Editing Christmas Eve (section)

== Other traditions ==
[[File:Flickr - The U.S. Army - Christmas Eve Candlelight Services.jpg|thumb|right|A Christmas Eve candlelight [[Church service|service]] in [[Baghdad]], Iraq]]
Christmas Eve is celebrated in different ways around the world, varying by country and region. Elements common to many areas of the world include the attendance of special religious observances such as a midnight Mass or Vespers and the giving and receiving of presents. Along with Easter, Christmastime is one of the most important periods on the Christian calendar, and is often closely connected to other holidays at this time of year, such as Advent, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, St. Nicholas Day, St. Stephen's Day, New Year's, and the Feast of the Epiphany.

Among Christians, as well as non-Christians who celebrate Christmas, the significant amount of vacation travel, and travel back to family homes, that takes place in the lead-up to Christmas means that Christmas Eve is also frequently a time of social events and parties, worldwide.<ref name="Fodor">Eugene Fodor, ''Fodor's South 1980: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana'', 1979, at p. 87, available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=sL54AAAAMAAJ&q=christmas-eve Google Books]</ref><ref name="Discourse">Gary Sigley, ''A Chinese Christmas Story'', in Shi-xu, ed., ''Discourse as Cultural Struggle'', 2007, at p. 99, available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=PS57ocrF5dMC&dq=christmas-eve+nightclubs&pg=PA99 Google Books]</ref><ref name="Culture">Adebayo Oyebade, ''Culture and Customs of Angola'', 2007, at pp. 103, 140, available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=DeVqVy21g9sC&q=christmas-eve&pg=PA103 Google Books]</ref><ref name="Tonic">{{Cite web|url=http://www.clubzone.com/events/Vancouver/165256/Twas-the-Night-Before-Christmas-at-Tonic|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106084454/http://www.clubzone.com/events/Vancouver/165256/Twas-the-Night-Before-Christmas-at-Tonic|url-status=dead|title=See, e.g., GetQd ''Twas the Night Before Christmas @ Tonic @ Tonic Nightclub Vancouver BC'', 2009|archivedate=6 November 2009}}</ref><ref name="Ohio">[http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/4699254/OH/Akron/The-College-Night-Out/The-Interbelt See, e.g., Upcoming.org, ''The College Night Out'', 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318083547/http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/4699254/OH/Akron/The-College-Night-Out/The-Interbelt |date=18 March 2012 }}</ref>

{{further|topic=Christmas Eve traditions around the world|Christmas worldwide}}

=== In Jewish culture ===
[[Nittel Nacht]] is a name given to Christmas Eve by Jewish scholars in the 17th century.

==== In contemporary American-Jewish culture ====
With Christmas Day a [[work holiday]] throughout the United States, there is a space of unfilled free time during which much of American commerce and society is not functioning, and which can give rise to a sense of loneliness or alienation for American Jews.<ref name="Hwang">{{Cite web|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/events/2014/12/18/mazelpalooza-matzoball/20564363/|title=Dec. 24 is time to party at Mazelpalooza, Matzoball|website=The Arizona Republic|language=en|access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="AP2006">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/23/AR2006122300971.html Jessica Gresko, "Dec. 24 Becomes Party Night for Jewish Singles", Associated Press (''Washington Post''), 24 December 2006]</ref><ref name="Tracy">{{Cite news|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/115997/christmas-jews-greatest-holiday|title=Christmas Is the Greatest Jewish Holiday|last=Tracy|first=Marc|date=19 December 2013|magazine=The New Republic|access-date=16 May 2019|issn=0028-6583}}</ref><ref name=Lewis>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejewishnews.com/archives/matzoball-detroit/article_cbf739e3-21eb-54f7-b3c1-b995894ba752.html|title=MatzoBall Detroit|first=Barbara|last=Lewis|date=18 December 2014|website=thejewishnews.com}}</ref><ref name="ChinaDaily">{{Cite web|url=http://language.chinadaily.com.cn/news/2008-12/24/content_7336873.htm|title=平安夜美国犹太单身大聚会-英语点津|website=China Daily|access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref>

Jews also typically do not engage in the family gathering and religious worship activities that are central to Christmas Eve for Christians.<ref name="TimesDeciding">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/16/garden/deciding-to-celebrate-christmas-or-not.html|title=Deciding to Celebrate Christmas, or Not|last=Richardson|first=Brenda Lane|date=16 December 1987|work=The New York Times|access-date=16 May 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Typical contemporary activities have usually been limited to "Chinese and a movie"<ref name="Karch">{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/happy-chinese-and-a-movie/|title=Happy Chinese and a Movie|last=Marziah|date=24 December 2012|magazine=Wired|access-date=16 May 2019|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name="Wiener">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2013/12/24/culture/the-joy-of-not-celebrating-christmas|title=The joy of not celebrating Christmas|date=24 December 2013|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US|access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="Vozick">{{Cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/2009/12/25/christmas-chinese-food-movies/|title=Chinese food and movies: A Christmas tradition|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|language=en|access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref>—consuming a meal at a [[Chinese restaurant]], which tend to be open for business on the Christmas holiday, and watching a movie at the theater or at home, stereotypically a rerun of the 1946 film ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]''.<ref name=ChinaDaily /><ref name=Heyman2010>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204527804576043883500181362 | first=Marshall | last=Heyman | title='Tis the Season For Matzo Balls | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | date=27 December 2010 | access-date=30 December 2018 |url-access=subscription  }}</ref><ref name="Duckett">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1995-12-18-3058216-story.html|title=Jewish Singles Mimgle Christmas Eve|last=Duckett |first=Jodi |website=The Morning Call |date=18 December 1995 |language=en-US|access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref><ref name=Gluck>{{cite news | url=https://jewishjournal.com/mobile_20111212/99376/ | first=Robert | last=Gluck | title=What young Jews do on Christmas Eve | work=Los Angeles Jewish Journal | date=20 December 2011 | access-date=30 December 2018 }}</ref>

Since the 1980s a variety of social events for young Jews have sprung up, and become popular, on Christmas Eve.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16339451|title=Christmas Eve parties now a Jewish tradition|publisher=[[NBC News]]|date=24 December 2006|access-date=25 December 2017}}</ref> These include the [[Matzo Ball]], [[The Ball (event)|The Ball]], and a number of local events organized by Jewish communities and [[local Jewish Federations]] in North America.<ref name=AP2006 />

{{further|topic=Christmas Eve social events for young Jews in North America|Matzo Ball}}

=== In Chinese culture ===
In Mandarin, Christmas Eve is called {{transliteration|zh|Píng'ān yè}} ({{lang|zh|平安夜}}, "peaceful night", etymologically from the Chinese title of the Christmas carol ''[[Silent Night]]''). People exchange apples, because the word for "apple" ({{Ruby-zh-p|苹|píng}}果) is a rhyming wordplay with "peace" ({{Ruby-zh-p|平|píng}}安).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://gbtimes.com/chinas-love-christmas-apple-gifts|title=China's love for Christmas apple gifts|last=Ren|first=Yaoti|date=14 November 2017|access-date=26 December 2018|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226232506/https://gbtimes.com/chinas-love-christmas-apple-gifts|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== In Inuit culture ===
In [[Inuit]] territories, Christmas Eve is called ''[[Quviasukvik]]''. The Inuit celebrate it as their new year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/8xpb8a/sex-in-our-strange-world-why-christmas-has-always-been-about-sex|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222212311/https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/8xpb8a/sex-in-our-strange-world-why-christmas-has-always-been-about-sex|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 December 2018|title=Sex in Our Strange World: Why Christmas has Always Been About Sex}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VbgAAAAMAAJ|title=Christmas in the Big Igloo: True Tales from the Canadian Arctic|first=Kenn|last=Harper|date=24 December 1983|publisher=Outcrop|isbn=978-0-919315-07-5 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33556958.pdf|title=Inulariuyunga; Imngirnik Quvigiyaqaqtunga!}}</ref>

=== United States ===
In [[New Mexico]] and areas of [[San Diego, CA|San Diego]], California, Christmas Eve (''nochebuena'') is celebrated by lighting [[luminaria (vigil fire)|luminarias]] and [[farolito]]s.