Holidays from various religions around the world are celebrated in the month of December. The three most commonly celebrated holidays at this time of the year are: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. If you’ve ever wondered what happens for each of these holidays, we have a rundown of how and why they are celebrated:

Christmas

  Christmas, which takes place on December 25, is the most widely celebrated holiday. It is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus; however, it is celebrated by both Christians and non-Christians alike.

  Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to bring them salvation. They believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.

  Non-Christians who celebrate Christmas typically celebrate it out of tradition, not necessarily to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

  Many churches hold Christmas Eve services, and people exchange gifts and eat meals with their families on Christmas day.

   Junior Lina Waterstradt celebrates Christmas and remembers her favorite gift that she received as a child.

  “One time I got a high school musical microphone, and it made my voice really loud,” Waterstradt said. “I ran around the house singing all day.”

  However, preparations begin long before Christmas starts. Starting on December 1, Christmas carols and songs can be heard from the windows of passing cars, and the smell of cookies fills the air. People are buying presents all month long and decorating their Christmas trees with ornaments and ribbons.

  Junior Stephanie Gardecki begins preparing for Christmas early and is ecstatic about Christmas.

  “We go to a tree farm to pick up a Christmas tree as a family, and then my sisters and I decorate it,” Gardecki said. “I also have a little tree I put in my room during Thanksgiving break. I like to get my shopping done 2 weeks before Christmas. We go to Christmas Eve mass and watch A Christmas Story on TBS on Christmas Eve.”

Hanukkah

  Hanukkah began on Sunday, December 6 and ended on Monday, December 14.  It begins on the 25 of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, and it usually falls in November or December. It is a holiday that celebrates the triumph of Jewish people over religious persecution.

  Some of the most popular holiday traditions include the lighting of the menorah, playing games, giving gifts and eating traditional foods.

  One of the most popular games involves a dreidel, which is a four-sided spinning toy. Players will put coins or other small objects in the middle of a circle, and spin the toy.

  Each side of the toy has a word on it that will tell you what to do. One side says “nun,” meaning nothing; another side says” gimmel,” which means take everything; the third side says “hey,” which means to take half, and the final side has the word “shin” on it, which means to put one in.

  Many families also eat traditional foods such as potato pancakes and jam-filled donuts, which are both foods fried in oil. Foods such as these serve to represent the legend of the jar oil that lasted for eight days, which is also where the lighting of the menorah came from.

Kwanzaa

  This holiday will take place on Saturday, December 26 and last until Friday, January 1. It is an African American holiday, created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966.

  Karenga created Kwanzaa after the Watts riots in Los Angeles. His hope was that Kwanzaa would be a way to bring African Americans together.

  The celebrations usually all include songs, dances, storytelling, the reading of poetry, African drums, and a large meal. However, each family typically celebrates Kwanzaa in their own way.

  On each of the seven days of Kwanzaa, a member of the family will light a candle on the candle holder, called the Kinara.

  As the candle is being lit, the family will discuss one of the seven principles, which are “values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African-Americans.” There are seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

  There are also several symbols that represent various things, such as the candle holder, which represents the ancestry that the African Americans came from.

  The seven candles are used to represent light and to recreate the sun’s power.

  Despite the differences between Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, this time of year is full of happiness from people of various religions as they celebrate their beliefs.