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よい冬休みを!
冬休みの間のお祝いは、クリスマスやお正月だけに限らない。
冬至の前後には、古くからさまざまな民族が固有のお祭りを催してきているのだ。
だからこの季節のグリーティングカードには、筆者は宗教や民族に関係のない
Happy Holidays!を使うことにしている—。
Happy holidays
Well, here it is, that time of year again. Days are short, nights are long and the year draws to a close. It is the holiday season. You may wonder why I don't write "Christmas Season." Well, that is because, in truth, a lot of different people around the world celebrate the end of the year in different ways.
Here in Japan, more and more people celebrate Christmas, and you can even hear Christmas tunes being played in stores in early November. But Japan's real end-of-the-year celebration is Oshogatsu, New Year's. It is a great time of year where business draws to a close and people turn to home and family, travel to their home towns and take it easy for a few days. The air clears and the sky turns blue again and the city becomes very quiet. There is often snow in the mountains and the same sense of quiet is there, so you can get a real feeling of wilderness.
But winter celebrations are not limited to Christmas and Oshogatsu, no indeed. There are lots and lots of other celebrations at this time of year. Before people started to celebrate Christmas, there were many important winter festivals celebrated by ancient peoples. These celebrations were focused around the winter solstice (Dec. 22 this year) the shortest day of the year. To the ancients the winter solstice was the signal for the sun to return on the following days, and therefore cause for great rejoicing. The Romans had a wild holiday to honor the god Saturn. It lasted from Dec. 17 to 23 and included reveling, gift giving and the use of evergreen trees. The Celtic Druids, poets and philosophers of their time, celebrated the winter solstice — like many other pagan peoples — as the rebirth of the sun. Ancient Germanic people celebrated Yule at this time. They used holly and mistletoe in their celebrations, symbols that still are used today. And from this we get the English word "Yuletide," a secular synonym for the Christmas season.
Here are just a few more festivals celebrated at this time of year. The Jewish people celebrate Hanukah, the festival of lights, which commemorates their victory over their enemies. Recently African Americans have started to celebrate Kwanza, a cultural festival starting Dec. 26 to commemorate their heritage and values. There is even a Buddhist holiday, Rohatsu, on Dec. 8 to mark the day when Siddhartha Gautama was enlightened and became the Buddha.
With all of these holidays, how do you wish people well? How do you tell them you hope they are healthy, happy and prosperous at the end of this year? For a long time, many Christmas cards have included the generic message "Season's Greetings." And recently many people have been using the phrase "Happy Holidays." It seems, though, that a majority of Americans still prefer the traditional greeting.
But when I consider all the people celebrating their own holidays, and the cultural diversity involved, I will have to go with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings." But for all you traditionalists, all right: Felice Navidad. For the rest of you: Happy Holidays!
- draws to a close
- 終わりに近づく
- tunes
- 曲
- take it easy
- のんびり過ごす
- wilderness
- 自然
- by ancient peoples
- 古代のさまざまな民族によって
- were focused around 〜
- 〜のころに集中していた
- winter solstice
- 冬至
- ancients
- 古代人
- for the sun to return on the following days
- その後の日々に太陽が戻ってくる
- cause
- 理由
- rejoicing
- 喜び
- Romans
- ローマ人
- wild
- 狂気じみた
- honor 〜
- 〜を称える
- Saturn
- サトゥルヌス(ローマ神話に登場する農耕神)
- lasted from 〜 to 〜
- 〜から〜まで続く
- reveling
- どんちゃん騒ぎ
- evergreen trees
- 常緑樹
- Celtic Druids
- 古代ケルト社会のドルイド教の僧侶
- philosophers
- 哲学者
- pagan peoples
- 異教徒
- rebirth
- 復活
- Ancient Germanic people
- 古代ゲルマン民族
- Yule
- 冬至祭(現在は「キリスト降誕祭」の意)
- holly
- ヒイラギ
- mistletoe
- ヤドリギ
- Yuletide
- クリスマスの季節
- secular
- 非宗教的な
- synonym
- 同義語
- Jewish people
- ユダヤ人
- Hanukah
- ハヌカ(ユダヤ教徒にとってクリスマスにあたるもの)
- commemorates 〜
- 〜を祝う
- African Americans
- アフリカ系アメリカ人
- Kwanza
- クワンザ(年末から新年に行なわれるアフリカ系アメリカ人の祭り)
- heritage
- 文化的遺産
- values
- 価値観
- Rohatsu
- 臘八
- mark 〜
- 〜を記念する
- Siddhartha Gautama
- シッダッタ・ゴータマ
- was enlightened
- 悟りを開いた
- Buddha
- 仏陀
- how do you wish people well
- なんと言って幸福を祈るのか
- prosperous
- 繁栄している
- generic
- 一般的な
- diversity
- 多様性
- traditionalists
- 伝統主義者
- Felice Navidad
- (=Feliz Navidad)スペイン語の Merry Christmas