I refuse to get drawn into the ridiculous "War on Christmas" twaddle, especially when so many competent bloggers are turning the hoses on that subject far better than I (link, link, link).  Instead this is an idea turned research project which I have been spending time on here and there over the last couple weeks.  You can consider this an endorsement of the phrase "Happy Holidays" and why it makes so much sense this time of year.

The "Holiday Season"

I always considered the Holiday Season as beginning with Thanksgiving, but many others consider the holiday season to begin at Halloween.  Which is pretty reasonable since late fall and winter are the darkest times of year, so it makes sense that people would tend to celebrate more to get through the darker days.  Pinning the season at Halloween through New Years is reasonable, especially if you are of European decent, as the ancient Celts were celebrating Halloween as the end of the year, and the Solstice as marking the end of winter.

The reason for the colder darker times is of course the axial tilt of the planet.  As shown in the above diagram, for about 3 months of the year the sunlight that reaches the northern hemisphere is far less direct than the sunlight reaching the southern hemisphere, and it is at that time we have winter in the northern hemisphere.  When summer begins here, winter begins in the southern hemisphere.  (The diagram above is labeled for the northern hemisphere.)

The Holiday Season in America, considering significant religions/philosophies (Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Wiccanism/Neopaganism, Humanism/Atheism) has more than 12 holidays in it each year.  What are they?

Sun Versus Moon

You'll note that I didn't mention Islam in my list of significant religions above, why not?  It's not that Islam is insignificant, and I intend no offense.  It's estimated that 21% of the world population are Muslims, exceeded in number only by Christians at 33%.  In America of course, the numbers are different.  In 2001 the population here was 79.8% Christian and 0.6% Muslim, but that still amounts to about 1.5 million Muslims living in the US.  That's a lot of people and certainly they should not have their holidays excluded from the holiday season, especially if I'm including Sikhism, which has approximately 60,000 adherents in the USA.

My reason for excluding Islam from "The Holiday Season" in America has more to do with the calendar, specifically the Islamic Calendar.

Ancient astronomers staring into the sky had three basic things to observe against the fixed sphere of stars--the sun, the moon, and the planets, and all of these things entered into various ancient calendars used to measure the passage of time.  Many early calendars were "lunisolar", meaning they took both the movements of the sun (which determined the seasons) and the movements of the moon into account.

It's no coincidence that the number of months in the Gregorian Calendar year (12) and their average length (30.42 days) correspond to the approximate number of orbits around the earth made by the moon in a year (12), and the length of the average orbit (29.6 days).  Generally speaking the motions of the moon determine the months, and the word "month" has its origins in the word "moon".

The problem is that the motion of the moon is (a) very complicated and (b) not easily factorable into a year.  A solar orbit takes about 365 days.  Twelve lunar orbits takes about 354 days.  As a result, a calendar which follows only the motion of the moon will be out of synch with the seasons (summer will start 11 days earlier each year, for example).  Because of this, there would be no such thing as a "winter month" using a purely lunar calendar... if our calendar were purely lunar, January would sometimes be the hottest month of the year, and sometimes the coldest.

To deal with this problem, early lunisolar calendars (like the Hindu calendar, the Hebrew calendar, and other pre-Islamic calendars) would include occasional "intercalary months".  Every few years there would be an extra month to reset the calendar so that the seasonal aspects of the Nth month of the year would always be similar.  This is the effect of trying to relate the motions of two heavenly bodies which are not in synch (sun and moon).

The lunisolar Hebrew calendar accomplishes this in a 19 year cycle within which 7 extra months are added at predictable times.  Because of this, the dates of Jewish holidays on the Gregorian calendar will tend to "drift around", but will not stray too far.  This is why Hanukkah usually falls in December, but sometimes late November.  The Hindu calendar is more complicated but similar. 

The Sikhs used to use a lunisolar calendar, but officially adopted a solar calendar in 1999, and from that year forward many of their holidays became fixed on the Gregorian calendar.  Those still attached to lunar events continue to move around.

A mostly solar calendar (like ours) almost completely ignores the moon, but still has a problem relating the motions of two bodies which are out of synch.  In this case it is the rotation of the earth (1 day), and the orbital period of the Earth (365.25635 days).  Since the rotation period doesn't go into the orbital period evenly, a calendar with 365 days will also move out of synchronization with the seasons (although at a much slower pace of about 1 day per 4 years.)  Which is why we have leap years, where the leap-day is added to periodically correct the Calendar.  Although the causes for the synchronization problems are different, the intercalary month and the leap-day serve the same purpose.

Which brings us back to Islam.  Before the birth of Islam, many Arab peoples used a lunisolar calendar complete with intercalary months.  Toward the end of his life, Muhammad declared the intercalary month verboten, indicating that it was a pagan or non-Islamic belief.  This is why the Islamic calendar is now purely lunar and therefore unsynchronized with the seasons.  Therefore a fixed Islamic holiday will generally rotate through the Gregorian calendar, coming 11 days or so earlier each year.  So, a specific celebration on the Islamic calendar could come at any day of the year on the Gregorian calendar, and could even occur twice in a single Gregorian year.

Therefore it is quite possible that any Islamic holiday could fall in the "Holiday Season" between Halloween and New Years Day (in 2008, for example, the Islamic New Year begins on December 30), but none of them are specifically attached to the Holiday Season and therefore they are not included in this article.  It's still worthwhile to know about Islamic holidays so that you can give appropriate greetings to your Muslim friends, but that subject falls outside the scope of this article, which is rooted in solar and lunisolar calendars.

How Old is Your Holiday?

I have made a half-hearted attempt to put these holidays in order by the age of the holiday.  Obviously there are conflicting claims from different groups, and sometimes the occasion being observed didn't start being observed until much later.

For example, Christ was born (it is thought) somewhere between 4 AD and 7 AD, in the early fall (not on December 25!)  But early Christians didn't celebrate Christ's birthday or, in fact, any birthdays at all.  Celebrations of Christ's Mass began in about 375 AD and from there spread into other parts of the world over a period of centuries (Christmas came to Scandinavia in about the 11'th century... about 700 years after it was first celebrated.)  So how old is Christmas?  Christ was born perhaps in 4 AD, so maybe it is 2001 years old.  Its first celebration was in 375 AD, so maybe it is 1,630 years old.  But if you live in Sweden, maybe Christmas is about 930 years old.

The Buddhist holiday of Bodhi Day commemorates an event that occurred in 596 BC, so from that perspective alone it is 2,601 years old.  But I have not been able to determine when Buddhists began observing that day.

So therefore the ordering on this list should be considered suspect.  For example I have Bodhi as older than Diwali, but it may be the other way around.  My research is not exhaustive, and I am not a historian, so please, feel free to correct anything you see here which looks wrong, but be nice.

I'll emphasize "be nice" because for some people, their special holiday has to be the first, the oldest, or the one true holiday.  For this reason other holidays, especially relatively new ones like "Kwanzaa" are considered to be "not real holidays".  I heartily encourage such people to grow up and stop believing that they are better than everyone else.  We're all in this together.  Every Holiday was new at some point.  I'm sure there were people who celebrated Zeus's birthday that thought Chistmas was a bunch of hooey back in 375 AD.  Yes basically that means a holiday is real if significant numbers of people celebrate it.

Bearing that in mind, there may be holidays I've left out simply because I didn't know about them.  No offense intended.

As a final note, although holiday derives from "Holy Day", not all holidays are religious... oh sure, some holidays are adopted by religions and infused with religiousity over time, but not all holidays begin from religious observance.

The Holidays

New Year's Eve / New Year's Day (DEC-31 to JAN-1)

On the Gregorian calendar, we celebrate New Years Eve on December 31, and New Years Day on January 1 of the following year.  Different cultures have celebrated a day marking the beginning of the year far back into history.  Presumably any culture with a calendar could recognize such a day.  Bablyonians celebrated New Years in 4000 BC, making the practice at least 6,000 years old.  The Celtic holiday of Samain (Halloween) was essentially their New Year's Eve.  The early Roman Catholic church declared New Years Day a pagan holiday, and for many centuries it was outlawed.  Widespread practice of it in Europe and America resumed in the 17'th century.

I have no idea if it is correct to identify New Years Day as the oldest holiday, but it seems reasonable to me.  I am aware that ancient astronomers celebrated the Winter Solstice thousands of years ago as well, but it seems logical that there was once a time when the change of the position of the sun in the sky could not be precisely pinned down.  Thus it makes sense to me that there was a time in prehistory when agriculturalists started to notice the days getting slightly longer, without being able to pin down the exact day of the solstice.  Perhaps that is why New Years Day comes soon after the winter solstice in the modern Gregorian calendar.

Those who celebrate New Years typically go to parties on New Years Eve, and stay to observe the beginning of the New Year at midnight.  People hold concerts, play games, and share kisses or dances with their loved ones, and make "resolutions" -- promises to improve themselves in the new year.  The big events on New Years Day in America are typically parades.

The Winter Solstice (DEC-21)

If axial tilt is the "reason for the season", then the day that should lay claim to that epithet is the Winter Solstice.  Much of what we think of as Christmas traditions originate from the solstice, the first celebration of which is lost to antiquity.  However in Europe there are prehistoric monuments which specifically celebrate the Solstice, giving some indication the age of the holiday.  One such, Newgrange, a cairn in County Meath, Ireland, has a long entrance passage and an opening above the entryway that allows sunlight to penetrate the back of the chamber at sunrise on the Winter Solstice.  This stucture has been dated at 3,300 BC, making observance of the solstice a tradition at least 5,300 years old.

Traditions for observing the solstice have largely been absorbed into Christmas (the Christmas Tree, the Yule Log, etc.).  Modern "traditional" observances of the solstice are largely reconstructed rituals.  The Winter Solstice holiday in America is largely observed by Wiccans, other neopagans, and to a lesser extent atheists.  The impression I've gotten from reading atheist opinion on the solstice is that because it is closely associated with paganism, and neopaganism, many atheists do not celebrate it, since atheists are not pagans.  Those atheists that choose to observe it observe it as a secular holiday.

The Wiccans generally refer to the Winter Solstice as "Yule".  At this time, they believe, the "Goddess" becomes the "Great Mother" and gives birth to the "Sun God" at which point the days become longer again.  Much of Wiccan solstice observance includes traditions Christians will recognize--decorated trees, presents, mistletoe, singing carols, and the Yule log.  The word "Yule" comes from the Norse word for "wheel" recognizing the cyclic turning of the seasons.

Halloween / All Hallows E'en / Samhain (OCT-31)

Druids were celebrating Samhain (translates as "Summer's End") on this day before the time of Christ.  It is probably almost as old as the celebration of the solstice, on the order of 5,000 years or so.  The modern observance of this holiday in America is celebrated by decorating homes to look spooky, and with children dressing in scary costumes and going door to door to receive treats from neighbors. 

Ancient Celts believed that the souls of the dearly departed went to a world of eternal youth and happiness, and that on the evening of October 31, the end of the Celtic year, people could communicate with their loved ones that had "crossed over".  Dressing as ghouls and goblins seems to relate back to the Celtic belief in fairies and pixies who made mischief for the people.

The name Halloween comes from the phrase "All Hallows E'en" (e'en = evening).  This name came into use much later once the Catholic church established the holiday All Saints Day on November 1st.  The evening before we celebrate the day of all the hallowed souls, is All Hallows Eve.

Bodhi Day (DEC-8 or preceding Sunday)

According to Buddhist history, the Prince, Siddhartha Gautama, entered a life of asceticism and discipline at the age of 29.  He continued thusly for six years without finding the wisdom he sought.  Finally one day in 596 BC he went off by himself and sat down under a tree and vowed that he would not get up until he understood.  As the legend goes, he sat there for eight days and on the eighth morning he achieved "enlightenment"--formulating the basic principles Buddhism.  From that point forward, he was the Buddha.

Buddhists commemorate the day Siddhartha Gautama became Gautama Buddha as Bodhi Day.  I have not been able to determine when such observances began, but if they began shortly after the event commemorated, the holiday would be about 2,600 years old.  Celebration of Bodhi Day seems to vary from one Buddhist sect to another, but for the most part it seems to be a meditation on the core principles of Buddhism--the four noble truths, and the eightfold path.

In 2001, America was 0.5% Buddhist, implying 1.32 million Americans observe this holiday in some fashion.

Asara B'Tevet (mid DEC to mid JAN)
 
As with Bodhi day, I don't know when Asara B'Tevet began being celebrated, but the event it remembers occurred in 587 BC.  That alone puts the age of this holiday at 2,592 years at most.  Jewish people observe this day by fasting.  It recognizes the day when King Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC.  The fast is also intended as a time of reflection on one's misdeeds and resolve to do better.

Diwali (mid NOV)

The Hindu Festival of Lights is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains (for whom it marks the new year).  It is one of India's biggest holidays, comparable to Christmas, and lasts for five days.  It is typically celebrated by lighting rows of lamps and sometimes includes fireworks.  Folks not familiar with the holiday might be alarmed to note the presence of a symbol included in the celebrations that we recognize as a Swastika.  Rest assured, the swastika belonged to the Hindus long before it was coopted by the Nazi's (it dates back to 50 BC), and Diwali has nothing to do with Nazism.  The symbol is sometimes referred to as a Sathio and includes four dots, one between each "arm" of the Sathio.

I have not been able to determine the age of this holiday, but I can offer a very crude guess.  For Jains this holiday marks the 1st day of the New Year, and the current year on the Jain calendar is 2532.  I am assuming the holiday has been celebrated then for 2,532 years, but it could be longer than that.  That puts the date of its first celebration at about 537 BC.

In 2001 America was 0.4% Hindu, implying that approximately 1.05 million people here observe this holiday in some manner.

Hanukkah (late NOV to late DEC)

This eight-day holiday begins this year on December 26 (or 25'th if you prefer, because all Jewish Holidays begin the evening before the date specified. This is because the Jewish day actually begins at sundown on the previous night.)  Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar.

This observance commemorated the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC.  In 168 BC the Temple was seized by the Syrians who at that time were ruled by a Greek king named Antiochus Epiphanes.  Antiochus outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.  The holy Temple was dedicated to the worship of Zeus by the Hellenist Syrians.

Many Jews began a rebellion and the fighting lasted 3 years before the people of Israel emerged victorious over the occupiers.  When the Jewish soldiers reentered the temple, they were dismayed to find many items broken or missing.  As the story goes, after repairing and cleaning the temple, the then-leader of the Jewish army, Judah Maccabee, sought to light the temple's menorah (lamp) but was only able to find enough oil to light it for one day.  The day's worth of oil lasted eight days, giving them enough time to keep the menorah lit until more oil could be obtained.  Hanukkah commemorates the eight-day miracle with eight days of celebration, upon each night of which, another candle is lit on the modern menorah.

I don't know how long Hanukkah has been celebrated, but if it is as old as the day(s) it commemorates, it is at most 2,170 years old.  In 2001 America was 1.4% Jewish, implying that approximately 3.7 million Americans observe Hanukkah in some fashion.

Christmas (DEC-25)

The Christmas story tells of Mary, the mother of Jesus, unable to find a room and giving birth to baby Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem.  Jesus is actually thought to have been born in early fall, but in an attempt to convert pagan religions, Christmas has been officially celebrated proximate to the Winter Solstice since about 375 AD.  Prior to that there was no celebration of Christ's birthday, as birthday celebrations in general were not a Christian practice.

As a result of the conversion of pagans, Christmas has been suffused with so many pagan traditions, it bears little resemblance to any observance mentioned in the bible.  In fact in the 17th century, Massachusetts Puritans attempted to abolish Christmas because it was a "heathen holiday".  There are still some Christian sects today (such as the Jehovah's Witnesses) that do not celebrate Christmas.

Christmas and Christmas Eve (DEC-24) are celebrated in America secularly with meals, the exchange of gifts, and a number of pagan traditions.  Christians typically attend a special Christmas mass on the holiday as well.  There is little doubt that Christmas is the biggest American holiday of the year, even for many nonchristians.  Many atheists observe the holiday in a completely secular fashion.  This is how I observe the day.

Given that Christmas was first celebrated in 375 AD, I'm placing its age at 1,630 years.

All Saints Day (NOV-1)

Between 300 aD and 800 AD this holiday was celebrated among certain Christian sects, but on different days of the year... most notably May 13.  In 835 AD Pope Gregory IV decreed that November 1 would be the universally observed date for the Feast of All Saints.  It is generally celebrated by Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans in different manners.

Generally observance involves going to a special mass, and (for those sects that do), partaking of the eucharist (the body of Christ).

The closely related "All Souls Day" is observed on NOV-2 and is a day for praying for the departed who were not saints, and are therefore spending some time in purgatory to atone for sins in life before moving on to heaven.

Going from its official recognition by Pope Gregory IV, All Saints Day is 1,170 years old.

Parkash Guru Nanak Sahib (NOV)
Parkash Utsav Guru Gobind Singh Sahib (JAN-5)
Gurgadi Guru Gobind Singh Sahib (NOV-24)
Jyoti Jot Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib (NOV-24)
Jyoti Jot Elder Sahibzadas (DEC-21)
Jyoti Jot Younger Sahibzadas (DEC-26)

The Sikh religious holidays center around the lives of the 10 Sikh Gurus, beginning with Guru Nanak Dev who was born in 1469 AD.  The last Guru, Gobind Singh died in 1708 AD.  Having recently adopted a solar calendar, many of the observed days have become fixed on the Gregorian calendar.  Those listed here are indicated with exact dates.  The most important Sikh holiday, the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev is still attached to a lunisolar calendar, and therefore presently drifts around in November, eventually this day will be pinned down as well, at which time it will be celebrated in April.

The anniversaries observed recognize for each Guru the birthday (Parkash), death/martyrdom day (Jyoti Jot), and the day the Sikh master became a Guru (Gurgadi).

Most Sikh holidays are celebrated with a ritual reading of Sikh scripture, prayer, congregational worship and processions.

The oldest Sikh holiday is the birthday of the first Guru, placing the age of this holiday at 536 years.

Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November)

First celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621 AD, Thanksgiving did not become an official regular American Holiday until President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November would be a national day of Thanksgiving in 1863 AD.  The date has moved around a number of times since then, but it was pinned down as the fourth Thursday of November when in was sanctioned by Congress in NOV-26-1941 AD.  So depending on how you measure it, the holiday is as old as 384 years, or as young as 64 years.  It seems reasonable to go from Lincoln's declaration of it as a national holiday, which makes Thanksgiving 142 years old.

Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by getting together with family and friends for feasts and sports.  Once scoffed at by Thomas Jefferson, it has since become one of America's most important holidays after Chistmas and New Years.  Typically Americans eat turkey or ham on Thanksgiving.

It is largely considered to be a secular holiday.

Kwanzaa (DEC-26 to JAN-1)

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga (Ron Everett), a professor at California State University.  It is a cultural holiday, thus people of any faith can celebrate it.  It was created in recognition of many harvest celebrations observed by different cultures across Africa.  The name of the holiday comes from a Swahili phrase meaning "first fruits".

The holiday is intended for African-Americans as a way to preserve and promote African-American culture.  It is celebrated by gatherings, pouring of libations to ancestors, and finds expression in "beautiful African objects" which are displayed prominently on and around the Kwanzaa set (a candle holder with 7 candles.)  Each candle represents one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, and another is lit each day through the celebration.  The specifics of this display and rules for observance can be found on the Kwanzaa website.

Kwanzaa is presently 39 years old.

Festivus (DEC-23) (FICTIONAL)

Many Seinfeld fans are familiar with this holiday which was featured in a December 18, 1997 episode of the show.  What many people don't know is that the idea of Festivus (although hardly a national or cultural holiday) was originally invented in 1966 by the father of one of the writers of the Seinfeld show, Daniel O'Keefe.  Many of the "traditions" of Festivus such as the "airing of grievances" when people confess to each other that which disappointed them most about the other were in fact included in Daniel O'Keefe's original conception of the holiday.  Others, like the Festivus pole, an unadorned metal cylinder, were added specifically for the show.  The holiday's slogan was, purportedly, "A Festivus for the rest of us!"

As a fictional holiday celebrated by one man's family, Festivus would likely be excluded from this list, but you might hear mention of it from time to time and wonder what it is.  Apparently there is also some interest among Seinfeld fans in celebrating Festivus every year but it has not been officially adopted anywhere to my knowledge.

Since "Festivus" was first made known to the masses in 1997, I'm calling this one at 8 years old.

HumanLight (DEC-23)

The newest holiday on the block is HumanLight, which was first celebrated in 2001, and is observed each year by growing numbers of American Humanists and Atheists.  The holiday is intended to be completely secular, and celebrates humanity.  HumanLight was founded by members of the New Jersey Humanist Network. The name HumanLight refers to humanity and the human capacity for reason. The name alludes to the "candle in the darkness" suggesting that the hope for humanity's future rests on human accomplishments.

There are no set rules for how to celebrate (Humanists do not like rituals) but the creators offer many suggestions such as family meals, exchanging gifts, skits, readings of literature, dance and song, and so forth.  The most important thing to keep in mind is that HumanLight is intended to be a positive affirmation of human reason and morality.  It is not intended to take away from or put down any faith or any practicioners of faith, thus HumanLight celebration is not supposed to include criticism of any faiths.

HumanLight events have been organized by Humanist associations across the USA for the last few years, but as yet the number of people who celebrate the day are very small.  I'm an atheist myself, and I only heard of HumanLight recently when another atheist blogger announced he was going to start celebrating it.

HumanLight is a mere 4 years old.  You can find out more about it on the official HumanLight website.

Happy Holidays!

So if you're the sort who thinks there is a "War on Christmas" or if you get offended when someone wishes you "Happy Holidays", please try to keep in mind that the "Holiday Season" is so called because there are many holidays celebrated at that time, not just in America but around the world.

If you are a friend of mine, and I know you are Christian, I will likely wish you Merry Christmas.  But if we meet as strangers on the street, I'm going to say "Happy Holidays."  Sometimes, when I want to wish someone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I will say "Happy Holidays."  Either way, there's no call to be offended, any sincere holiday wish is a good thing, not a bad thing.