Once the year reaches December, there is an inescapable reminder that the holidays are approaching.
Long shopping lines, family feasts, decorated houses and holiday television specials appearing on seemingly every channel flood the mind as soon as the weather outside begins to feel a lot like winter.
Yet, the true meaning of the holidays surpasses the superficial thoughts that rush into the minds of many. Beyond the shopping, feasts, decorations and television shows is a series of celebrations commemorating the history of one culture after the next.
Whether Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, each holiday emerges from a different origin that enhances a cultural element not found during any other month of the year.
Today, it is believed that Christmas began more than 2,000 years ago to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Dec. 25.
Indicated by www.christianity.about.com, the story of Christmas can be paraphrased from the New Testament Books of Matthew and Luke in the Bible.
When the Virgin Mary was living in the small town of Nazareth, an angel came to visit, telling her that she would bear a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She was instructed to give birth to this child and name him Jesus.
At the time, Mary was engaged to Joseph, a carpenter, and she grew concerned about the angel’s words and her responsibility to bear the Son of God.
The angel listened to her distress and assured Mary that “nothing is impossible with God.”
After their marriage, Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, finding it to be crowded with people paying their taxes.
An innkeeper loaned them an animal stable for shelter, where hours later, Jesus was born.
Yet, while this story is seen as a popular telling of the origin of Christmas, according to www.historyofchristmas.net, the holiday began thousands of years before the birth of Christ.
Instead, it roots from a Mesopotamian new year celebration called Zagmuth. Honoring the Mesopotamian chief god Marduk, the 12-day festival celebrated the believed battle he fought against monsters at the start of every winter.
It is from this tradition that birthed the concept of the 12 days of Christmas.
Similarly, the customs of decorating homes and exchanging gifts dates back to a holiday in history celebrated by the Romans during their winter solstice in the middle of December through the first of January.
Worshipping the Roman god Saturn, the god of peace, the Romans believed exchanging gifts with family and neighbors was an act to promote good luck for the year.
Alongside the celebration of Christmas, the end of the year welcomes the tradition of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah or the Festival of Lights.
Celebrated for eight days and nights, Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev recorded on the Hebrew calendar, which measures dates based on a lunisolar schedule that approximates the tropical year. As a result, the holiday may occur from late November until December.
Hanukkah, as claimed by www.history.com, salutes the revolt of the Maccabees, in which the Jews recaptured the Holy Temple in Jerusalem against the Hellenist Syrians in the second century B.C.E.
In 168 B.C.E. after the Greeks seized the Holy Temple, many Jews were under a new power that outlawed their own rituals and forced them into worshipping and devoting themselves to Greek gods.
While some were afraid of the overbearing authority of the Greek soldiers, others fought back and began to assemble in attack groups to combat the oppressive forces.
In a rebellion led by Judah Maccabee against the Syrian Greek King Antiochus, the Holy Temple was liberated and reclaimed by the Jews.
To celebrate the recapturing of the temple, the Maccabees found a small flask with enough olive oil to light a single candle on the golden, eight-branched menorah for one day.
Miraculously, the candle burned for eight days and gave the Jews enough time to find more oil for the candles on the remaining branches of the menorah.
Every year, to celebrate the miracle and freedom won by the Maccabees, Jews celebrate by lighting the candles in a menorah once every night.
While the holidays may trace back to religious origins, their history also channels into other cultural aspects.
Kwanzaa, a nonreligious holiday, was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor and chairman of black studies at Cal State-Long Beach.
According to www.theholidayspot.com, after witnessing the 1965 Watts Riots in Los Angeles, stemming from a record of police brutality, job and housing discrimination and other racial injustices felt by African-Americans, Dr. Karenga felt that unification was needed.
Karenga believed it was time for African-Americans to come together in an annual celebration to honor the goodness of life on both spiritual and festive levels.
As a seven-day commemoration beginning on Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, Kwanzaa urges the practice of seven guiding principles from the African culture of unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, personal goals, creative energy and faith.
Each night, the families gather as a child lights a candle on the Kinara, a candleholder, while one of the principles is explored, according to www.history.com.
Whether spending the last remaining months of the year around an Evergreen tree, menorah or Kinara, the holidays awaken a feeling felt by each celebrant of every culture: an appreciation for existence and life.
Contact Asia Camagong at acamagong.advocate@gmail.com
Joy to the world
Holidays branch from diverse pasts
Published: Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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