Holidays – IEA Reut-Sadaqa on 17th December 2007:

On Monday, December 17th the members of IEA-Reut Sadaqa met at the Swedish Theological Institute for a celebration of the Jewish, Christian and Moslem holidays of Chanukah, Christmas and Eid Al Adha.

Rafiqa, the Moslem coordinator, brought in a video about the Haj, which is the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. She explained that every Moslem has an obligation to do this pilgrimage once in his or her lifetime. When men come back from Mecca after the Haj they are addressed as Haj and a woman is addressed as Hajja. There are seven stations at the Haj. At one, a sheep is sacrificed to symbolize the angel who had told Abraham not to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, but to sacrifice a sheep instead. The meat of the sheep is then given to poor people. Another station is called Al-Safa and Al- Marwa, which are two small hills located in Mecca between which Moslems travel back and forth seven times during the Haj to commemorate the Hagar's sacrifice for her son, Ishmael. There is the spring nearby where Hagar and Ishmael quenched their thirst after wandering in the desert which is called Zam Zam. It is known to have healing properties and people often take the holy water home to their families. Another station of the Haj is where people throw stones to eradicate Satan. At the Kabaa, which is a holy stone that fell from the heavens and is covered in black, people walk around it seven times barefoot, and are dressed in white to symbolize equality. Poor and rich are dressed alike.

Karmela, the Christian coordinator, spoke about Christmas. She explained that the first Christians did not celebrate Christmas, which came a few hundred years later. Easter was celebrated primarily as the holiday of the redemption and that was the most important focus of Christianity at that time. The Christians who lived in Europe brought in traditions like the Christmas tree and this has cultural, not religious, significance. She told us how Christmas was celebrated in her hometown of Malta. There, they did not have Christmas trees but had solid sermons about the redemption during Christmas. Jesus had to come to earth to show us how to live and this is the message that is given to people during Christmas. The Christmas sermon is usually done by a child, an alter boy – not by a priest. Gifts were given more on New Years rather than Christmas. In other traditions, Copts fast for 43 days during the Christmas season. In Bethlehem, Christmas is celebrated three times according to the respective Catholic, Armenian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox calendars. Jesus' manifestation to the world and the orient is taken by the Orthodox as the main message of Christmas celebration.

Leah, the Jewish coordinator, spoke about Chanukah from a commentary from Rabbi Gershon Winkler who quoted from the Book of the Maccabees. In this little-known story, the Book said that because the Syrio-Greeks forbade the Jews from practicing their religion, the Jews were forbidden to celebrate their holidays like the 8 day holiday of Succot. So when the Hashmonaim were victorious over the Syrio-Greeks and purified the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, they celebrated the 8 day holiday of Succot in December. Better later than never, they decided. So this is one of the reasons for 8 days of Chanukah besides the miracle of finding one day's worth of oil which lasted 8 days. Also, there is the fact that on Chanukah, Jews focus more on the miracle of the oil, rather than the military victory.

During our break we ate Leah's home-made latkes and wished everyone Happy Holidays. We asked that everyone send in suggestions for subjects/themes for the next few meetings.

Reported by Group's Coordinators: Sr. Karmela Farrugia, Leah Lublin, Rafiqa Othman

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