HOLIDAYS

The celebration of Christmas in late December is certainly as a result of pre-existing celebrations happening at that time, marking the Winter Solstice.

Most notable of these is Yule (meaning ‘Feast’), a winter pagan festival that was originally celebrated by Germanic people. The exact date of Yule depends on the lunar cycle but it falls from late December to early January. In some Northern Europe countries, the local word for Christmas has a closer linguistic tie to ‘Yule’ than ‘Christmas’, and it is still a term that may be used for Christmas in some English-speaking countries.

Several Yule traditions are familiar to the modern celebration of Christmas, such as Yule Log, the custom of burning a large wooden log on the fire at Christmas; or indeed carol singing, which is surprisingly a very ancient tradition.

Most Norwegian towns and cities have Christmas fairs and markets, seasonal concerts and performances at this time. Oslo’s largest Christmas market is the one at the Folk Museum on Bygdøy. Bergen, meanwhile, is famous for its Gingerbread Town, which is erected on Torgallmenningen every year.

The mining town of Røros in eastern Norway is a truly magic place to visit in December, and Tregaarden’s Christmas House in Drøbak is a must-see as Scandinavia’s only permanent Christmas shop.

Under the Julian calendar, the winter solstice was fixed on December 25, and this date was also the day of the popular Roman holiday of Saturnalia, in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture; which was later superseded by Sol Invictus, a day that bundled up the celebration of several sun based gods into one easy to manage festival.

As Christianity began to take hold across the Roman empire and beyond, the date of when to celebrate the birth of Christ became a bit of an issue, with several different dates proposed.

It wasn’t until 350 AD, when the then Bishop of Rome, Pope Julius I, fixed the official Christmas day on December 25. Unfortunately, Julius, I didn’t show his working out on how he reached this date; some scholars later suggested that it was calculated as nine months after the Annunciation (March 25), when the angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mary and told her she would bear the son of God. Whatever the reasoning, it is clear that, just as key pagan sites were being chosen for new churches, so too the date was chosen with the intention to catapult Christmas into becoming a major festival by placing it over the pre-existing pagan festivals.

A little-known fact about Christmas Day is that it was once banned in England during the 17th century. From 1647 to 1660, under Puritan rule led by Oliver Cromwell, Christmas celebrations were outlawed because they were seen as pagan and frivolous. People were expected to treat December 25 as a regular working day, and festivities like feasting or decorating were suppressed, though some continued in secret.

Even if it is not a public holiday, be aware that many businesses in Europe will give employees the afternoon or the whole day as a holiday. For instance in Portugal, while Christmas Eve is not a national holiday, most companies give their employees the day or afternoon off to prepare and to be with their families, and many businesses will close earlier than normal.

Christmas Eve marks the culmination of the Advent period before Christmas that started on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Eve. Many churches will mark the end of Advent with midnight church services.

In Latin America, Christmas Eve marks the end of a nine-day period before Christmas, called ‘Las Posandas’ which represents the none months of labour for the Virgin Mary before she gave birth to Jesus.

Sonam Losoong (Farmers’ Harvest) is a New Year celebration of the Sikkimese Bhutia. It is called Namsoong by the Lepchas. The festival marks the time when the farmers rejoice and celebrate their harvest. Although the festival is celebrated privately among family members and friends there is an air of festivity all around. The Black Hat dance takes place at this festival commemorating the victory of good over evil, with ‘chaams’ held in many monasteries two days prior to Losoong.

The festival of Lossong is celebrated with traditional gaiety and colour both by the Lepchas and Bhutias. On the occasion pujas are performed for peace and prosperity for the new year. Certain competitions are also held in traditional skills, such as archery and the merry-making will continue for days.

The purpose of the day is mourning victims of Boko Haram insurgents, the victory recorded by the Nigerian Military and the remembrance of fallen soldiers and volunteers who have sacrificed their lives fighting Boko Haram since 2009 in different parts of Borno State.

Boko Haram, an ISIS-aligned jihadist group, has killed over 30,000 people and displaced 2.3 million from their homes. At one time it was the world’s deadliest terror group according to the Global Terrorism Index.

In mid-2014, the militants gained control of swathes of territory in their home state of Borno.

In December 2016, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari announced that the army had seized one of Boko Haram’s last bases in northeastern Borno state, marking a key stage in the offensive against the armed group.

A long campaign in the 1,300sq km forest in Borno led to the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest” on Friday, Buhari said in a statement at the time.

Governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, said: “Based on Buhari’s announcement, the Sambisa forest became deceased or dead at about 1.35 pm on December 22nd 2016.”

As a result, Shettima announced that: “This day will be marked as Public Holiday in Borno for the purpose of celebrating the strength and the victory of our Armed Forces”.

In Chinese, Dongzhi (‘dongzhi’ in Mandarin and ‘dung zi’ in Cantonese) means ‘extreme of winter’ and the Dongzhi festival marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

The winter solstice occurs when the earth is tilted at its maximum annual angle away from the sun creating the day with the shortest amount of daylight.

The solstice marked the middle of winter in many ancient cultures. Solstice literally means ‘the standing still of the sun’ as the sun appears to do just that on sunrise on the solstice before it rises ever so slightly south on the next day. 

Noting the arrival of the shortest day, was a time for celebration. Of course, winter wouldn’t end for several months, but to know that you were past the middle and that the dark, cold nights would start to get shorter is an event that has been marked by feasts and rituals since the dawn of civilisation.

As long ago as the  Zhou period (circa 1100BC-256BC), the Chinese were already observing the winter solstice as a state holiday.

This turning point of the year is an important aspect of Dongzhi with a traditional custom in parts of China being that on Dongzhi everyone turns one year older.

Certainly, the festival is a time to gather with your family and a common activity in southern China is the making and eating of a sweet soup containing balls of glutinous rice, called tangyuan. The spherical tangyuan, which can be stuffed with meat, some kind of sweet paste, or without filling, symbolise fullness and completeness.

In Hong Kong, tangyuan is almost always served as a dessert; the most popular fillings are sesame, red bean, or peanut paste. The clear syrup is sometimes flavoured with ginger or osmanthus flowers.

In Korea, a popular traditional food to eat on Dong-Ji is Patjuk, a red bean porridge. The custom is that the red colour of the porridge can ward off evil spirits and cure sickness.

The United States invaded Panama on December 20th 1989, in an operation codenamed Operation Just Cause. The U.S. stated the operation was “necessary to safeguard the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama, defend democracy and human rights, combat drug trafficking, and secure the neutrality of the Panama Canal as required by the Torrijos–Carter Treaties”.

It represented the largest United States military operation since the Vietnam War.

On December 29th 1989, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling the intervention in Panama a “flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the States”. A similar resolution was vetoed in the Security Council by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

Noriega was captured and flown to Miami to be tried. The conflict ended on January 31st 1990.

About 300 Panamanian soldiers and 214 civilians were killed during the invasion, according to official estimates, while the U.S. military reported 23 deaths among its troops. Human rights groups believe the number of Panamanian dead could be higher.

“It took us a long time to achieve this demand, and finally, the day has arrived,” said Trinidad Ayola, president of the Association of Friends and Relatives of Victims of December 20th.

In March 2022, President Laurentino Cortizo, the president of Panama declared an annual national holiday to commemorate Panamanians who died during the 1989 U.S. invasion of the country.

The decree signed by the President establishes December 20th, the date of the invasion, as a national day of mourning. “By enacting this law, we settle a debt with the nation, with those who died in that tragic event, who we remember with respect,” Cortizo said

By the end of the 15th century, Portuguese explorers, such as Vasco da Gama, had discovered a new sea route to India, making Goa an attractive base for the new trade routes. In 1510, the Portuguese overthrew the ruling Bijapur sultan Yusuf Adil Shah with the help of a local ally, establishing a permanent settlement in Goa. This was the beginning of Portuguese rule in Goa that would last for over 450 years.

Goa prospered, becoming the largest city in Asia for a time, with a population of over 40,000. It became known as ‘Rome of the East’ and boasted over 300 churches.

By the middle of the 18th century, Portuguese Goa had expanded to most of its present-day state limits. Though they lost other possessions in India, the borders of Portguese control stabilised, forming the Estado da Índia Portuguesa or State of Portuguese India, of which Goa was the largest territory.

After India gained its independence from the British in 1947, India requested that Portuguese colonies on the Indian subcontinent be ceded to India. In line with the approach of the Estado Novo government regarding its overseas territories, Portugal refused to negotiate on the sovereignty of its Indian territories. The Portuguese argued that India had no rights to this territory because the Republic of India did not exist at the time when Goa came under Portuguese rule

On 19 December 1961, the Indian Army invaded with Operation Vijay. The operation took 36 hours and ended with the surrender of the Portuguese Governor General Vassalo da Silva and the annexation of Goa, and of Daman and Diu islands into the Indian union. Goa, along with Daman and Diu, was organised as a centrally administered union territory of India. 

On 30 May 1987, the union territory was split, and Goa became India’s twenty-fifth state, with Daman and Diu remaining a union territory.