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eveningsout
Christmas isn't the only holiday in wintertime
by Michelle Tomko
It's that time of year again: twinkling lights of red, blue, gold, and green, and artificial white icicles cascading from rooftops. Toy sales since August, trees covered with ornaments and tinsel, Frosty and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television specials, nativity scenes and a Santa Claus on every corner are just a few reminders that Christmas is near.
But there are other celebrations that take place during this time of year. And just as we queer individuals often feel left out of events because of the straight majority, so do Jews and Pagans feel snubbed at the holidays.
"Christmas gets shoved down your throat," says Ed Magiste, director of nutrition services at the AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland. Magiste, who questioned the notion of the trinity and other church doctrine when he was attending Catholic school as a child, converted to Judaism and now celebrates Hanukkah.
Hanukah begins on the 25th of the Hebrew calendar's month of Kislev, which typically falls around the end of November and the beginning of December. This year, it began at sunset December 3.
According to the Leo Rosten's book Religions of America, Hanukkah "commemorates the successful struggle for religious liberty carried on by a small band of Israelites, led by the brave Maccabees, against the vast
fortable at his temple but he occasionally has to explain the earring he wears because, according to the Torah, an earring is a sign of slavery.
Another celebration that will take place is Yule, which is defined in Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner as "a Wiccan festival celebrated on or about December 21, marking the rebirth of the Sun God from the Earth Goddess. A time of joy and celebration during the miseries of winter, Yule occurs on the winter solstice." The solstice, December 22 this year, is the shortest day of the year.
The Christian holiday of Christmas borrows several Yule traditions. The colors of red and green are the colors of the sun (God) and plants (Goddess) respectively. Bringing in a tree and garlands and decorating them stem from a Pagan tradition of recognizing hope during the winter months, symbolized
army of their Syrian oppressors. The seven symbols of Kwanzaa.
This battle culminated in the recapture of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Holy Temple in 165 B.C." Integrated into the celebration of Hanukkah is the "miracle of the oil," which recreates the phenomena that occurred when the Maccabees lit the flame of the Temple's Hanukiah, or eternal flame, with enough oil for one day-and it miraculously burned for eight days. To commemorate this, one candle
WAND
The Hanukkah menorah
is lit each day for eight days until an entire menorah, or candle holder, is completely lit on the eighth day.
Magiste, who took upon himself to set up his own menorah at his place of work, belongs to the gay-friendly Cleveland area congregation of B'nai Emeth. He sees Hanukkah as "a time of recommitment of fundamental Jewish values."
When asked if he does anything different during Hanukkah than his straight counterparts, Magiste said, "Without a traditional family, I can focus on the spiritual values of Hanukkah instead of worrying about entertaining the kids for eight days."
Magiste, who is in the process of adopting, is already thinking about "What do I want them to get out of this holiday?" as he described the Eastern European custom of the beitl. A beitl is a little bag that children use to collect coins which they then give away to charity.
Magiste likens the difficulty of being Jewish this time of year to what he encounters being a gay man. He says that he feels com-
by the fact that evergreens can stay fruitful when everything else is bare.
The burning of the Yule log is a "graphic representation of the rebirth of the God within the sacred fire of the Mother Goddess,” according to Cunningham.
According to the Pagan Community Council of Ohio, in Columbus, "Paganism, and Wicca in particular, is the most gay-friendly religious path in the world today. The charge of the Goddess teaches us that all acts of love and pleasure are mine. Sin is not a part of Pagan. The most often followed rule of ethics is the Wiccan Rede which teaches to 'harm none, do as you will." Gays are accepted under that doctrine, leading to a slightly higher than normal percentage of gay, bi, lesbian and transgender members.
Another winter holiday observed is Kwanzaa, celebrated from December 26 through January 1. Kwanzaa, which literally means "first fruits," was founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenge as a time of reaffirming African American people, their ancestors and culture.
Kwanzaa celebrates the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement. The Kwanzaa celebration is marked, like Hanukkah, with the lighting of special candles. The Kinara, or candle holder, has seven candles, representing the Nguzo Saba, or seven guiding principles.
These principles are Umoja, togetherness for family and community; Kujichagulia, selfdetemination; Ujima, collective work and responsibility; Ujamaa, cooperative economics; Kuumba, creativity; and Imani, faith.
According to the New York Times, Kwanzaa
is observed by over 15 million people, including the founder of the Sister Church in Cincinnati, Audrey Dupuy.
Although she became an ordained Methodist minister, Dupuy says "I never felt comfortable with the organized church. I figured out early on that there was something missing in my celebration. There were statues of Mary, the Angels, and they were all white people. Then along came Kwanzaa."
Whatever your creed, enjoy the winter holidays.