Around the world there are many holidays celebrated during the winter months. We have highlighted five of them.

 

1. Las Posadas (December 16 - December 24)
   The word posada means inn or lodging, and traditionally posadas are a celebration of the Christmas story. They take place on nine nights from December 16 to 24 and commemorate the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph’s search for a place to stay where Jesus could be born. Posadas in Mexico feature hot food and drinks, sweets, music, and piñatas. Read more.
    

2. Hanukkah (December 18 - December 26)
   The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Hanukkah, which means “dedication” in Hebrew, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and usually falls in November or December. Hanukkah 2022 begins on the evening of Sunday, December 18 and ends on the evening of Monday, December 26. Often called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts. Read more.
    

3. Advent (November 27 - December 24)
    Advent is often described as a period of “expectant waiting.” In a traditional religious sense, this period of waiting calls one to focus on and prepare for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. Essentially, the religious practice of Advent involves patiently and expectantly looking toward the future, while preparing one’s heart for the celebration of Jesus’s birth, which is celebrated on Christmas Day. The exact dates for the Advent season vary between religious denominations, but all cover approximately the same span of time. To make things easy in our family, we begin our Advent countdown on December 1 and continue through Christmas Day, December 25.  Read more.
    

4. Kwanzaa (December 26 - January 1) 
   Annual holiday affirming African family and social values that is celebrated primarily in the United States from December 26 to January 1. Both the name and the celebration were devised in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana studies at California State University in Long Beach and an important figure in Afrocentrism. Karenga borrowed the word kwanza, meaning “first,” from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, adding the seventh letter, an extra a, to make the word long enough to accommodate one letter for each of the seven children present at an early celebration. (The name Kwanzaa is not itself a Swahili word.) The concept of Kwanzaa draws on Southern African first-fruits celebrations. Read more.
    

5. Lunar New Year (January 22) 
   Lunar New Year, Chinese Chunjie, Vietnamese Tet, Korean Solnal, Tibetan Losar, also called Spring Festival, festival typically celebrated in China and other Asian countries that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later. The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, so the dates of the holiday vary slightly from year to year, beginning some time between January 21 and February 20 according to Western calendars.
   
   The origins of the Lunar New Year festival are thousands of years old and are steeped in legends. One legend is that of Nian, a hideous beast believed to feast on human flesh on New Year’s day. Because Nian feared the colour red, loud noises, and fire, red paper decorations were pasted to doors, lanterns were burned all night, and firecrackers were lit to frighten the beast away. Read more.

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