The ghost of Christmas past ... or the origins of the holiday season

As the Holiday season gets more commercialized, and the new millennium takes center stage among other holiday celebrations, people tend to forget about the true origins of three major December holidays — Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

The word, Christmas, comes from an Old English word, Christes maesse — Christ’s mass. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Most scholars agree that Jesus Christ was indeed born in a small town called Bethlehem, a few miles south of Jerusalem. However, there is nothing definitive about the actual year of Christ’s birth. Authors of the New Testament books of the Bible, Luke and Matthew, wrote of Christ’s birth decades afterward, without noting the birth year.

It wasn’t until the Roman Catholic Church began developing a calendar to mark events of Christ’s life that the Church began to celebrate the birth of Christ. Pope Gregory I decreed that the holiday be established on Dec. 25 to compete with pagan festivals that were taking place around the same time of the year. The Romans incorporated elements of Saturnalia, a week-long non-Christian festival recognizing the winter solstice.

Germanic tribes of Europe began to celebrate Christmas as they were converted to Christianity, sometimes by the sword.

Now Christmas is celebrated all over the world, even in Japan, where among Shintos and Buddhists. Christians are a minority.

Jewish people have a celebration all their own called Hanukkah, which means “dedication.” Hanukkah began on the evening of Dec. 3 this year and will last for eight days.

According to Jewish history, over a thousand years ago foreign rulers demanded the Israelites bow down to a leader named Antiochus. The Jewish people refused to commit idolatry in this manner. So a small group of Israelites rebelled. This led to the wrecking of the Temple in Jerusalem. After it was repaired by the Israelites, they rededicated it to God by lighting a menorah, a nine-branched candelabrum.

Jewish legend explains that there was only a day’s supply of oil for the lamp, but miraculously the supply lasted for eight days.

On each night of Hanukkah a successive candle is lit. Prayers accompany the lighting of the candles, and small gifts are given to children each night.

Kwansaa (or Kwanzaa), the African-American holiday celebrated beginning Dec. 26, is considerably younger than Hanukkah and Christmas.

Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga was the creative force behind Kwansaa, establishing the holiday on Dec. 26, 1966. Kwanzaa culminates on the evening of Dec. 31 when adherents come together, give thanks to their Creator and celebrate with songs, dances and food. This feast is called Karamu.

Kwanzaa is not affiliated with any religion. It expounds seven principles called Nguzo Saba. These principles encourage the togetherness of African-Americans and their cultural awareness. The principles are: unity, creativity, self-determination, faith, purpose, cooperative economics and collective work and responsibility. Each one is represented in the Kinara, a candelabrum that hold’s seven candles.

Kwanzaa emphasizes what African-Americans can do for the community and how they can learn from their past.