December is gift-giving season whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. This year, the extended celebrations will overlap. December 24 marks the beginning of Hanukkah, and it is Christmas Eve. December 25 is Christmas Day, and December 26 is the beginning of Kwanzaa. This is only the fourth time since 1900 that Hanukkah and Christmas Eve have coincided, and it will not happen again until 2027. (The date of Hanukkah fluctuates according to the Jewish lunar calendar.)
Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple at Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt, is observed for eight nights and days. To Christians, December 25 celebrates the birth of the Jesus Christ as the Messiah. It is generally celebrated through December 31, or January 6, observed as Epiphany in the Roman Catholic Church, commemorating the visit of the Wise Men to the Christ child. Kwanzaa, which celebrates the culture of the African Diaspora based on seven core principles, runs until January 1. Each day is dedicated to one of the principles.
Books are appropriate gifts for all three holidays, and always suitable for academicians and scholars. For December, DiverseBooks selects titles from our collections that will delight as much as inform.
Following are some DiverseBooks discoveries for the gifting season. Other possibilities include numerous titles on music, art, cooking, folklore and history. They are all available at substantial savings over retail prices on www.diversebooks.net.
Art
Afro-American Folk Art and Crafts, by William R. Ferris $22.50 (List Price: $25) University of Mississippi Press, ISBN: 9781604733914, pp. 456.
With more than 450 pages, 32 drawing and 44 photographs, this book is a massive undertaking. It documents and analyzes the creations of African American artists and crafts people from baskets to quilts. Sixteen scholars write about the artists and the roots of the powerful, evocative art they produced.
