The Joy of December Holidays
Kaelyn Bailey, 7th Voyager, News Show Director
Kwanzaa is a holiday that is celebrated through December 26 to January 1. It honors African American and pan-African culture. Kwanzaa goes on for seven days and each of those seven days has a specific principle.
The seven principles include unity, self determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Kwanzaa does not have a specific religion, it just honors culture.
Kwanzaa is celebrated by daily candle lighting, reflecting on the principles and a huge feast to end the celebration. During the candle lighting each night, they light a black candle to represent the people, a red candle to represent the struggle, and a green candle to represent the future.
Haunakkah is an eight day festival of lights from December 14 through December 22. It celebrates the return of the second temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt.
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that celebrates religious freedom and the triumph of the Jewish over oppression. To celebrate Hanukkah each day, families come together for dinner and place a new candle on the hakkiyah (candle holder).
The most popular tradition on Haunakkah is playing the dreidel game. It’s a spinning top made out of wood. Each side of the dreidel has a specific Hebrew letter. Whichever letter that the dreidel lands on, is the outcome of the round.
Christmas is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25. It is a christian holiday celebrated due to the birth of Jesus. On Christmas, families celebrate by opening presents under a christmas tree. Christmas is the most commonly celebrated holiday in December.
There is a belief that Santa Clause comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve, eats cookies, gives the children presents and fills the children’s stockings.
Families decorate their homes and spend time with family. One of the common traditions on Christmas are elves.
Elves are small dolls dressed in red or green. The elves supposedly fly from the north pole and hide in the children’s homes every morning until Christmas. Then when the children wake up every morning, they have the joy of finding the elf. Then every night, the elves fly back to the north pole, reporting to Santa whether the children were naughty or nice.
Las Posadas is a nine day Christian holiday celebrated from December 15 to December 24. Each night during Las Posadas they have a reenactment of Joseph and Mary’s search to Bethlehem.
Joseph and Mary are both played by children. Other children also participate as side actors. The adults carry candles and lanterns to follow the performance.
After the performance everyone goes into a house and has a big dinner. After everyone has finished eating they continue the festivities by hitting a seven pointed pinata.
