December Global Holidays doubtlessly, are of worldwide value due to the fact that they are acknowledged and observed in the entire world, no matter what citizenship, religious beliefs, or nationality people have.
Most of those holidays seemed comparatively recent, at the initiative of organizations equivalent to the international organization and UNESCO. Out of these holidays, in some countries these are celebrated on a large scale. International holidays have united and unite people, eradicating and diminishing the barriers of cultural variations and giving heaps of joyful emotions and sensible mood.
December Holidays are full of events and celebrations in which a few are conventional and a few are for amusing and fun purpose. Month of December is marked with the help of using all ways of activities around the globe, consisting of religious, cultural, etc.
List of top December Global Holidays:
Following are some of December’s holidays which are observed around the globe.
- Christmas
- Kwanzaa
- Hanukkah
- Boxing day
- Saint Lucia Day
- New Year Eve
- Yule
- Festivas
- Saint Nicholas day
Christmas:
- It is observed on 25th December of every year
- This day is celebrated throughout the world without exception
- This holiday has a religious importance
The literal meaning of the word Christmas is “birth”. Obviously for the Christian tradition it is the day of the birth of Jesus Christ. 25th December is the birthday of Jesus Christ and is one of the main Christian holidays. This day is celebrated not only by Western, but also by a number of Orthodox churches of the world, which adopted the New Julian calendar in the early 20s of the 20th century. For Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox who follow the Gregorian calendar this is the date of Christmas, but the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates it on January 6 and it goes to January 7 for the Orthodox with the Julian calendar. Oliver Cromwell in the seventeenth century erased it from the Anglican tradition.
There has constantly been a culture of evergreen trees as able to maintaining evil spirits and witches away and of trees embellished sacred to the gods. The concept of decorating the tree could come from Germany. Martin Luther is stated to have been the primary man to place candles on trees. Tradition could consequently be related to Protestantism. Since the nineteenth century it’s been not unusual place in Germany and in 1900 it arrived with inside the relaxation of the world.
Kwanzaa:
- It is celebrated between 26th December and 1st January
- This holiday is observed by African people
- It has a cultural significance.
Kwanzaa is a holiday which was started by Dr. Mulenga Karenga in 1966. It was for this reason that he felt a need to start a new excursion, since he felt African Americans living far from the continent of Africa had been indifferent and far from the values and way of life of Africa. He desired them to be ok with themselves and to have something that they may join to, to make their lives better. Kwanzaa is definitely derived from a Kiswahili phrase that means “first harvesting”. Throughout the continent of Africa and in lots of different locations humans rejoice this primary harvest or first fruit time. Kwanzaa isn’t always a spiritual vacation; it’s far a cultural vacation because of this you may rejoice it whatever your culture is. It is well known from December 26 all of the way to January 1st.
In These seven days people are actually celebrating and thinking about seven principles. Those principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
This holiday is celebrated through various cultural dances and music.
Hanukkah:
- It is celebrated between November 28 and December 6
- This holiday is observed by Israel and Jews throughout the world.
- It has a religious purpose.
It is a Jewish Holiday that lasts eight days. It signifies a miracle that happened within Jewish history where after reclaiming the holy temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed by Greeks. This holiday recalls the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks and the dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem round a hundred sixty five BC. It additionally gives honor to the miracle of the candlestick, which burned for eight days with a minimal quantity of oil, which is why this party lasts 8 days. It is celebrated differently by Jews around the world but one commonality is that candles are lit by all of them.
Hanukkah is the reminder that you can be yourself and be in contact with outside world. It is the festival of light. There also are conventional varieties of celebration of this event consisting of meals, amongst them, consuming dishes fried in oil and the maximum common are latkes and sufganiyot, whose meaning is to document the miracle of oil within time.
At some point of the Hanukkah, youngsters receive gifts or cash and play certain video games.
New Year Eve:
- New year Eve is celebrated on 31st December
- This holiday is observed throughout the world
31st December is universally a day off from work. It is preceded by some of the largest celebrations and people enjoy parties on the arrival of New Year. This holiday is marked by fancy parties and plenty of other events celebrating the New Year across the time zones. People gather to watch fireworks. People also decorate their homes and celebrate this event in homes, café, etc.
Boxing Day:
- Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26
- It is not celebrated worldwide
- Boxing Day is observed mostly by, Australia, New Zeeland and Canada.
There are many views regarding the origin of this day, but everyone agrees that this holiday started with the custom of giving money and gifts to people of lower class. Boxing Day was started in the United Kingdom many years ago. Wealthy people would give presents to their servants as a way to say thank you. Gifts are given in boxes; hence it is termed as a Boxing Day. It was only in the last century that Boxing Day became a public holiday.
The combination of two holidays; Christmas and Boxing Day enhanced the tradition of gatherings at Christmas.
Saint Lucia Day:
- This holiday is observed on 13th December
- Some countries such as Finland, Norway and Sweden celebrate this day.
- This day commemorates Saint Lucia; an earlier Christian martyr.
Lucia was a Saint of Italy who was put to death by Roman soldiers. It was said that at that time she was bringing food to the prisoners in dark dungeon. She had candle on her head to see in dark.
She is regarded as a gleam of hope in darkness. There is a tradition of eating ginger bread on that day. Girls dress up in white like St. Lucia, carry lights and sing songs.
Yule:
- Yule is celebrated on December 21 and in the northern hemisphere it is the longest night and shortest day.
- It is observed by Germany and German people worldwide.
The Yule festival is held in order to honor the main god Odin of Germans.
According to the customs of the traditional Germans and Celts, the Yule Festival was a festival of lights. Probably one of the better known traditions is the yule log. It is something still seen in pagan and Wiccan households. It is a large log and People burn it in the fireplace. They may even write down their wishes and stick it on the log with a ribbon. People may decorate it with greenery or berries.
Festivas:
- It is celebrated on December 23
The purpose of this holiday is to unleash Christmas materialism. It gained popularity after an episode named “the strike” of television show “Seinfeld”. It was aired on 18 December 1997. This holiday expresses the commercialism of Christmas. Instead of decorating a tree, this holiday is celebrated using a large aluminum pole which also symbolizes festivus.
Saint Nicholas day:
- It is celebrated on December 6
Saint Nicholas was the real man, who lives in the fourth century in a place called Myra which is now Turkey. He as a very rich man because his parents died and left all money for him. He was a kind and generous man and use to help poor. Therefore in the honor of Saint Nicholas, this day is celebrated by giving food or clothes to poor people.
During the “great persecution”, when the Roman Empire destroyed bibles and forced priests to renounce Christianity or face execution, Nicholas developed as a great defender of Christianity.
