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December Holidays
Assembled here
are some great holiday websites for Christmas,
Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa
and a listing of books in the library that will explain some of the customs
and symbols associated with the December holidays. You can dazzle the conversation
arena with delicious tidbits of knowledge over the entire holiday season.
Christmas: December 25, 2004
Hanukkah: December 7 –16, 2004
Kwanzaa:
December 26, 2004 – Jan 1, 2005
Want to know even
more about holidays around the world? NEIT Library subscribes
to many databases that will deliver a wealth of information. Learn
more!
Websites
Christmas Trees & more
URL: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/
All kinds of interesting and unusual facts about trees we use for Christmas. [Developed by University of Illinois Extension.]The Capitol Holiday Tree
URL: http://www.senate.gov/~daschle/tree/
See the beautiful tree that stands in front of the Capitol Building and how that customary tree is decorated going back to the Kennedy era.President’s Park: National Christmas Tree
URL: http://www.nps.gov/whho/pageant/nctrees/1923/index.htm
The National Christmas Tree’s history dates back to 1923, and at this site you can get a glimpse of what those trees looked like with historical background on the event. [National Park Service]Rockefeller Center Tree Cam
URL: http://www.wnbc.com/christmastree/index.html
Watch a streaming video of New York’s most famous Christmas Tree!
[Courtesy of NBC]Guiness World Records
URL: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
Enter Christmas in the search box to retrieve records about the world’s largest Christmas tree, artificial or real; the world’s largest Christmas bauble, the biggest-selling Christmas song, and other fun, unusual facts. (no need to register!)National Christmas Tree Association: Christmas Tree Types
URL: http://www.realchristmastrees.org/types.html
Learn all about all the kinds of fir trees that are used for the holiday, and even how trees such as the Douglas fir got its name. Be sure to visit the White House section to learn about how the tree is selected and see historic trees.White House Tree
URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/holiday/whtree/
Yes, that White House! See trees and history from Presidents Hoover to Bush2, as well as other traditions. Also videos and 360 degree tours.Willey’s Christmas Trees
URL: http://www.willeyschristmastrees.com/seedharv.htm
Follow the Christmas tree seed from gathering through harvest (even to storage) in pictures and text.
Websites
Judaism 101
URL: http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
Learn all the basics of Chanukah – the story, the traditions, the music, even recipes for traditional foods such as latkes. Learn the candle lighting blessings and play the Dreidel game online.Jewish Learning Community.com: The Personal Gateway to Jewish Exploration
URL: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/index.htm
Explore a number of articles relating to Hanukkah. Check the left hand navigation bar to read any one of 39 articles. One is Overview: Hanukkah history, another is The Lesson of Hanukkah: Living with Imperfection by Rabbi Irving GreenbergHanukah FAQs: Some Hanukah Basics
URL: http://www.clickonjudaism.org/pages/holidays04.html
From basic questions such as is it Chanukah or Hanukkah? to Blessings and How tos to Customs and Recipes. Also a good list of books.
Websites
Celebrating Kwanzaa: A Reflective Feast
URL: http://www.umkc.edu/imc/kwanzaa.htm
Kwanzaa Ritual symbols, music to familiar tunes, and food dishes.Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture
URL: http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.html
The official Kwanzaa website: messages from the founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga, date from 1994. Explanations of the celebrations, gifts, roots of the holiday, the Seven symbols, and principles. In essence, anything you would want to know.Kwanzaa Land: Kwanzaa Glossary
URL: http://www.kwanzaaland.com/glossary.html
A simple to use A – Z listing of words and terms associated with the holiday.
Databases!
The NEIT Library subscribes to a number of databases to aid your research. Our main subscription to EBSCO gives access to thousands of journal publications and dozens of newspapers.
In EBSCO, you can find information for just about anything! Ask a Librarian to give you a tour of this useful finding aid.
Let's try researching Kwanzaa information:
1. Go to the main EBSCOhost page. [If this does not work, from the Library Homepage, choose Online Resources, then choose EBSCO.]
2. Select (check) Academic Search Premier
3. In the main search box, type "history of kwanzaa" (with the quotation marks.) Note: We use quotation marks when we want the search to look for exactly the words in that particular order that we have typed. [If we had not typed quotation marks, the search might have resulted in returns that had both the word history and the word Kwanzaa in the article, but not together.
4. There are many interesting articles listed that you can print out and read.Searching databases can be a very complicated procedure, however the above search makes it easy. There are many other features of searching that your Librarian will gladly help you with.
Library Books!Because the NEIT is a college, the library purchases more books that are academically oriented than a public library would. Below are some of the books on the subject of the holidays that are in the library, but you may consider the public library collections for more information, such as Warwick Public Library, Cranston Public Library, or Providence Public Library, or choose the RI library closest to you.
Christmas
KF4865 .M46 1993
Menendez, Albert J. The December wars: religious symbols and ceremonies in the public square. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.D530 .W45 2001
Weintraub, Stanley. Silent night: the story of the World War I Christmas truce. New York: Free Press.Kwanzaa
GT4403 .R56 1995
Riley, Dorothy Winbush. The complete Kwanzaa: celebrating our cultural harvest. (1st Edition). New York: HarperCollins.GT4403 .M33 1994
Medearis, Angela Shelf. The seven days of Kwanzaa. New York: Scholastic.GT4403 .K92 1994
Kwanzaa music. [sound recording]. Cambridge, MA: Rounder, 1994.General Reference
Ref. GT3930 .H65 1998
Thompson, Sue Ellen (ed.) Holiday symbols. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics.