Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!
Image copyright 2006, LK Grace, all rights reserved
Contents at a Glance
- It's Christmas if you're Christian, Hannukah if you're Jewish, Kwanzaa if you're African-American ...
- What's on Giddy Gabby's mind today?
- Learn more about the origins of our yule symbols and celebrations
It's Christmas if you're Christian, Hannukah if you're Jewish, Kwanzaa if you're African-American ...
Excerpt from Giddy Gabby's blog. Read the entire post and get the daily tip here.
What's on Giddy Gabby's mind today?
Much of the content for this lens first appeared in Giddy Gabby's blog and on her companion lens Giddy Gabby's Random Facts and Daily Tips.
Here's what's on her mind lately.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byLearn more about the origins of our yule symbols and celebrations
Learn and enjoy with The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World
A charming, magical look at the Solstice and its celebrants
The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice
"The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice honors the power of storytelling and will enhance the experience of the Winter Solstice through its stories and fables, ritual and ceremony. It gives us ways to look at this time of year with renewed meaning." -Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., cultural anthropologist, author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Christmas Eve
December 24, 2006
Excerpt from Giddy Gabby's blog. Read the entire post and get the daily tip here.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve Sarejevo
Sweet video with layers of Yuletide meaning
Winter Solstice 2006
December 21st and 22nd, 2006
Excerpt from Giddy Gabby's blog. Read the entire post and get the daily tip here.
Paul Winter's Annual Celebrations of the Winter Solstice
from his Music of the Earth Series
"In a giant city with many holiday events, the musical, theatrical and environmental spectacle of Paul Winter's Winter Solstice Celebrations, celebrating the return of the sun after the longest night of the year, attracts thousands of concert-goers to New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine and tens of thousands of radio-listeners via the NPR broadcast of the show."Learn more about Paul Winter's sublime and powerful celebrations of the earth and the solstice.
Image: Paul Winter with Sun Gong
during the Winter Solstice Celebration
Photo © Jeff Day
Get Paul Winter's Winter Solstice CDs right now
Wintersong
WINTERSONG is a collection of international tributes to the season, with traditional songs and circle dances from England, Scandinavia, Italy, France and the Appalachian Mountains.
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Silver Solstice
Grammy-award winning CD Silver Solstice embraces the musical traditions of many cultures, and includes voices from what Winter calls "the greater symphony of the Earth" - whale, wolf and uirapurú (the musical wren of the Amazon rainforest.) During four decades of travel in 48 countries of the world, Winter has evolved an extended community of kindred players, and the Solstice Celebration in New York has become their annual reunion. This embrace of diversity is, for Winter, the hallmark of the solstice tradition.
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What's Kwanzaa?
Learn more ...
Kwanzaa is one of the holidays featured in Giddy Gabby's first post, It's Christmas if you're Christian, Hanukkah if you're Jewish, Kwanzaa if you're African-American ...
There's a nothing like a photograph to tell a story. Here are a few from Flickr whose owners opt in to sharing on other sites. If you have a favorite Kwanzaa image you would like to share, give me a shout.
Buy African! by Orin Optiglot - Creative Commons license Attribution 2.0
Why Kwanzaa
By Maulana Karenga, creator of Kwanza
Learn more about Kwanza, the seven principles, the colors, costumes, and ceremonies at Kwanza: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture.
Teach your children about Kwanzaa
Top titles at Amazon
Don't see your favorite here? Add it! While you're at it, vote for your favorites.
Look what people who love Kwanzaa are hawking at CafePress
Where in the world?
Kwanzaa is a recent US custom, but its origins are in ancient Egypt and Nubia
Although Kwanza is a modern holiday, established by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 to celebrate African-American culture and history, First Fruits celebrations are said to have originated in ancient Egypt (see map below) and in Nubia thousands of years ago.
Why Hannukah?
As our place of worship, our temple represents our freedom to honor our god and our way of life. When an invading army destroys or takes over our temple, they strike at the heart of our culture.
This happened to the Maccabees over two thousand years ago, and they succeeded in reclaiming their temple and their spiritual practices, which the Greeks had outlawed.
Today, Jews all over the world celebrate the miracles that helped them recover their temple.
Menorahs and the miracle of the oil
Menorahs and the miracle of the oil
After the Jews defeated the Greeks and reclaimed the Holy Temple, they discovered the Greeks had defiled all but one night's worth of the holy oil used to light the temple.When they poured the oil the first night, miraculously they did not use it all. Enough remained for another night.
In all, the oil lasted eight nights, long enough for the people to press and purify a new supply.
And so began the Jewish celebration of the Festival of Lights.
Learn more about Menorahs at Menorahs around the globe.
Image courtesy Mezuzah Store
A blessed gift of hope and peace
Isn't that the true purpose of the season?
The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate
Based on a true incident that occurred in Billings, Montana, this story begins when a rock is thrown through a boy's bedroom window in which a menorah is displayed. The boy, Isaac, is frightened and unsure whether he wants to put the menorah back. His parents call the police, and his mother goes on television and to a meeting to talk about hate crimes in the community. Inspired by stories of the Danish people helping their Jewish neighbors during World War II, the people of Billings put menorahs in their windows to take a stand against bigotry.
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What is a Dreidel?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Today is the fifth day of Hannukah. This evening, because the Jewish day begins at sunset, Jews everywhere will light six candles.During the eight-day celebration, children receive presents, which usually include a four-sided spinning top called a dreidel ...
Excerpt. Follow the link above to read the whole post and get today's Daily Tip.
Image courtesy Mezuzah Store
Menorahs from around the world
Menorahs range from the matchbook size to the one below made of ash cans in the desert. They range from simple to whimsical to ornate to outlandish. Here are a few from Flickr folks who share their images.
And just the Menorah by Shoshanah - Creative Commons license Attribution 2.0
Do you celebrate a solstice or winter holiday?
What makes your family celebration unique?
After you vote, go to the guestbook immediately below and tell us more about your favorite solstice holiday.
Were you surprised at how folks voted?
Tell us about your winter holiday celebration
Do you love the holidays, or hate 'em? Are they a fun-filled time for you, or would you just as soon ignore the whole shebang? For some, I know, the holidays bring back painful memories they'd just as soon forget.
Whatever your story, here is your chance to tell it. Share your wisdom, tears, joy right here, right now. Giddy Gabby can keep her mouth shut that long, for sure.
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- The_Party_Animal The_Party_Animal Oct 15, 2008 @ 10:30 am
- Great info - Put this on my Squidoo Home for the Holidays under: Other Holidays:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo-home-for-the-holidays
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- FESA FESA Jul 18, 2007 @ 12:05 am
- Gorgeous lens! I love Christmas! Where do you get your ideas? Wow, your lenses are so original and full of fabulous content. Really interesting and informative. You great lensmasters inspire me and make me want to do better. Thanks! Sincerely, Fran (FESA) P.S. I'm on dialup, so it takes me awhile!
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- Nathanville Nathanville Mar 3, 2007 @ 2:07 pm
- Many mainstream Christmas traditions stem from original Pagan practices. Though Christian origins have been attributed to many of these traditions, they do in fact pre-date Christianity. The Victorians helped to make Christmas what it is today. I celebrate Xmas because I enjoy it.
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