Too much attention is paid to our divides.
We judge one another by our nationalities, the color of our skin, our political party, our religion, even the holidays we celebrate. Yet under all that, we all bleed the same color.
We were made by the same God.
Perhaps this is why, despite our many differences, most people agree that the last month of the year is special. Countess religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, all have celebrations within the month.
While Christmas is the most widely known Christian holiday of December, members of the Catholic church also celebrate Saint Lucia’s day on December 13th and the day of Our Lady Guadalupe the day before.
Jews come together to celebrate Hanukkah, an eight-day celebration commonly associated with gifts and chocolate. The holiday commemorates the goodness of God to the Jews during their time of great need. Since Jews use the lunar calendar for their holidays, instead of the solar, dates for Hanukkah can vary, though Jews in 2022 will celebrate it from the sundown of the 18th to the sundown of the 26th.
Buddhists celebrate the Day of Enlightenment on December 8th. It’s the day when Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha, achieved Enlightenment, marking that day as the day on which the religion began.
From the 21th to the 25th, Hindus celebrate Pancha Ganapati, a five day festival honoring their god Ganesha, the god of New Beginnings, Success, and Wisdom. It was created in the 1980s to give American Hindus a way to express their faith.
Different cultures also have their own way of celebrating.
East Asia has a winter celebration called the Dongzhi Festival. They celebrate on or around the winter solstice in places like China, Korea, and Japan, honoring the Yin and Yang. They also get to consume Dongzhi tang yuan, sweet dumplings with ginger syrup.
Kwanzaa begins on December 26th. Created by a university professor named Maulana Karenga in 1966, the festival honors all cultures and religions across Africa. It was created to help African Americans connect to their culture, despite being unable to trace cultural or genealogical origins due to forced diaspora of American slave trade. The festival lasts seven nights, each honoring a core principle of African belief before feasts and gifts on January 1st.
Koliada is a Slavic winter festival loosely affiliated with the winter solstice. Only a few still celebrate it, as many of its traditions were incorporated into Christianity. However, it is still customary to celebrate with parades, singers, and gifts.
Even within Christmas itself, people tend to vary in their styles of celebration. While Hallmark movies would lead people to believe that a White Christmas is normal, half of the world is in the summer season during the month of December. Many Australians celebrate the holiday with surfing!
Some will decorate their Christmas trees, gather together with family, and pass out gifts. Others will set out cookies and milk for Santa, anxiously waiting to see if they’ve made the nice or the naughty list.
Some families have gingerbread building competitions, others exchange white elephants. Some build snowmen and go sledding, others put on sunscreen and go surfing.
At night, families and communities will gather to sing carols, spreading joy and peace through their cities.
Around the world, Christans gather to remember the true reason for Christmas. Many read the Gospel account and others have nativity sets ready to help them prepare. Some light Advent candles and others take communion.
So many different traditions. So many holidays. So many people and cultures. All different; all unique.
But why?
Why are there so many holidays in December?
Why does humankind go out of its way to make the final month of the year special? Could it be because the human heart innately knows that there’s a reason to celebrate? It may not want to admit it, but it knows that its Savior came to the world to save us all. It knows it should be glad. But it tries to fill the gap with other holidays to try and distract us from the true celebration.
“The heart is deceitful above all things” Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
This season of the year is special, no matter the holiday or culture. It’s a time of giving and loving. A time to be with your family.
It’s a time to forget about our divides and focus on God’s love. A love that took a tangible form in a manger in a stable late one night on a cold winter morning.
https://www.deseret.com/2018/11/27/20577947/12-religious-holidays-believers-celebrate-in-december