Tis the season… to celebrate diversity.
The United States is a melting pot of many different cultures and traditions. During the December department stores are filled will reeves, grocery stories are selling egg nog, KNWD is playing Christmas music and Natchitoches is lighting the sky with fireworks.
While Christmas is a prevalent holiday celebrated by most US families, there are other religions and cultures celebrating other things at this time of the year.
HANUKKAH
Hanukkah or The Jewish Festival of lights is an eight day Jewish celebration beginning on the 25th of the Hebrew month, Kislev. The holiday is in observation of Judah reclaiming the Temple from the Syrians. When Judah returned with his followers to Jerusalem, only one small cruse of oil could be found to light the Temple’s menorah, a candelabrum that holds eight candles. A miracle occurred and the oil burned in the Temple for eight days instead of one. Thus, the celebration …show more content…
Each night the number of lit candles increases until all eight candles are lit. Gift giving is not a traditional tradition, but has been incorporated because of Christian influence. Fried foods are also part of the tradition because of the significance of oil.
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and nations in Africa. This holiday was created by Maulana Karenga, an African American studies professor and social advocate. The holiday was first observed in 1966 to honor African American cultures and traditions.
According to Karenga, “Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture.” The tradition includes families gathering around to light the kinara, a candle holder with seven candles colored red, black and green.
The red candle symbolizes blood shed during slavery and the civil rights movement.
The black candle symbolizes the people.
The green candle symbolizes the land of