History of the Holidays

1. HANUKKAH
Also known as the Festival of Lights, the Feast of Dedication, and the Feast of the Maccabbees, Hanukkah is the annual eight-day Jewish celebration that commemorates the successful victory against Syria and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple in 165 BCE.
This was preceded by years of guerilla warfare carried out by a band of Jewish outlaws rebelling against the overlord King of Syria, who had replaced Jewish rituals in the temple with the worship of Greek gods. The word “Hanukkah” in Hebrew means “dedication.”

2. THE MENORAH
On each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, a candle is lit on a Hanukkah menorah, a nine-branch candelabrum, in remembrance of a miracle that took place when the Jerusalem Temple was rededicated.
After achieving victory over the Syrian armies, the Jews found in the remains of the temple only one flask of oil, with enough oil to light the menorah for just one day - yet the lamp remained lit for eight days, giving time for oil to be found elsewhere.

3. LATKES
Latkes are potato pancakes made from grated potatoes mixed with eggs, onions, and flour, then fried in vegetable oil. The texture is crispy on the outside and tender within. They're served hot and often dipped in applesauce or sour cream. The Jewish soldiers who rebelled against Syria ate latkes made from cheese, vegetables, or fruits, which were brought to them on the battlefields.

4. THE DREIDEL
The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter inscribed on each side, used in a common children’s game. In America the letters stand for "A Great Miracle Happened There,” and in Israel the letters mean "A Miracle Happened Here". The game was popular during the rule of Antiochus (Syria) before the rebellion, a time when soldiers executed any Jews who were caught practicing their religion. At the sound of approaching soldiers, the Torah would be hidden away and replaced with the game.

5. KWANZAA
Derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, Kwanzaa is non-religious African-American holiday created in 1966 to celebrate family, community and culture.

Dr. Maulana Karenga,  professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created the holiday as a means to bring the African-American community together after the Watts riots in Los Angeles. Kwanzaa is celebrated for seven days from December 26 through January 1, and has taken inspiration from several harvest celebrations – those of the Ashanti and the Zulu, for example.

6. MISTLETOE
In ancient beliefs, the parasitic plant on the branches of a tree or shrub known as mistletoe was propagated from bird droppings, and life could spring from such dung. In fact, in Anglo-Saxon, mistletoe means “dung-on-a-twig.”

The practice of kissing under the mistletoe is first found in the ancient Greek festival of Saturnalia, and then in primitive marriage rites. It was believed the plant could bestow fertility or that it possessed life-giving power.

7. THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
There are some misinterpretations in the modern English version of the classic Christmas carol round commonly associated with the 12 days between Christmas and the Day of Epiphany. The fourth day’s gift used to be “collie birds” and not four “calling birds.” A collie bird is like a blackbird. “Five golden rings” referred once to five ring-necked birds, like pheasants for example, and not to jewelry. If the misinterpretations are returned to the possible original meanings, the pattern of the first seven gifts is of types of birds.

8. CHRISTMAS EVE, CHRISTMAS DAY, BOXING DAY?
The lesser known Boxing Day can be traced back to Britain, where it also known as St. Stephen’s Day. Its significance comes from the ages-old practice of giving money or durable goods to those in more need than one’s self. The idea is that gifts among equals and peers were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but on the day after gifts were given to those less fortunate.

9. POINSETTIA
Mexican lore has it that the poinsettia began with a miracle. A poor boy wanted to place a birthday gift on Christ’s alter for Christmas, as was the custom, but had no money nor anything else to offer. So instead he gathered a handful of grassy weeds from the side of the road, but upon approaching the alter, the weeds transformed into brilliant red blooms.
Another version of the tale has the poor child crying, sad that he has nothing to offer. His fallen tears caused the colorful plant to spring up from the ground. The red flowers became known as Flores de Noche Buena, meaning “Flowers of the Holy Night,” because they represent the flaming Star of Bethlehem.   

10. CANDY CANE
Soon after Europeans adopted the use of Christmas trees, they began making special decorations for them. Food items predominated, such as cookies and candy items. That is when straight, white sticks of sugar candy came into use at Christmas, probably during the seventeenth century. Tradition tells that about 1670, these candies were bent to resemble and shepherd’s crook and were handed out to children at church to ensure their good, quiet behavior during services.

11. REINDEER
The eight reindeers that magically pull Santa’s sleigh through the sky every year might find their origin in a Norse narrative tale of Thor, the god of thunder, who flew through stormy skies in a chariot drawn by magical goats named Gnasher and Cracker. The names of two of Santa’s reindeer, Donder and Blitzen, mean thunder (Dutch) and lightning (German).
The goat was a popular Christmas symbol in Sweden during the eighteenth century as the bearer of Santa Claus, and in Finland the traditional gift bringer was Joulupukki, the Yule buck. Though the significance of the goat faded out over the centuries, it still has seasonal influence in places such as Denmark and Finland, as an icon warning small children to behave.

12. RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
Rudolph first came to life in 1939 as a children’s poem booklet when the department store chain Montgomery Ward asked one of their copywriters, 34-year-old Robert L. May, to come up with a Christmas story they could give away to shoppers as a promotional gimmick. More than 2.4 million copies of the poem were given out that Christmas.
For the poem, May took from the tale of Ugly Duckling and came up with the story of an underdog ostracized by the reindeer community because of a physical abnormality - a glowing red nose. The reindeer’s story reached national fame when May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, developed the poem into a song, which was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949. Selling two million copies in the first year, “Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer” went on to become one of the best-selling songs of all time.

13. CHRISTMAS TREE
Legend says that in the seventh century a monk from Devonshire went into what is now known as Germany to teach the Word of God. He used the shape of a fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity, and soon after the converted people began to revere the fir tree as God’s Tree, much in the same manner as they had previously revered the oak tree. By the twelfth century, the fir tree was hung upside-down at Christmastime as a symbol of Christianity.  

The first decorated Christmas tree is told to have appeared in Riga, Latvia (now Northern Germany) in 1510, was decorated with paper flowers, attended by men in black hats, and burnt as an offering after the ceremony.