Blogging Out Loud: Celebrations Around The World

Deb and Barbara: In our first “Holiday Spectacular” Blogging Out Loud video, we want to talk about the joy of recognizing celebrations outside our own realm.

We hope you’ll explore unfamiliar celebrations as well—not necessarily to adopt them, but out of human curiosity for all that we do, in all its splendour. If you know of a great website that describes the details of a celebration, religion, or tradition that’s special to you, we invite you to leave the url in the comments and we will copy and paste them to this post. Happy celebrating! 

Updated on 12/12/12 at 11pm!

This is from Madge: The Meaning of Hannukah: Dedication

The meaning of Hannukah is rooted in Jewish themes and stories going back over two thousand years ago. The menorah, or Hanukiya (the Hebrew word for candelabra) has become one of the symbols of Judaism, visualized by the nine slotted Hanukkah Menorah.
What is Hannukah?

Hannukah itself goes by many names, called by some the Festival of Lights, and others the Feast of Dedication. It is an eight-day celebration which begins at sundown on the 25th day of December, the 25th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar. Hannukah is a commemoration of the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 167 BC. The story tells of how the Maccabees rejected the occupier Antiochus Epiphanes and retook the temple against great odds. When Judah Maccabee rededicated the temple, they did not have enough oil, but for one day. That little bit of oil though lasted for eight whole days until more oil could be prepared.

Antiochus IV was one of a long line of Greek rulers who held other religions and those who disagreed with his own views in disregard. After he attempted to use the Jerusalem Temple as an alter for Zeus and himself, Mattathias rebelled with his five sons and fought for the temple. When Mattathias passed away, his son Judah, nicknamed Judah Maccabee (“the hammer”) took up his father’s cause and in 167 BC was able to reclaim the temple after nearly two years of war and unbelievable defeats of Antiochus’ superior forces.
What is a Menorah?

The festival of lights today is an eight day celebration of that eight day miracle and the power of will it symbolizes for the Jewish people. The most commonly known and widely practiced Hannukah ritual is to light the Menorah, a candelabrum of nine candles, one for each day of the holiday and a shammas “servant” candle to light the others.

Menorahs do not need to be made of the typical nine armed metal that most often appears in store windows in December. The act is merely a chance to provide a representation of those eight days by lighting eight lights. In older times, lanterns would be lit so as those outside the house could see the lights. The purpose of the celebration is to publicize and share with everyone outside of your home the story of Hannukah.
How to Light a Hanukkah Menorah

The candles of the Hanukkah Menorah are placed in the menorah from right to left. The candles are lit from left to right. None of the eight candles can be used for anything beyond publicizing the Hannukah story. The candles must be lit and allowed to burn for one half hour after it has become dark. On the first day of Hanukah, three blessings are said with the lighting of the first candle. On each subsequent day, only the first two blessings are repeated. Each night represents a different word. Faith, courage, freedom, love, charity, integrity, knowledge, and peace.

This is from Shalaka: http://www.boldsky.com/yoga-spirituality/faith-mysticism/2010/ganesh-chaturthi-significance-puja-hindu-110910.html

Check out this video... the instrument the guys are playing is called a Dhol. They play this while welcoming and giving farewell to Lord Ganesha. (Most of the men wear "Pheta" what I'm wearing in my profile picture.) You feel that adrenaline when you are there listening those guys and gals play. Its like a parade, there are different groups of people playing different types of music. It happens in Pune, Maharashtra and it is the only place that has such an traditional way of celebrating it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBnH_EAlwxI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-6gx9siUcs

And this one is about Diwali. http://www.diwalifestival.org/diwali-meaning-significance.html

This from Aimee: 
St. Nick's Day!!! http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/holland.shtml

This from Sheyla: Well, I'm from Puerto Rico, and our culture and music is very lively, upbeat. We love to party, and we especially love Christmas time. But our culture is also a deeply religious one. A lot of traditions and celebrations are faith based, mainly Catholic. Apart from Christmas Day, our main celebration is January 6th, Three Kings Day. For us, that's when we give gifts, but we also celebrate Santa on Christmas Day (in other words, the children receive gifts on two days ;-). But as a Christian, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day has another meaning for many of us, don't think I need to explain :-).

http://www.elboricua.com/traditions.html

This website explains our traditions and festivities during Christmas. As you wiil read, a lot is based on our faith, mainly Catholic. I was raised Catholic, but I'm currently attending and was baptized in the Baptist Church, so I no longer celebrate a lot of these holidays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B64U_BEYS-4

In this video you can hear our traditional music, and the music that's mostly played during Christmas time. This is our caroling. As you can hear, it's very upbeat. We love music! :-). That distinctive guitar sound is called a "Cuatro" (for four strings, very similar to the ukelele, but a little bigger). You can also see images of our traditional foods, and decoration during this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VYJ9bOzRnE

And this, pretty much sums our traditional music and dances (and in the second dance you can see and hear our African heritage). This music plays all year round, but it's played very heavily during Christmas time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Ddqkr8pkE

And this is a very short video (but pretty much all you need) which explains the main instruments of our traditional music (everytime I hear this music, I just want to get down with my bad self ;-D)

A lot of Puertoricans that live in the States, and abroad, love spending Christmas in the island because it really is quite a different environment. The weather, the music, the food, the traditions, etc. It's just not the same, and we are very family oriented. It's just different, it's all. And for us, keeping those traditions and the music alive within the next generations is very important.

And tomorrow we’ll post the Christian story of Christmas, as told and acted out by children. Too sweet! Thank you, everyone! xo