Getting Ready for the Holidays

Well, folks, Halloween is past, now, and with it the commercial spookiness.  What's coming up is even more money based, but it doesn't have to be.  The opinions and ideas that follow are my personal opinion, but, then, we all have our personal opinions and one of the glorious parts of my life are the sharing and discussing of differing points of view.


On Thanksgiving, U.S. Style
For the older kids and adult learners in your classes, my strong recommendation is to first read books about the whole Separatist movement in England, and the motivations for coming to North America.  One of the more interesting facts I've run across is that the published destination was Virginia/Jamestown, but the intention was for New England all along, and there was even a mutiny in the plan if the Mayflower crew didn't go for it!  Another is the idea that the town site that became Plymouth Colony was none other than Squanto's home village which had been depopulated a few years before by disease.  You might want to stress the agrarian lifestyle of the Americans who originally lived there-how else could they have shown the newcomers the best way to do small scale agriculture in that climate?  Add to that the commercial aspects of the American lifestyle (trading of materials inland) and the connections they made with the newcomers for mutual defense and prosperity.  Did the newcomers bring the Town Meeting concept with them, or was it a modification of the American Council system?  These are great discussion questions for your students and should lead to some great independent research projects!  Check out your state curriculum for tie-ins and other opportunities to advance progress in state goals.  Younger learners may have more challenging needs for this topic.  Perhaps stressing the harvest theme might work well, but see if you can get away from the traditional warpaint and venison stuff.  Focus on the ethic and practice of communities helping one another in times of need, and the tradition of the harvest feast.


Christmas
The American practices around this, my personal favorite of holidays, truly reflect the old "melting pot" concept of American culture.  For older students, there is often little done for this holiday beyond dances and fundraisers, but for the younger ones, it is still Magic Time!  Look into the origins of the various practices that contribute to the modern observation, the tree from Germany, various gifting rituals from around Europe, the alignment in the middle ages of Christian observations with Pagan astronomy and festivals, etc.  This is bound to stir up controversy, but make it into a conversation and  learning opportunity.  Organize a food drive, adopt a family or two, stress making rather than buying, giving rather than getting, and get out of the malls.  If you really think about it, it's been less than 100 years that Christmas has been a commercial holiday-for centuries before it was a serious, if joyous, occasion.  Think outside the box of modernity.

As always, I invite your comments.  There has been little of this traffic of late, but even if you just want to say "I like what I'm seeing" (or not) post in the comments section below.  If you have a great source to share, post it.  If you know of an opportunity, of a great web site, or want to share photos, post.  My door is always open.