Santa Claus gets credit each year for circumnavigating the globe and delivering Christmas treats to kids everywhere. But the truth is, the big guy in a deer-drawn sleigh would get some seriously odd looks in many, many places.
Kids growing up in the Tamil culture in India and Sri Lanka — there’s about 80 million Tamils in the world — would likely wonder about the implications of climbing into the lap of a bearded stranger and asking him for presents. They’d gape in confusion at the site of a pine tree in a living room decorated with glass balls and lights.
On the flip side, Christian kids would give the same look to the Tamil children who decorate cows every January during the three-day Pongal celebration, painting and polishing the horns of the animals held sacred by Hindus and draping the revered bovines in flower garlands and other adornments
“Not weird; different,” my favorite history teacher often said.
So let’s take a spin around the world to look in on some other cultures’ holidays, traditions and celebrations.
WINTER SOLSTICE – DEC. 21, 2023 at 10:27 p.m.
The winter solstice marks the official start to winter, when the sun reaches the Tropic of Capricorn. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is the shortest day and longest night, and astronomically marks the beginning of lengthening days and shortening nights as spring and summer approach.
The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world and is marked by widely varying regional customs and traditions.
THAI PONGAL — JAN. 15, 2024
(CELEBRATED BY THE TAMIL POPULATION OF INDIA & SRI LANKA)
Celebrated by an estimated 80 million Tamil people, mainly in India and Sri Lanka, Thai Pongal is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival dedicated to the sun god, Surya. The traditional Tamil dish of “pongal” is prepared from the new harvest of rice boiled in milk with raw sugar. The dish is first offered to the gods and goddesses and is then given to cattle, which Hindus hold sacred, before being shared by families. As part of the celebration, Tamils paint and polish the horns of cattle in bright colors and place flower garlands around their necks. Tamils also create traditional kolam artwork — intricate, but temporary designs drawn with rice powder in front of a home’s entrance. Celebrants offer prayers, visit family and friends and exchange gifts to renew social bonds of solidarity.
CHINESE NEW YEAR/ SPRING FESTIVAL – FEB. 10, 2024
Chinese New Year, often referred to as Spring Festival in traditional Chinese, starts on the new moon that appears each year between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. The celebration marks the start of the spring and is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. Observances can last for the first 15 days of the year.
Customs and traditions vary widely among different regions in China. Most families thoroughly clean their house to sweep away ill fortune and make way for good luck. Windows and doors are decorated with red paper-cuts. Money is exchanged in red envelopes and fireworks are common.
ST. NICHOLAS EVE (SINTERKLAAS’S BIRTHDAY) DEC. 5, 2023 IN THE NETHERLANDS
In Dutch, Sinterklaas or Sint-Nicolaas is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. St. Nicholas Eve and Christmas are separate holidays in Holland.
The feast is celebrated with the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas’ Eve (Dec. 5) in the Netherlands and the morning of Dec. 6 in Belgium, Luxembourg, western Germany, northern France and Hungary. Sinterklaas is one of the sources of the popular Christmas icon of Santa Claus.
KWANZAA – DEC. 26 TO JAN. 1 IN THE U.S., CANADA, CARIBBEAN & WESTERN AFRICAN DIASPORA
Kwanzaa is a week-long holiday celebrated in communities in the United States and Canada, as well as in the Western African Diaspora to honor African heritage in African-American culture.
BOXING DAY – DEC. 26 IN GREAT BRITAIN, CANADA, AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
Boxing Day is the holiday on which servants, tradespeople and the poor traditionally were presented with gifts. By the 21st century it had become a day associated with shopping and sporting events.
HANUKKAH – DEC. 7-15, 2023 IN ISRAEL, U.S. & JEWISH COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE
Hanukkah this year starts the evening of Thursday, Dec. 7 and ends the evening of Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. Each year, Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev, which is the ninth month of the Jewish calendar.
Hanukkah, which has many different spellings, is the eight-day Jewish holiday that celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees revolted in the 2nd century BCE.
EID-AL-ADHA – JUNE 16-17, 2024 IN MIDDLE EASTERN & ASIAN PACIFIC NATIONS
Also referred to as the Feast of the Sacrifice, Eid-al-Adha is an important Islamic holiday celebrated worldwide to honor the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his first-born, Ishmael, as an act of obedience to God’s command.
Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, is the second and the largest of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam. It is celebrated with prayers, animal slaughter, charity, social gatherings, festive meals and gift-giving.
ST. LUCIA DAY – DEC. 13, 2022 IN SCANDINAVIA AND ITALY
St. Lucia Day, also called St. Lucy Day, is a festival of lights most widely celebrated in Scandinavia and Italy.
DIWALI “FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS” — NOV. 12, 2023 IN INDIA, NEPAL, SRI LANKA, MYANMAR & OTHERS
Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights with its variations also celebrated in other Indian religions. An official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other countries, it symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance.
The festival celebrates both the attainment of nirvana by Mahavira, an Indian sage, and a death anniversary of Swami Dayanand, a Hindu religious leader.
THREE KINGS DAY – JAN. 6 IN MEXICO AND COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE
Three Kings Day celebrates the Three Kings (Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar) and their visit to baby Jesus after his birth.
LAS POSADAS – DEC. 16-24, 2022 IN SPAIN, MEXICO, GUATEMALA AND PARTS OF THE U.S.
Las Posadas (Spanish for “the inns”) commemorates the journey that Joseph and Mary made from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of a safe refuge where Mary could give birth to the baby Jesus. A religious festival traditionally held in Mexico and parts of Latin America, Las Posadas is an important part of the Christmas festivities.
