As the seasons change and the weather turns from clear skies to nasty rainstorms and cold wind – typical Oregon, we all sigh in unison – we start looking forward to Winter Break and, inevitably, Christmas. Stores start decorating for the jolly season earlier every year, and radios loop the same carols for hours on end, which could drive anyone insane.
Christmas cannot be escaped once it arrives, and it lingers for a long, long time, meaning we don’t always pay attention to other traditions at this time.
Hanukkah, for example, happens to overlap with Christmas Day this year, beginning the evening of Dec. 25 and ending on Jan. 2. Observed for eight days and nights, Hanukkah celebrates the recovery of Jerusalem. The length of the holiday and the candles on the menorah, which is a multi-branched candelabra, symbolize the eight days that just one jar of oil was able to keep lamps within the Second Temple in Jerusalem lit.
For a better look at the traditions that Hanukkah upholds, The Wolf asked Tualatin High School junior Ben Oronsky about how his family spends the holiday.
“We celebrate by lighting the candles each night and eating oily foods,” Oronsky said. “I love lighting the candles and saying the blessings with my family.”
Even earlier than that – on Dec. 6, to be exact – is Sinterklaas, the Dutch holiday celebrating Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. It’s very similar to Christmas in that people give gifts to others they care about, but there are many stark differences as well. For example, Sinterklaas’s helper, Zwarte Piet, will beat you with sticks or ship you to Spain if you’re naughty. Festivities start in mid-November, also like Christmas in the U.S., and on Dec. 5, which is Saint Nicholas’ Eve, children leave one of their shoes by the fireplace with carrots or hay for Sinterklaas’s horse. They get presents the next day.
My family celebrates a super Americanized version of the holiday, given our main focus is usually Christmas, trading the traditional clogs for someone’s sneakers and the big gifts for socks or candy. I still enjoy this opportunity to connect with my heritage, even if the carrots go to my dog at the end of the night.
Also coinciding with Christmas is Kwanzaa, which celebrates African-American culture and heritage. It lasts seven days, starting Dec. 26 and ending Jan. 1. There are seven different values to be celebrated each day, the names of which are, in Swahili, Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith). The holiday was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga as a means of giving people of color a chance to celebrate themselves and their history, taking inspiration from First Fruits festivals in South Africa.
There’s also a surplus of traditions during New Year’s Eve, which is just as important as the holidays that precede it. Eating lucky food is prevalent in almost every culture – 12 grapes in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, 12 spoonfuls of lentils in Italy, pancakes for the French and marzipan pigs for Germany. In Russia, the year starts after 12 seconds of silence, while in Denmark, it’s spent jumping off a chair or couch. Other traditions involve cleaning the house or even throwing old furniture out the window (South Africa).
To sum things up, Christmas is great and all, but during this season of giving, keep your friends with other traditions in mind. The weather is especially cold this time of year, so you wouldn’t want to be kicked out of someone’s house for being insensitive.
