Hanukkah
Hanukkah is the most historically documented of the Jewish holidays from the First and Second Books of the Maccabees and in the works of Josephus and later accounts in the Talmud. The story is one of the victory of the brave Maccabees against the Greeks and of the miracle of the cruse of oil that burned for eight days instead of one. The major ritual for the holiday is the lighting of one light of the menorah each night of Hanukkah after sundown beginning with the 25th of Kislev on the Jewish calendar (December). While a tradition of giving Hanukkah gelt – money – is an old one, the proximity to Christmas has made gift giving an intrinsic part of the holiday.
Yom Kippur and Rosh ha-Shanah
Rosh ha-Shanah is the first two days of the Jewish month of Tishri (in the Fall) and is considered the celebration of the beginning of the Jewish New Year. It was referred to in the Torah as the Day of Remembering and was not called Rosh ha-Shanah – the New Year – until Talmudic times.
Yom Kippur falls on the tenth of Tishri on the Jewish calendar and brings to close the ten days of repentance and atonement begun with Rosh ha-Shanah. It is the most solemn day of the Jewish year.
Passover
Passover celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and begins on the fifteenth of the month of Nisan on the Jewish calendar (in the Spring) and continues for seven days. The name derives from the story when, during the tenth and ultimate plague inflicted on Pharaoh, God passed over the Israelites and struck down only the Egyptian firstborn. That night, Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go.
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a seven day observance stressing the unity of the African American family. It means "first fruits of the harvest" in Swahili. The holiday was created by Dr. Maulana Ron
Karenga, Chair of Black Studies at California State University and is celebrated December 26-January 1st. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the seven Passerines of
Kwanzaa, each intended to serve as a guide for daily living: unity, self-determination, collective work & responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. This is a time when families share symbolic dinners and exchange handmade gifts with an ethnic theme.
New Year’s
In Egypt in the sixth century BC (before Christ), the coming of the New Year was greeted with gifts and messages, some of which have been found in Egyptian tombs – the first New Year’s greetings. Early Romans also found the occasion of the New Year a time for gift giving with symbols of good will which later became pictures on terra cotta tablets accompanied by inscriptions such as "A Happy and Prosperous New Year" [Ed. never realized this was that old!].
