FESTIVALS OF LIGHT

A Jewish festival celebrated at this time of year, Hanukkah started out as a minor holiday focused on an historic event, the rededicating of a temple after driving out the Greek invaders who had desecrated it. According to the event’s accompanying legend, there was only enough sacred oil in the temple to burn for one night, but it miraculously burned for eight days, until new oil could be brought in.

American Jews have taken this holiday to new heights. It is difficult to live in the shadow of America’s enormously appealing Christmas festival, but Hanukkah has met the challenge. In an eight-day celebration with gifts given to the household children each of the eight days, lighting a new candle each night is a significant part of the celebration. "Do not curse the darkness; light a candle in the world." The light, of course, represents knowledge and wisdom.

Hanukkah foods are full of symbolism. The favorite potato pancake is a golden symbol of the sun, and the oil in which it fries is a reminder of the sacred oil that gave its all for the temple. No, the potato pancake is not an ancient food; the potato came form Peru and was not a part of the European diet until the 18th century or later.

Hannukah is celebrated around the world for eight days and nights, beginning on the 25th day of the month of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and ending on the second day of the Hebrew month of Tevet. In 2002, Hannukah began on the evening of November 30 and ended on December 7 on the Roman calendar, whereas in 2005 Hannukah takes place from December 25 through January 1.

Many of us think that we have always celebrated our Solstice holiday, Christmas, in the way we do today ~ with a massive show of light. We illuminate Christmas trees, decorate our houses and gardens with strings of light, burn candles throughout our homes and logs in our fireplaces, and light up our city streets.

What started as a holy mass in Europe, probably at the time assigned to the birth of Jesus (probably April) was moved back to the Winter Solstice by church fathers to serve several needs. The early church was in competition with the Pagan holiday of the Romans, the Saturnalia, which still exists in our New Year celebrations featuring Father Time ~ Saturn. They were also in hot competition with the Mithra Cult, a spinoff of Zorastrianism, which was a favorite of Roman soldiers. The Mithra Cult was devoted to worship of the sun, which comes down to us today in the Christian Sabbath day ~ Sunday.

During the Dark Ages, as northern Europe’s pagans were converted en masse to Christianity, the church found it difficult to stamp out pagan practices that were dear to the new converts. The many gods and goddesses were converted to saints to whom a good Christian could pray, and even the most primitive totemic practices were absorbed into the new Christmas festival. The Germanic tribes worshipped the evergreen green ~ a symbol of eternal life ~ and the Druids, of what would later be France and England, revered the mistletoe, an oak parasite associated with fertility. We still believe it is lucky to kiss under some mistletoe.

The Yule Log, the great log, making a brilliant fire in the hearth of the local lord, had its roots in another Druid custom: rolling a flaming wheel down a hill on Winter Solstice night, to show the sun how to come back. This flaming wheel ceremony is still found in remote parts of Europe.

Now, what about the symbolic significance of light? The more sophisticated worshippers in the past always recognized that light is associated with wisdom. Being "in the dark" of living in darkness has always meant ignorance and the twin of ignorance, fear. Being illuminated or having a luminous soul means understanding the true meaning of life. Part of the Christian lore of light at this darkest time of year has always meant living in God’s light.

The traditional foods of Christmas also have great symbolic meaning. The fruitcake originated during the Crusades when the European soldiers sent home the wonderful dried fruits of the Muslim East. The custom of putting "sugar plum" in the stockings of good children also dates from the Crusades.

This new holiday has grown in popularity among the ethnically aware African-American community. The holiday is not attempting to co-opt Christmas, which is overwhelming in this American culture, but is following the lead of Hanukkah in providing an ethnically meaningful celebration of light.

Like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa is a one-week celebration that features light (candles) and gifts, and the harvest foods of Africa. The holiday is an opportunity to focus on moral values that have their origins in African village tradition. First celebrated in 1966, Kwanzaa is celebrated every year since from December 26 through January 1. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. The holiday concludes with a community feast featuring traditional African food, ceremonies honoring the ancestors, assessing the old year and committing to the new year, performances, music and dancing. This is one more festival that Americans can enjoy at this season of darkness.

Not very long after Winter Solstice is the celebration among Chinese everywhere of the New Year. Again, this is a festival of light, with fireworks and lanterns, visits and gifts. The moon plays the major light role here, with foods that are shaped like the full moon (scallops, golden round dumplings, anything round) and money wrapped in red or gold paper. Courting good luck is the center of all customs surrounding the new year. [Chinese New Year is observed each year at the new moon in Aquarius.]

Chinese New Year celebrations take place everywhere that the Chinese live in their diaspora around the world. Vietnamese, Chinese, Malaysian Chinese, and Indonesian Chinese celebrate in the same way.

In India, on November 15, Hindus celebrate Diwali (or Deepawali); a festival of light that is as big as Christmas is for Christians. This festival commemorates the destruction of the evil king Ravana by the good king Rama, who then returned to his kingdom in Ayodhya, to be welcomed by all the people, who light up their homes with candles. The festival symbolizes the victory of good over evil.

Muslims around the world have a lunar calendar, which moves holidays around the calendar over a number of years. In 2001 and 2002, Ramadan was celebrated at the dark time of the year, close to other festivals of light. Each calendar year the Festival begins earlier, so that a few years from now, Ramadan will be at the height of the summer.

Ramadan is not a celebration of literal light, but of spiritual light. It is the month of fasting from dawn to sundown, one of the five pillars of Islam, a mandatory act of faith. Ramadan is meant to remind people of the blessings of food; of the spiritual benefits of refraining from food, water and sex for the daytime hours of this holy month. Food is to be donated to the poor, to widows and orphans.

Eid, which means "happiness," is the most joyous festival of the Muslim calendar.

Eid ul-Fitr, often abbreviated as simply Eid, is the Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Fitr means "to break" and therefore symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period and of all evil habits. On the day of the celebration, a typical Muslim family gets up very early and attends special prayers held only for the occasion in big mosques, in large open areas, stadiums or arenas. The festivities and merriment start after the prayers with visits to the homes of friends and relatives and thanking the Creator for all blessings. Eid is a time to come together as a community and to renew friendship and family ties. This is a time for peace for all Muslims in the world to devote to prayers and mutual well-being.

It's a joyous occasion with important religious significance. Happiness is observed at attaining spiritual uplift after a month of fasting. Muslims dress in holiday attire. After attending the special congregational prayer in the morning, worshippers greet and embrace each other in a spirit of peace, love, and brotherhood. Visiting friends and relatives is common.

For Muslims, Eid ul-Fitr is a joyful celebration of the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory and peace, of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity. Muslims are not only celebrating the end of fasting, but thanking God for the help and strength that he gave them throughout the previous month to help them practice self-control.

Common greetings during this three-day festival are the Arabic greeting "Eid mubarak," "Eid saeed" or its Urdu variation "Eid mubarak ho!" which, loosely translated, means "Happy Eid!"

In Iran, which today is a predominantly Muslim and Shiite country, the Muslims never succeeded in stamping out all the practices of the country’s ancient religion, Zoroastrianism. Witness to this is the Persian New Year, celebrated on March 21. This 13-day celebration of nature, gifts, special foods, and the visiting of friends and relatives, was frowned on by the late Ayatollah Khomeini as "un-Islamic." Indeed it is, but Iranians refused to give it up.

A lesser-known Zoroastrian holiday is the celebration of the Winter Solstice. On December 21, when snow blankets much of Iran, Persians sit around low tables covered by quilts with a charcoal brazier underneath. I remember as a young bride having my toes warmed under the table while the quilt kept out the room’s cold. A watermelon saved in straw in the larder from summer was brought out to be eaten by the family: the taste of summer in the middle of winter.

Zoroastrian festivals always centered on the Creator’s blessings: plants, animals, air, earth, fire, and water. Since this religion’s origins were centered on the agricultural cycle (about 1200 BC), foods were always featured in festivals … in the Prophet Zoroaster’s time, a winter solstice festival would have been like those seen in pockets of northern Europe; celebrating fire and remembering that the sun will return.

Religions and their symbols have a way of changing over time. Unlike the Japanese, whose art reflects their love for all seasons of the year, Persian art totally denies winter. Imagine summer in winter.

The Christian or American way of celebrating Christmas has become so attractive around the world that many who are not Christian have taken it up. My suspicion is that the way we celebrate Christmas has such roots in ancient Paganism that it has universal appeal.

The Japanese have taken up Christmas, complete with trees, lights, gifts, and family celebrations. So have many of the educated middle-class Indians in the subcontinent. In Iran before the Islamic Revolution, the Christmas Tree was becoming a common feature of the westernized community.

In Europe, Christmas celebrations combine the older and newer traditions. In the Scandinavian countries, where the Winter Solstice brings long dark nights with it, light is an essential element in keeping people from winter depression. One of the great differences between Europe and the old Soviet Union during the Cold War was the contrast between Helsinki and Leningrad. Christian Finland celebrated the Christmas season with a riot of lights everywhere, while Marxist Leningrad was drab and dark. This has changed since the Berlin Wall came down.

The Russians and others with traditions from the Eastern Orthodox Christianity celebrate Christmas on January 6, and Father Frost substitutes for Santa Claus. Gifts and festive foods are an important part of these celebrations.

In Italy there is a charming custom for Christmas Eve ~ a feast that features seven varieties of fish. Evidently Christmas Eve was a fast day in Medieval Europe, on which no meat should be eaten. Meat was for Christmas Day itself. The fish have another significance: a reminder that Jesus was a fisher of souls ~ and that the sign of the fish was an early Christian symbol for identifying other Christians.

For people all over the world, these holidays must remind us that darkness must yield to light. The sun does come back, and spring will follow winter.

We can help the process, as our ancestors thought they did, by loving each other, and each of us living our life as a candle dispersing the darkness.

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