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Famous Christmas Places
   I’m Mario Ritter. Welcome to our program. People around the world are celebrating Christmas day. Christians mark the birth of Jesus Christ on this holiday. There are many traditions surrounding Christmas, both ancient and modern. We hear about Christmas in two very different places: Middleburg, a small town in the state of Virginia and Xitan, China, which has come to be known as "Christmas village."
   The first place we’d like to introduce is Middleburg, Virginia in the United States. Christmas is traditionally a time of gift-giving and family gatherings. But there are also performances, trees with lights and, of course, Santa Clause, the big man in a red suit. Small towns across the country have their own traditions.
   Middleburg is a town in an area known for its horses. Visitors can see horses pulling carriages with bells as people sing traditional Christmas songs. "On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." For more than 50 years, Middleburg has organized a yearly Christmas parade. Hunting on horseback is another tradition. Men and women ride horses through the woods and fields. They follow hunting dogs as they search for a wild fox. But first, these hunters ride in the yearly parade, wearing their bright red hunting clothes and hats. "Before we strike off here, I want to thank all of you for being here, and wish you all a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Middleburg Hunt." John Hale of Middleburg says many city people visit his town. "We have a lot of people from an urban area that come visit, but it incorporates a lot of the old traditions." The nighttime hay ride is one such tradition. Small groups gather under the moonlight on an open wagon filled with hay. The passengers sing as farm horses pull the wagon slowly across the fields.
   The second place is called Xitan, China. Christmas is a major event worldwide. In China, for example, there is a "Christmas Village," with many signs of the holiday. The village of Xitan, in Zhejiang province, has no snow. It looks far different than the colder, snow-covered lands of Northern Europe and North America. But last year, the village shipped around $100 million in colorful ornaments and decorations to places as far away as Europe, the United States and Brazil. Wang Lianming is the head of one of Xitan’s earliest Christmas decoration companies, Ruian D-Bright Arts and Crafts. He says that although overseas buyers are still the village’s main customers, that is changing. He says that Christmas was once a completely foreign holiday. But, in recent years, he says, celebrations of Christmas have grown and so has sales of ornaments. Before D-Bright started producing hand-made Christmas ornaments, they made Disco Balls. They still do. Like many other factories here, the company is expanding to make products for other Western holidays, even Halloween. In Xitan, there are 40 larger factories and about 200 smaller workshops. Some employees travel from far away to work in the village.