| Throughout history candles have figured | | | | pure olive oil for one day burned for eight days, |
| prominently in religious ceremonies. This becomes | | | | giving the victors enough time to secure more oil. |
| especially apparent in December with St. Lucia's | | | | The most recently established of these |
| Day, Advent, Hanukkah, Christmas all falling within | | | | December holidays is Kwanzaa, celebrated the |
| the month and relying heavily on the symbolic use | | | | last week of the year (December 26 to January |
| of candles. | | | | 1). Ron Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 to give |
| People in Scandinavian countries light candles on | | | | African Americans an alternative to Christmas. |
| St. Lucia's Day, December 13th, in honor of Saint | | | | The holiday is celebrated primarily in the United |
| Lucy of Syracuse, a Fourth Century Christian | | | | States. |
| martyr who brought hope during the dark winter | | | | Kwanzaa was born out of the Civil Rights |
| months by carrying food to Christians who had | | | | movement, but as the turbulent Sixties wound |
| fled into tunnels to escape persecution. St. Lucy | | | | down, so did Kwanzaa's militant flavor, and it |
| (whose name means "light") wore a crown of | | | | became a holiday for African Americans to |
| candles to light her way. | | | | celebrate themselves and their history. Participants |
| Advent, which celebrates the coming of the | | | | light seven candles in a special candle holder called |
| Messiah, begins the fourth Sunday before | | | | a kinara to celebrate the seven principles of |
| Christmas; Christians in many countries celebrate | | | | kwanza, which focus on building a strong African |
| Advent by lighting a candle on each of those four | | | | American community. |
| Sundays. On each of the first three Sundays a | | | | The seven principles are: |
| purple candle is lit to represent Hope, Love, and | | | | 1. Unity |
| Joy respectively. On the Fourth Sunday a pink | | | | 2. Self-Determination |
| candle, symbolizing Peace, is lit, and on Christmas | | | | 3. Collective Work and Responsibility |
| Day a white candle is lit to commemorate the | | | | 4. Cooperative Economics |
| birth of Jesus. | | | | 5. Purpose |
| The Christian practice of lighting a candle on | | | | 6. Creativity |
| Christmas Eve was inspired by the Jewish "Feast | | | | 7. Faith |
| of Lights," or Hanukkah. | | | | The colors of the candles in the kinara are red, |
| Hanukkah is an eight-day ceremony that involves | | | | green, and black for the colors of the African flag. |
| lighting candles in a menorah-a candle holder that | | | | A single black candle is in the center, with three |
| holds nine candles, one for each day of Hanukkah, | | | | red candles to the left, and three green candles |
| with the ninth being used to light the other eight. | | | | to the right. A new candle is lit each day, first the |
| Each day of Hanukkah one new candle is lit-one | | | | black one, then the farthest left red one, the |
| the first day, two the second, three the third, and | | | | farthest right green one, the next red, the next |
| so on. The ceremony commemorates the | | | | green, and finally the last red and last green. No |
| rededication of the Temple after the Maccabees | | | | tradition dictates who will light the candles; that |
| won Israel's independence from the Seleucid | | | | decision is left up to the families. |
| monarchy; a lamp that had only enough ritually | | | | |