The arrival of December has families everywhere preparing for the holiday season. In our community, it’s most common to see people getting ready for Christmas, putting up trees and hanging stockings. However, while Christmas is the most widely-celebrated holiday in America by a long shot, with 80-90% of the population participating in it, there are countless other winter holidays observed within our country and throughout the rest of the world. Winter solstice traditions, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are typical holidays in the States other than Christmas, but even beyond that are unique cultural customs celebrated during what we know as the Christmas season.
For example, twenty days before Christmas, parts of Central Europe (especially Bavaria and Austria) have a tradition called Krampusnacht, or Krampus Night. This night takes place on the 5th of December, as on the 6th, the Feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated. The reason for this coinciding is that Saint Nicholas is said to have a sort of antithetical figure called Krampus, a hairy, devilish-looking man with one cloven hoof whom Krampus Night is based on. While Saint Nicholas looks after good children and gives them gifts, Krampus deals with the bad children by frightening them and giving them coal– in the past, the threat was of Krampus hitting children with birch branches and possibly even taking them to Hell! Nevertheless, modern celebrations focus much less on the scary side of the folklore, save for the grotesque costumes that many don in imitation of the beast as they walk through the streets during “Krampus runs.” Greeting cards called Krampuskarten are shared between friends and family that depict him and his opposition to Saint Nicholas.
Furthermore, there are many traditions that stem from the winter solstice, as such an event can be observed universally. One such tradition is Soyal, which is celebrated by the Hopi Indigenous peoples of southwestern America. Soyal focuses on the returning of Kachinas, which are benevolent spirit guardians who represent morals and the natural world; they are said to return to the Hopi people and bring back the sun during the winter solstice, until leaving once more upon the summer solstice. During and leading up to Soyal, several rituals and ceremonies are held in honor of the Kachinas, often involving song and dance and known for intricate regalia. Children are taught about the vast number of different spirits by their elders, and may even receive small replicas of them, whose appearances align with the regalia of the dancers, to help them learn. Additionally, prayer sticks called Pahos are made to bless the community and its inhabitants in the coming year. The Soyal celebration ends with a public dance that represents these Kachinas.
Another winter solstice tradition is Yaldā Night, an evening with ancient history acknowledged in Iran, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Kurdish regions of Iraq. The origins of Yaldā Night possibly come from Zoroastrian beliefs, in which the day of winter solstice was said to be somewhat ominous and unlucky. To avoid evil, it was encouraged for family and friends to stay together late into the evening, and this custom persists in modern celebrations of Yaldā Night. Loved ones gather for a dinner that typically contains fruits and nuts, and fine poetry is read for hours. Regarding the meal, watermelons and pomegranates are especially significant as they represent the colors of the dawn. There are even casual superstitions about how certain foods eaten will affect you in the coming year (like how watermelons will protect you from the summer heat, and how garlic will prevent joint pain.) In some regions, a special liquid dessert called kafbikh is prepared for the evening.
The new year is also observed differently around the world. In Japan, a set of new year celebrations called Ōmisoka is popular. Typically, Ōmisoka involves purification going into the new year; people will clean their homes and recoup their debts, and spend their last hours of the year relaxing. Those participating might eat toshikoshi udon/soba, which are long noodles, an hour before midnight, as the term toshikoshi can refer to moving from one year to the next. Families will prepare boxes of assorted food called osechi in preparation for the new year and eat them in the first few weeks afterward. Moreover, shrines and temples are involved, with people often visiting Shinto shrines at midnight for Hatsumōde (the first shrine visit of the year.) At these shrines it is common for visitors to receive a little-to-no-alcohol fermented rice drink (amazake) and observe ceremonies for purification.
In many places, this holiday season typically ends after the new year– but most Hispanic countries, including Spain, stretch it out to January 6th as Three Kings’ Day is celebrated. A Christian holiday, Three Kings’ Day regards the Epiphany, or the day that the three wise men found the infant Jesus and provided their gifts. As such, it is centered around gift-giving, especially towards children. The three wise men were said to ride camels, and so children will leave out grass or straw for these camels, in a manner similar to how kids might leave out milk and cookies for Santa. In many variations, come morning, the children may receive gifts, said to have been brought by the wise men. Beyond that, the holiday further varies; parties are held across the board, but the widespread diversity of Latin America results in diverse traditions. In Mexico, it’s common for families to bake rosca de reyes, a special bread, in which a little doll of baby Jesus is placed inside. In Spain, the event often involves colorful parades that move through the towns and throw candy to onlooking children (though adults do still try to catch the candy with umbrellas!) Generally, Three Kings’ Day is a holiday focused on giving and oriented towards children.
There are numerous other traditions observed during our upcoming holiday season, found here in the States and in all other corners of the globe. While the York community might mostly be focused on just Christmas, it’s an interesting and worthwhile endeavor to look into other interpretations of occurrences we celebrate, and of practices formed from entirely unique ideas and beliefs. Happy holidays!
