WHOC

[nightengalesknd]

Because everything else is exclusionary, including Chrismahanakwanzasolstiyulmanay which also has too many syllables.

WHOC stands for Winter Holiday(ies) Of Choice. I think I'm one of the people who coined it, circa 1997. It was a joint venture, at any rate. And I'm trying to get it to stick because I think it solves a lot of problems. It solves the problems of people who celebrate one or more Winter Holidays that may or may not be the most common or expected ones. It solves the problems of those who celebrate one Winter Holiday but associate with those who celebrate a different one. It solves the problem of not knowing what Winter Holiday another person celebrates, and so not wanting to say the wrong thing. The only real problem I see remaining unsolved is that of people who celebrate no Winter Holidays at all and I'm open to suggestions on this one. This isn't a problem I've personally encountered.

WHOC encompasses the Winter Holiday Season, which runs at least from the day after Thanksgiving (US) through Twelfth Night, and I'm considering an extension through Chinese New Year and/or Imbolc/Candlemas/Groundhog's Day. I could also be persuaded to start it early enough to include Diwali

WHOC-friendly greetings include "Happy Holidays" or "Happy Winter Holiday." Gifts can be given labeled "Happy WHOC." One can say "I'm going WHOC shopping" or just "Winter Holiday Shopping." Time off from school is for Winter Holiday Break or just Winter Break. We call the others Fall, Spring and Summer Break, after all. Greetings like "Merry Christmas" can and often should be given to those who are known to celebrate Christmas. Similarly, "Happy Hanakuah," "Happy Solstice" and "Happy New Year." I guess my point is that one should either know someone well enough to know her/his WHOC, or just give the generic greeting or gift.

For the record, my WHOC is Hogmanay.

Less important is what it
Christmas: This should be self-explanatory. It isn't Christmas because I'm not Christian. Christmas, from what I can tell from the outside, seems to be a nice enough holiday, and I think people who celebrate it should do so to their hearts content. It just isn't my holiday. And I admit I do wish that being the majority doesn't mean the holiday has the right to pervade everyone else's life. I have trouble dealing with the pre-emption of regular TV shows and the music everywhere, and of course the constant being wished "Merry Christmas" from people who don't really know me. I have seen every movie version of A Christmas Carol ever produced, and know both soprano and alto parts to more Christmas Carols than I'd like to remember. Many of which I first learned in public school. Pray I find some place to volunteer this year, at least. . .

Hanukah/Hanuka/Chanukah/Hannaukah/Hanukkah - well how do you expect me to celebrate it if I can't even spell it? Seriously, the fact that I don't celebrate Hanukah seems to bother other people rather more than I would hope. I used to celebrate it. We had a little ritual when I was growing up. My dad would light the candles and say the prayers, and when I was old enough, I would light the other candles from the Shammus, the result of which was I was in high school before I could light a match but was completely comfortable lighting candles from each other. My mother would just watch us. Then she would give me the presents and my dad would just sorta watch. Neither one seemed very comfortable with the other half. As I got older, I was asked if I wanted 8 little gifts or just a few large ones. I said larger ones. Later I got very guilty about the whole gift thing altogether, considering I wasn't expected to reciprocate and I already had a birthday once a year where more gifts that I didn't need would appear. We did make Latkes once a year, which I loved, and I had a dreidl collection with which no one would ever play with me. I would spin my dreidls sort of autistically throughout the year, knowing this wasn't the same at all. As I got still older, we were often busy and would sometimes postpone the lighting of the candles until break. Once I left the house, my parents stopped lighting them altogether. So I do have personal Hanukah issues, in the greater context of childhood religious upbringing issues. And also personal gift-getting issues.
But putting those aside, Hanukah is a relatively minor, relatively recent holiday with some candles, fried pancakes and other goodies, spinning tops, and presents which I am given to understand were supposed to have been trivial gelt. And I could enjoy it on those grounds alone. I am, after all, the champion of the little, near-forgotten holidays (Guy Fawkes Day, Armistice Day, May Day among the non-Mawrters, The Ides of March.) But what I can't handle is people giving me Hanukah as a substitute-Christmas. I don't need songs or decorations or gifts to make up for not having a Christmas. I want to have a holiday in its own right, not because it's next to something that everyone else is celebrating and they don't want me to feel left out. If Hanukah were in, say, October, I would conjecture most non-Jewish people might never have heard of it - very few people wish me Happy Passover! In the meanwhile, I will fry up my annual latkes and blintzes, some night when its dark early and Hanukah is in the air. Old habits do die hard.

Solstice/Yule - I Choose these some years in theory, but somehow never get anywhere in practice due to illness, timing, etc. Maybe this year will be the one.

Kwanza - I'm not sure I know anyone who I know celebrates this, actually.


Happy WHOC, whatever you C!