nieworld.com

Teachers

Students

Families

Projects

Email NIE

Holiday Traditions: Celebrating Celebrations

By KRISTEN STERNBERG | NIE Educational Consultant

Whether religious or cultural, holidays are an important part of most people's lives. As we celebrate our own holidays, this is also a good time to appreciate how those from other cultures celebrate. Many celebrations include ceremonies for reaffirming religious beliefs. Some are occasions for reflecting upon one's own values. Many have rich traditions of music and dancing. Some involve fasting and some involve feasting. In this section you can read news stories published in The Daytona Beach News-Journal to help you learn about some meaningful holidays celebrated right in your own community.

Christmas is just one example. Most Christians celebrate Christmas, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, on December 25th every year. While people observe the holiday in different ways, many will attend church services or other religious events around that time. For many, the holiday is also a time for gift-giving and visiting family and friends. Christmas carols (hymns and songs) and pageants (reenactments of events interpreted from the Bible) are part of the rich tradition of Christmas and there are many symbols associated with the holiday.

More than one billion Muslims observe Ramadan, the month-long holiday that is a time of prayer and inner reflection. The holiday's dates vary from year to year, but often fall during the month of December. Devout Muslims fast from sunup to sunset each day to practice self-restraint, but in the evenings of holy days they often feast. The final days of the holiday are generally celebrated as followers of the Islamic faith gather to feast, pray and exchange gifts. Ramadan, according to a recent News-Journal article, is the most religious time of year for Muslims.

Kwanzaa is a holiday based upon ancient traditions from African cultures. From December 26 to January 1, Kwanzaa celebrants pay tribute to African heritage and reflect upon moral and ethical principles. Music and dance play a large part in the observance of Kwanzaa, as do traditional foods and crafts. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa has a special meaning. The bright colors routinely associated with the holiday are also symbolic.

Hanukkah is a festive occasion for Jews, who typically celebrate the eight-day holiday with prayer, storytelling, songs, presents and special foods. Each night during Hanukkah a candle is lit in remembrance of a remarkable event that took place during a dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem, held over 2,000 years ago. During the event, one day's worth of lamp oil, all that was available, miraculously burned for the entire eight days. In modern times, candles are lit to symbolize the burning of the lamp. To many, Hanukkah is a celebration of religious freedom, military triumph and hope for a peaceful world.

Our many holiday traditions include feasts and fasting, music and dance, ritual and ceremony, prayer and principles and symbols and icons. They are celebrations of cultural heritage, of religious beliefs and of historic events. Why not join in the celebrations yourself? Check out the Go Do Page in Friday's News-Journal or visit the Master Calendar on the News-Journal's web site. Check out the newspaper activities and web links given below. You'll find plenty of opportunities to learn more about holidays with these projects.

Try these interesting activities using The News-Journal

1. To learn more about people from different cultures, why not start in your own community? Use your newspaper to find an observance or celebration by people whose cultural heritage is different from yours. If possible, try to attend that event. Then, teach a friend or classmate what you learned. (Sunshine State Standards: FL.A.3.2.2, FL.B.1.2.1, FL.B.1.2.2, FL.B.1.2.3, FL.D.2.2.1, FL.D.2.2.3, MU.E.2.2.4, TH.C.1.2.1, TH.C.1.2.2, TH.C.1.2.3)




Erin and her sister Taylor give their wish list to Santa. (Photo: News-Journal/Kelly Jordan)

2. Create a comprehensive calendar of holidays as you read your newspaper routinely. Each time you see mention of a holiday observance or celebration, make a note of the date(s) on your calendar. Share your project with friends and classmates, making sure to ask their help in filling in additional holidays they may be familiar with. Choose one or more holidays to celebrate together, and post your calendar in a public place for others to use. (Sunshine State Standards: FL.A.1.2.2, FL.A.2.2.2, FL.A.2.2.5, FL.A.3.2.1, FL.A.3.2.2, FL.B.1.2.1, FL.B.1.2.2, FL.D.2.2.1)



3. Read through your newspaper's food section to locate a holiday recipe for an ethnic food dish. Then, still using the newspaper, find an advertisement for each ingredient needed to make the dish. If prices are available, calculate the cost of serving four people. With permission, purchase the ingredients, make the recipe and invite several friends or family members to your feast! (Sunshine State Standards: SS.B.1.2.5, FL.A.1.2.1, FL.A.1.2.2, FL.B.1.2.1, FL.B.1.2.3, FL.D.2.2.1, FL.D.2.2.3)



4. Use your newspaper to identify the many religious and ethnic subcultures in your community. Find and clip articles, photos, ads and event announcements (such as museum displays, festivals or religious services). Keep a journal of your findings and continue to add to it as appropriate. Show your journal to classmates or family members and ask them to brainstorm with you ways in which each is different from the others, and what then each has in common. Draw a graphic chart or web to show your findings, display it and encourage others to add to it. (Sunshine State Standards: SS.B.1.2.5, FL.A.1.2.1, FL.A.2.2.3, FL.A.3.2.3, FL.B.1.2.1, FL.B.1.2.2, FL.B.1.2.3, FL.D.2.2.1, FL.D.2.2.3)



5. The world's many religious and ethnic groups celebrate a variety of holidays. Although holidays mean different things to different people, the ceremonies and rituals associated with them are usually symbolic (that is, they represent an important idea). Search your newspaper for words and pictures that are symbols of one or more holidays. Clip each item you find and use it as part of a "holiday collage poster." Display your creation in a public place such as a school bulletin board or a shop window or your public library. (Sunshine State Standards: FL.B.1.2.1, FL.B.1.2.2, FL.B.1.2.3, FL.C.2.2.3, FL.D.2.2.1, FL.D.2.2.2, FL.D.2.2.3, FL.E.1.2.1)

A copy of Florida's Sunshine State Standards can be found at intech2000.miamisci.org.

Check out these links to learn more

What do the symbols used in Kwanzaa celebrations mean? What's the history behind the holiday? Follow the link for Kwanzaa facts, crafts and recipes. Use links provided at the site for other holidays besides Kwanzaa. www.theholidayspot.com/kwanzaa/

Read the story of the Prophet Muhammed, select recipes and make some intriguing crafts in honor of Ramadan. www.theholidayspot.com/ramadan/ramadan.htm

Try some of the many Kwanzaa projects at this craft exchange from KidsDomain. From books to hats to games, you'll find lots of fun things to make. www.kidsdomain.com/craft/_kwan.html

KidsDomain also looks at interesting facts and traditions from many other holiday celebrations, including Ramadan and Chanukah (a spelling variation of Hanukkah). www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/

Learn how to say "Merry Christmas" in different languages, find activity pages and songs for Hanukkah, send an electronic Kwanzaa card and more at this site especially about winter holidays. ns1.co.henrico.va.us/library/winterholidays.htm

How did the tree come to be an important Christmas symbol? Learn about its origins, check out holiday recipes and take a look at Christmas traditions in Asia, Latin America or the Middle East, to name a few. archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/Affiliates/Elgin/XMAS/christ.htm

The Newspaper Association of America's web site contains links to many newspapers in the U.S. and around the world. Visit the site and check some of them out, to see if they have recently published any articles on this topic. To access the newspapers at the site, select a state. Click on the "Internationals" button to view choices from other countries.

Copyright © 2010 NIE WORLD (www.nieworld.com). All content copyrighted and may not be republished without permission. The News-Journal has no control over and is not responsible for content on other Web sites. Privacy Policy.