Days get darker and darker at this time of year, until Yule which is the shortest and darkest day of all. This is the time when hens will start to quit laying. Thus, the egg is the abstinence food of the Pagan Samhain to Yule period.

The Feast of Saint Nicholas marks the beginning of the Christmas season in Austria. A common holiday bread prepared is the Chocolate and Apricot bread which calls for 8 egg yolks per loaf! Yum Yum Yum!

Hogmanay, a Scottish New Year's Eve tradition reaching back to practices of sun and fire worship in the deep mid-Winter, includes making giant balls of tar, paper and chicken wire. These are attached to several feet of chain or wire, and then set on fire. A designated "swinger" whirls the ball around his head and walks through the village streets to the local harbor. At the end of the festival, any balls still on fire are cast into the water. An impressive sight in the dark!

Uriah Cheep, the Insomniac Rooster, crow's an early morning greeting

Christmas season in Guatemala is filled with celebrations throughout the month of December. On December 21, St. Thomas Day, for example, they celebrate with the Mayan Palo Voladare or flying pole dance. The season culminates with the Misa de Gallo, the Mass of the Rooster. "Rooster's Mass" owes its name to the idea that a early rising rooster would have been among the first to witness the birth of Jesus.

Mancala is a Kwanzaa game played by kids. A painted and decorated egg carton makes a great eco-friendly mancala gameboard.

Eggnog is an English creation, it descended from a hot British drink called posset, which consists of eggs, milk, and ale or wine. The recipe for egg nog (eggs beaten with sugar, milk or cream, and some kind of spirit) has traveled well, adapting to local tastes wherever it has landed. In Puerto Rico it is made with rum and called coquito. In Germany it is made with beer and called biersuppe. Icelanders celebrating Santa Lucia Day serve an eggnog soup (less the alcohol) that is served as a hot dessert.

In some countries, it is a Jewish tradition to light the Chanukah menorah in a bed of broken eggshells.

When Russian Christmas eggs are used as ornaments for Christmas trees, they became articles for collecting. Artists paint on eggs Russian winter scenes, angels, Santa, and Snow Maiden. The eggs are painted on light wooden forms with tempera paints, then finished with glossy lacquer. Each Christmas egg is different as they are painted by hand.

Japanese Bantam hen, Angel, sends holiday greetings to all

The date for Christmas (December 25) is believed to have been influenced by the northern hemisphere Winter Solstice , as well as ancient pagan rituals that coincided with the solstice. These rituals included the Halcyon Days in Greece, a period of calm and goodwill when it was believed the sea was calm for birds to lay their eggs.

The Roman holiday Saturnalia formed the heart of a set of winter rituals celebrated across the winter solstice and into the New Year. Saturnalia itself began on December 17, and lasted for a week. Later it incorporated the hatching of Mithra, a God of light from the sun, from an egg. Saturnalia was widely recognized as the most popular festival of the Roman year.

The Christmas Tree dates back to 1605 Strasborg. Trees were often hung upside down and decorated with eggshells . Carefully broken in two and colored, the shells became delicate little baskets that were filled with tiny candies.

Traditional Ukrainian Christmas decorations included ornaments such as eggshells with tissue paper and roosters from Ukrainian villages where they were made by each housewife and her daughters.

In the southern hemisphere, Christmas for Australians arrives in the middle of summer. Thus, a common Aussie holiday celebration includes going to the beach followed by  grilling some chicken (eek!) on the barbie in the backyard at home.

Left, Santa arrives by boat onto an Aussie beach to greet Christmas beach guests.

There are several additional December celebrations at this time of year for which I didn't find a special chicken or egg connection.  So that we may be mindful of those celebrating these, they include: Eid al Adha and the Hijri New Year celebrated by Muslims, Dongzhi  festivities in China, Bodhi Day honored by Buddhists, and Ta Chiu a Taoist .

Have an Eggs-tremely Eggs-citing December