What are some traditions and rituals for around Christmas and New YEar's that are not related to Christianity?

Question

When is the winter solstice and does it fall on the same day everywhere?

Answer 1

Very few Christmas traditions and rituals are related to Christianity since the holiday itself was first celebrated, as you seem to be aware of, as a pagan festival to celebrate the winter solstice. The date of Christ's birth is unknown. December 25 was chosen to appease pagans whom apostate Christian clergy were trying to convert. Same holiday and traditions, different name.
In his book The Trouble With Christmas, author Tom Flynn set out conclusions reached after years spent researching Christmas:
"An enormous number of traditions we now associate with Christmas have their roots in pre-Christian pagan religious traditions. Some of these have social, sexual, or cosmological connotations that might lead educated, culturally sensitive moderns to discard the traditions once they have understood their roots more clearly."—

I almost forgot the second part of your question: No it is not always on the same day. This is from Science World:
In the northern hemisphere, the Winter solstice is day of the year (near December 22) when the Sun is farthest south. However, in the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged so that the winter solstice is the day on which the Sun is farthest north. The winter solstice marks the first day of the season of winter. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) winter solstice is known as the tropic of capricorn (-23° 27').
The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year. Of course, daylight saving time means that the first Sunday in April has 23 hours and the last Sunday in October has 25 hours, but these human meddlings with the calendar and do not correspond to the actual number of daylight hours. In Chicago, there are 9:20 hours of daylight on the winter solstice of December 22, 1999.

Answer 2

Some traditions? Almost all traditions from the Christmas tree to mistletoe are not related to Christianity. Winter solstice is December 22 and to my knowledge, because of the way the seasons are divided, it is the same everywhere.

Answer 3

WInter solstice is an astronomic event, and is not tyied to what we think of it - so yes, it is on the same day everywhere, and depending on the year it falls on the 22d or 23rd of December.
Many rituals have been based on this day - it is the longest night, and as such, all rituals involving lights (think candles, Christmas trees...) are reminiscent of ancient cultures, lighting up the world in fear the sun may have gone.

Answer 4

Christmas is based upon a Pagan Holiday and the Christians basically took this Holiday over in order to make it easier to convert the Pagans into following their Religion. the tree, yule log, mistletoe, evergreen trimming, feasting, are a few which stem from Pagan traditions. you might want to read the book " A Pagan Christmas " for more details. the second part of your question is no and is usually around December 21st.

Answer 5

As I understand it, Easter is actually the most significant day on the Christian calendar since according to Christianity, that is the day that Jesus rose from the dead, which is a major part of the basis of Christianity. Christmas trees, giving gifts, etc is a more recent innovation within the past couple of centuries, giving Christmas more significance as a Christian holiday than it had originally.

Answer 6

Almost all of the traditions and rituals practiced around that time are not related to Christianity.