Holidays

Holiday Origins

Sabrina Liu

Christmas

Christmas, as suggested in the name, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ which is observed by, well, Christians and almost everybody else. But where exactly did the fat old man and the tree and the presents come from?

While the aspects about Jesus come from the Bible, most other parts of this celebration are pagan, or non-Christian, in origin. The festive spirit of Christmas reflects the feasting and rejoicing that were often taking place around the winter solstice, such as Yule log burning in Norway and Saturnalia in Rome. According to History.com, the date December 25 comes from the Roman celebration of the birth of Mithra, the god of the sun.

As early as the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church combined these elements together into what we know today as Christmas. Interestingly, the Puritans in Boston outlawed Christmas or any display of Christmas spirit. Due to its pagan origins and lack of support in the Bible (why would shepherds be in the fields with their sheep in the middle of winter?), Puritans believed that this was not a legitimate celebration.

As time progressed, additional traditions have been added to the celebration of Christmas, such as Queen Victoria’s tree in 1841 and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer in 1939. On Queen Victoria’s tree, they used candles (fire hazard!) on their tree to represent stars. Later on, these candles became artificial lights most commonly used today.

Lastly, where did that rotund guy in a red suit come from? According to stnicholascenter.org, St. Nicholas was a bishop who was known for his generosity and love of giving, which explains his relevance in Christmas celebrations.

Kwanzaa

In 1966, amid the chaos and violence of the Civil Rights Era, one Dr. Maulana Karenga at the University of California searched for a way to unite the African American community (History.com). Thus began the celebration of Kwanzaa, which is a combination of several African festivals during the harvest season. Kwanzaa means “first fruits” in Swahili.

Kwanzaa lasts seven days and involves hearty meals shared by families and African dances, music, poetry, and storytelling. Dr. Karenga also created the Nguzo Saba, a set of seven values that are celebrated each day during Kwanzaa. These ideals include unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each day also has its own symbol and traditions associated with it. On the seventh day, for example, families celebrate Imani, or faith, by giving each other gifts.

Hanukkah (or Chanukkah)

This holiday is celebrated by Jews and is also known as the “festival of lights,” starring menorahs and dreidels. As the story goes, according to chabad.org, when the Jews reclaimed their Holy Land from the Greeks in the second century, they discovered a menorah and only a small amount of oil that had not been “contaminated” by the Greeks. They lit the menorah and the oil miraculously lasted eight nights until some more oil could be purified.

In the present day, Jewish families commemorate this event by lighting one candle on the menorah each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. The lighting of the candle is accompanied by jelly-filled doughnuts, songs, prayers, blessings, and gifts (or gelt, gifts of money). The dreidel’s four sides have one letter each, nun, gimmel, hei, and shin. These four letters stand for “nes gadol hayah sham,” meaning “a great miracle happened here”. Usually, each individual chooses a letter, and if the dreidel lands on their letter, they get a pot of coins or money.

Interestingly, according to jewfaq.com, the story behind Hanukkah is actually related from the book of Maccabees, which Jews do not accept as scripture. This holiday’s religious significance is less than that of Rosh Hashanah but approximately the same as Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating the events of Queen Esther’s life.