Wintertime Embraces a Rich Heritage of Holiday Traditions

Chanukah / Hanukkah (Dec. 5-12)

This is an eight-day Festival of Lights celebrated by those who are Jewish. The dates change each year because it is based on the Hebrew calendar, which is based on the moon and not the sun.

On each day of this holiday, a new candle is lit in a menorah until they all are burning. It commemorates a time in the Temple in Jerusalem when barricaded Jews had only enough oil in the eternal flame to burn for one night – but the flame burned for eight.
The Miracle of the Oil is now a metaphor for the miraculous survival of the Jewish people. Today the family gathers together as the candles are lit and blessed, prayers are read and songs sung.

Traditional foods include fried potato pancakes called latkes and fried donuts filled with fruit. Gifts are given to children, sometimes in the form of small coins or gelt. Families often play with a four sided top called a dreidel that has letters in the Hebrew language painted on the sides. Some believe that the dreidel game stems from ancient times when the Jews were forbidden to study. The Greeks who ruled over them thought the Jews were gambling and didn’t realize they were really studying with the dreidel.

Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 or 22)

This holiday falls on the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere, it occurs in June. But here in California, it is the second of the Winter Holidays. In ancient times this date was extremely important, as the sunlight, which had grown shorter and shorter since the Fall Equinox, began to grow longer again.

Before electric light and store-bought foods, people didn’t always know if their villages were going to make it through the cold months of winter. Starvation and freezing was not uncommon. This was the time of year that weak cattle would be slaughtered so they didn’t have to be fed, making fresh meat available. The sun’s “return” was taken as a sign that the days would grow warm again and the crops would grow.

Cultures as far apart as the Nordic Saami, the Kalash of Pakistan, and the Incas celebrated this evening with–what else?–feasting and drinking! Today, some people still mark the Solstice as a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings.

Christmas/Yule (Dec. 25)

Many of the customs associated today with Christmas actually come from the much older holiday of Yule, for example, burning a Yule log in the fireplace, decorating a tree, eating ham, and hanging fir boughs, holly and mistletoe. In many countries, people build elaborate a crech or a Belén. These can be as simple as the figures of the Holy Family and a few animals or they can take up an entire room, preferably one with a large window so the neighbors can enjoy the panorama as well.

The figure of Father Christmas, who predates Santa Claus, was first recorded in the 15th century, but instead of being associated with children and gifts, he was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness! In Italy an old woman who flies through the air on a broom, La Bufana, brings the gifts to fill children’s shoes, and in Spain, the Three Kings or Wise Men leave the gifts. In several Latin American countries, Santa Claus makes the toys, but he gives them to the Baby Jesus, who gives them to good children. German immigrants introduced the tradition of the Christmas tree in the US in the 19th century.

Kwanzaa (Dec. 26-Jan. 1)

Kwanzaa was created by Maulana Karenga (formerly Ron Everett) in 1966 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement as a way to help African-Americans reconnect with their roots and community. The holiday celebrates seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each day, one of the seven candles in a candleholder called a kinara is lit and families discuss one of the principles. Households are decorated with art representing African heritage and fresh fruit. Children are given small gifts, always including a book and a symbol of their African heritage.

Twelfth Night (Jan. 5 or 6, depending on the country)

This is the end of the winter holiday season, and it is celebrated with feasting and drinking. A King’s Cake, an O-shaped pastry stuffed with marzipan, is baked with a pea and bean hidden inside. The people who get the pieces containing them are named the king and queen of the evening. In some places, a small figurine is also baked in the cake, and the person who gets that slice has to pay for the cake. It is believed by some to be the day that the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem bearing their gifts. In some places, this is when all holiday decorations were taken down to avoid bad luck in the new year.

(November-December, 2007)

<top of page>