immaculate Conception before Christmas Eve Mass, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021, in downtown Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Catholic Archbishop Nicolas Henry Thevenin leads the Christmas Eve Mass at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Cairo, Egypt, late Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Iraqi Christian woman prays during Christmas Eve Mass in St. Teresa’s Church ahead of Christmas celebrations, in Basra, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Priests and clergy walk in a procession to attend the Christmas celebration midnight Mass at the Cathedral-Basilical in Vilnius, Lithuania, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Over 80 percent of Lithuanians are Christians who celebrate the festival of Christmas on Dec. 25. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Pedestrians wearing masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 walk past a Christmas tree at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The Italian government is weighing possible outdoor mask mandates, increased testing and other measures to combat the new surge in infections fueled by the omicron variant. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Pope Francis kisses a statue of Baby Jesus as he celebrates Christmas Eve Mass, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Friday Dec. 24, 2021. Pope Francis is celebrating Christmas Eve Mass before an estimated 1,500 people in St. Peter’s Basilica. He’s going ahead with the service despite the resurgence in COVID-19 cases that has prompted a new vaccine mandate for Vatican employees. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

People gather on the Roemerberg square featuring a Christmas tree, in Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (Photo/Michael Probst)

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden speak with the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center on Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., via teleconference in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The tracking operation will be opened for 20 hours on Christmas Eve day to help keep an eye on the whereabouts of Santa Claus. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Wreaths decorate the White House on Christmas Eve in Washington, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

People gather on Christmas Eve at tallest 20-meters Christmas tree that stands on the edges of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The newly developed corner of Hong Kong, Western Kowloon cultural district, became an attraction for this Christmas, people visited to take photos with their family and friends. (AP Photo/Katie Tam)

People stand in front of a giant Christmas tree at Athens’ central Syntagma square on Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Christmas concerts and other events have been canceled in Greece as part of new restrictions that include a mask mandate for outdoors and all public areas. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Toy store employees pose, wearing face masks against the ongoing pandemic, as they greet shoppers at the store on Regent Street on Christmas Eve in London, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The emergence of the new COVID-19 omicron variant and the world’s desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Sri Lankans buy Christmas decorations from a road side stall in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Girls take a selfie in front of an illuminated St. Joseph Cathedral on the eve of Christmas, in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

An Indian Christian devotee prays after lighting a candle outside the illuminated holy Family Catholic church on the Christmas eve in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A small brass band plays Christmas carols for shoppers at a mall in Johannesburg, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

People watch a department store decorated with a Christmas illumination on the Eve of Christmas in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

People wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus shop for fire crackers on Christmas Eve on the outskirts of Kochi, Kerala state, India, Friday, Dec.24, 2021. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)

Palestinian scout band members parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, during Christmas celebrations, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The biblical town of Bethlehem is gearing up for its second straight Christmas Eve hit by the coronavirus with small crowds and gray, gloomy weather dampening celebrations Friday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Christian children visit an enclosure specially decorated for Christmas celebrations, at a Christian neighborhood of Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)