Person wearing a Koledari costume (used for Christmas caroling) (Straža, Vršac, Serbia, 1969)

Today is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Known as Midwinter, Yule, Jól and several other names, it is important in pagan beliefs. Image: Winter by Ignace-Gaston Pardies, 1674.

Another Winter solstice celebration is the Persian Yalda.

Yalda is a celebration of the re-birth of the sun. Traditionally Persians gather with friends and family for the night, feast, sing, and read poetry.

Image: Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah during celebrations (1319/1901-2 AD)

Source

In ancient times many of the rituals were seen as ways of keeping evil spirits at bay, which were especially prevalent at that time of year.

In modern times people continue such activities as divining one's fortune from the Dīvān of Hafez, but only up to three times, as otherwise Hafez may become angry.

(Image: Ibrahim Jabbar-Beik (1923-2002))

See:

https://kayhanlife.com/culture/heritage/shab-e-yalda-special-kayhan-life-celebrates-ancient-persian-festival-holds-zoom-event/


Other links:
https://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Celebrations/yalda.htm

https://iranicaonline.org/articles/cella-term-referring-to-any-forty-day-period

https://www.iranchamber.com/culture/articles/festival_of_yalda.php

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
    And with the sound
    The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

- excerpt from Christmas Bells (1863) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, on observing Christmas during the American Civil War.

"Peace on earth, good-will to men" is an excerpt from Luke 2:14 where a choir of angels proclaim the coming of Jesus and exhortations for peace.

Japanese Americans celebrate New Year's Eve at Central Utah (Topaz) Relocation Center (internment camp),
Joseph Aoki portrays Father Time and his son Tommy, Baby New Year 1945.

Today is Epiphany, the day on which the Magi allegedly visited the newborn Jesus, bringing the Christmas period to a close.
Image: Adoration of the Magi in the Benedictional of St Æthelwold. c.963-984, England.

One Epiphany tradition is King's Cake.
This tradition may originate from Roman Saturnalia. A cake of varying forms based on region is baked and, within, a figure or bean is placed (fève). Whoever finds the fève in their portion is blessed with good luck (or, in some medieval traditions, had to pay for a round of drinks).
Painting: Le gâteau des Rois (Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1774)

21 January 1924: Vladimir Lenin, head of the Soviet Union's government, died aged 53 following a series of strokes. His health had been in decline for some time. He was credited as the revolutionary who had gone from an exile to achieving power following the October Revolution over the Russian Provisional Government, establishing the first socialist state.
(Image: Lenin in his wheelchair, 1923, Maria Ulyanova).

Writing in 1927, Winston Churchill - long opponent of socialism - remarked by way of obituary in his book The World Crisis IV:

"[Lenin's] mind was a remarkable instrument. When its light shone it revealed the whole world, its history, its sorrows, its stupidities, its shams, and above all its wrongs. It revealed all facts in focus—the most unwelcome, the most inspiring—with an equal ray. The intellect was capacious and in some phases superb. It was capable of universal comprehension in a degree rarely reached among men. The execution of the elder brother deflected this broad white light through a prism: and the prism was red."

Presentation of a haggis at a Burns Night supper, which take place on the 25th of January to celebrate the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns' poem Ode to a Haggis is recited before it is served (Scotland is the only place in the world where wild haggises live). The night always concludes with singing of Auld Lang Syne, which Burns also wrote.

"An airburst from the explosion of a comet or meteor likely caused the instant destruction of a thriving Bronze Age city of 8,000 people in the Middle East, according to a recent paper co-authored by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist.

The researchers presented evidence that a cosmic airburst with energy approximately 5,000 times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb destroyed the walled city of Tall el-Hammam in the southern Jordan Valley, northeast of the Dead Sea, about 3,600 years ago. It left the area unworkable for agriculture for 300 to 600 years due to an influx of salt — a fact that has caused some to argue that the site is the biblical city of Sodom in the book of Genesis."

https://www.uaf.edu/news/uaf-researcher-helps-unravel-cause-of-ancient-citys-destruction.php

The sky of the motherland is safely protected! (Vladimir Feklyaev, USSR, 1984)

Today is Lunar New Year. In China, it is associated with the dragon. The dragon is associated with fortune, wisdom, and idealism, but also inflexibility and arrogance.

Image source

In the Jade Emperor's great race of all the zodiac animals, mentioned above, the dragon was the only mythological creature. It also behaves differently in the myth than one would expect. It stopped mid-race to extinguish a fire, and saved the rabbit from drowning with its breath. This meant it only finished fifth.

Shrovetide football (Ashbourne, Derbyshire, UK, 1966).
This game, often referred to as medieval football, is played every Shrove Tuesday since the 12th century.
In Ashbourne, the entire population is split into two teams who try to push the ball to one of two stone monuments three miles apart. It takes up two days and can involve any means necessary including fighting.