The holiday season is a good time to reflect on the past year and think about how we can make next year even better. I enjoy that the holiday season seems to include almost everyone. Of course, most of our neighbors will be happy with a Merry Christmas, as Christmas has become to many an all-American holiday. Some may regret though that it may have lost focus of its Christian origins and become too commercial. The Eastern Orthodox church also celebrates Christmas, but not until Jan. 7. It is a national holiday then in many countries in Eastern Europe, including Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Georgia and Kazakhstan. Don’t be surprised if some of your neighbors with roots from that part of the world are celebrating the birth of Christ a few weeks later than most do locally.
Of course there are many other holidays celebrated in this season. Perhaps the two best known are Channukah and Kwanzaa. Channukah celebrates a victory in 164 BCE liberating Jewish lands and people from the Seleucid Empire and thus is a celebration of freedom. Kwanzaa began in 1966 to help unite the African American community following the Watts Rebellion in Los Angeles. It is a cultural holiday, and is now celebrated from December 26 to January 1 by millions of people. Another important holiday for many in the Mexican American community celebrates the appearance of the Virgin Mary in Mexico on December 12, 1531. This is an important religious holiday, with the nonsecular part of its celebration a bit similar to Thanksgiving, with a lot of great food!
Many other religions and cultures also have much to celebrate in December. Bodhi Day occurs on December 8, commemorating the day that Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment, and is celebrated by Buddhists quietly. Hindus have several December holidays and festivals, including the major worship day Vaikuntha Ekadashi. Islam follows a different calendar, so its major holidays do not necessarily occur in December as its holiday dates shift. This upcoming year, Ramadan, celebrated as the holy month of fasting, starts on February 16.
Not really a holiday, but a day that brightens this month for me, is winter solstice. On December 21, the days began to turn longer. Time to start thinking about spring again! We will soon be celebrating the beginning of the new year, which seems to me to be mostly about a party, a lot of excellent football, and many chicken wings. All good things. Some folks may even celebrate Festivus, a “holiday” gaining in popularity since its introduction on an episode of Seinfeld back in 1997. This holiday was invented as an alternative to the commercialism of the holiday season, with the Seinfeld characters sharing a very basic meal of meat loaf served on a bed of lettuce. While certainly this episode’s celebration of Festivus was a satire, perhaps it does give us food for thought of how commercial our important celebrations have become. Whatever you celebrate during this season, enjoy! Best wishes for the new year!
