Blogmas Day 4

I know not everyone celebrates Christmas. I got to thinking about holidays and the month of December. I only know of a handful of holidays that are celebrated during the month: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Yule. 

I don’t think I have ever been formally educated on all the holidays that are celebrated, so I decided to Google “holidays celebrated in December”.

I was surprised to find that there were actually 10 holidays, just in December (11 if you count new years eve celebrations).

1. Saint Nicholas Day is a Christian holiday that is celebrated in the month of December. For Eastern countries it is celebrated December 5th. For the Netherlands it is celebrated December 6th. In the Western countries it is celebrated December 19th. It is known as feast day of Saint Nicholas. It is observed by Anglicanism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Methodism, and Reformed.
2. Fiesta of our lady Guadalupe is a holiday that is celebrated on December 12th. It is celebrated to remember the appearance of Mary to the Mexican peasant Juan Diego back in the 1500s. It is observed by the Mexican Catholic community.
3. St. Lucia Day is a holiday celebrated in Sweden, on December 13th. This holiday is to remember St. Lucia, one of the first Christian martyrs that was killed for her beliefs.
4. Hanukkah is an 8 day Jewish celebration that takes place in December. This year it is from December 12th to the 20th. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees after it was desecrated by Syrians.
5. Christmas is a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. It is on December 25th. 
6. Boxing day is a holiday that is celebrated December 26th. It originated in the UK as a tradition to give servants the day after Christmas off to spend time with their own families.
7. Kwanzaa is a week long holiday that celebrates African culture. This year Kwanzaa is December 26th to January 1st.
8. Omisoka is a Japanese holiday that falls on the last day of the lunar year. It is a celebration of the new year and new possibilities. Omisoka is December 31st.
9. Yule is a holiday that originated in Germany to celebrate the winter solstice (the shortest amount of daylight and the longest night of the year). Yule is celebrated by some Northern Europeans, Pagans, and Unitarian Universalist. Yule for 2017 is celebrated December 21 to January 1st.
10. Saturnalia is a holiday that originated from the ancient Romans to honor the God of Saturn. Saturnalia is celebrated from December 17 to December 23rd.

I know there are many variations of holidays as traditions have been passed down or created over the years. All the information I found was from sites that I thought were reputable and put into my own words. 

Did you know about all the holidays that I found? Do you celebrate any of them or anything different in the month of December? Let me know in the comments as I am always willing to broaden my horizons. 

Until tomorrow, 

Jenn