You are going to read a text about the mysterious nature of Christmas customs.
For questions 25-32, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) that best fits each space.
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The Mysterious Nature of Christmas Customs
Midwinter has always been (0) a time when people gather together to strengthen their ties with their kin and their group before the new year. In the past, the winter solstice was marked by celebration; Christ's birthday, originally celebrated in July, was moved to December by the early church to coincide
existing festivals of birth and renewal. There are many customs associated with Christmas time, and some are
curious that they evidently date back to ancient times. Christmas tree-dressing
found in old Nordic and Russian but also Indian rituals. Santa Claus has a mythology of his own and can be traced back to the Norse god Odin, flying across the sky in his chariot
by an eight-legged horse. Some even believe that Father Christmas
, more properly, be Mother Christmas, referring to the Germanic goddess Holda, who dressed in white fur and handed
presents at Yule. Santa's flying reindeer have an even stranger
; they probably go back to the shamans of Northern Asia and Lapland, who ate "magical" mushrooms to induce trances. Finally, Christmas evergreens such as holly, ivy and mistletoe were sacred plants for
Indo-European cultures, because they appear to defy winter with their greenery. Mistletoe was, like many other symbols of Christmas time, an important part of the Druidic religion and Norse mythology.
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