With the Holiday season fast approaching, we thought we would share some great inspiration and holiday history with you. After all the holiday season is all about, love, peace, joy, faith, fellowship, friendship, and of course Fun!
The first holiday we get is Thanksgiving. The actual date it falls on varies depending on the year. However, it always falls during the last week of November. This year our Thursday Thanksgiving date is November, 28th. One of our favorite Holidays of the year. Thanksgiving is a time for all of us to be thankful, cherish time with our families and the families we create, and of course, gather around the table for a shared celebratory meal. Like many different kinds of celebrations, we include flowers. The flowers we enjoy during the holidays might be our favorite color or a favorite variety of bloom we not only love but is our favorite color. There is no right or wrong kind of flower to have and enjoy for the holidays. The important thing is that they add to our celebration.
In the United States, Thanksgiving is our last celebration of Autumn. We often celebrate with flowers in rich tones of yellows, oranges, golds, rich tones of wine, Autumn foliage of Oak and Maple. Traditionally we are celebrating the bounty of the year's harvest. When we use flowers as part of our Thanksgiving celebration we often include Autumn Gourds, Squash, Apples, and of course pumpkins. It all makes for a bountiful way to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Hanukkah Is our next celebration of the season. An integral important holiday of the Jewish faith it’s oftentimes referred to as the festival of light. Just as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and also Kwanza. Hanukkah is a time we gather with family and friends to celebrate our relationships with each other and our devotions to our faith. As a festival of light The Hanukkah menorah, also Chanukah or hanukkiah, is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, as opposed to the seven-branched menorah used in the ancient Temple or as a symbol. On each night of Hanukkah, a new branch is lit.
Now we need to jump ahead a bit. The Winter Solstice which this year is on Saturday, December 21st. The winter solstice, hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice, also known as midwinter, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. Celebrating the Winter Solstice was very much a celebration recognized by anyone who was or considers themselves “Pagan” we’re talking pre=Christianity. Traditionally a time of feasting, spending time with family, Decking the Halls with Winter greens and of course burning a Yule log on the night of the Winter Solstice. Does any of this sound familiar?
That brings us to Christmas and the Advent season the proceeds it. This most iconic holiday of the winter season is very much a part of the Christian and Catholic faiths. It is an observance and celebration of the birth of Christ Jesus, hence we call it Christmas. What we usually refer to as the Christmas Season all starts just after Thanksgiving with the start of Advent. Advent is observed during the four consecutive Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve. During Advent, this is when we traditional adopted and used some of the “Pagan” traditions of celebrating the Winter Solstice. Things like “Decking the Halls” with Winter greens including Holly and Ivy, burning a Yule log, Feasting, and spending time with family and friends. An important part of the Advent season is the Advent wreath with four candles representing the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve. Each of those four Sundays starts with burning the first candle and lighting the next on each consecutive Sunday with a fifth candle, which is the Christ candle, is lit with all the others on Christmas eve celebrating the birth of Christ.
Another part of what has become a very big part of the Christmas holiday season brings the Christmas tree into our homes. First done during the Victorian era, the first people to start this tradition was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of England. Considered to be very forward-thinking and fashionable Queen Victoria and Prince Albert set a trend that ever since has become a huge tradition as part of our Christmas celebration. Christmas, if you get very specific, does not start until after Advent. Starting at Midnight Christmas Eve, December 25th which is the first day of Christmas goes for 12 consecutive days until Epiphany.
The next holiday that also overlaps Christmas in Kwanzaa. A melding of African cultures and traditions mixed with those of our Brothers and Sisters of African American heritage. It starts on December 26th and runs for 6 consecutive days. It has many similar traditions as the others namely feasting, spending time with family and friends, celebrating with music, and giving gifts.
Lastly, something we all celebrate is New Year's Eve. Remembering all that has happened the past year, and celebrating all that we hope for and look forward to in the coming new year. We get dressed up in our finest, spend time with family and friends celebrate with parties (sometimes themed), and eventually, we count down until the clock and the year changes at midnight.
As your neighborhood florist, we would love the opportunity to be a part of your family's celebrations this holiday season. We always have a beautiful selection of flowers, home décor, chocolates, and great gift ideas. We also will have an amazing assortment of Winter Evergreens, wreaths, Christmas Tree Ornaments, and the most fabulous flower arrangements for gifts, and for your holiday entertaining. Stop by and see us the next time you’re in the neighborhood at Westford Florist
