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• The Jewish Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah, begins at sundown Friday, Dec. 19, and ends on the evening of Dec. 27. The commemoration marks the anniversary of the revolt led by Judah Macabee to take back the Temple of Jerusalem from the Greeks, in 165 BCE. While legend has it that there was only sufficient purified olive oil to light the seven-branched candelabrum, the Menorah, for one day, the lamp burned miraculously for eight days in the temple.
• The official beginning of winter is 2:04 a.m. EST Monday, Dec. 22; that is, the shortest day and longest night of the year.
• Christmas, or the birth of Jesus Christ, is marked by Christians world-wide on Thursday, Dec. 25.
• Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and cultures, Dec. 26-Jan. 1. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.
• It’s a Scandinavian tradition to feed the birds to ensure good luck and prosperity in the new year, and WonderLab, the children’s science discovery museum in Bloomington, will be hosting a related tradition Wednesday, Dec. 31, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Families may gather to make paper peace doves, and milk-carton and pine-cone bird feeders ($3 program fee per child). There also will be bird identification sessions in the Discovery Garden. Call 812-330-1337 for more information.
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