Ready for December Holidays 2020?

The last month of the year is loaded with special celebrations. Be it cultural, religious, or social holidays, a plethora of them come in December and certainly make the end of every year extra sweet. Thanks to them, we get the chance to keep all the worries aside and meet friends and family. Spending time with our loved ones is truly a blessing after a long and tiring 12 months. We unwind, share love, and get ready for the new year with our spirits as high as the skies.

We don’t want you to miss out on anything. So, if you want to make sure you celebrate every special day this December, mark the following holidays in your December holidays calendar:

Hanukkah (10-18 December)

Hanukkah, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the victory of the Jewish army against the Syrian army.

A temple was restored, and oil that was supposed to burn the candles for only one night miraculously lasted for eight nights. On Hanukkah, this miracle and historical event is celebrated. According to the Hebrew calendar, the first day of this holiday is on 25th of Kislev, but the date changes on the Georgian calendar every year.

An important tradition for Hanukkah includes lighting the menorah. It has a total of eight candles, one dedicated to each night. The ninth candle is called the helper and it is used to light the others. Other customs include exchanging gifts and eating oily treats with family. The special ingredient for Hanukkah is oil, so if you’re invited to a party, you can expect to be munching on treats such as potato pancakes, donuts, and anything fried in oil.

Yule (December 21st – January 1st)

Yule or yuletide is a festival that’s celebrated by people of Germanic ethnicity. According to experts, this holiday has pagan roots and is associated with the Wild Hunt and god Odin.

Traditionally, a sacrifice would be made during the festival and the blood would be smeared on the idols before worship. Meals would be cooked from the sacrificial meat and be served at a banquet. People would feast and drink to Odin. A log was burned, and it was believed that every time it sparks, a goat or pig would be born in the new year. The festival would go on until the fire on the log died.

Today, this holiday is celebrated much like Christmas. People gather for dinner and exchange gifts with each other. A yule log is also burned.

Festivus (December 23rd)

Danielle O’Keefe came up with the idea of Festivus, a secular holiday which is celebrated to counter the consumerism and pressure that are promoted during the Christmas season.

This day became part of the mainstream when a TV show, ‘Seinfeld’ did an episode on it. This non-commercial holiday includes dinner and, instead of gathering around a Christmas tree, people gather around an unadorned aluminium pole.

The dinner is nothing fancy, there’s no alcohol served, and the meal includes turkey or ham. Other customs include the airing of grievances, which takes place after the dinner. People let out their frustrations and talk about how the past year disappointed them.

Christmas (December 25th)

Every year, we celebrate Christmas on December 25th to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. But you know what? It’s not his actual birthday; the real date of Jesus’s birth is unknown. The Church picked this date to coincide with Winter Solstice.

Christmas is the biggest holiday of the western world, and people celebrate it by giving gifts and meeting up with family and loved ones over delicious spreads of food. Families who haven’t sat together for a year have dinner parties. Hot chocolate is enjoyed in the crisp weather and trees are decorated in the spirit of the holiday. Other customs of Christmas include attending the Church. For kids, the most exciting part is the wait for Santa Claus to arrive.

Fun fact about Santa: The jolly old fellow wasn’t always cladded in red and white. Today’s image of Santa is the popularized version that Coca-Cola created for its advertising campaign.

Boxing Day (December 26th)

Boxing day is celebrated every year a day after Christmas. No, it has nothing to do with UFC or fighting. It’s actually related to alms boxes that the Church gives out to the poor people a day after Christmas.

This tradition first started back in the middle ages. It’s a great way to honor the year-long services of different people such as your employees, the mailman, errand boys or more. Boxing day is celebrated all over the world; in some countries, it’s a public holiday and in others, workers are treated by their employers as a show of gratitude for their hard work.

Kwanzaa (December 26th – January 1st)

Kwanzaa celebrates the African American culture, and the holiday was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a professor of African studies and a prominent member of the Black Power movement. He came up with the idea after the Watts riots in Los Angeles; the purpose behind it was to give Black people a chance to celebrate their culture and history.

Kwanzaa lasts for seven days. This year it will end on January 1st. The customs for this holiday include exchanging of gifts and sharing a meal with your loved ones.

New Year’s Eve (December 31st)

New Year’s Eve is the last day of the year. People tend to go all out with partying to celebrate the end of last year and the beginning of the new one. The celebrations generally go on till midnight and when the clock strikes 12, there are fireworks to welcome the new year.

This year, when gatherings are not recommended because of the pandemic; it is expected that the new year celebrations will be pretty low-key. You can still party with your close friends and family, eat delicious treats, and dance all night, as long as you follow the SOPs. And oh, don’t forget to make some bizarre new year resolutions (here are some ideas) that you know you’ll never achieve!

So, are you ready for 2020 winter holidays 2020? Don’t forget to check out the detailed guide of December Global Holidays here!