People Around the World Celebrate Christmas With Local Traditions
Key Takeaways
- Christmas was celebrated worldwide, from Bethlehem and Beijing to Nairobi and New York
- Communities held distinct traditions: charity winter swims, mass singing performances, and public mascots
- News agencies showcased diverse, striking photographs documenting global holiday events
Global Christmas coverage
Around the world, Christmas was portrayed in images and reporting as a mix of formal religious rites and communal, often secular, local traditions.
“FromBethlehemto Beijing, people around the world are celebrating the Christmas season”
Reuters photos assembled by PBS show people around the world marking Christmas on Dec. 24-25, 2025 with religious services, festive gatherings and charitable events.
The AP montage highlighted swimmers, bonfires and parades that emphasize local culture and spectacle, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's roundup.
The CityNews Montreal snippet does not provide a local article text to add Montreal-specific detail, which leaves a gap in that outlet's coverage in the materials provided.
Religious observance coverage
Religious observance appears in both outlets' visual roundups but with different emphases.
PBS's gallery calls out specific liturgies and figures, such as Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's in New York, worship at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and Pope Leo XIV delivering the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing at the Vatican.
ABC similarly documents religious services and caroling across cities from Kyiv to Ahmedabad and highlights the Latin Patriarch crossing an Israeli checkpoint to attend Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
That detail foregrounds the security and political dimensions of the pilgrimage.
CityNews supplies images but no accompanying article text to add further local religious reporting.
Media holiday roundups
The roundups emphasize local and secular customs, from icy dips to charity dinners and toys handed out by volunteers.
“By The Canadian Press Posted December 25, 2025 6:11 pm”
PBS’s captions mention an ice-swimming club’s annual dip in Berlin, municipal Christmas dinners and solidarity meals in Venezuela and Argentina, and toy giveaways by a firefighter dressed as Santa in Ciudad Juarez.
ABC catalogs swimmers braving icy waters in Northern Ireland for charity, bonfires along the Mississippi in Louisiana, and a polar-bear mascot riding an elevator in Beijing.
ABC also includes a follow-up about a Venezuelan child reunited with his mother, adding a migration and family-reunion angle that PBS does not emphasize in the supplied text.
CityNews Montreal provides no corresponding material in these snippets.
Photo roundup comparison
Overall, the two usable photo roundups present complementary pictures.
Both outlets celebrate religious services and local customs, but they differ in emphasis and in small narrative choices.
PBS highlights papal ritual and describes the gallery as underscoring global, multi-faith and community aspects.
ABC leans into a catalog of vivid local customs and occasional human-interest stories that introduce political or social context, such as checkpoint crossings and migration reunions.
CityNews Montreal's lack of article text in the provided snippet is a clear omission that prevents a Montreal-specific comparison.
To get a Montreal angle, provide the full CityNews text or a link to allow direct local contrast.
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