Kwanzaa, an African American holiday, is celebrated from December 26 to January 1. Although this relatively recent holiday was created in 1966, it also includes light, as celebrants light candles in a kinara each night. St. Lucia Day is celebrated in Sweden on December 13, the longest night of the year. The origin of the connection between this fourth-century Sicilian saint and Sweden is unknown. St. Lucia is often depicted with candles on her head, and tradition associates her name with light.
Celebrants wear a wreath with a single candle.
The holiday falls in late October. Celebrants place small oil-filled lamps along the parapets of temples and houses and also float them on rivers and streams. The Chinese Lantern Festival is celebrated in the middle of the first month of the lunar calendar, sometime between late January and late February. It closes the Chinese New Year celebration. An ancient Chinese myth depicts celestial spirits flying about in the light of the first full moon of the lunar calendar.