As they say, it is the most wonderful time of the year - and in this case, "they" refers to a cornucopia of different cultures and religions.
Today, there are more people of color and more ethnicities represented in the U.S. than ever before. According to the Pew Research Center, 14 percent of the country is now foreign-born. U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that in Chattanooga, only 5 percent of the population is foreign-born, but that number still accounts for about 9,500 people who have settled in the Scenic City with their own wealth of seasonal celebrations.
Have you ever wondered how your neighbors honor their holiest holidays?
If so, James McKissic, director of the city of Chattanooga's Office of Multicultural Affairs, has two pieces of advice. First, stay curious; be open to engaging with people from other ethnicities. Second, represent your own culture in the most welcoming way. To truly understand one another, he says, we must build personal relationships.
"Otherwise, we have these voids of understanding, and we fill those voids with misinformation and stereotypes," McKissic says.
The season of goodwill is upon us. All of us. This time of year is special for many people - who will all celebrate some of their culture's most significant holidays and festivals.
Here is a look at a few.
Eid al-Adha
Date: The 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Each year, the holiday occurs on a different day according to the Western calendar. This year it fell on Sept. 12. In 2017, it will fall on Sept. 1.
Origin of the name: In Arabic, "eid" means "festival." Eid al-Adha translates to "festival of sacrifice."
History: Eid al-Adha is a multi-day Muslim festival that marks the end of the annual pilgrimage known as the Hajj. Once in his or her life, Muslims worldwide (who are physically and financially capable) must make this journey to Mecca, which traces the 4,000-year-old steps of the Prophet Ibrahim and his family.
As the story goes, Ibrahim's wife Hagar was stranded in the desert with their infant son Ishmael. They had run out of water and Ishmael was dying of thirst when an angel appeared and produced a freshwater spring. Later, Ibrahim and Ishmael would build a monument, called the Kaaba, at the site of that spring, located in Mecca.
The tradition of the Hajj was renewed in 628 A.D. by the Prophet Muhammad. Now, each year, an estimated 2.5 million Muslims make the pilgrimage. Along the way, pilgrims perform a number of symbolic rituals, such as circling the Kaaba seven times in a counterclockwise procession to signify unity among worshippers, as well as walking back and forth between the two small hills, Safa and Marwa, seven times, as Hagar is said to have done in her search for water.
The Hajj culminates with Eid al-Adha, celebrated by all Muslims, regardless of whether or not they have made the trek.
Indonesia-native Nurhidajat "Nur" Sisworahardjo, says the biggest difference between Eid al-Adha in his homeland versus in America is awareness.
"Back home, Muslims are the majority, so everybody has a day off; sometimes one day, sometimes two. But here, you have to ask for an excuse off work or school," says Sisworahardjo, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who completed the Hajj in 2012.
This year, Eid fell on a Monday.
"I don't have class that day so it was easy for me," Sisworahardjo says. However, for his two children, one a freshman and the other a senior at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, Sisworahardjo had to write a letter to their teachers explaining that Sept. 12 was a holy day.
Eid al-Adha commemorates the life of Ibrahim and his family, which is the foundation of the festival regardless of the celebrant's location. Likewise, says Sisworahardjo, the events of Eid's first morning are the same for Muslims worldwide. It begins with prayers, followed by a sermon. Sisworahardjo's family attended service at the Islamic Center for Greater Chattanooga, and afterward, they headed to the center's gymnasium for a party complete with cotton candy and a bouncy castle for kids.
In many parts of the world, Sisworahardjo says, during that first day it is also tradition to butcher a cow or goat and share the meat with neighbors, symbolic of Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to Allah.
"Throughout the year, we get attached to physical things. Wealth, for example. [Eid] is about being willing to give what we love and share it with others," Sisworahardjo says.
According to the age-old story, ultimately Ibrahim did not have to give up his son. In Ishmael's place, he sacrificed a ram. In Chattanooga, rather than a slaughter, there was a potluck, comprised of dishes from all over the world. Turkish people might bring lamb skewers; Pakistanis might bright chicken haleem. Sisworahardjo's wife Meidya Derni brought lumpia, traditional Indonesian spring rolls stuffed with ground turkey.
"We are international in nature," Sisworahardjo says of the Muslim community, which represents 23 percent of the world's total population, making it the second-largest religion next to Christianity.
The following few days (ranging from three to nine depending on the country) are often spent in the company of friends or family. Since much of Sisworahardjo's and his wife's family still lives in Indonesia, this year the Sisworahardjos made a trip to Knoxville to visit with friends.
"It is just a time to be happy, to praise God and to reflect on the past year. Everything we have and everything we did is a blessing," Sisworahardjo says.
Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman of Atlanta's Chabad Intown, blows a shofar at the congregation's small Jewish temple in Atlanta Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005. Schusterman has rented out an Atlanta hotel to offer free services to worshippers beginning Oct. 3 for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Faced with declining memberships, some synagogues are charging hundreds of dollars for tickets to attend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, dubbed the High Holy Holidays because they are the most sacred in the Jewish calendar. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)Yom Kippur
Date: The 10th day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. In 2016, Yom Kippur began the evening of Oct. 11 and ended the evening of Oct. 12.
Origin of the name: In Hebrew, "yom" means "day"; "kippur" roughly translates to "forgiveness."
History: Yom Kippur is the culmination of Judaism's High Holiday season, which begins with the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah, followed by the Ten Days of Repentance.
The origin of the holiday is traced back to around the year 1300 B.C.E According to the Hebrew Bible (known by Christians as the Old Testament), the first Yom Kippur occurred after Moses received the replacement tablets of the Ten Commandments, written by God.
As the story goes, when Moses returned from his first trip to Mt. Sinai, carrying the original set of tablets, he discovered the Israelites worshipping a false idol. In anger, Moses smashed that set of Commandments. He pleaded with God to spare the people, then climbed the mountain again to receive the second set of tablets. While he was gone, the Israelites fasted in repentance. When he returned, Moses proclaimed that God had shown mercy and that on the 10th day of Tishri for all generations, the people would atone for their sins. This is why Yom Kippur is also called the Day of Atonement.
Judaism, says Susan Tendler, rabbi of Chattanooga's B'nai Zion congregation, "is a tactile religion; it is filled with rituals. Filled." But Yom Kippur, she says, is all about abstinence.
Considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur is characterized by a full day in prayer and a 25-hour fast.
"I don't eat; I don't drink, not even water - except when I was pregnant and my doctor told me I had to," says Tendler, who has decided to waive that tradition for her two daughters, ages 4 and 6, until they turn 12. However, they are required to attend the services.
The first service of Yom Kippur, called Kol Nidrei, begins just before sunset. Kol Nidrei translates to "all vows" and is named after a famous passage in Jewish liturgy. The service begins with recitation of the passage, which releases one from any promises of vows made but not fulfilled over the past year.
"Our word is really important - it is our reputation and our reputation is our legacy," says Tendler. Kol Nidrei, she explains, helps wipe the slate clean.
Purity is a theme of Yom Kippur. Service-goers traditionally wear all-white. Even the Torahs, the religious text read from scrolls, are dressed in white.
Services and fasting continue throughout the following day. Each service typically lasts about three hours and includes prayers and readings from the Torah.
"Some people never leave the synagogue; they stay between breaks," Tendler says. After all, Yom Kippur is considered the "Sabbath of Sabbaths," so its followers try to do as little as possible, including drive, in order to focus all their energy on prayer and contemplation.
The final service of Yom Kippur, called Neilah, also begins just before sunset. Its name means "closing the gate."
"Metaphorically, God is closing the gates. [God] is reviewing our deeds for the year and considering our merits. Who is going to be ascribed in the Book of Life? Who is not?" Tendler says.
According to Jewish text, "Repentance, prayer and charity can remove an evil decree." These three concepts (t'shuva, tephillah and tzedakah in Hebrew) are the pillars of the Ten Days of Repentance leading up to Yom Kippur.
"One good deed can tip the scale," says Tendler.
Of the many synagogues she has visited, Tendler says her favorite place to be during that final service is B'nai Zion's sanctuary.
"It's as if our sanctuary was built for Yom Kippur. There are lots of skylights, so with the urgency of our prayers, we watch the sky getting dark. It is a serious time, a time for deep reflection. After there are three stars in the sky, we go and eat together," she says.
The feast that breaks their long fast often includes dairy-based recipes, which are easier on the stomach. It also includes traditional Jewish fare such as bagels, cream cheese, lox and apple cakes. But before the feast, Yom Kippur comes to its official conclusion with the final blast from the shofar, a ram's horn trumpet, symbolizing a wake-up call.
"Is it a wake-up call for us? A wake-up call for God? There's been thousands of years' worth of commentary," Tendler says.
Diwali or Deepavali (depending from which Indian region one comes)
Date: The 14th day of Asvina, the seventh month of the Hindu lunar calendar. In 2016, it fell on Oct. 30.
Origin of the name: In Sanskrit it means "row of lights."
History: Diwali or Deepavali is the most important Hindu festival. However, its history varies between North and South India.
In North India, the ancient holiday is based on the Sanskrit epic poem Ramayana, composed around 300 B.C. The story chronicles the life of Rama, who is banished to the forest for 14 years with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana. During their exile, Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, the 10-headed demon king. To rescue her, Rama must slay all 10 heads, which he does. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are then welcomed back into their village, where Rama becomes king.
In South India, Deepavali commemorates Lord Krishna's conquering of the evil king Narakasura, whose ancient kingdom Pragjyotisha was first mentioned in the Ramayana.
Festival traditions also vary between regions, but the overarching theme is shared by all Hindus: The festival celebrates the triumphant of good over evil; light over dark. The multi-day festival is illuminated by the lighting of candles, oil lamps and fireworks.
Growing up in North India, during Diwali, Nandini Makrandi remembers watching people in her town perform the Ramayana each evening using enormous papier mache puppets.
"They did it in the field below where I lived. I could watch it from my bedroom window. At the end, they burned Ravana because he's been destroyed," says Makrandi, whose family relocated to Nashville when she was 8. There, she remembers Diwali was celebrated at the temple by the reading of the Ramayana - all 24,000 verses. Over the course of several days, different people would take turns reading sections of the poem. Hindu families would come and listen to sections of the story.
Makrandi, now chief curator at the Hunter Museum of American Art, says since she was a child, her favorite part of the festival has been the fireworks, the idea of which is to help light the way home for Rama and Sita. Makrandi's son Naveen, 8, gets into the stories, she says.
"He's read all the mythology and he likes the ideas of all these battles," she says.
But the triumph of good over evil is only half of the celebration. Diwali is also considered the Hindu New Year, leading up to which it is customary to clean the home, buy new clothes and exchange gifts.
"But not personal gifts like you might for someone's birthday. In India you traditionally give things like dried fruits, nuts, gifts for the home," says Makrandi, though she admits she and her husband Randy Jestice will give their son a couple toys or games for Diwali.
But the true crux of the festival happens the evening of Diwali, during a ritual known as puja.
Puja, which is like a prayer, is performed at home or the temple. Specifics of the ceremony vary among families, but all honor Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity.
Makrandi says her family builds a small shrine including figurines of Lakshmi and Ganesha, the god considered the remover of obstacles. They also include candles, incense, silver coins and petunias picked fresh from their backyard. Then, each family member lights a candle and a stick of incense. The flowers are placed on the statues. As an offering to the deities, a drop of milk is put on the coins along with something sweet; a bit of chocolate or cookie, Makrandi says.
The ceremony concludes with a song, known as an "aarti," praising Lakshmi.
"After puja, we light candles in every room - the basement, attic, laundry room, all the rooms," Makrandi says. The family decorates the outside of their home with string lights which Makrandi says will stay up through Christmas, which her blended family also celebrates (her husband is American-born) - "but the secular aspect of it."
"We put up a tree and stockings and talk about Santa Claus. Our [Christmas] is very scaled back," Makrandi says. "Diwali is the biggest part of my religion. We try to balance between the two [holidays] so [Naveen] knows that."
VERONA - JANUARY 28: Nativity by Alessandro Turchi from year 1608 in church San Fermo Maggioreon January 28, 2013 in Verona, Italy.Christmas
Date: The 25th of December
Origin of the name: Christmas is a compound word, meaning "Christ's Mass."
History: Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, considered by Christians to be the son of God. The story begins around the year 1 A.D. when Mary, a young Jewish virgin engaged to marry a man named Joseph, was visited by an angel. The angel proclaimed that she was pregnant with the son of God, whom she would name Jesus. Shortly thereafter, Mary and Joseph had to travel from their town of Nazareth to Bethlehem, about 70 miles away, for an emperor-mandated census. When the couple arrived in Bethlehem, they found no vacancies at the inn. Mary was forced to give birth in a stable and use a manger, or feeding trough, as a crib for Jesus.
The first recorded Christmas was celebrated in Rome on Dec. 25, 336 A.D. - though today there is wide speculation that Jesus was not actually born on that date. Early festivals were marked by feasts and interwoven with traditions from winter solstice celebrations.
Throughout the centuries the holiday has evolved, with the biggest changes following the American Revolution. During the 19th century, celebrations became more family-focused, which is also when gift-giving was popularized.
According to the Pew Research Center, 51 percent of Americans consider Christmas a religious holiday while 32 percent view it as a cultural holiday.
Still, 90 percent of the U.S. population will celebrate the yuletide, often combining Christian traditions such as special church services with non-religious ones such as celebration of Santa Claus, the mythical figure who delivers toys to well-behaved children.
Wayside Presbyterian Church Pastor Brian Cosby says that while Santa Claus does exist in his Signal Mountain household, "We don't make a big deal about it. We don't leave out milk or cookies or anything."
He, his wife Ashley, and their three children, Lydia, 6, Garrett, 4, and Knox, 1, will, however, set up a small Christmas tree and hang a few strings of light and stockings on their mantel.
"We don't want to eclipse the real meaning. It is the season of Advent, the coming of Jesus. For us, the foundation is Jesus' birthday, but it goes beyond that. We are celebrating why he came and what he came to do," Cosby says.
To help his children stay focused on the religious reason for the season, in early December, Cosby buys an Advent devotional, which functions like a countdown to Christmas. Every day, there is a recommended scripture reading and a spiritual exercise. For instance, in the Bible's book of Isaiah, which prophesizes the coming of Christ, Jesus is called the "Prince of Peace," so the spiritual exercise might focus on peace, Cosby says.
As the holiday nears, he and his wife begin to tailor their biweekly after-dinner family worship sessions to include relevant scripture. For example, one evening they might read more from the book of Isaiah. Another evening, Cosby might read Chapter 2 from the book of Luke, which tells the story of Jesus' birth.
"Jesus came to live and die for us. It is a time to be grateful," Cosby says of the Christmas season.
Leading up to the holiday season, his family gathers toys, school supplies and clothing for Operation Christmas Child, a faith-based organization that provides gifts to underprivileged children around the world. Then, on Christmas Eve, the Cosbys attend Wayside Presbyterian where Brian Cosby leads two evening services. He says the biggest difference between these special services and all others at the small church is the odd hours.
"Christmas is on a Saturday this year, and we rarely ever have a service that night," he says.
Still, Cosby says Christmas service sees one of the biggest turnouts - rivaled only by Easter Sunday.
"We make a big deal about Christ on Christmas like we make a big deal about the Resurrection on Easter, but we don't want to overdo these concepts at the detriment to every other week in the year. We should be celebrating every Sunday," Cosby says.
This is why the Cosbys choose to keep their holiday small-scale. On Christmas morning, he and his family will exchange a few small gifts: a toy truck for Garrett; a princess dress for Lydia, who both will have made cards for their parents. Then, the Cosbys will drive to Atlanta to visit Ashley's parents, where they will all eat together.
"The mood is joyful," Brian Cosby says. "Christmas is about getting the big picture. There is a sense of good nature and good spirits. It is a sweet time."
Kwanzaa items are on display Thursday, Oct. 6, 2016 at Easdale Village Community Church. A kinara, presents and fruits and vegetables are part of the display.Kwanzaa
Date: Dec. 26-Jan. 1
Origin of the name: In Swahili, "kwanza" translates to "first." It is taken from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza," which means "first fruits of harvest."
History: A relatively new holiday, Kwanzaa is a celebration of African culture among African-American communities.
Founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor of Africana Studies at California State, the advent of this seven-day festival followed the Watts Riot in Los Angeles. The six-day riot occurred in August 1965 after a white officer stopped a black man for suspicion of drunk driving. A group of onlookers gathered while the man was arrested. Tensions between the police and the predominately black community escalated, ultimately erupting in violence.
It was the height of the Civil Rights era, and Karenga wanted to find a way to uplift African-Americans while paying homage to their African roots. Kwanzaa is based on traditional African harvest festivals, characterized by joyful dancing, drumming and culminating with a feast.
The candlestick, called a kinara, along with ears of dried corn, is placed on a special mat, called a mkeka. The corn symbolizes the African harvest; the mat symbolizes tradition and history.
"It is the foundation that our community stands on," says Williams, who believes there is often disconnect between African-American and African culture. "Our history does not begin with slavery. We were a people long before we came to America," she says.
During the week of Kwanzaa, Williams will light a different candle each day. Each candle is connected to one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity; self-determination; collective work and responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity; and faith.
"We should be practicing these principles 365 days a year," Williams says. The festival itself, she says, should serve only to raise awareness and reaffirm these values.
Throughout the festival, Williams' church recognizes members of the community who exemplify the principles of Kwanzaa. For instance, last year LaFrederick Thirkill, principal of Orchard Knob Elementary, was honored for unity after bringing people together to clean up the historically black Pleasant Gardens Cemetery in Brainerd.
Another year, local radio station WNOO-AM 1260, which frequently discusses black issues, was honored for self-determination.
"These people didn't know they were working the principles of Kwanzaa until we told them," says Williams. "If Kwanzaa was celebrated in the manner it should be, it would transform the community."
While many cities across the country celebrate Kwanzaa for the full week, Williams says in Chattanooga there is less reception.
"If you go to Atlanta or Knoxville, it's on fire. But it's just not been able to catch here," she says.
Every year, she condenses the festival into a one-day Kwanzaa celebration hosted in her church's fellowship hall. The party typically occurs on a Saturday and features drumming, dancing and a potluck, which often consists of Southern comfort foods.
"Christians, Muslims, spiritualists not connected to an orthodox - we all come together under this one banner. So often when black people recognize their culture, it is seen as 'anti,' that we are trying to be separatists. But it is not that all," Williams says.
After all, Muslims have Eid; Jews have Yom Kippur; Hindus have Diwali; and Christians have Christmas.
"This does not make them apart from us," Williams says.
Rather, this is the common thread among all cultures. The fabric of the world is woven with tradition, all its colors and texture making the season so bright.