A woman applies make-up on a young woman's lips as they both wear bearskin before the start of the second edition of the International Festival of Winter Traditions “Cetatea lui Bucur” in Bucharest, Romania, on December 16, 2023. (Photo by Daniel Mihailescu/AFP Photo)

Local residents participate in the annual carbide shooting on New Year's Eve in Zwolle, the Netherlands on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Vincent Jannink/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A vendor gestures as he arranges watermelons for sale at a market in Colombo on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

A penitent called “Morion” checks his mobile phone in Mogpog town on Marinduque island in central Philippines April 14, 2014. During the annual festival, masked and costumed penitents called “Moriones” dress in attire that is the local interpretation of what Roman soldiers wore during biblical times. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

Miss Australia 2014 Tegan Martin sits down with Miss Universe Chief Photo Editor Francis L. Szelwach to review her photos after posing in swimwear at the 63rd annual Miss Universe pageant in Miami, Florida, in this January 5, 2015 handout photo provided by the Miss Universe Organization. (Photo by Reuters/Miss Universe Organization)

Capturing the true essence of Christmas, Lapland is the perfect place to take your family for the holiday period. Situated in the arctic regions of northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, there are a villages in each country around where you can enjoy the full festive experience.

A woman looks at a swimmer getting herself warm after the annual Christmas winter swimming competition in the Vltava river in Prague December 26, 2014. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) member Mukhlis reacts as he is whipped in public by a member of the Sharia police in Banda Aceh on October 31, 2019. An Indonesian man working for an organisation which helped draft strict religious laws ordering adulterers to be flogged was himself publically whipped on October 31 after he was caught having an affair with a married woman. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)