People all over the world celebrate the holiday season in their own special ways. While Christmas is the most common amongst families and all, it is not the only way.
When it comes to holiday traditions, people celebrate in all kinds of fun and exploratory ways. Christmas movies, hot cocoa, and chocolate cookies are all just minor examples of these fun traditions.
Some do not even celebrate Christmas. Another popular holiday in the month of December is Hanukkah. Hanukkah is mainly a Jewish holiday. This year, it began on Dec. 7, and lasts up until the Dec. 15.
Hanukkah is a Jewish festival that reaffirms the ideals of Judaism and commemorates in particular the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the lighting of candles on each day of the festival. Although not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, Hanukkah came to be widely celebrated and remains one of the most popular Jewish religious observances.
Hanukkah is celebrated around the world, especially in places such as Israel. In Israel Hanukkah is a national holiday, and students present plays, sing holiday songs, and have parties. Schools are closed and menorahs are displayed atop such prominent buildings as Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
The reasoning behind Hanukkah lasting for eight days is quite interesting. Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after a small group called the Maccabees defeated the Greek Syrian army. During the battle, Jewish people only had enough oil to light the Temple’s menorah for one night, but the oil lasted for eight. This established the precedent that the festival should last eight days.
Hanukkah is celebrated in several ways. In addition to lighting each day one candle on the menorah, religious rituals can include daily reading of the Scripture, recitation of some of the Psalms, almsgiving, and singing of a special hymn. Some nonreligious customs of celebration are eating treats fried in oil (which recalls the miracle of the oil), giving children gifts of money (Hanukkah gelt), and playing a game with a four-sided top called a dreidel.
Jewish people also have eye-catching celebratory traditions, and playing dreidel is one. The four sides of a dreidel are each marked with a different letter—which, in German, are: G for “ganz” (all), H for “halb” (half), N for “nischt” (nothing) and S for “schict” (put)—and dictates whether the person who spun the top should take all, half, or none of the coins in the collective pot, or put their own in.
They also do things like give out Gelt, the Yiddish word for money! One of the earliest mentions of giving people during Hanukkah came in the 16th century, and referred to the Italian and Sefardic tradition of collecting money to buy or make clothing for poor pupils in the local schools. By the 19th century, Jews in Eastern Europe started giving coins directly to children in their family as Hanukkah gifts, in what was likely an interpretation of the earlier custom. Those who immigrated to America brought the tradition with them.
Another common religious holiday celebrated in the month of December is named Christmas. This holiday only lasts one day, yet it is filled with joy and presents and the happiness of gift-giving.
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on Dec. 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it follows the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast, and initiates the season of Christmastide.
Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season organized around it. A lot of who celebrate Christmas are Christians, where the name originates from, but that does not stop anyone nonreligious or other religion based to join in on the holiday fun.
The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (sometimes called Communion or Eucharist) is a gathering to commemorate the life and death of Jesus Christ. The ‘Christ-Mass’ service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at Midnight. So it got the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.
A lot of people have their own special holiday traditions, like freshman Brynlee Jones, who says, “Usually for the holidays I just drive up to see family. We’ve been doing it since we moved.” Seeing family always brings warm smiles to faces. Just like the idea of Father Christmas coming to your home and bringing gifts!
The belief in Santa also comes along with cookie baking. Cookies are used to gift Santa a snack when he is dropping off gifts. Some even throw in a carrot for his reindeer to munch on. Junior Lola Kagestu says, “Dude, baking cookies is the best. Literally my favorite part.”
It’s safe to say the holidays are a great time to embrace new traditions and continue old ones. While that may be watching Christmas movies, giving gifts to your friends, or even just chilling out, it’s all your choice!
Movie marathons are another one of those big things people tend to associate with the winter season. Senior Annika Kim says, “I can’t pick a favorite Christmas movie. I just love binging those horrible hallmark Christmas movies over break. It’s a bad addiction.”
At these explanations, sophomore Jessica Lee says, “I’m always open to trying new things. Hanukkah seems like an awesome holiday to celebrate!” Hanukkah opens many new ways to celebrate your thankfulness you probably did not know about before. Christmas is also for all, even if it’s a Christian based holiday, does not make it closed off from anyone else who might want to celebrate it. The holidays bring many new options to your holiday traditions, or could even help you bring out old ones from many years before.
