Happy holidays, eve-ryone! Whatever holiday you celebrate I hope your holiday season is wonderful and full of happiness!
You may not know all of the different holidays that are celebrated around this time or year so I am here to shed some light on various holidays and how they are celebrated.
Yule
Yule is a pagan festi-val that celebrates a win-ter solstice that takes place on December 21 and 22. Yule is rooted in the cycle of the year and its symbol is the wheel. The solstice is celebrated
with fire festivals to symbolize the rebirth of the sun.
These festivities date back to Roman times where it was called “Saturnalia”; boughs of evergreen trees and bushes decorated the homes, gifts were ex-changed, and businesses closed. Another version is done by Persian Mith-raists to celebrate the birth of their sun god. Are we catching the theme of the sun here? Even in Sweden the re-turn of the light is cele-brated on December 13. On Yule in particular, bonfires are lit to honor the Norse gods Thor and Odin. You may have heard of the Yule log,
the log which is burned on the winter solstice and can be kept aflame from 12 hours to several days. It is considered a bad omen for it to burn out on its own. The ashes of the log can be turned into charms or scattered over fields to aid in crop growth.
Mistletoe is also part of the Yuletide celebra-tions, and it is consid-ered sacred.
The Yule candle is another thing that is set on fire during this time, it is burned on either Christmas Eve or Christ-mas morning and is meant to give blessing to the household.
Online@ www.nw-tigers.org/the-octagon
Volume 66, Issue 14 December 23, 2014
Christmas Classics
Resolutions
Creepy Customs
By Molly Niven
‘Holidays’ Continued Page 4
For Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call their favor-ite time of year.
This is one line from a song in one of the many brilliant Christmas clas-sics (Charlie Brown Christmas). Instead of
the 12 days of Christ-mas, I decided to do the 12 classics of Christmas. Here are the movies that didn’t make the top five but made the top 12 Classics: Elf, A Christ-mas Story, Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, The Santa Clause, Home Alone, Sesame Street Christmas Gift of The Magi, and Polar Ex-press.
1. It’s a Wonderful Life
- The classic story of George Bailey, who is caught in unfortunate situation wished he is never born. George’s guardian angel Clarence is sent down to earth to help him out. Clarence grants George’s wish: to have never been born.
Clarence shows George how eve-ryone’s life is different because he was never born, and how much he has pos-itively affected others’ lives. At the end of the movie George realizes how wonderful his life is and that he has been blessed with the gift of life and how it would be a mistake to throw his life away.
2. National Lam-poon’s Christ-mas Vacation-If
It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t It’s a Wonderful Life, this 1989 Christmas
“It’s a Wonderful Life” movie poster.
By Ricky Schiff
Happy
Birthday!
12/23
Stephanie Little
12/24
Jeffery McClure Ryan Pufall
12/25
Britta Lind
12/26
Janice Carlson Cody Waters Jacob Zoltak
12/28
Cheyenne Stone
12/30
Alexandria Kolodziej
12/31
Haas Grover Carter Spagenberg
1/02
Hannah Lier Amanda Ogren Andrew Ogren
1/03
Aleia Lupa
1/04
Connar Wheeler
By Lilli Kovaleski
At this time of year, we do a lot of different things to get into the
hol-iday spirit. We enjoy decorating trees,
going shopping, making cut-out cookies, contem-plating the elimination of gay people... Wait, what? One thing most of us do participate in is gath-ering money for the Sal-vation Army. This chari-ty gives food to the hun-gry, temporary homes to the homeless, and funds to “religious organiza-tions.”
These religious organ-izations include, but aren’t limited to,
anti-LGBTQ+ groups.
“What?” You may ask, “I’ve never heard of this!” That, my friends, is because these contri-butions have not been widely publicized.
However, an official has been quoted in the following exchange from Snopes.com between a
reporter (Ryan) and a Salvation Army agent (Craibe).
Ryan: “According to the Salvation Army gay parents deserve death. How do you respond to that, as part of your doc-trine?”
Craibe: “Well, that's a part of our belief sys-tem.”
Ryan: “So they should die.”
Craibe: “You know, we have an alignment to the Scriptures, but that's our belief.”
Christians may ques-tion the truth of this statement, but Leviticus 20:13 states “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detest-able act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon
them.”
As you can see, SA officials say it’s just a religious view, but reli-gious views lose their benevolence, as things often do, when money is invested into hatred. Now, I’m not saying, as some are, to boycott the Salvation Army, be-cause they do a lot of good for people in need. What I am saying is to look behind the curtain and think about what else you might be funding when you drop your spare change into the bright red buckets.
Perhaps donate to KIN, food shelves, or give your money directly to the soup kitchens or homeless shelters that the Salvation Army would give a fraction of your money to.
Senior Editor/ For-matter:
Nik Sauer
Guest Editor:
J. Gaare
Text Editor
Brooklyn Smith
Staff Members:
Katie Johnson Emily Gaare
J. Gaare Lilli Kovaleski
Molly Niven Kaleb Scharp Richard Schiff Luke Rutten Philomena Lindquist
Advisor:
Mrs. Thompson comedy would surely be number one on this list. Chevy Chase stars as Clark Griswold, who has always wanted a “good old fashion family Christmas.” From dig-ging their massive Christmas tree out of the ground with their hands, to falling off the roof, not getting Christmas bonuses, kidnapping, and SWAT teams crashing through the windows on Christmas eve. This move is one of the best Christmas movies be-cause it shows that all that you need on Christ-mas is your family and friends.
3. Charlie Brown Christmas- “The Christ-mas movie that is our part of our culture,” says Mr. McGrath. When
advice. She tells him he should direct the Christ-mas play. As the director Charlie is in charge of getting the tree, but he gets what others call an “ugly tree.” Charlie Brown ponders whether or not he knows what is Christmas really about. Linus, the only the one left in the auditorium recites the Gospel, and how Christmas is really about when Jesus was born. The Gang then decorates the tree and Sings “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing.”
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
- The story of all the Whos in Whoville, and the Grinch whose heart is two times too small. With his dog Max, the Grinch tries to stop
pects to hear the Whos' cries, but becomes con-fused when he hears
them singing a peaceful Christmas song instead. He thinks for a moment until it comes upon him that perhaps Christmas is more than presents and feasting; he realizes that maybe Christmas “means a little bit more."
5. The Muppets’
Christmas Carol - Gon-zo and RizGon-zo narrate the original A Christmas Carol by Charles Dick-ens, as Kermit plays Bob Cratchit. The story high-lights how Scrooge
Why did I pick It’s a Wonderful Life for best Christmas movie? One, it’s a classic and a good movie. But as Clarence the guardian angel says “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an aw-ful hole, doesn't he?” This is very true; we each impact each others’ lives so much and if we aren't’ around, the void is clearly felt.
The biggest reason of them all is, no matter what you are going through or how hard life is, it truly is a wonderful life.
“Strange, isn't it? Each man's
life touches so many other lives.
The staff members of ‘Octagon’ would like to wish everyone a great
hol-iday break! Remember that school starts back up on Monday, Jan. 5
Does your family have a unusual holiday tradition? Maybe you open your gifts the day after Christmas, or stuff your sibling’s shoes with candy.
But have you ever paused to consider what other nations might do for their Christmas cele-brations? A peek at holi-day traditions around the world revealed a few un-usual ones.
In America, we gener-ally view Christmas as a happy time meant for giving gifts and being with family. The story is very different in Austria where people dress as “the Krampus” instead of Santa.
The Krampus, a myth-ical beast with long horns and hooked claws, prowls the streets around Christmas looking for naughty children to beat.
Each year people dress like a Krampus and wander around the town with sticks and chains, looking to frighten any-one foolish enough to be out at night.
Another strange tradi-tion, originating in Swe-den, is the “Gävle goat.” The story goes that on Christmas night each family is supposed to burn a goat in sacrifice, but instead of burning a real goat they make a large straw structure re-sembling one.
However, vandals in the area have made it a habit to burn the goat down before Christmas. It is a local ritual to bet on whether or not the goat will survive until Christmas.
In Catalonia a less dangerous example of weird traditions exists in the form of a “pooping log,” a log that has been hollowed out and given
sticks for legs. Eight days before Christmas, each family is supposed to “feed” their log a gift
for somebody else and when Christmas day ar-rives, they put the log in a fire and beat it with a stick until all of the pre-sents fall out.
Consequently, a
com-mon ornament in Catalo-nian societies is a man defecating, usually in the background of important
places.
If you ever feel that your family behaves strangely around Christ-mas, know that you are not alone.
By Luke Rutten
“The Krampus, a mythical beast with
long horns and hooked claws, prowls the
streets around Christmas looking for
naughty children to beat.”
Did you notice the Family Consumer Sci-ences Department pre-paring for a mysterious holiday event that was held this past Thursday? Mrs. Lahti’s classes and FCCLA were getting ready for an event called “Christmas Tea,” which was open to current fac-ulty of the school and past employees.
Christmas Tea has been an annual event for around thirty years, con-tinued for the last ten by Mrs. Lahti. Students in
Family Consumer Sci-ence classes and FCCLA have been baking goods and decorating her class-room with festive winter items.
The restaurant cook-ing classes usually make the majority of the food during class, while par-ticipants in FCCLA stay after school one evening to bake more goodies. During the tea, FCCLA students also serve the food to the guests.
Christmas Tea was held in Mrs. Lahti’s room from 9:00 a.m. to
2:30 p.m., where at-tendees ate their sweets and caught up with past co-workers and friends. At lunchtime, they had the privilege of listening to a small performance by the Chamber Singers. After all had finished their delicious goodies, the leftovers were (and always have been) donat-ed to homeless shelters in Superior such as Solid Rock Foundation and Harbor House Crisis Shelter.
Students said they en-joyed baking the
differ-ent kinds of cookies and brownies, and especially liked making the frost-ing.
When asked why they thought this event was important, they said that it’s a good way for the retirees to reunite and connect with current em-ployees they might not have otherwise talked to. They also noted that it’s crucial to acknowledge and show appreciation to staff members, Christmas Tea being a good method for this.
Imagine you’re outside in the frigid winter air. . . you’re starving but have nothing to eat. Now imagine that it’s Christmas. Though the holiday is known for its cheer and general good-will, not all people have roofs over their heads and food in their stom-achs.
“Christmas is a time to
reach out and help others in need,” according to Mrs. Priem.
The Sunshine Com-mittee, comprised of high school teachers, has been gathering toys to give to families, and Mrs. Lahti’s FCCLA members have been mak-ing fleece blankets to donate as well.
These items will be donated to KIN. Kids in Nebagamon (KIN) is a
district-wide
charity that donates to families and organiza-tions all throughout the Nebagamon area. Established in 1992, KIN helps families all year, especially around holidays like Christmas. Their hope is to encour-age others to give their own gifts to those in need.
Not all families can afford toys for their
chil-dren or even clothing; if you want to help, you can! Any donations, no matter how small, are welcome and go a long way towards improving somebody's Christmas. Don’t hesitate to talk to Mr. Goodlet or Mrs. Ju-rek for extra information. While on break, make sure to be thankful for what you receive and to keep in mind those less fortunate.
By Luke Rutten
Hanukkah
Hanukkah, or Chanu-kah, is a Jewish holiday that lasts for eight days, from December 16 to 24. Like Yule, it celebrates the triumph of light over darkness.
In Judaism, Jewish people celebrate an event from thousands of years ago when their people defeated a mighty Greek army and took back the Holy Temple in Jerusa-lem.
They then went to light the menorah but found that there was only a one day’s supply of oil left. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days until more oil was brought in.
To commemorate this event they created Cha-nukah. Every night one candle on the menorah is lit; the menorah was for-merly seven candles but was changed to eight to represent the eight days that the oil burned. They also eat many fried foods such as latkes or potato cakes and suf-ganiyot or doughnuts. Another tradition is play-ing with the dreidel, a top that has the Hebrew letters that create an ac-ronym for “a great
mira-cle happened here.” One final tradition is giving Chanukah gelt, or gifts of money, to chil-dren.
Pancha Ganapati
Pancha Ganapati is a modern Hindu holiday that lasts from December 21 through 25. This holi-day was created about 20 years ago and celebrates the natural season of worship and gift giving. The Hindu lord, Lord Ganesha, also known as Lord Pancha Ganapati, is at the center of this cele-bration. Lord Ganesha is the lord of culture and arts, and is represented as a five-headed and ele-phant-faced being.
A shrine is created in the middle of the living room with a statue of Lord Ganesha in the cen-ter. Pine boughs also adorn the shrine since Lord Ganesha is often depicted in the forest, along with traditional Christmas decorations. Each day, the color of Lord Ganesha statue’s robe is changed by the children of the household and a new spiritual disci-pline is given to the fam-ily to focus on.
On December 21, the robe color is yellow and the feeling of love is meant to be spread throughout family
mem-bers; 22: blue and love is to be spread among neighbors; 23: red and love is to be spread to business associates; 24: green and the vibration of joy from the creative arts is to be felt; 25: or-ange and it is time to bring forth love and har-mony from all three worlds.
Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is an Afri-can AmeriAfri-can holiday that was created in 1966 as a way to bring African Americans together. It begins on December 26 and ends on January 1 and includes a feast on December 31.
This holiday is rooted in Af-rican harvest celebrations such as Ashanti and Zulu. The word
“Kwanzaa” is actually de-rived from the Swahili term meaning “first fruits.”
For Kwanzaa, each family has its own special way of cele-brating this holiday. How-ever, in gen-eral, this cele-bration
in-cludes African drums, storytelling, poetry read-ing, and a big traditional meal. The candle lighting ceremony is another part of the holiday; each night, one of the seven candles is lit and one of the seven principles (Nguzo Saba in Swahili) is discussed.
The principles are unity, self determination, collective work and re-sponsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, cre-ativity, and faith. Seven symbols also accompany the holiday: a place mat, an ear of corn, the seven candles, a candle holder, the unity cup, and gifts.
‘Holidays’
Contin-ued from page 1
Picture depicting Lord Pancha Ganapati as celebrated in the
By J. Gaare
February 22- Ukrainian President Yanukovych is voted from office
after civil unrest leaves approx. 100 people dead
February-Ebola Virus Epidemic Begins
August 9– Ferguson police of-ficer kills unarmed black
teen-ager
December 4- Death of unarmed Eric Garner
Two of many events that sparked protests, riots, staged ‘die-ins’ and more; advocating stop of police brutality especial-ly towards unarmed black
citi-May 5– Boko Haram kills approx. 300 people in attack on Gamboru
Ngala
March 8– Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappears with 239 passengers 35 states allow same-sex
mar-riage
April 16– Ferry ‘MV Sewol’ cap-sizes, sinks, kills over 290
Sunni militant group ISIS starts genocide, captures
Iraqi capital city, overthrows Shiite
government
April 14- Est. 276 girls, women abducted from Nigerian school
Left: Dec. 16– Taliban gunmen kill 141, including 132 children in school
shoot-ing
Right: Dec. 20- Ismaaiyl Brinsley shoots, kills two NYPD officers as ‘revenge for Eric Garner and Michael
Brown
November 12– Rosetta spacecraft ‘Philae’ lands on Comet 67P July 24– Air Algérie Flight ah5017
crashes in Mali, kills 116 passengers July 17– Malaysia Airlines Flight
17 shot down by missile, 298 killed
With winter break looming, I want to cau-tion everyone about frostbite. I know we hear about it from parents, grandparents, news an-chors, and others whom we see on a regular basis, but we hear a lot of myths too.
The first myth is that you can only get frostbite if you’re outside for 15 minutes. This is a com-plete fallacy. If your hands, feet, nose, or any other extremities are
un-protected, you could get frostbite in just a few minutes or less.
Even with adequate protection, frostbite is surprisingly common. That said, having your body (and your phalan-ges, especially) covered will greatly decrease your risk. This is critical in the sub-zero tempera-tures we experience so often in northern Wis-consin.
Another misconcep-tion is that when frostbit-ten areas turn blue or
black, you need to be concerned. It is true that they will change colors, but they will most likely be a yellowish, waxy col-or. This in itself should be cause for concern, but only in the most severe cases do affected areas turn black. After treat-ment the regions will ei-ther return to their origi-nal color and be fully functional again, but there is the possibility that they could be ampu-tated.
You likely hear about
amputations quite a lot and associate them with frostbite. Again, only the most severe cases have cause for amputation. I got frostbite a cou-ple of weeks ago and it took nothing more than an hour in a warm room and a hot shower to rem-edy my mild case; alt-hough it wasn’t difficult to treat, it was painful. So, as you ride out the winter, please be ade-quately prepared and in-formed of the dangers of being out in the cold.
By Lilli Kovaleski
New Year’s resolu-tions have a long-standing tradition of lies and broken promises be-hind them. Supposedly, they symbolize the fresh starts that the onset of yet another rotation around the sun supposedly gives us. Humans in general tend to be optimistic be-ings, I think, and we are always hoping that may-be this year will be the year they finally go on that diet, or drink less soda, or get more sleep. Yet, usually it’s the
endless stories of failing to meet New Year goals that we hear, and I think one of the problems is not so much on the reso-lutee’s discipline (though that is almost always a part in the failure of a goal), but rather in the goal itself.
Sometimes goals are too difficult to achieve, so if you plan on having a New Year’s resolution, consider adding the word “more.” Goals such as “be healthy” or “sleep every night,” are more about perspective and how you view your lifestyle as they be-come “be more healthy” or “sleep more every night.” In the spirit of “more,” I present to you my first sug-gestion for
your New Year’s resolu-tion:
1. Listen more. This means listening to the people you love (because they will sometimes need it), listen to teachers (they’re worth listening to!, especially with that upcoming test), and also listen to more of your favorite music (because music is scientifically proven to make you hap-pier). Every once in a while, be grateful for ears, and give ‘em some use.
2. DON’T talk or text in the car. Please. This is for my safety as well as yours. I know you’re tired of hearing it, but it is important. It isn’t al-ways easy, but not all resolutions are.
Now this one is proba-bly going out to the girls of our school, but I’ve failed to do this so many times, that I think it’s important to include. If you’re looking for a real-ly simple take on the
New Year’s resolution . . .
3. Try to actually fin-ish a ChapStick for once. They get lost easi-ly, they go through the wash and get ruined, or they fall out of your pocket or bag . . . never to be seen again. I’ve maybe finished a Chap-Stick once in the span of a 15.5 year lifetime, and maybe one day I’ll do it again, but I can almost guarantee that it will not be this year. Using up that one ChapStick in-stead of buying dozens of replacements could also eventually save you money!
4. Most importantly,
make your resolution reasonable and safe. No matter what it is, make it about you -- don’t do it for anyone else but your-self.
See you next year!
