December's Blending

Many UU families, for a variety of reasons, take a blended and eclectic approach to December, mixing secular and religious customs, as well as family-of-origin, borrowed, and newly created traditions.

Susan Katz, Miller author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family, argues that there is great benefit in these blended and eclectic approaches to ritual, celebrations, shared belief systems, and observances. The families she interviewed conscientiously created rich and meaningful experiences where their children were doubly-blessed with two faith heritages rather than feeling pulled to one or the other, or removed entirely from a religions perspective that they could claim. (Katz Miller was the featured speaker at this year's national conference for UU religious educators, and found in that audience many with whom her ideas strongly resonated.)

Within the framework of both/and, a UU homeschooler can go in a lot of directions this month, inspired by the 3rd, 4th, and 6th sources, being Unitarian Universalism's Jewish and Christian heritage, wisdom from the other religions of the world, and earth-centered traditions. There are holidays, festivals, and celebrations aplenty, each with rich themes such as community, redemption, faith, perseverance, and belonging. This year, in our homeschool, we spent some time on light.

The birth stories of both Jesus and Muhammad feature bright celestial events; in the case of Jesus, the star of Bethlehem guided the wise men to the baby's birthplace, and one story of Muhammad's birth tells of stars drawing so near that they culminate in a blindingly bright sky at the moment of his arrival.

Diwali, the festival of light's (knowledge) triumph over darkness (ignorance), is a significant holy day to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Nepalese Buddhists.

The winter solstice is a Sabbat for Pagans, celebrating the rebirth of the sun king to the Goddess, after which the moments of daylight grow longer until midsummer.

Hanukkah tells the story of the sacred oil that lasted for eight days when, by all accounts, it was only enough to light the temple for one day; this miracle allowed Jews to worship together and rededicate their temple after defeating the Greek army that had defiled their holy place and sought to destroy them.

The picture at the top of this post is a collection of German tradition-inspired window transparencies that we made, with stars for Christianity (blue cross), Judaism (gold star of David), Paganism (two-toned gold sun), Buddhism (pink lotus), and of course, anchored by a UU chalice. Folding translucent colored paper stars in the gray and bare winter invites the viewer to take heart, that our home star, the sun, also rises, and the sun goes down, but always  hastens to its place where it arose.

(Kite paper makes excellent, richly hued and more durable window stars, but tissue paper is more readily accessible and cheaper. There are ample free instructions for making window stars, simple and more complex, and there are a couple of good books for more advanced and intricate folding.)