December 20, 2024

REMINDER: YOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED

Overview for this week.

1. I'm starting this week with a look at the most popular Christmas dinners around the world. From turkey to tamales, every region has their favorite Christmas meal.

2. Next, to really set the holiday mood, I have the Tabernacle choir's performance of Joy to the World.

3. Christmas and Hanukkah overlap this year., so I'm following the Christmas posts with a brief history of Hanukah and the miracle of the oil.

4. This Saturday is the winter solstice. I have some solstice traditions that you can try out to celebrate the start of winter at home. I also have a guide to winter solstice celebrations around the world.

5. In Reaching High, German climber, Jost Kobusch is making an attempt at a winter solo ascent of Mount Everest.

6. In the Kid's Corner, the online NORAD Santa tracker is up and running so that children around the world can track Santa's progress on Christmas Eve.

7. I'm closing this week by wishing everyone a merry Christmas Hawaiian style, Mele Kalikimaka!

Now, to this week's Flock.

Tap to view past issues.

I want to wish everybody a merry Christmas! Next to Thanksgiving, Christmas is the time to gather friends and family together for a celebratory feast. Turkey and ham or roasted pork are the top choices in the Americas and through much of Europe. Beef and goat are preferred in parts of Africa, and the top choice in Australia where Christmas is a summer holiday is prawns. I hope you get to enjoy your favorite holiday treats with loved ones and have a merry Christmas wherever you are!

A map shows the most popular Christmas dishes around the world

From CNBC Travel, By: Monica Pitrelli, December 23, 2022

People traveling abroad this Christmas may not find their favorite holiday food on the menu.

That’s because traditional holiday fare varies around the world.

To see who’s eating what this weekend, the culinary website Chef’s Pencil created a map showing what it says are the most popular Christmas dishes around the world.

Where turkey is the tradition

Travelers spending the holiday in the United States, Canada, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom can expect turkey on the table this Christmas, according to the map.

Those headed to parts of South America can too — the map shows turkey is a top Christmas food in Brazil, Chile and Peru.

Even so, each country has its own take on how turkey is traditionally served, according to Chef’s Pencil’s research.

“For example, in Peru, roast turkey slices are served with a melange of creme fraiche, chicken broth, lime juice, jalapeno peppers, fresh cilantro and cayenne pepper,” the website states. “In Chile, roast turkey is traditionally stuffed with apples.”

More countries eat pork

Pork dishes are even more popular than turkey, in terms of the number of countries where both are served, Chef Pencil’s representative Salomea Restea told CNBC Travel.

Pork is the most popular traditional holiday dish in 23 countries, more than the 17 that focus on turkey, she said.

Suckling pig is the center of the traditional Christmas table in Spain and Cuba, while the Philippines feasts on roasted pork, according to the map.

Where other meats prevail

Duck dominates in Denmark, and goose in Belarus and Russia, according to the map.

Yet chicken is the preferred dish for celebrations in Malta and Uganda, it shows. Brazilians also eat Chester chickens, which are larger than average chickens but smaller than turkeys, according to the New York Times.

Joy to the World (2017) - Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble & The Tabernacle Choir

This moving performance of Joy to the World by the Tabernacle Choir could get Ebenezer Scrooge into the Christmas Spirit.

This year, the first night of Hanukkah will occur on Christmas Day. This has only happened four times in the last century as the two holidays overlap about once every fifteen years. This year Hanukkah runs from sundown on Wednesday, December 25th, 2024, until Thursday, January 2, 2025. Happy Hanukkah to all!  

From: My Jewish Learning

Hanukkah is one of the few Jewish holidays not mentioned in the Bible. The story of how Hanukkah came to be is contained in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, which are not part of the Jewish canon of the Hebrew Bible.

These books tell the story of the Maccabees, a small band of Jewish fighters who liberated the Land of Israel from the Syrian Greeks who occupied it. Under the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Syrian Greeks sought to impose their Hellenistic culture, which many Jews found attractive. By 167 B.C.E, Antiochus intensified his campaign by defiling the Temple in Jerusalem and banning Jewish practice. The Maccabees — led by the five sons of the priest Mattathias, especially Judah — waged a three-year campaign that culminated in the cleaning and rededication of the Temple.

Since they were unable to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot at its proper time in early autumn, the victorious Maccabees decided that Sukkot should be celebrated once they rededicated the Temple, which they did on the 25th of the month of Kislev in the year 164 B.C.E. Since Sukkot lasts seven days, this became the timeframe adopted for Hanukkah.

From: Reform Judiaism.org

Originally, the eight-day holiday was intended to parallel the eight-day festival of Sukkot. The books of the Maccabees made no mention of the legend concerning a small jar of oil that unexpectedly lasted for eight days. Only centuries after the Maccabees’ defeat of the Syrians did the story of the jar of oil – which has come to be associated with Hanukkah – appear in the Talmud.

According to the legend, when the Maccabees entered the Temple and began to reclaim it from the Greeks, they immediately relit the ner tamid, which burned constantly in the Temple and has a parallel in our synagogues to this day. In the Temple, they found a single jar of oil, which was sufficient for only one day. The messenger who was sent to secure additional oil took eight days to complete his mission, and miraculously, the single jar of oil continued to burn until his return. The rabbis of the Talmud attributed the eight days of Hanukkah to the miracle of this single jar of oil.

Due to the tilt of the Earth's axis, the Northern Hemisphere will be the furthest distance from the Sun this Saturday, December 21st marking the winter solstice and the beginning of winter with the longest night and shortest day of the year. Days will become increasingly longer and nights shorter until the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice on June20, 2025. In the Southern Hemisphere the opposite is true, Saturday is the summer solstice and the beginning of summer.

From: Mother, By: Erin Feher & Katie Hintz-Zambrano

As lovely as the holidays can be, they can also be a little divisive, especially in families with mixed spiritual and cultural beliefs. That’s why we love the idea of celebrating the winter solstice. It’s literally a celebration of the imminent return of sun, which we can all agree is pretty great. And the best part? No shopping required. Wondering what exactly the solstice is? Happening twice a year, it marks the exact moment that one of Earth’s poles is at its maximum tilt. So, on the day of the winter solstice, the sun travels its shortest path through the sky. And this year, on Saturday, December 21, 2024 at 1:19 a.m. PST and 4:19 a.m. EST, that’s what will happen for us Northern Hemisphere folks (be sure to check your specific local winter solstice sunset time!). Conversely, the Southern Hemisphere will be enjoying summer solstice at the exact same moment, as their half of the globe is tilted towards the sun. (Find out how to Celebrate the summer solstice here!). Astronomically, the winter solstice marks the end of fall and beginning of winter, and early pagan winter solstice traditions were created to celebrate the “birth of the sun.” The occasion is marked with sweet and traditional winter solstice rituals—from brewing mulled cider and eating winter solstice foods, to lighting lanterns, reciting winter solstice quotes, striking special yoga moves, and setting intentions for the season ahead.

Follow the link below for some favorite winter solstice traditions so you can make this year’s shortest day a memorable one. Happy winter solstice!

From: Forbes, By: Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, December 18, 2024

Cultures around the world are preparing to mark the winter solstice this Saturday, including with festivals, special meals and several live-streamed events from historical monuments like the Stonehenge in England and the Newgrange in Ireland.

Where to Watch Winter Solstice Celebrations

Monuments like Stonehenge in England (built in 2500 B.C.) and the Torreon in Machu Picchu, Peru (built around 1450), were built to track and predict the movement of the sun. While scientists today have much more information about the universe, the astronomical event is still celebrated and tracked by the monuments built thousands of years ago. English Heritage, a charity that oversees Stonehenge, will invite thousands of people to watch the sunrise at the monument, and the event will be live streamed. In Ireland, an ancient burial site called Newgrange was built in 3,200 B.C. to allow light into its chamber only during sunrise on the winter solstice, and the monument will livestream the phenomenon from within the passage Saturday.

How the Winter Solstice is Celebrated Around the World

Historically, the winter solstice has been celebrated globally as a time of renewal and rebirth as it marks the return of light after a dark period (days again getting longer after months of shortening). Brighton, England, will host its annual Burning the Clocks festival and parade Saturday which will see thousands of people walk through the city with paper lanterns to be burned in a bonfire to bid farewell to the past and welcome the new year. Vancouver will host its Winter Solstice Lantern Festival for the 31st year in a row to fill the streets with light on the darkest nights. Millions of people around the world celebrate the Persian festival of Yalda, which marks the sunrise after the longest night of the year, said to be the night evil forces held the most power. During the celebration of Yalda, people eat pomegranates to symbolize protection from evil spirits and watermelon to shield them from both the winter cold and summer heat. In Japan, it's tradition to take a "yuzu bath," a hot bath with whole citrus yuzu fruits floating in the steaming water, to invite health and fortune into the new year. The Yule festival in German and pagan tradition is one of the oldest winter solstice celebrations in the world and includes burning a yule log—often the largest log a family could find—on the shortest and darkest day of the year. The log would be burned for 12 days, and ashes saved to fertilize spring crops.

I have followed German climber Jost Kobusch's previous attempts to solo climb Everest. He started his latest attempt earlier this month. This is an extremely difficult endeavor any time of the year, but especially so in the winter. I wish him the best of luck and a safe return regardless of how far up the mountain he gets.

From: Unofficial Networks, by: Nolan Deck, December 9, 2024

German mountaineer Jost Kobusch is on his way to the base camp of Mount Everest in order to begin a winter solo climb attempt of the world’s tallest mountain. This is not his first time on Everest, nor is it his first time on the mountain in the winter. If all goes to plan, Kobusch will be solo climbing the West Ridge.

In both 2019/20 and 2020/21, Kobusch spent time working on the route, figuring out the beta, and learning as much as he possibly could while building his skills. Last year, 2023/24, Kobusch was prepared for a third attempt when he injured his back just before departure. This year will be his fourth expedition.

He doesn’t necessarily plan on summiting the mountain, at least not according to his social media. Instead, Jost hopes to break an altitude record set by a French team in 1983, reaching 7,500 meters (~24,606 feet) on the west ridge in the winter. He hopes to explore the area above that mark.

From: NORAD

Children around the world can track Santa' progress Christmas Eve online at the NORAD's (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Official NORAD Tracks Santa website, oe on their phone using the Track Santa app. for real-time updates on Santa’s progress around the globe. The website also features libraries of holiday stories, songs, and videos. NORAD also maintains a phone hotline available from 4:00 AM MST on December 24th at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) where more than 1,250 Canadian and American uniformed personnel volunteer to answer calls from children that would rather talk to someone about Santa's progress.

The Nicest Wrong Number - Part 1

I want to close this week's Flock by wishing all my readers a merry Christmas! Not by the abbreviated "merry X-mas", but the way we say it in Hawaii, Mele Kalikimaka!

From: Evan Harlow R(S) | Coldwell Banker

When we envision a Hawaiian Christmas it looks a lot different than celebrations across much of the US. Going to the beach for Christmas is a unique way to spend the holiday. Even if you're not spending the holidays in Hawaii, you may find yourself singing along to Mele Kalikimaka at some point during the season.

In traditional Hawaiian culture, this time of the year is known as Makahiki season which is the beginning of the Hawaiian lunar year. Makahiki season begins with the rising of the constellation Makalii and the season is dedicated to the god of fertility, agriculture, and peace, Lonoikamakahiki.

With the colonization of Hawaii came new traditions such as Christmas which in many ways represents similar values of abundance and peace. The phrase Mele Kalikimaka began as a way of translating Merry Christmas into the Hawaiian language and it was made popular by the famous Bing Crosby recording we all love.

Penned by R. Alex Anderson in 1949, the lyrics of this island Christmas song describe a festive, warm holiday in a lush, sunny Hawaiian setting. Several famous artists have recorded this upbeat melody over the years as well.

Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters: "Mele Kalikimaka"

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

Cita Scott for paintings, photography, and culinary art. Cita will be in and out of town all summer. Don't hesitate to give her a jingle. (520) 404-1551

Kimberly GomER, MS, RD/LDN

Registered and licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist. Find me on my website at KimberlyGomer.com for information about nutrition coaching.

Sarah Smallhouse & Make Elections Fair ArIzona

– Sign the petition here

Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter by Mara G. Aspinall and Liz Ruark. Mara is always here to help in understanding testing knowledge and how it's being applied.

Kyria Sabin of Fletcher Pilates,

she's the best. (520) 323-7070

Where in the World is Zoe

Zoe is back in Colordo helping launch the 2024 Aspen Tennis programs with sister Ana and mother Petra.

The Fabric Jeanie!

Tap to learn more. 

(520) 245-0589

Linda Collazo, mezzo-soprano

for piano and voice lessons

Andres Valbuena, drum selection, drum basics, and more.

Dr. Hayward M. Fox, Ph.D.

The institute of Personal andTranspersonal Knowledge

Tucson Village Farm:

Vegetaable growing in the summer heat.

In coming weeks: we'll be sharing more investigative articles from our roving reporter William George, original writing from Flock favorite Dino DeConcini.

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

520-818-4433

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