Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, holiday travel: 5 things you need to know Thursday

Editors, USA TODAY

Warning: Driving Thursday evening may dampen your holiday cheer

More Americans – 4.3 million more! – are traveling for the holidays than last year, according to the American Automobile Association. The bad news: Traffic jams are expected to peak on Dec. 26 from about 4 to 6 p.m., when major cities like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., could see delays anywhere between 1.6 and 3 times longer than usual travel times. Seattle, Boston and Houston will see the worst of it on Dec. 27. The good news: Gas prices are expected to continue to drop this month, AAA says.

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Get something you don't love? Thursday is a huge day for making returns

If you received a holiday gift you'd like to return, you're not alone. This year, 77% of consumers plan to return some of their gifts and nearly 20% expect to return more than half, according to a survey of 15,800 consumers by Oracle, an online retail platform. Returns have become so common during the holiday season that UPS has named a National Returns Day — a January date after the December gift-giving glut when shoppers return their unwanted presents. Nervous about dealing with crowds, or packaging? These return tips will make returning packages a breeze.

It's the first day of Kwanzaa!

Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration of African and African American culture that begins Thursday and ends Jan. 1, was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga. The holiday is based on African agricultural celebrations of the first harvest. A different value is celebrated on each of seven nights, marked by lighting candles on a holder called a kinara – three red candles, three green and a black candle at the center. The seven values are: Umoja, or Unity; Kujichagulia, or Self-Determination; Ujima, or Collective Work and Responsibility; Ujamaa, or Cooperative Economics; Nia, or Purpose. Kuumba, or Creativity; and, Imani, or Faith. During Kwanzaa, children are often given books and heritage symbols as gifts in exchange for making and keeping commitments and to stress the importance of knowledge.

Stock market resumes trading after Christmas

The U.S. stock market was closed on Christmas but will resume normal trading hours on Thursday. Experts have predicted that the stock market will rise during the final days of 2019 into early next year – an event known as the Santa Claus rally. Since 1969, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has averaged a gain of 1.3% over a seven-day "Santa Claus rally" period that includes the last five trading sessions of the year and the first two trading days of the new year, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. “It looks like Santa Claus is coming back to town this year,” says Jeffrey Hirsch, editor of the Stock Trader’s Almanac. “The market is firing on all cylinders.”

Boxing Day holiday in several countries (not America though)

Thursday, the day after Christmas, is Boxing Day, recognized as an official holiday in Canada and the United Kingdom. Much like the Friday after Thanksgiving in the U.S., Boxing Day has turned into a major shopping extravaganza in the countries where it is marked. The custom arose because servants, who would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, were allowed to visit their families the next day and employers would give them boxes to take home containing gifts, bonuses and, sometimes, leftover food. So while you may have to go back to work ... your Canadian and British counterparts may be getting another day off!

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and holiday travel: 5 things to know Thursday