Cold and snowy days, long nights, colorful lights, festivals, parties and shopping can only signify one thing- the holiday season. With hundreds of different celebrations throughout the world, December is the official month of holidays. Here in the West most people decorate trees and give each other gifts to commemorate the birth of Christ. But many people don't know where the tradition originated or what the other major holidays around the world are.



It started with the sun

Originally the month of December marked a hard and difficult time for people. With the harvest season officially over and winter quickly approaching, people living in northern latitudes had to live off whatever food they had stored and any animals they were able to hunt. Not only did they have this to deal with, but on top of that, the sun got lower and lower in the sky during this time and the days got shorter. People feared that the sun would disappear and leave them in a permanent state of cold and darkness.

However, after the winter solstice which occurs on December 21, they noticed that the days started getting longer and the sun went higher in the sky. This, of course, was reason to celebrate. Granted, there was still many months of winter ahead, but this event reassured everybody that the coming of spring was inevitable and only a matter of time.

Throughout the world and across many different religions and belief systems people had their own ceremonies and traditions to celebrate the solstice. Candles were lit, trees were decorated, people gave thanks, sang songs and said prayers.

Christmas

The Christmas holiday, which many people around the world celebrate today, is closely linked to the solstice celebration. In the 4th century, many Christians wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ, however there was no official record of the date of his birth. Also at that time the Roman Emperor was trying to make Christianity the official religion, so December 25 seemed like the perfect time because many Romans were already celebrating the solstice. With the conversion to Christianity, people could keep their festivities and traditions, but instead of celebrating the sun, they now celebrated the birth of Christ.

Other then the time of the celebration, there are many other traditions that have made their way from Ancient Rome to modern times. Decorating trees with lights and ornaments, holly, ivy, mistletoe, the Yule log, giving gifts, and magical reindeer are all traditions that are associated with the Ancient Romans.

Additionally we have also come up with new ways and new traditions to celebrate Christmas. Santa Claus is a popular figure amongst children throughout the world. In many countries, Santa Claus comes down your chimney and gives presents to good children and lumps of coal to bad children. In other places children put their shoes out at night and "Father Christmas" comes and fills them with presents. But no matter how you celebrate Christmas now, if it wasn't for our ancient ancestors, it would be a very different holiday.

Hanukkah

Hanukkah is another celebration of light. This is a Jewish tradition that occurs for eight days during December. It commemorates the war fought by the Maccabees for religious freedom. When they returned to their temple, they only had enough oil to last one day. However, the oil ended up burning for eight days.

Today, modern Jews celebrate this holiday by lighting a menorah every day for eight days. There are nine spaces in the menorah, the center one being where they keep the "lighter" candle that lights the others. Each day, they light one more candle, until finally on the last day, all nine candles are glowing brightly.

Nowadays Hanukkah is a much bigger celebration then it used to be. Mainly because of the popularity of Christmas, this holiday has grown in importance, especially for children. In addition to lighting the menorah, every day for eight days, the children receive a gift from their parents. Other festivities include building a Hanukkah House, playing with dradles, singing songs, baking cookies and decorating the house with silver and blue.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is an African holiday celebrated by millions of people throughout the world with African roots. It's a celebration of culture and tradition that speaks to what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. It was created in 1966 by a professor of African studies at California State University and was intended to be a cultural holiday rather than a religious one. In that sense anyone can celebrate the holiday, no matter what their faith.

Kwanzaa is celebrated for one week from December 26 to January 1. Each of the seven days of the celebration is based on one of the seven principles which are Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith.

During Kwanzaa people decorate their homes with the African colors black, red and green. They put out traditional African symbols such as African baskets, cloth patterns, art objects and harvest symbols. People greet each other using Swahili, saying "Habari gani?" The answer is one of the seven principles- whichever one is the focus of that day's festivities.

Gifts are given only to children. But every gift must include a book and some sort of heritage symbol. The book emphasizes the African value of learning and the heritage symbol is to reinforce the African commitment to tradition and history.

Of course, there are countless other festivals and celebrations going on in every country around the world at this time of year. No matter where you live or what your faith, there's sure to be some sort of holiday or celebration associated with the change of seasons. So have fun, be merry and Happy Holidays!