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 (or Kwanzaa)

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!