Any day of the week during the long holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, you can find FREE and cheap things to do that put you in a festive mood. Some events are short-lived. Some begin on Thanksgiving Weekend (or before) and continue through New Year’s Eve. The calendar list below will include all kinds of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa events in the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan region.
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A brief history of winter holiday traditions
Christmas is celebrated primarily as a secular holiday featuring Santa Claus and his reindeer, evergreen trees festooned with lights, gift giving (and shopping for gifts), the singing of Christmas Carols, and sumptuous holiday meals. These customs have altered through time from traditions around the world, including Saint Nicolas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and Christkind. However, Christians around the world celebrate Christmas Day as the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth, recognized by Christians as the son of God who died on the cross in order to atone for the sins of humankind.
- Advent precedes the Christmas season. Advent is a period of anticipation ritualized through prayer, fasting, and lighting the candles of an advent wreath. Advent begins four Sundays before December 25 and ends on Christmas Eve, the start of the Christmas season, which lasts for 12 days until the Epiphany on January 6.
- The Epiphany is primarily the story of the wise men or Magi who were drawn to the city by a bright star and traveled from Persia to Bethlehem. They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
- These are some of the basic tenets of Christianity; there are variations among the major branches (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant) and their many denominations throughout the world.
Hanukkah or Chanukah, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight-day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Because it occurs close to Christmas, many non-Jews think of this holiday as the “Jewish Christmas”. However, as you must know, the holiday has nothing to do with Jesus or Santa. In fact, Chanukah commemorates a miraculous event in the second century BCE when a one-day supply of oil burned for eight days. The holiday celebrates liberation from oppression, freedom of worship, and finding light in the darkest of times, which has significance for all of us. At the heart of Chanukah is the nightly menorah lighting ceremony, plus traditional foods, games, and gifts. More info: Chanukah “festival of lights” commemorates a miracle (greaterseattleonthecheap.com).
Kwanzaa is a celebration of African American cultural values from December 26 to January 1. It was created in 1966 by activist Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions. African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa also tend to observe Christmas and New Years. Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza”, meaning “first fruits” and was a solstice observance. The holiday revolves around seven principles, one recognized each day over the 7-day holiday as the 7-candle kinara is lit:
- Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
- Kujichagulia (Self-determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.
- Ujima (Collective work and responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
- Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
- Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
- Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
- Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
But wait, there’s more!
- Christmas lights around the Puget Sound region
- Where to get pictures with Santa Claus
- U-cut, fresh cut Christmas trees around the Sound
- Best retailers for gifts, party supplies, holiday decor
- December events and entertainment
- Find more Christmas and holiday events
- Here’s a list of 101+ always free things to do for fun.
- More free and cheap things to do every day: Greater Seattle on the Cheap event calendar.
- Still more ideas for frugal fun: Greater Seattle on the Cheap home page.
The event calendar below includes affordable Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa events in the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan region.
Seven candles of Kwanzaa via Depositphotos_164527166
Holiday event calendar of free and affordable things to do
Listed below are all types of free and affordable things to do for Thanksgiving to Christmas holidays, including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
Featured Events are listed first each day, highlighted by a photo. These are unique, popular, or annual events that we or our advertisers don’t want you to overlook.
Find more events and ideas for affordable living at Greater Seattle on the Cheap – Free things to do, cheap fun, discounts and deals in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area
