Members of the Beltane Fire Society take part in Samhuinn Fire Festival on October 31, 2023 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Once celebrated from October 31 to November 1 by ancient Celts, Samhain, pronounced “SOW-in” or “SAH-win”, marked the shift from the brighter to the darker half of the year and was seen as a time when the boundary between the physical and spirit worlds was thought to weaken, influencing the development of contemporary Halloween customs. (Photo by Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)

People try to keep warm their hands by a heater as they wait for their seats outside a restaurant at an outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, Saturday, December 23, 2023. A cold wave began earlier in the week bringing extensive snowfall and freezing temperatures across China. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

A mural is seen on a heavily damaged residential building in the frontline town of Avdiivka, Donetsk region on April 25, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/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)

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)

TV prosthetics artist Rene Abelardo tries on a sample of his prosthetic face mask, his latest creation as TV projects took a halt amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines, June 17, 2020. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

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)