The "Never Too Old To Learn Holiday Customs" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the morning paper as well as my new copy of Wired Magazine and my first edition of Reader's Digest.  Now, my "Wired" subscription will run out soon and I will not be renewing it since the technology in the magazine is beyond me as well as the type size is so small I need a magnifying glass to read it.  And this is from a person who just had an eye operation and no longer needs to wear glasses to see distance or close-up.  Anyway, I did learn a few facts about the upcoming holiday season that I didn't know before from my browsing today.  So, its time to share with you.

1. Ethiopia is the only country in the world that doesn't use the traditional 12-month Gregorian calendar.  Instead they use their own 13-month calendar known as the Coptic calendar.  They still end up with 365 days, but they have 12 months of 30 days and one month of 5 days, except leap year when it has 6 days.  And why do they do this?  Make sense to you?  That's because you don't live in Ethiopia.  
2. Jews have been celebrating Hanukkah with menorahs for over 19 centuries, but it was only in the late 1880s that they began the eight nights of presents during their celebration.  It actually started in Cincinnati, Ohio when two Reformed rabbis thought it would be great to bring a bit of Christmas to their religion and make their Jewish children feel like their friends who were Christians.
3. As for Hanukkah, there is really no correct way to spell it. How I have spelled in is only one way with Chanukah another way to spell it.  That's because it's a Hebrew word beginning with the consonant het, which has no English equivalent.  If you Google it you will find Hanukkah listed first, at least on my computer.  I'm sure if you spell it either way it will be find with your Jewish friends.
4. Another holiday that I first heard about by watching Seinfeld on TV is Festivus.  Yep, it actually is a holiday which is celebrated world-wide on December 23.  It is the time when the family gathers and airs their grievances.  Not sure who celebrates it, other than the Costanza family, but it has to be done around an aluminum pole.  I guess!
5. Did you know that in Korea that everyone's birthday is celebrated on New Year's Day.  Doesn't matter what day you are born, you celebrate your birthday on the same day.  And, on the day you are born you are considered one year old and therefore will be two years old on the next New Year's Day.  Someone born December 31 will be two years old the following day.  This is called the traditional system of age while the International system uses the same system as we do in the USA.  So why do they do this?  Perhaps so no one forgets your birthday!
6. Did you know that the United Kingdom celebrates Boxing Day the day after Christmas.  Actually has nothing to do with the physical activity of boxing, but the ritual of opening "the box" - the alms box - in the local parish church and distributing the contents to the poor of the community.  Pretty neat idea.
7. And in Japan you eat KFC on Christmas.  The tradition began long, long ago in 1974 when a manager at a Kentucky Fried Chicken overheard a couple of foreigners talking about missing the Christmas turkey dinner. KFC embraced the idea and began a Christmas deal which featured a fried chicken dinner with wine for $52.  Today you have to order it days in advance since they sell about 3.6 million orders on Christmas.
8. And finally, I knew many thought I was being sacrilegious when I wrote Christmas as Xmas. The Greeks actually used Xmas years and years ago.  "X" happens to be the Greek letter chi, best known for its use in sorority houses.  I certainly am not the first person to use the Greek letter for Jesus when I write Christmas as Xmas.  There is really no offense intended in my case, but I suppose when it's used in some cases to avoid writing Christ or for making it fit more easily in writing, it could be sacrilegious.

Well, I hoped you learned at least one new thing today about the holiday season and how it is observed throughout the world.  There are many other celebrations that are as unusual as those I have written about, but these are the most interesting in my opinion.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.