December Observances
Remember: Love is the Reason for the Season
2 nd. - Feast Of Shiva
4-11 th. - Chanukkah
Hanukkah means "dedication." To celebrate the great miracle of light in 168 B.C.
Hanukkah, or the Feast of Lights, is an 8-day celebration which begins in late November or December. It falls on different dates each year as do other Jewish holidays because they run according to the Jewish calendar, which is more than 5750 years old. The holiday commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after its defilement by Antiochus of Syria.
http://cctr.umkc.edu/user/breese/hanukkah.htm
6 th. - St. Nicholas' Day
St. Nicholas, also called Nicholas of Bari, Nicholas of Myra, and Santa Claus, flourished in the 4th century in Asia Minor near the modern Turkish city of Finike. One of the most popular minor saints commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches, his feast day is December 6th. He is now traditionally associated with the festival of Christmas.
http://cctr.umkc.edu/user/breese/stnick.htm
10 th. - Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The historic document, often labeled a "Modern-Day Magna Carta", outlines the human rights standards the UN believes should be enforced by all nations — among them "the right to life, liberty and nationality, to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to work, to be educated, [and] to take part in government." That day in 1948 could arguably be called the birth of the modern human rights movement. With widely agreed-upon universal standards in place, "atrocities" could be more concretely labeled "violations", and could be more readily acted against. States that have embraced these standards have, for the last half-century, observed December 10 as Human Rights Day.
22 nd. - Winter Solstice/Yule
Solstice means...Standing-Still-Sun
Such precision we have about it now! Winter solstice is when, because of the earth's tilt, your hemisphere is leaning farthest away from the sun, and therefore, the daylight is the shortest and the sun has its lowest arc in the sky.When it's winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is directly overhead at noon only along the Tropic of Capricorn, on which lie such places as Sao Paulo, Brazil, southern Madagascar, and areas north of Brisbane, Australia.
At solstice, the sun rises around 9 a.m. It sets about 3 p.m. A mere six hours of daylight. Even if you sleep for eight hours, you spend much more of your waking time in darkness than in light.
What a relief when the days begin to lengthen again!
Many of the ancient traditions surrounding Yuletide are concerned with coping with the darkness and the evils it was thought to harbor, and helping the return of light and warmth. Yule is the celebration of the return of the Sun. It is the time of the winter solstice, when the nights are at their longest. After the moment of the solstice, the days begin to grow in strength again, and the tide in the struggle between light and dark begins to turn. Yuletide (Norse) lasts from December 20th through December 31st. It begins on "Mother Night" and ends twelve days later on "Yule Night"; hence the "Twelve Days of Christmas" tradition.
http://www.paganet.org/pnn/1998/Yule/Sabbat.html
24 th. - Christmas Eve
25 th. - Christmas Day
Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows the exact date of Christ's birth, but most Christians observe Christmas on December 25. On this day, many go to church, where they take part in special religious services. During the Christmas season, they also exchange gifts and decorate their homes with holly, mistletoe, and Christmas trees. The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, an early English phrase that means Mass of Christ.
The story of Christmas comes chiefly from the Gospels of Saint Luke and Saint Matthew in the New Testament.
http://www.worldbook.com/fun/holidays/html/history.htm
26 th.-Jan 1st. - Kwanzaa
First appeared 1972. The week of December 26 to January 1 is a special time in many African-American communities. African Americans gather to share Kwanzaa, which means "first" in Swahili. This holiday's traditions come from African celebrations honoring the first harvest of the year. During Kwanzaa, children help make decorations of red, green and black, the colors of Kwanzaa. A ceremonial table is set with a straw mat, a candle holder, and a bowl of fruits and vegetables. Each child places an ear of corn on the mat. Families gather each evening to light one of seven candles and to discuss one of the seven values of African-American family life: unity, taking control of one's own life, collective work and responsibility, sharing money and profits, purpose, creativity, and faith.
http://cctr.umkc.edu/user/breese/kwanzaa.htm
31 st. New Years Eve
New Year's Eve is the day before the first day of the calendar year. In the United States, Canada, England, and many other countries around the world, New Year's Eve is a festive occasion marked by boisterous celebrations to welcome the new year.
31 st. Hog*ma*nay
Hogmanay is an explosive, riotous celebration of Scotland's New Year. As well as refering to the Scottish New Year's Eve celebration, a "Hogmanay" is also a gift you give to someone at the beginning of the New Year or Millennium.
Hogmanay's roots reach back to the pagan practice of sun and fire worship in the deep mid-Winter. This evolved into the ancient Saturnalia, a great Roman Winter festival, where people celebrated completely free of restraint and inhibition. The Winter festival went underground with the Reformation and ensuing years, but re-emerged at the end of the 17th Century. Since then the customs have continued to evolve to the modern day.
Essential Scotland - Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year
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