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A Variety of Holiday Traditions
For Christians, December 25th is associated with the birth of Christ. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should best be celebrated. As Americans began to enjoy Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed. In the next 100 years, Americans built Christmas traditions that included portions of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards, and gift-giving.
People of the Jewish faith celebrate the eight day of Hanukkah festival, beginning this year on December 20th. The word, Hanukkah, means “dedication” in Hebrew. It originated when the Maccabees reclaimed the temple from the Hellenists 2,300 years ago. As the temple was being cleansed and prepared for rededication, there was only enough sacred oil to put in the Menorah (candelabra) to burn for only one day. Miraculously, the oil in the temple lasted eight days until more purified oil could be found. During Hanukkah, Menorahs are lit in commemoration of each of these eight days.
The third holiday celebrated this time of year, for seven days, is Kwanzaa. Although many people think Kwanzaa is an ancient African celebration, it was actually established in 1966 to provide an opportunity for the African American community to celebrate their heritage and reinforce positive community values.
The seven principles of Kwanzaa are: Dec 26: Umoja (Unity) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, and nation. Dec 27: Kujichaguila (Self Determination) - To create, name and define our lives for ourselves. Dec 28: Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) - To build and maintain our community while working with others to solve problems. Dec 29: Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) - To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses to profit from them together. Dec 30: Nia (Purpose) - To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community. Dec 31: Kuumba (Creativity) - To leave our community beneficial and more beautiful than we inherited it. Jan 1: Imani (Faith) - To believe in our people, teachers and leaders and the virtue and victory of our struggle.
People in Gainesville celebrate these holidays in a wide variety of ways. Some use the holiday time to travel, some receive guests, but most focus on family.
Dr. Patti Webb, a Gainesville native, celebrates Christmas with her husband, Roger, and their seven grown children. “I put up my snow village during the bye weekend in the Gator football schedule; this year around Halloween,” she said. “It consists of 80 houses and 300 people. My children all laugh about it.”
Photographer David Johnston, who shoots many of the pictures in this magazine, says his family has a fairly typical Christmas. It’s Christmas Eve that’s a little different.
“It’s my birthday, so I always get a present Christmas Eve,” he said. “I also get my mom’s lasagna for my birthday dinner.”
Mitch Glaeser, publisher of MEGAbook, has a rather typical Christmas – for an extended family with 81 siblings. Glaeser has three natural brothers, one adopted sister and 76 foster siblings. “We never know what to expect,” he said. “A lot depends on who will be there. This year, several siblings are coming in from California and my sister and nephew are coming from Miami.”
Scott Robinson, of Robinshore Renovation and Custom Homes Inc., has two parties – one for the family of about 30 people and the other for the extended family of the business. That one numbers about 65 to 70 people. The two big hits of the Robinshore party are the Cajun fried turkey catered by 43rd Street Deli and the gift giving. “Everyone brings a gift and we draw numbers to see who will pick first,” he said. “When your number is called, you get a gift. You can either pick one from under the tree or take one that someone else already has. If you lose your gift, you have to go back to the tree to pick another one.
Gainesville Today Senior Writer David Greenberg celebrates a fairly traditional Hanukkah with his wife, Marcia, and eightyear- old daughter, Kayla. “We light candles each of the eight nights, and Kayla gets a small gift,” he said.
Alachua County Commissioner Rodney Long celebrates Christmas with his family and participates in community Kwanzaa celebrations. “Christmas starts at home, where we pray and exchange gifts,” he said. “We then go to my in-laws in Hawthorne for Christmas brunch. After that, we go to my sister’s for Christmas dinner. For Kwanzaa, I take my sons with me to activities at different churches. We attend as many as we can each day.”
The Tinney family, owners of 10E & Sons Lighting, has seen one of their holiday traditions change over the years. “The kids were always allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning,” said Sharman Tinney. “They used to wake us at 2 a.m. Now that they’re grown and live in their own homes, we try to get them here by 1 p.m.”
Seven-year-old Darius Dunn gets a little of all three holidays. He celebrates Christmas with his father, for whom he is named, and his mother, Dezna. Since Darius attends B’nai Israel Day School, a Jewish school, he is exposed to Hanukkah, too. “We’re also starting to get him involved in Kwanzaa activities as well,” said his father. “That’s harder because we travel home to Philadelphia during the holiday, so we miss some of it.”
Whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or some combination of the three, the holidays are filled with a variety of many individualized and meaningful traditions.