View
224
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
Winter Holidays in
America
Christmas
Christmas is a Christian holiday
celebrated on December 24
(Christmas Eve) and December 25 (Christmas Day).
It commemorates the birth of Jesus
Christ.
This story is probably familiar to most of you; however, you may not realize that many Christmas traditions come
from the pagan religions.
Paganism is a broad term for many ancient polytheistic religions. Some
pagan religions have very simple traditions and festivals. Paganism
can also refer to the religion of
witchcraft.
Some people think that Jesus was actually born sometime in September, but we celebrate Christmas on December 25 because that is the time of the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year),
which was a pagan festival.
The Romans called it Saturnalia, and the Babylonians called it The Feast of Isis.
Druids and Celts had winter festivals, too.
These parties were so fun that Christians
wanted their holiday to be more like them.
The evergreen was a symbol of many pagan religions as a sign of luck and fertility.
You will sometimes hear Christmas
referred to as Yule-time. Yule was an
ancient holiday devoted to the sun
god, Mithras.
Santa Claus is based on an actual Christian saint, Saint
Nicholas of Myra. Although he was known for gift-giving, he
wore the clothing of a bishop.
Cartoons and poetry have transformed him over the years
into Santa Claus as we know him.
Some people say that the red and white colors that Santa
wears were thought up by Coke in 1930. While this is probably
not entirely true, it was definitely a factor.
Kwanza is observed each year from
December 26 to January 1.
It is an African American holiday.
In addition to giving gifts, Kwanza is also a time to eat
fruit. Kwanza is linked to the festival of the first
harvest in Africa.
Similar to Hanukkah, Kwanza involves lighting
candles. In this case there are 7 (one for each
night).
Kwanza comes from a Swahili phrase meaning
“first fruits”.
Hanukkah or Chanukah
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday.
It is celebrated by lighting 9 candles over 8 nights.
menorah
Hanukkah commemorates a day around 175 BC during an invasion
by the Greco-Romans
After the battle, the Jews went back into their temple to find that they only had enough oil to light
the lantern to their God for 1 night. Miraculously, it burned for
8
The dreidel is a traditional Hanukkah toy and game. The Jews
were not allowed to study their religion under Greek rule, so they would hide in caves and read the
Torah. When they saw the Greeks approaching, they would start
playing with a dreidel instead and say they
were gambling.
A dreidel has 4 sides: (Nun) נ
(Gimel) ג (Hey) ה (Shin) ש
It is usually played with coins, chips, or gelt (chocolate coins). Collectively, these letters are interpreted as, "a
great miracle happened there."
Playing Dreidel in Class
Everybody will start with 1 package of candy.
Each round players put in 1 piece and 1 player spins the dreidel. (proceeding
clockwise)
When the dreidel lands on a side, that player takes an amount of candy determined by the symbol on it.
None” (take nothing)“ (Nun) נ
All” (take all the candy)“ (Gimel) ג
Half” (take half the candy“ (Hey) ה rounded up)
put in” (put in one more“ (Shin) ש piece of candy and take nothing)
When you don’t have a candy to put in, you are
out.
When you have all the candy, you win!
Recommended