The History Behind the Holidays

"The History Behind the Holidays", December 20 2008

This is one of the times of year where there are many different holidays occurring at once, and in order to not cause offense to any one group of people they are all lumped together. Some of the observances that happen at this time of year are more popular and famous than others, but all of them have meaning to those who celebrate, so read on! I've included six different practices (some religious and some not), so there is lots to learn about!

Christmas
For a Christian, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. As told by Luke and Matthew in their gospels, Caesar Augustus demanded that all people pay taxes in their place of birth. Joseph and his very pregnant wife Mary made the journey to Bethlehem to pay their taxes as the law decreed. Because many others were in the city for the same purpose, there was nowhere for them to stay; but thankfully a kind innkeeper allowed them to stay in his stable. Jesus was born, there and laid in a manger. He was then visited by Three Wise Men, who gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, the actual date and year of birth are very much contested due to several reasons, to this day. This makes one wonder how Christmas came to be celebrated on this day. December 25th was previously a pagan holiday, celebrating the birth of Mithra, a sun-god. The Romans (who often absorbed many of the traditions of the civilizations in their empire) turned this into a worship of Saturn, the sun god. The holiday would begin the week previous to December 25th, and was known as Saturnalia. Feasting, gift-giving and singing were among the ways people would celebrate. Variations of this holiday remained for a few centuries until 336 when the Emperor Constantine converted the pagan holiday to the Christian celebration of Christmas. Since then, the religious significance of Christmas has not changed overly much.

Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a non-religious holiday that was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. The celebration is held from December 26th to January 1st every year. Karenga wanted to devise a way to promote community amongst African-Americans following the Watts Riots of 1965. Karenga combined the “first fruit” (harvest) practices of the Ashanti, Zulu and Swahili to form the basis of Kwanzaa. The name Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", meaning first fruits. Kwanzaa is a very individualistic celebration, with different groups, families and individuals celebrating in different ways. However, all people light a candle in the Kinara, and discuss one of the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa each evening. The Nguzo Saba (seven principles in Swahili) are values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African-Americans.

Hanukkah
The celebration of Hanukkah goes back more than 2000 years, to the time when Antiochus (the Greek King of Syria) outlawed Judaism and ordered Jewish people to convert to the Hellenic religion. Many Jews were upset by this and rebelled. Judah Maccabee and his brothers, sons of the priest Mattathias were particularly abhorred by this assimilation, and are known as the Maccabees. After a series of skirmishes between the Maccabees and Greeks, the Jewish Temple and much of its contents were vandalized, including their golden Menorah. After cleaning and repairing the temple, the Maccabees wanted to have a dedication ceremony, and light the menorah. This ceremony was to be held on 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is sometime in November to December in the Gregorian calendar). After much searching, the Maccabees could only find a small amount of oil, which was only supposed to last for one day. Miraculously, however, the oil somehow lasted for eight days. Today Jews light the menorah for eight days to commemorate this feat. In Hebrew, "Hanukkah" means "dedication." Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights, as named by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the First Century. Hanukkah is especially important in the post-Holocaust age as it represents the tenacity of the Jewish faith over enormous odds. Hanukkah begins this year at sundown on Sunday December 21st.

Festivus
December 18 1997 was the day that first brought Festivus into common knowledge through the show Seinfeld. The observance is celebrated on December 23. Frank Costanza created the holiday when George was a child, in response to the over-commercialization of Christmas. The Festivus Pole is a non-adorned pole made out of aluminum, which is in direct opposition to the very commercialized Christmas tree. All family members come together to eat the Festivus Dinner, and afterwards the Airing of Grievances occurs; which is when family members have the opportunity to tell each other how they have disappointed them over the last year. Finally, Festivus concludes with the Feats of Strength. The head of the household challenges any member at the Festivus Dinner to a wrestling match. Festivus is not officially considered over until the head of the household is pinned by the person they select. The first celebration of Festivus was actually in February 1966, the day Dan Deborah O’Keefe celebrated their first date. Their son Daniel was a writer for Seinfeld and thus introduced the name, and helped create the practice as depicted on Seinfeld. Since then, Festivus has evolved into a kind of cult holiday, with many kinds of consumer products being created for the event, such as ice cream, wine and books. Furthermore, people are using Festivus as a means of protest of other holidays at this time.

Yule
Yule is also known as the Winter Solstice. It is the longest night of the year, and also symbolizes the beginning of winter. Thankfully it also means that our days will start to get longer, meaning we will have more hours of daylight (yay!). Yule is described as a festival of the sun, which is why light is so important in the observance. Many aspects of the old Germanic traditions of Yule have been absorbed into Christmas traditions, such as with animals (doves, reindeer), trees (evergreens), plants (holly, mistletoe) and the Yule log, among others.

Christmas Part II
The non-religious celebration of Christmas primarily revolves around Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas is the basis for the Santa Claus mythology. Nicholas was a monk born in the Third Century, who was admired for his piety, righteousness and kindness. During the late 18th century, Dutch families celebrated the anniversary of the death of Sinter Klass (Saint Nicholar in Dutch), which is where the name Santa Claus is derived from. In the 19th century, Santa was still mostly depicted as Saint Nicholas, although he was changed from the original version, due in part to the 1822 Poem “The Night Before Christmas”. The American representations of Santa became standardized during the 1920’s, to what we know today: a bearded, overweight, jolly man wearing a red suit with a white trim. In 1931 Coca Cola began drawing Santa Claus in their advertisements, which still happens in the present, and which Coca Cola credits themselves to making non-religious celebrations of Christmas widespread. In contrast, Coke has also been accredited to both popularizing as well as demoralizing Christmas into the commercialized holiday it is today, making it coca-colonized, like many other aspects of contemporary popular culture. Perhaps second in popularity to a Santa is a certain misfit reindeer. In 1939, Rudolph was created and in 1949 the song about him was written and performed (with the additions we grew up with [like a light bulb!] being added much later). The movie about him (my personal favourite) first debuted in 1964. If you don’t believe in the religious story behind Christmas, you may be more inclined to celebrate this representation of Christmas, where gift-giving, eating, and times spent with family are revered.

Chrismukkah
Last, but certainly not least, is a most-recent observance on my list. Similar to Festivus, Christmukkah became popularized on December 3rd 2003 with the mention of it on The OC. As the name suggests, it is a fusion of the Jewish Hannukah and Christian Christmas. Seth Cohen (a character on The OC) describes it as eight days of presents, followed by one day of many presents (with a stress on the word “many”) in the episode “The Best Christmukkah Ever”. He claimed to have “invented” the holiday at the age of six, because he is the child of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. All humour aside, raising children in inter-faith families is often seen as very difficult. Husband and wife team Ron and Michelle Gompertz embraced the holiday, and have been accredited to popularizing it for a non-television watching audience.


No matter which of these you celebrate, Happy Holidays from the MacInsiders team!