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Too
early for the holidays?
Por
Sonata Kogan
@ Two
weeks ago my husband and I stopped by CVS to buy a few things.
As we walked through the aisles we noticed that Christmas
decorations were already being sold. It wasn't even Halloween,
and they were stocking on Christmas decorations!!! Furthermore,
two days ago we noticed that the downtown square of the
city of Decatur was not only selling Christmas decorations,
but they already had theirs up on all the light posts!
I
thought that Christmas decorations are not supposed to go
up at least until the day after Thanksgiving? When did decorating
for the holidays become an event that we began to prepare
for in October. I know that there are those interesting
people who own all-year-round Christmas stores, and of course
with no exception I know people that shop for Christmas
all-year-round. In a way I think that it is smart to be
prepared, and not have to go through all stress two weeks
before Christmas, but I sort of like the stress.
In fact I love sitting in front of the TV and watching really
cheesy Christmas movies, and wrapping all the great gifts
that I got for my family and friends. I think that is half
the fun of Christmas. Even though every year at the end
of it all I always feel that I could have been more creative
with my gift choosing, and perhaps if I had decided what
to get everyone earlier I could have afforded to get them
what I really wanted, instead of having to watch the price.
I have a feeling, though, that everyone goes through that
thought process, as well.
Well, this year I decided that while I would keep my traditional
slacker gift buying habits, and do the exact same thing
I do every year, I will also do something different with
my time before the holidays. As opposed to telling everyone
I know over and over again how astonished I am that the
big corporations are selling Christmas stock so early and
shoving down the throats of consumers, instead I will learn
about the other holidays celebrated by other religions in
America, which have nothing to do with Christmas and tell
you all about it, in case you are also so over the "
let's bring Christmas as early as possible" phenomenon.
I would like to begin by first looking at the definition
of a holiday. In the Webster's dictionary there are two
given definitions for the word: 1) A day in which one is
exempt from work; specifically: a day marked by a general
suspension of work in commemoration of an event; 2) In England
it is also referred to as a period of relaxation or vacation.
However, in the English language we use the word to signify
a day that is important and with special value to either
our family, community, or religion.
Now most of us know that the other two most celebrated Holidays
in America during the winter season are Chanukah and Kwanzaa.
Chanukah, which by the way has various different spellings,
such as Hannukah, Hanukkah, Chanukah, and any other way
that sounds similar to the actual word but they all refer
to the same holiday.The celebration of Channukah began approximately
2,000 years ago during the reign of Alexander the Great.
During a period in history when the Greeks ruled most of
the Middle East and Europe. Alexander allowed the countries
that he conquered to retain the practice of their own religions,
during which time many Jewish people assimilated in a very
similar way that they have begun in America today.
However, a century after Alexander's reign the ruler Antiochus
IV practiced his power in a very different way. He began
to oppress the Jewish people and took their Holy Temple
from them. He desecrated the Temple by demanding that the
sacrifices be made by Hellenistic priests instead of the
Jewish High Priests, with forbidden animals to the Jewish
faith. Both of these acts were extremely disrespectful towards
the Jewish people. Two groups of Jewish people, one of which
was led by Judah the Maccabees, rebelled against the Greek
government and began a revolt to regain back their Temple.
On the 25th day of Kislev, which is the third month of the
year in the Jewish calendar, the Temple was rededicated.
According to tradition at time of the re- dedication there
was very little oil left in the Temple that had not been
defiled by the Greeks. Oil was used to light the candelabrum
(also called the Menorah in Hebrew) in the Temple. It was
customary that the oil in the candelabrum was to burn throughout
the night every night, but there was only enough oil to
burn for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight
straight days, and an eight day festival was declared to
commemorate this miracle of the burning oil.
Thus, Jewish people celebrate Chanukah as the festival of
lights, and it is customary to light the menorah which has
eight positions for candles, sometimes a menorah can have
nine positions. In addition it is also customary to eat
foods that are oily and sweet, and to play games while spending
time with your family, such as dreidel. In its original
celebration Chanukah has nothing to do with gift giving
nor decorating. In fact it has mostly become customary in
America to give gifts during Chanukah and decorate ones
home. With that said, you now know that Chanukah is nothing
like a Jewish-Christmas, but has become the associated holiday
for many Americans as such because the holidays are so close
together.
Kwanzaa is primarily celebrated by the African American
community. This celebration was founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana
Karenga in opposition to the commercialized celebration
of Christmas. It is a holiday that is meant to focus on
the African values of life. There are seven principles which
this holiday celebrates: unity, creativity, family, community,
responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement. Kwanzaa
is not a religious or political holiday, nor is it supposed
to be a substitution for Christmas. Its main celebration
is to reaffirm to African-Americans their ancestors and
culture and to connect with their communities.
By definition Kwanzaa means " first" in Ki Swahili
which is spoken in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It is celebrated
from December 26th to January 1st, with various customs
such lighting a Kinara, this looks similar to a menorah
but only has seven candle placements to celebrate the secen
principles which Kwanzaa is founded upon. The candles used
to light the Kinara are to be one black, three red, and
three green, to signify the colors of Africa, this is called
the Mishumaa saba. The other four customs of Kwanzaa, are
to have a Mkeka which is a placement mat preferably made
of straw. Mazao which is there to signify the first crop
often symbolized by having ears of corn strategically placed
in the home, often the number of ears are counted by the
amount of children in a household. Kikombe cha umoja is
a cup which is used to pour libations in to commemorate
the ancestors and signify community and unity. Finally Zawadi
are the gifts that are usually exchanged between parents
and children, it is important that these gifts be educational
and enriching. This holiday is currently celebrated by 18
million people around the world, as reported in the New
York Times.
May you have a happy, fun, and enriching holiday season,
no matter what holiday you celebrate !!!
sonata@revistaelite.com
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