Native Americans
“We all celebrate Christmas in our own way but we still respect the Native American way,” said Rosie “Bear Bear” Decroce of Copperas Cove, founder of Five Hill Indian Families and of the Sioux and Hispanic tribes.
Alfred “Little Eagle” Faulkner celebrates Christmas with his church family and his mother.
“I always take time with myself to reflect on what the Creator did for this place and these people,” Faulkner said.
Prayer and reflection is essential to celebrating the holidays for Native Americans.
Native Americans have two celebrations a year - at the beginning of spring and fall. Christmas is a Christian tradition they learned from European settlers.
Local Native Americans have a gathering once a year when they all come together as one.
“We celebrate by giving a shake or a hug and then we go on to the New Year,” Ms. Decroce said.
She receives Christmas cards, e-mails and phone calls from Native American friends around the country.
“Even though we’re far away, we’re one family,” she said.
She spends Dec. 23 and 24 alone, praying and fasting.
Ms. Decroce is a spiritual healer; she teaches people how to become whole and a better person.
“I’m praying for the world,” she said. “The world has so much negative that you have to have positive so it can be joined as one so it can heal itself.”
Launa “Ice Bear” Helfond, of the Iowa and Blackfoot tribes, moved from Alaska to Copperas Cove 14 years ago.
She remembers Alaskan Christmases celebrated by eating what was hunted and fished that year, such as moose, caribou and halibut.
Marion “Running Wolf” Burnett is researching her Native American roots.
Ms. Burnett takes the time to pray and reflect over the past year and what could have been done differently.
“Since I was a little child I have always prayed that everyone to realize that He has a different name, but He is the same person and we need to quit fighting over it and this world would be a better place,” she said.
German
Loris Edwards spent her childhood in East Germany during World War II.
Santa Claus didn’t visit her house to put presents under the tree. Instead, the kristkindl, the Christ child with angel wings, would bring the presents that Mrs. Edwards had requested on her wunschzettel, or wish list.
An advent wreath would hang above the dining room table or sit on a stand adorned with four candles symbolizing Abraham, King David or Moses, Isaiah and John the Baptist. Each candle is lit individually during the four weeks of Advent.
The main Christmas celebration is on Christmas Eve.
Mrs. Edwards never decorated the tree as a child; the tree would be decorated by the kristkindl (actually her father) on Christmas Eve and wouldn’t be revealed until that night.
She would press her ear to the library door to hear the kristkindl decorating the tree.
“Every once in a while you’d hear ‘kerplunk, kerplunk’ - my father dropping one of mother’s precious ornaments,” she said. “It never occurred to me that how could this gentle kristkindl drop so much and make so much noise!”
The Christmas Eve table was set with a crucifix, a bowl of salt, a bowl of water and a loaf of bread cut with three crosses to symbolize the Trinity.
“They say the crucifix is because Christ’s birth would mean nothing if it wasn’t for the cross,” she said.
The bowls and bread are meant to be shared with anyone who visits who needs to be fed.
“It means you’re supposed to be open to give help to anyone,” she said. “What you have, you’re supposed to share.”
The tree wasn’t revealed until after dinner. Then the children could open their presents.
Her family attended Midnight Mass after the celebration and spent Christmas Day visiting with family and friends.
The 12 days of Christmas are spent having Christmas parties. This lasts from Dec. 26 to the day of Epiphany, Jan. 6, when the Magi visited Christ.
“They’re great days. It’s just like you wait and now you have 12 days of partying,” she said.
She remembers opening up all the doors in her parent’s city apartment and pushing back the furniture to dance.
“Dancing in those days was the entertainment,” she said. “You played board games and you danced.”
St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on Dec. 6. This is the day when Saint Nicholas, a generous bishop, would give gifts to the poor. Children leave out shoes or empty plates to be filled with candy and fruit. Parents would also hire people or the father would dress up as the saint and present the children with their gifts if they had been good.
Her childhood memories in Germany are especially precious because her family was forced to leave after the war in 1945 when the area was given to Poland, said Mrs. Edwards, who lives in Temple. She wasn’t able to visit her hometown again until 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Jewish
Charles and Jan Hart of Temple will start their Hanukkah celebration on Dec. 21 when they light the first candle on the Menorah at sundown.
“Hanukkah is a holiday celebrating religious freedom,” Mrs. Hart said. “It’s a joyous holiday.”
Hanukkah, or the Jewish Festival of Lights, celebrates the Maccabean Revolt against the Syrian Greeks. The Syrians had conquered the Holy Land and desecrated the Temple. The Maccabees overthrew the Syrians and rededicated the Temple to return it to its holy state.
They lit the eternal light that burns in every synagogue but only found enough holy oil for one night. The oil lasted through eight nights, the reason for the eight nights of Hanukkah.
To remember the event, Jews light a candle every night on a Menorah, which is a candelabrum with nine branches.
The holiday falls on the 25th of Kislev according to the Jewish calendar,
They cook potato pancakes, called latkes, cooked in oil to symbolize the oil used on the first Hanukkah. They usually cover the latkes in sour cream or applesauce.
Cookies are also made in the shapes of dreidels and Menorahs.
A dreidel is a traditional game played during Hanukkah.
“It’s a gambling game really,” Hart said.
The dreidel has four different sides - each side has a Hebrew letter and designates what the players are supposed to do - put in, take out, take half or do nothing. The players usually play with beans or pennies.
As for Hanukkah being the Jewish Christmas, the Harts disagree.
“It’s hard to compare the two holidays, just because they’re completely different,” Mrs. Hart said. Her husband agrees.
“We give gifts and receive gifts, but that might be the only comparison,” he said.
The Harts believe their children didn’t miss out by not celebrating Christmas.
They joke that the kids who celebrate Christmas would get jealous when they heard about the Hart children receiving a gift every night for Hanukkah. Children usually receive at least a small trinket.
“We have our own traditions and we feel comfortable with them,” she said.
The couple attends an annual family gathering in Dallas during the holiday. People come from all over, and 20 to 25 pounds of potatoes are needed to feed the 65 people that come.
“This is the glue that keeps the family together,” Hart said. “It’s keeping the memories of the family alive.”
Islam
The Ahmed family of Temple recently celebrated Eid al-Adha, the Islam festival that celebrates the time when God asked Ibrahim to sacrifice his son but then intervened before the sacrifice could be made.
“It’s a reminder of God’s power and God asking us how much will you sacrifice,” Zahir Ahmed said.
For the festival, they sacrifice an animal and share it with the poor, friends and themselves. On Monday they had 30 people from all backgrounds over for a feast to celebrate the festival.
“It’s a lot about giving,” Ahmed explained. “You help the poor, you help the needy, you just have to do that. First, help the poor and then you look after yourself.”
Al-Hijira is the Muslim New Year and will be celebrated in about 10 days. This celebrates the day when Mohammed’s two sons were killed defending their faith.
To celebrate holidays, Muslims usually fast from sunrise to sunset. They also stay away from things that aren’t considered holy.
“It develops a lot of discipline in you,” he said. “It starts to bring out the best in you.”
The children are also taught to fast - their oldest daughter started fasting when she was 9.
“That’ll teach a child about appreciating what you have and self-control,” his wife, Shajjia, said.
The holidays are based on the lunar calendar, so the date never remains the same through the years.
“Islam is a continuation of the monotheistic faith that originated with Judaism,” he said. “We believe in all those messengers of God.”
Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas because God didn’t designate the date.
“It was a holiday designated by a king, that’s why we don’t agree with the 25th of December being the birthday of Jesus,” Ahmed said. “We can’t go with what man says, but with what God says.”
Their children have questioned why they didn’t celebrate Christmas like their school friends.
“My son asked yesterday why didn’t we have a Christmas tree,” he said. “I had to give him an explanation and say, ‘yes, Christians celebrate their festival and you could go enjoy with them, and we have our festivals and they can come enjoy with you.’”
