The holiday season is here! People all around the world are preparing for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa as they looking for special ways to spend time with their families! Besides annual parties and gatherings, there’s a ton of traditional holiday events you can enjoy throughout the holiday season.  Here are my suggestions for three events that will be happening in the weeks leading up to the holidays.

My first recommendation is to see the Nutcracker Ballet. The Nutcracker has been a holiday classic since the late 1800s. The ballet tells the wondrous story of Clara and her mysterious toy Nutcracker bravely defeating the Mouse King. It also features Tchaikovsky’s original score. This is a holiday classic that everyone will enjoy. You can catch The New Jersey Ballet’s performing the Nutcracker at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown now through December 27, 2019.

The second holiday event I recommend is the ceremony for the lighting of the first candle of Hanukkah. It is a wonderful way to celebrate the first night of the Festival of Lights, the holiday that symbolizes freedom, hope, and miracles. This holiday tells the story of the miracle that occurred in the Temple in Jerusalem. The menorah will be set up and the candle will be lit to begin Hanukkah. The lighting ceremony will be in Borough Park, Mendham, and will begin at 4:30 pm on December 22nd.

The third event for the holidays that I recommend is the Kwanzaa Family Festival. The Festival will be a great way for people to celebrate Kwanzaa, and embraces the culture of this wonderful holiday. There will be a lot of activities to do at the festival such as arts & crafts, dancing, and drum-playing. Besides the festival, there will also be a marketplace that will have a variety of things to buy that relate to great celebration of Kwanzaa. The festival will be on December 21st, and will be open from 10am-1pm in Newark. The marketplace will be open on both December 20th and 21st. It will be open from 6-10PM on the 20th, and 9AM-5PM on the 21st in Newark.

These three events bring the holiday spirit to life by celebrating their different cultural values. They embrace the values that the people who celebrate them find important. They represent all the history and  With all of these celebrations, the holiday season will be a very happy one indeed. Consider any of these three events to go to during your Winter Break!

Bibliography:

1. Hourihan, Zaslow. “First Night Menorah Lighting Ceremony Will Take Place in Mendham.” Mendham-Chester, NJ Patch, 7 Nov. 2019, patch.com/new-jersey/mendham-chester/amp/cal/20191222/692209/first-night-menorah-lighting-ceremony-will-take-place-in-mendham.
2. Nov 22 – 8:00 PM, et al. “New Jersey Ballet & New Jersey Symphony Orchestra: The Nutcracker.” Eventful, newyorkcity.eventful.com/events/new-jersey-ballet-new-/E0-001-127802971-4@2019122213.  

3.“Kwanzaa Festival & Marketplace at NJPAC.” Dance NJ, www.dancenj.org/new-events-1/2019/12/20/kwanzaa-festival-amp-marketplace-at-njpac-h3nx8.

4. Green, Aaron. “A Brief Synopsis of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker’ Ballet.” LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 29 Aug. 2018, www.liveabout.com/the-nutcracker-act-1-synopsis-723769