decorations include fresh flowers and in rio de janeiro, the world's largest floating christmas tree.

december is the month of the offerings to the orixás - in Yoruba, Umbanda, and candomblé religions orixás are African deified ancestors that match and represent Nature, forces of nature, and its manifestations.

each orixá, tranlsated Orisha in english, resembles the form of humans, and they manifest emotions such as love, anger, vanity, pride, and even jealousy - and each is given her set of worshipping symbols and rituals comprising of particular prayers, colors, foods, environments, rituals, and songs.