Thanksgiving is officially over which means that it’s time to move onto the next celebration! There are a lot of different types of holidays to celebrate in December! For me personally, my appreciation for these holidays came when I learned about all the type of food that is eaten on these special days. It also is a lot of fun to try something new and learn about other types of holidays celebrated around the not just the United States, but the world! Here are my top six holidays that you should be excited to learn more about!
HANUKKAH
Hannukah is being celebrated on December 24th through January 1st this year. The holiday last for eight nights and eight days, marking the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem. There are many ways to celebrate this holiday! There is the menorah lighting every night at sundown, as well as playing dreidel, a game that includes a four sided top and some innocent gambling. My favorite part is cooking latkes (a type of potato pancake)! It’s delicious and represents the importance of appreciating cooking with oil.
WINTER SOLSTICE
This holiday begins with celebrating the start of the solar year, essentially the beginning of winter. This begins this year at exactly 5:44 AM EST (4:44 AM CST) on December 21st! While the first day of winter is never certain, this date will never change. So, yes, there is a possibility that the “first day of winter” might not be winter. This holiday includes a feast of your family’s favorite foods which is fantastic for any foodie such as me! The best part though might be creating the yule wreath. It combines a love for this time of year and decorating with nature, two fantastic things!
KWANZAA
Kwanzaa begins on December 26th and ends on January 1st. It translates to “first fruits of harvest” and is the first holiday that was specifically created as an African American holiday! There are the seven principles of Kwanzaa that include unity, self-determination, working together, supporting each other, purpose, creativity, and faith in ourselves. These are great concepts to celebrate and a way to appreciate this holiday! As for my favorite thing, food, there are certain west African stews that you should try! Feasting is an important part of Kwanzaa!
HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
This holiday falls on December 10th this year, as well as every year! On December 10th, 1948 the United Nations created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after everything that occurred during World War II. The ways to celebrate is a little bit more broad. The best way to celebrate is to figure out what human rights personally means to you and how you can encourage others to embrace the rights of everyone. You can do this by volunteering or hosting a social event that brings everyone together to celebrate the same purposeful holiday!
FESTIVUS
This holiday has been around for a while, but became a bigger thing after a writer for Seinfeld included it in an episode. Festivus is all about celebrating without the pressure of Christmas. You can still have Christmas since this holiday falls on December 23rd! It’s more about pushing away the commercialism for a while and just adding a little bit more of the togetherness part to the already celebratory time! And of course, my answer is always food! Bring your family around the table and just enjoy each other’s company on this very interesting and humorous holiday!
If you love to celebrate, here’s your chance to do more of it with these other awesome holidays!
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