Submitted by Brenda Willman
I did a little digging around the world wide web to find out what others celebrate around the world in December. Most of this is extracted/copied from Time Magazine, Wikipedia and individual websites devoted to the particular celebration. If any of this is wrong, I did my best to fact check against individual sites 😊 Can we believe what we read on the internet?
December 8 BODHI DAY
Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyanumi or Siddartha Guatama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi).
December 12 FEAST DAY – OUR LADY OF GUADULUPE
Mexicans and Mexican-Americans often celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico who symbolizes patriotism and devotion.
December 7 – 15 HANUKKAH
The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins Dec. 7. A central part of the Jewish Festival of Lights entails the lighting of a nine-branched menorah each night. (The ninth candle is used to light the others.) The ritual symbolizes how one day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for eight days during a battle between a small group of Jewish people and the powerful Greek-Syrian army in 165 B.C. Customary foods include latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiyot (jam-filled donuts) and brisket. Children often play with a dreidel (a spinning top with Hebrew letters).
December 13 - SALGIRAH KHUSHIALI
Is a celebration of the birthday of present (Hazar) Imam, Aga Khan IV, on December 13 held by Nizari Ismaili Shiʿi Muslims.
December 20, 21 or 22 DONGZHI FESTIVAL
there is an old saying that Dongzhi (/dong-jrr/ 'the Winter Solstice') is more important than Chinese Lunar New Year. Dongzhi has an important place in the traditional festivals of China. It is usually celebrated on December 20th or 21st, when the night is longest and the day is shortest in the northern hemisphere. A traditional holiday celebrated by many Chinese people, Dongzhi has a long history and certain notable customs. The main Chinese Winter Solstice traditions are worshipping the Heaven and ancestors, and counting Nines of Winter. In addition, there are Dongzhi Festival dining customs in different regions of China. Dumplings and glutinous rice are the most popular. Foods like mutton, ginger, and dikon which warm the body up are also popular.
December 21 – December 25 PANCHA GANAPAT
A modern five-day Hindu festival celebrated from 21 through 25 December in honour of Ganesha.
December 21 YALDA
Yalda Night or Shab-e Yalda, "Night of Birth", or "Birth of Mithra", is the Iranian winter solstice celebration which has been popular since ancient times. According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at dawn on 22 December to a virgin mother. He symbolizes light, truth, goodness, strength, and friendship. Herodotus reports that this was the most important holiday of the year for contemporary Persians. In modern times Persians celebrate Yalda by staying up late or all night, a practice known as Shab Chera meaning 'night gazing'. Fruits and nuts are eaten, especially pomegranates and watermelons, whose red colour invokes the crimson hues of dawn and symbolize Mithra.
December 21 – January 1 YULE
Wiccans and Neo-Pagans celebrate the winter solstice (the darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, on Dec. 21) through the festival of Yule. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year; Yule celebrates the re-emergence of the sun and the days beginning to grow longer again. The festival was first celebrated in Scandinavia as a Norse festival.
December 23 FESTIVUS (for the rest of us)
A newer addition to the calendar thanks to the fictional Mr. Costanza, a character on the TV show SEINFELD
December 25 CHRISTMAS
Christians celebrate Christmas largely to commemorate the birth of Jesus. But the festival has also been adopted as a secular family holiday by people of all faiths. It’s marked by an exchange of gifts as well as excitement for the arrival of Santa Claus.
December 26 – Jan 1 KWANZAA
The week-long holiday of Kwanzaa honours African-American heritage; it’s a cultural holiday as opposed to a religious one. Black nationalist Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as a way to unite the African-American community following the Watts Rebellion in a predominantly Black Los Angeles neighbourhood. The rebellion led to 34 deaths—two-thirds of which were individuals shot by police or National Guard troops, per the Associated Press. It also resulted in more than 1,000 injuries. Karenga laid out seven key principles for Kwanzaa: unity; self-determination; collective responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity; and faith. Its name comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which translates to “first fruits.” Kwanzaa celebrations draw from African musical and storytelling traditions.
December 26 ZARATHOSHT DISO
Founded by the Prophet Zoroaster more than 3,000 years ago, Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. Zoroastrians honour the death of their prophet on this day, typically by visiting a fire temple and offering prayers.
December 31 NEW YEAR’S EVE
The day every new year is met with anticipation around the world, as revellers party, set off fireworks, set resolutions and countdown to midnight to welcome in new beginnings. In many post-Soviet countries, the holiday is celebrated with traditions similar to Christmas, such as the arrival of gifts from “Grandfather Frost.” You have to be a follower of the Gregorian Calendar for this to really be New Year’s eve. There are a few other calendars in our world, and some people celebrate the beginning of a new year at a different time.
December 31 ŌMISOKA
Japanese traditional celebration on the last day of the year. One custom of Omisoka is bells ringing out the old year called Joya-no-kane in almost all of the temples. The bell is struck one hundred and eight times because there are one hundred and eight Bonnou which are all human desires and passions in a human's mind. People get rid of Bonnou by hearing the bells before New Year's Day. The last bell is struck on the New Year's Day wishing people to live without Bonnou in the New Year. In the shinto shrine, the ceremony called Oharai is held for removing stains of a year.
And then there are some other special days in December
Dec 10 - Human Rights Day
Dec 17 – in Canada how could we forget National Maple Syrup day!
December 27 – National Fruitcake Day- though not described as such, it seems like the day you can secretly toss your fruitcake in the garbage, though if you ask me, and if you use my Grandmother’s recipe for Fruitcake Haters Fruitcake, you might be pleasantly surprised and may not want to toss your fruitcake in the garbage. Recipe follows. You’ll get strong arms stirring this mixture! (and go broke buying the ingredients)
Fruitcake Haters Fruitcake (a light fruitcake)
An old family recipe so apologies that it follows the Imperial measuring system.
2 cups butter
2 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup honey
10 eggs
4 cups sifted flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp allspice
¼ tsp salt
3 lbs (1.35 kg) dried apricots
1.5 lbs (700 g) pitted dates or prunes or figs – chopped. I use only prunes and figs because I don’t like dates, unless they involve dinner and a movie
1 lb golden raisins – I use a mix of raising, currants and dried cherries
2 lbs pecan halves or walnuts
1 cup apricot nectar (they don’t seem to make this anymore so last year I used a peach/orange juice)
½ cup light cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
Optional: 1 cup brandy or 1 cup orange liqueur – my fruitcake typically is alcohol free so I just an extra cup of the fruit juice
Cream butter, sugar honey
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each
Mix remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl
Mix remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl
Add ½ dry ingredients to the creamed mixture – stir
Add wet ingredients to the creamed mixture – stir
Add last ½ dry ingredients to the creamed mixture – stir
Add fruit and nuts – mix well
Bake at 250°F for 2.5–3 hours or until a toothpick stuck in comes out dry.
Makes four 9 x 5 loaf pans (after all that work, that seems like not a lot to share, but it is filling so even a gift of ½ a pan is a lot)
Jamaican Christmas Cake
If you’re looking for a dark fruitcake – try this one!
1.5 cups flour
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Finely grated rind of one lime or lemon
2 tbsp of ‘browning’ you can find this in an international aisle – I use Grace’s
4 oz of mixed peel (that weird candied peel they sell in the baking aisle at Christmas time)
4 oz of cherries (also weird candied stuff from the baking aisle – so I substitute dried cherries)
½ pound of chopped prunes- I use figs and prunes
1 pound raisins
1 cup of wine (no alcohol – use 1 cup of grape juice)
Cream butter, sugar and browning until soft and fluffy
Sieve all dry ingredients together
Beat eggs and wine together
Add egg mixture to creamed mixture
Add fruits to creamed mixture
Add flour and other dry ingredients and fold in. DO NOT overbeat when mixing
Bake at 350°F for 1.5 hours or until a toothpick stuck in comes out dry – in a 9 inch round pan
For an island kick, once cooled, pour a small bottle of rum over the cake, wrap in plastic wrap and next tin foil and leave it alone for a few weeks. You can then pour on some more rum and let that soak in as well, or open it up and eat it. Again, my cake has no alcohol so if you want the rum flavour you could add 1 tsp of rum flavouring when you add the vanilla.