December Holidays That Aren't Christmas

by Rob Walker | December 19, 2008 at 01:20 pm

4396 views | 33 Recommendations | 17 comments

While Christmas is the best-known December holiday, there are a number of others during this month. Some have come and gone, while others still remain to be celebrated.

December 1st - Krampus

Krampus is the little-known German tradition where young men dress up as horrifying monsters and scare both children and adults.

The present day Krampus costume consists of wooden masks or Larve, sheep's skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.

December 8 - Bodhi Day (Buddhism)

Taking place on the Sunday immediately preceding December 8, followers of Buddhism celebrate Bodhi Day, which recalls the day when the Buddha achieved enlightenment.

BUDDHISM: On DEC-8, or on the Sunday immediately preceding, Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day (a.k.a. Rohatsu). It recalls the day in 596 BCE, when the Buddha achieved enlightenment. He had left his family and possessions behind at the age of 29, and sought the meaning of life -- particularly the reasons for its hardships.

December 8 - Eid al-Adha

One of the two most important holidays in Islam is Eid al-Adha, which falls on December 8 in 2008. It honours Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God, and is generally celebrated by visiting friends, eating festive meals and giving small gifts to children.

Eid al-Adha: The Festival of Sacrifice, this Muslim holiday honours Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. One of the two most important holidays in Islam, it follows the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) and is celebrated on Monday, December 8 in 2008. People who observe this holiday dress in their finest clothes, visit family, eat festive meals, and children receive gifts and treats.

December 21 - Hanukkah (Chanukah)

While not a hugely important tradition, at least compared to Yom Kippur, it has gained much status due to its proximity to Christmas. Hanukkah is celebrated with 8 days of gifts, and small games such as the dreidel.

Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a gambling game played with a square top. Most people play for matchsticks, pennies, M&Ms or chocolate coins. The traditional explanation of this game is that during the time of Antiochus' oppression, those who wanted to study Torah (an illegal activity) would conceal their activity by playing gambling games with a top (a common and legal activity) whenever an official or inspector was within sight.

December 20-23 Winter Solstice

Numerous religions and traditions dating back thousands of years have celebrated the Winter Solstice, which takes place between December 20-23 in the nothern hemisphere.

In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great God,[20] who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home,[21] while others do so with their covens.[22]

Even vampires need to celebrate, or should I say 'vampyres', real humans who 'need' to feed on human blood. They celebrate in groups to celebrate the solstice.

Vampyres celebrate "the Long Night," a festival at the Winter Solstice. Many groups of vampyres gather together at this time to celebrate.

December 23 - Festivus

What began as the early childhood recollections of a writer on Seinfeld, an episode where George Costanza's family celebrated 'Festivus', which included such memorable traditions as 'the airing of grievances' and the 'feats of strength'

The holiday includes novel practices such as the "Airing of Grievances", in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year. Also, after the Festivus meal, the "Feats of Strength" are performed, involving wrestling the head of the household to the floor, with the holiday only ending if the head of the household is actually pinned.

December 26 to January 1 - Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a week-long holiday which honors African heritage. It was first created in 1966 and is celebrated world-wide.

KWANZAA, the African-American cultural holiday conceived and developed by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, was first celebrated on December 26, 1966. Kwanzaa is traditionally celebrated from December 26 through January 1, with each day focused on Nguzo Saba, or the seven principles. Derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits", Kwanzaa is rooted in the first harvest celebrations practiced in various cultures in Africa.

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Karenke4

at 14:07 on December 19th, 2008

I'm sorry I missed out on Krampus this year! There are some pretty scary Krampus costumes out there.

clarkstepha

at 15:22 on December 19th, 2008

This is a photo of a young child trying to hide from Krampus during a recent Krampuslauf in St. Leonhard, Austria. Obviously Krampus has found him and is trying to make him feel less scared, but in the end it didn't work.

clarkstepha has contributed a photo to this story.

gorillagirl

at 17:14 on December 19th, 2008

Every year for Festivus my friends get inundated with cookies. This picture was a sample in progress meant to torture a friend who's been salivating over the web for them

gorillagirl has contributed a photo to this story.

Amy Judd

at 17:15 on December 19th, 2008

I love Festivus - although it is hugely depressing...

Interesting round-up!

Uwe Paschen

at 19:48 on December 19th, 2008

Very good reminder about all the diverse Years end Holidays and Celebration. November till February with December being some what the pick of most important Holidays.

In my Family we celebrate Almost every thing from Krampus passing through Bodhi, Eid, Hanukkah, to my personal Favourite the Winter Soltice.

Not festivus though, And I do not even want to think about that one nor mention it since some one in our Family might pick up on it and then we end up having one more since we still have the Japanese New Year to celebrate as well as the Russian Orthodox Christmas and then Finally some peace.

I like it and enjoy it, however after almost two month of it I thing it is enough. Oh, no I forgot Spring coming with Easter and new live and a lot of others celebrations that will follow... Well, lets not worry about that for now.

elbriano

at 22:17 on December 19th, 2008

The people of Thailand are found to be overwhelmingly kind, warm and generous. Whilst traveling around the locals would remind me of the teachings of Buddha, those which are inculcated into the culture of these wonderful people. The numerous images of Buddha serve to remind all of us of those valuable teachings he shared. The 5th of December in Thailand is the Kings Birthday, there are no official religious holidays in December.

elbriano has contributed a photo to this story.

grizdave

at 00:17 on December 20th, 2008

I take part in a friendly weekly photo contest with a few friends and the weekly contest theme was Winter Solstice. We have his really great Sun (Sol) wall hanging and so I embellished it a little and took this shot

grizdave has contributed a photo to this story.

delldlima

at 07:22 on December 20th, 2008

This photo was taken 5th Dec 2008 in Mals - South Tyrol !

delldlima has contributed a photo to this story.

mezze

at 12:56 on December 20th, 2008

in the netherlands, there's the 5th of december too: 'Sinterklaas' or St.Nikolaas. It's a children's thing.

A description of this day -ánd the origin of Santa Claus: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23

Sherri K

at 15:39 on December 20th, 2008

This is a Chanukah doll Judah Maccabee.

Sherri K has contributed a photo to this story.

rumana husain

at 20:20 on December 20th, 2008

rob walker, this is interesting. thanks. the 10 days of moharram are observed by shia muslims all over the world in remembrance of the martyrdom of prophet mohammad's grandson and his family in kerbala, iraq. although the islamic lunar calendar is followed for such celebrations and events, and the date keeps shifting by ten days each year, this year moharram will begin in the last week of december.

m.jacobs

at 01:13 on December 21st, 2008

This buddha statue was given to my mother. When I was making some pictures in my new light box, I thought it would make an OK picture, and it did.

m.jacobs has contributed a photo to this story.

Milieunet

at 02:32 on December 21st, 2008

Great work, many new items.

Jordan Yerman

at 13:33 on December 21st, 2008

I can't believe I've lived my whole life so far without knowing about Krampus! It just looks so... awesome.

StevenHatting

at 22:24 on December 25th, 2008

I took this during the last night of Hanukkah in 2004.

StevenHatting has contributed a photo to this story.

Albert Milliron

at 12:19 on December 26th, 2008

Today is

National Whiner's DayTM
Friday December 26th

Customer service folks everywhere know why.

Mr Drew

at 12:43 on January 6th, 2009

The Krampus tradition originates from centuries of Pagan festivals. There are many interwoven traditions such as Black Peter in Belgium, Knecht Ruprecht in central Germany and the Krampus in Tyrol and Bavaria. He is scary figure wearing leather masks and furs and cowbells. In Christian times, the Krampus traditionally punished or rewarded children based on the “bad or good” model that Santa uses. Nowadays the Krampus act as companions to St. Nicholas when he makes his visit on 5 & 6 December. Many cities have their own version of a “Krampuslauf”, or run. Particular to Berchtesgaden are the Buttenmandl’ who dress up in specially grown hay and run from house to house terrorizing naughty children and passers-by alike. They, along with the Krampus’ roam the streets literally beating bystanders with switches; presumably to drive out the evil.

Mr Drew has contributed a photo to this story.