Mount Pleasant Magazine Nov/Dec 2016

Celebrate

the

Season

Diverse HoliDays in tHe lowcountry

By Kalene McCort

t’s only a matter of time before

red and green become the shades that dominate

the season. In the coming months, chestnuts

will be roasting, lights will be twinkling and

carolers will be caroling. Who knows, perhaps

there will even be another Starbucks cup

controversy. As wreaths go up on storefronts

and drivers strap fresh evergreens to their hoods, I begin to

ponder all the other holidays and traditions that arrive as

leaves begin to fall.

While I grew up celebrating Christmas, with

homemade ornaments, I remember my fascination with

Chanukah. I’d spend some of those eight nights with my

Jewish friends, savoring latkes (potato pancakes), lighting

menorah candles and playing games of dreidel, where the

winners took home milk chocolate coins wrapped in gold

foil. Recounting the days of having the privilege to join

in on a holiday celebration different from my own got

me thinking of all the winter holidays that don’t involve

old Saint Nick. Here in the Lowcountry, there is quite a

cross section of seasonal holidays celebrated with pride

and enthusiasm.

Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the

Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century

B.C., after the Jews successfully rose up against their

Seleucid oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.

“The Jewish history of Charleston dates back to the

late 17th century, and our Holy City includes lots of