Ramadan

 

(http://www.holidays.net/ramadan/ )

 

· The Muslim holiday of Ramadan sometimes falls in December, but that only happens approximately two consecutive years out of every twenty-four.  This is because Ramadan, like other Muslim holidays, is calculated based on a lunar calendar that is 11-12 days shorter than a solar calendar.

· Ramadan is marked by a month of fasting and prayers during daylight hours, in order to achieve spiritual purification.

Eid is a three-day festival held at the end of Ramadan, and is the traditional way to break the fast and commemorate the month-long struggle to achieve a higher spiritual state.

Kwanzaa

 

(http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org )

 

· Is an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated from December 26 through January 1 to commemorate the first harvest celebration.

Kwanzaa is intended as a time to strengthen the bonds between families and friends; to give thanks to the creator for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation; to commemorate the lessons and role models of the past; to recommit to African cultural ideals; to reaffirm a common identity, purpose and direction as a people and a world community; and to celebrate and give thanks for all that is good in life.

Chanukah

 

(http://www.chabad.org/holidays/ )

 

· The ‘Festival of Light’ celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materialism.

· This year Chanukah will be celebrated from December 21 – December 29.  The date of Chanukah varies slightly from year to year.

Chanukah is celebrated by lighting a candle in the menorah each evening, eating specific foods to mark the holiday, playing traditional games, and giving small gifts or money to children.

Christmas

 

(http://www.howstuffworks.com/christmas.htm )

 

· Christmas originated as a religious holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ, but now has extensive secular traditions such as Santa Claus, egg nog and gift-giving.

· Christmas is celebrated on December 25, and since 1870 it has been observed as a federal holiday.

· Christmas originated as the Feast of the Nativity, and was designed by Christian church leaders to be a holiday to rival the pagan celebrations that traditionally occurred on or around the Winter Solstice.

· Religious puritans disapproved of the hedonistic excess of early Christmas celebrations and considered the holiday blasphemous. Oliver Cromwell went so far as to cancel Christmas when he seized control of England in 1645.  Puritans in the American colonies agreed, outlawing Christmas celebrations in Boston from 1659 though 1681.

Christmas trees became popular in the United States and England after Queen Victoria's German husband, Prince Albert, set one up in Windsor Castle in 1846.

Winter Solstice

 

(http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm )

 

· The Winter Solstice occurs on or about December 21 and marks the shortest day of the year, with the least amount of sunlight.

· Solstice is a celebration of life and light returning to the world, because each day after the solstice is longer and brighter.  The return of light and life after a growing period of cold and darkness is symbolic of the birth/death/rebirth cycle and the Pagan or Wiccan wheel of life.

· The Wiccan holiday of Yule is celebrated on the Winter Solstice, and is one of eight sabbat rituals held throughout the year.

The Yule log is one of the few remaining traditions of the Pagan celebration of Yule or Solstice, and it is decorated with fruit and nuts in appreciation of the harvest.