Winter Holidays in America

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Winter Holidays in America
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Christmas
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Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrated on
December 24 (Christmas Eve) and December 25
(Christmas Day).It commemorates the birth of
Jesus Christ.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Kwanza (or Kwanzaa)
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Kwanza is observed each year from December 26 to
January 1.It is an African American holiday.
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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.
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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.
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Hanukkah or Chanukah
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Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday.
It is celebrated by lighting 9 candles over 8
nights.
menorah
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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
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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.
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A dreidel has 4 sides ? (Nun) ? (Gimel) ?
(Hey) ? (Shin) It is usually played with
coins, chips, or gelt (chocolate coins).
Collectively, these letters are interpreted as,
"a great miracle happened there."
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Playing Dreidel in ClassEverybody 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.
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? (Nun) None (take nothing) ? (Gimel) All
(take all the candy) ? (Hey) Half (take half
the candy rounded up) ? (Shin) put in (put in
one more piece of candy and take nothing)
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When you dont have a candy to put in, you are
out.When you have all the candy, you win!