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From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, a number of holidays are celebrating by people of different faiths and traditions, making this a special time of year, in the United States and around the world.
Think about it for a second. After Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, there’s something for just about everyone every week. (Thanks to time.com for compiling the list.)
That started with St. Nicholas Day, also known as the Feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 5 or 6), when Christians honor the birthday of St. Nicholas – the inspiration behind Santa Claus.
Another church celebration is on Immaculate Conception Day (Dec. 8), when primarily Catholics honor the Virgin Mary, who the faithful believe was born without original sin.
Buddhists meditate on Bodhi Day (Dec. 8), also known as Rohatsu. This tradition honors the day in which the Buddha – Siddartha Gautauma – is said to have achieved his enlightenment.
On the Feast Day of Our Lady Guadalupe (Dec. 12), Mexicans and Mexican-Americans celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. Coverage of this month’s event in Andrews is on page 9A in this edition of the Cherokee Scout.
The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah (Dec. 18-26) is well known even to Christians and atheists. The ritual symbolizes how one day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for eight days during a victorious battle between a small group of Jews and the powerful Greek-Syrian army in 165 B.C.
Wiccans and neo-pagans – I’m honestly not sure what the latter term means – celebrate the winter solstice (Dec. 21) through the festival of Yule. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, while Yule celebrates the re-emergence of the sun and the days beginning to grow longer again. Yule – and its Yule log – became associated with Christmas in the ninth century.
Christians celebrate Christmas (Dec. 25) largely to commemorate the birth of Jesus. However, the day has also been adopted as a family holiday by people of all faiths. It’s marked by an exchange of gifts and excitement for the arrival of Santa.
Boxing Day (Dec. 26) is a British tradition on the day after Christmas that dates back to the 1800s. The holiday has evolved since then into a more commercial occasion for gift-giving in Canada.
The week-long and often misunderstood holiday of Kwanzaa (Dec. 26-Jan. 1) honors African-American heritage. It’s a cultural holiday, as opposed to a religious one.
Then there’s New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31), which is met with anticipation around the world. People party, set off fireworks, set resolutions and count down to midnight to welcome in new beginnings.
For many of those folks, New Year’s Day (Jan. 1) is primarily spent recovering from a hangover caused by too much revelry the night before. Fortunately for them, it’s a national holiday, so many people don’t have to go to work.
With all that said, why do some people seem to feel personally insulted when seeing or hearing the nonsectarian phrase, “Happy holidays?”
My personal faith celebrates the birth of Jesus the Christ in December. However, since some churches don’t observe Christmas for theological reasons, and others celebrate the holiday for secular ones, you can’t really call it a nationally universal Christian holiday.
That’s certainly their right, at least as long as America remains a free religious nation under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Yet, based on some media’s ramblings that there’s a so-called “War on Christmas,” you’d think a Leftist Calvary Brigade of sorts was showing up at church doors ready to open fire on innocent worshippers.
Put me in the category of people who would rather we all smile in love and get along in peace, rather than rail on somebody for doing something we may not like. It’s the holiday season, and I’m pretty happy about it, so saying that doesn’t bother this believer a bit.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on X @daviddBstroh.