Requirements:

History of the Holidays by Rae’s Creations

Flower – Do 10 requirements.

Triangle – Do 12 requirements.

Circle – Do 15 requirements.

6-8 Rectangle – Do 18 requirements.

9-12 Rectangle – Do all requirements.

HANUKKAH

Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a holiday honoring the Maccabees's victory over King Antiochus. King Antiochus banned Jews from practicing their religion. Hanukkah consists of eight nights celebrating with prayer, the lighting of the menorah, and food. Hanukkah menorahs have nine candles; a candle for each night, plus one helper candle. Children play games, sing songs, and exchange gifts. Potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish, are traditionally served with applesauce and sour cream. The dates of Hanukkah change because this holiday follows the lunar cycle. Hanukkah is one of the most joyous of Jewish holidays.

WINTER SOLSTICE

The Winter Solstice occurs in December in the Northern Hemisphere, on the shortest day of the year. People all over the world participate with festivals and celebrations. Long ago, people celebrated by lighting bonfires and candles to coax back the sun.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas brings together many customs from other countries and cultures around the world. Family members help to decorate a Christmas tree and home with bright lights, wreaths, candles, holly, mistletoe, and ornaments. On Christmas Eve people go to church and Santa begins his travels from the North Pole in a sleigh to deliver gifts.

KWANZAA

Kwanzaa is celebrated December 26 through January 1. It is a holiday to commemorate African heritage, during which participants gather with family and friends to exchange gifts and to light a series of black, red, and green candles. These candles symbolize the seven basic values of African American family life: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

NEW YEAR'S DAY

New Year's Day is January 1, the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Fireworks are often set off at midnight to celebrate the new year. Black-eyed peas are thought to bring luck and prosperity for the new year. Greens (usually collards) bring wealth, and pork symbolizes moving forward are commonly served in the southern part of the United States.

THREE KINGS DAY

At the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas comes a day called the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day. This holiday is celebrated as the day the three wise men first saw baby Jesus and brought him gifts. On this day in Spain, children get their Christmas presents. In Puerto Rico, on January 5, children leave a box with hay under their beds so the kings will leave good presents. In France, a delicious cake known as a "kings' cake" (la galette des rois) is baked. A coin, jewel, or little toy is hidden inside the cake when it is baked.

BOXING DAY

Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. It is a day when gifts are given to people in the service industry like mail carriers, doormen, porters, and tradesmen. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, December 26th.. It is also a day to give to the poor. Some people gather gifts for poor children and put them in Christmas boxes.

No one is quite sure where Boxing Day got its start. One possible origin is from the Middle Ages, when churches would put out metal boxes to collect offerings for the poor for the Feast of St. Stephen.

Another possible origin is from when wealthy English Lords would give their servants the day after Christmas off as a holiday. They would also give them a box with leftover food or even a present on this day. The day is likely a combination of these traditions and others. Either way, Boxing Day has been around for hundreds of years and is a national holiday in England and other countries.

DIWALI

Diwali is a five-day festival of lights celebrated by Hindus around the world in the fall. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. As part of the celebration houses, stores and other public places are all decorated with diyas, which are small clay oil lamps or candle holders.

Diwali is celebrated by cleaning homes, then leaving the windows and doors of the houses open so that Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, can come in. Homes are decorated with paper chains, flower garlands, and designs made out of colored powders on the doorstep for good luck. They dress up in new clothes, exchange gifts of sweets and dried fruit, play card games and have festive meals.

RAMADAN

Ramadan is a month of daily fasting during daylight hours. Fasting culminates on the holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Ramadan is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam and is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It falls at different times of year because the dates are determined by the Islamic lunar calendar.

Most Muslims try to give up bad habits during Ramadan. Some will pray more or read the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Many will try to read the whole Quran at least once during Ramadan and many will attend services in mosques where the Quran is read. Eid al-Fitr is the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast and is a time of celebration, forgiveness, giving of gifts, giving to charity and spending time with family and friends.

SAINT LUCIA DAY

On December 13, girls in Sweden dress up as “Lucia brides”. The dress in long white gowns with red sashes, and a wreath of burning candles on their heads. They wake up their families by singing songs and bringing them coffee and twisted saffron buns called “Lucia cats.”

1. Learn more about 3 holidays and their history.

1. What is the name of the candle holder used during Kwanzaa?

1. Prepare a Boxing Day recipe.

1. Research the dishes prepared during Ramadan. Select one and find out what is so significant about that dish. Prepare the dish for your family.

1. Make a paper dreidel (instructions attached) that you can play with or use as a decoration. The dreidel is one of the best-known symbols of Chanukah. A four-sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side, the dreidel is used to play a fun Chanukah game of chance.

SHIN, HEY, GIMEL, NUN

The letters on the dreidel, Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin, stand for the Nes Gadol Haya Sham, which means A Great Miracle Happened There.

In Israel, the modern-day land of Judea in which the story of Chanukah took place, the letters on the dreidel are Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Peh, which stand for A Great Miracle Happened Here (Po, in Hebrew).

To play the game of dreidel, two to four players each get a handful of pennies or chocolate money called gelt. The remainder of the pot is left in the middle. The youngest players spins the dreidel and depending on what letter the top lands on, he or she will:

NUN – Lose his turn, the top passes to the next player.

GIMEL – Win all the pot.

HEY – Win half the pot

SHIN (or PEH) – Lose all of his coins

The dreidel — or Sivivon in Hebrew, from the verb to spin — continues to be passed around the circle until one player has won everyone’s coins. The word dreidel comes from a Yiddish word meaning to turn.

According to some historians, Jews first played with a spinning top during the rule of the Greek King Antiochus’. In Judea, Antiochus had outlawed Jewish worship, so the Jews would use a game with the spinning top as a ruse to conceal that they were secretly studying Torah.

Dreidels can be made out of just about anything — from wood, plastic or polymer to precious metals.

1. Three Kings !!

This project is basically free using "stuff" you already have on hand.

The Kings are made from paint sticks. Simply paint the sticks in rich, royal colors. There is a little indention that makes a natural separation for the head. Base coat that area in a flesh color. Make the beards out of scraps of brown peel and stick fun foam. Free hand the faces. The crowns are cut from scraps of glitter fun foam then glued on the heads. The "turban" is made from a scrap of fabric. Used fabric scraps around the necks and then the absolute best part- just pull out all the glitter, glitter glue and odds and ends of sequins and confetti and glue, glue, glue. No limits - we just give those Kings a ton of bling!

1. Draw, color and cut out pictures of harvest fruits and vegetables, then glue them onto a paper plate to symbolize "first fruits" of Winter Solstice.

1. Find the hidden Christmas words.

Cake Ivy Santa

Candles Mincepies Trees

Carols Presents Yulelogs

Crackers Reindeer

1. What is Kawanzaa?

1. What significance does the Winter Solstice have in relations to the Northern Hemisphere?

1. What date does Hanukkah start? Why does the date always change?

2. Easy Fruit Rockets for New Years

Ingredients: (makes 5 rockets)

5 strawberries

10 large green grapes

15 blueberries

5 foil cocktail sticks

Method:

Wash and dry the fruit, then hull the strawberries by chopping the tops off them. Thread the blueberries and grapes onto the skewers, alternating between them. Top each skewer with a strawberry to make a point at the top of the rocket. Serve and enjoy!

1. Identify each item and then color.

1. What is Lussekatter? What is another name for Lussekatter? Make one batch of Lussekatters.

1. What is the name given to the first day of the Diwali festival?

1. Why do Muslims fast all day during Ramadan?

1. Can you find the eight differences? Circle each one.

1. Wrapping Paper Collage

What You Need: wrapping paper scraps

safety scissors

glue

white poster paper or construction paper (9″ x 12″)

pencil and eraser

Directions:

1. Choose a design or image to work with. This could be a fish, a rooster, a sunshine or a car… whatever you decide is fine.

2. Lightly draw an outline of your image onto the poster paper – remembering to keep it simple.

3. Cut your wrapping paper up into shapes that you can use to create your image. Take some time to work out all the details.

4. When you are happy with your choices, glue the wrapping paper shapes down onto your poster paper drawing.

1. Draw a line connecting the holiday to its picture.

Three Kings Day

New Years

Kawanzaa

Winter Solstice

Christmas

Hanukah

Santa Lucia

Diwaldi

Boxing Day

Ramadan

1. Diya for Diwali

Diwali, which starts on November 7th, is the five-day Indian Festival of Lights. Homes are cleaned and decorated with diyas, strings of lights, flower garlands and paper chains, doorstep designs are made for good luck with colored powders called Rangolis.

Diyas are a small type of lamp, lit on Diwali for worship and decorative purposes. Diyas come in a variety of options: they can be plain, colorful, simple, fancy, big or small! Traditionally they are made out of clay and then filled with oil to be lit. They are lined up on building edges and windowsills and burned during Diwali.

Materials Needed:

Small Beads

Air Clay or Playdough

Rolling Pin

Plastic Knife

Stamps

Ink Pad

Small Bowl

Paint or Markers

Votive Candle or

Battery-Operated Candle

Directions:

1. Roll out the air clay or play dough to a smooth thin layer.

2. Place a bowl upside-down on top of the clay and cut around the bowl to create a circle.

3. Stamp the clay using a pre-made stamp or carve out by hand.

4. Include ink to add colors.

5. Take the clay circle and gently set into the small bowl to form the bowl shape of the diya. Add small beads for decoration. Allow clay to dry overnight. Remove from bowl to complete drying.

6. Once dry, paint the bowl for added decoration. Add the candle to the diya and illuminate at night on Diwali!

1. Who is Santa Claus and where did he come from?

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DREIDEL PATTERN