Welcoming the ‘Holiday Season’

Only a few months of the year present as many multicultural celebrations as December. From Christmas to Hanukkah, the last month of the year is a ‘world of holidays’ or popularly called as the ‘holiday season’.

You may have heard people, companies or advertisers talk about the ‘holiday season’. If so, you might be wondering exactly what ‘holiday season’ means. Don’t people take vacations all year round? And aren’t there public holidays at different times during the year?

The answer to both these questions is yes, but ‘holiday season’ is a North American term that refers to the period from Thanksgiving until the New Year. This covers many of the most important holidays in American culture when most people in the USA and Canada are likely to travel back to their hometown or take time off to spend time with their family.

In the UK and in other Englishspeaking countries, you are more likely to hear people talk about the “festive season”, which covers the build up to Christmas until the start of the New Year, or the “Christmas holidays”, which is the week lasting from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day. Many businesses in the UK close completely during this time and employees take the whole time off as holiday.

So, let’s look at which holidays take place during the ‘holiday season’. hanukkah

Hanukkah (also called the Festival of Lights) is an important Jewish holiday that lasts for eight days and nights. The exact start date changes each year, but it always falls in November or December. In the 2nd Century BC, the Jewish people fought back against the Seleucid Empire that had taken over much of the Middle East and made Judaism illegal. Hanukkah is all about the moment that the Jewish fighters took back the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and were able to practise their religion again. Today, Jews all over the world celebrate the festival by lighting candles in a traditional eightbranch candle holder called a Menorah, eat delicacies like doughnuts and spend time with their families and

communiy. chrisTmas

Christmas in Canada is celebrated in the same way as it is in other Western countries. As it is across the globe, December 25th is the official holiday in Canada, with many Canadians also taking time off on the afternoon of the 24th (Christmas Eve) as well as Boxing Day, wic is celebrated on the very next day.

Canada is a multicultural country, so many other holiday traditions aside from Christian ones are observed in December and throughout the year. Hanukkah celebrations are widespread, especially in Toronto and Montreal where there are large Jewish populations. On Christmas Day, pretty much everything in the way of retail and services is closed, except for the occasional convenience store. If you’re looking for a bar or restaurant for a good holiday meal, a hotel is a good bet. In Christianity, this is the day that Jesus Christ was born, and it is the most popular Christian holiday in the Western world. In the Bible, wise men brought special gifts to the baby Jesus and traditionally, a figure called Father Christmas / Santa Claus / St. Nicholas (depending on which country you are in) is thought to bring presents to children around the world on Christmas Eve. Today, many people celebrate the festival by having a big meal with their family and giving presents to each other. This is celebrated by most people in Western countries, even if they are not Christian or religious.

Christmas Eve (December 24th) is the last chance to get Christmas shopping done, with most stores staying open until 5 or 6 p.m. and lots of people leaving work for the day by noon or shortly thereafter.

Canadian traditions include decorating a Christmas tree and exchanging gifts. On Christmas Day a special meal is prepared often including roast turkey, seasonal vegetables, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Traditional favourite Christmas desserts reminiscent of England include Christmas plum puddings and mince meat tarts. Christmas crackers and fireworks are popular favourites. A rich fruit Christmas Cake is also a traditional Christmas sweet. boxing day

On December 26th, Canadians shake off their food comas and hit the malls for Boxing Day, the biggest shopping day of the year, where stores slash prices to attract holiday shoppers.

Boxing Day takes place on December 26. Only celebrated in a few countries, the holiday originated in the United Kingdom during the Middle Ages. It was the day when the alms box, collection boxes for the poor often kept in churches, were opened and their content distributed, a tradition that still happens in some areas. It was also the day servants were traditionally given the day off to celebrate Christmas with their families.

Boxing Day has now become a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, among other countries. In England, soccer matches, and horse races often take place on Boxing Day. The Irish people refer to the holiday as St. Stephen’s Day, and they have their own tradition called hunting the wren, in which boys fasten a fake wren to a pole and parade it through town. The Bahamas celebrate Boxing Day with a street parade and festival called Junkanoo. new year’s eve

This is the last night of the old year and the beginning of the new one! Many people have big parties with friends or family, at home or at bars and clubs. Everyone stops to count down to the start of the new year and it is a tradition at several places to drink champagne and kiss people around you at midnight. Many people also make New Year’s Resolutions, which are a list of things that they will try to do or stop doing in the coming year. For example, start going to the gym, or stop smoking.

By: Kritika Kapoor