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Holidays
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I decided there
was no way to avoid addressing holidays, unless I chose to
avoid the "elephant in the middle of the room." September
11, the ongoing Anthrax scare, the war in Afghanistan, the
unstable economy, and the growing conflict between Israel
and the Palestinians, are heightening our ambivalence to this
already emotionally charged season. Perhaps there will
be something in the list of references or web sites below
that will be useful to you in your professional or personal
life.
Anonymous.
(2000). 5 ways to turn off holiday stress. Healthline,
:63, Nov-Dec.
Broussard, A.
(2002). African-american holiday traditions.
New York, NY: Citadel Press.
Burghardt, L.
(2001). Jewish holiday traditions. New York,
NY: Citadel Press.
Fiese, B.H. &
Tomcho, T.J. (2001). Finding meaning in religious practices:
The relation between religious holiday rituals and marital
satisfaction. Journal of Family Psychology,
15(4), 597-609.
ABSTRACT:
This study examined the relation between marital satisfaction
and religious holiday ritual practices. 120 couples, married
9 years on average, completed measures of religious holiday
practices (current family and family-of-origin) and marital
satisfaction. Couples were interviewed about how important
religion was to their family life. Marital satisfaction was
related to religious holiday rituals beyond a global indication
of religiousness. A different pattern was found for husbands
and wives, with husbands' satisfaction more closely linked
to ritual meaning and wives' satisfaction associated with
routine practices. Family-of-origin rituals were connected
across generations. Wives' marital satisfaction was related
to husbands' report of religious holiday rituals but not the
converse. Results are discussed in terms of how rituals affirm
relationships, connect values and beliefs, and may have differential
meaning for men and women.
Fingerman, K.L.
& Griffiths, P.C. (1999). Season's greetings: adults'
social contacts at the holiday season. Psychology and Aging,
14(2), 192-205.
ABSTARCT: Close
friends and family play an important role in adults' lives,
but little is known about the implications of infrequent or
peripheral social ties that adults maintain. Eighty-seven
adults, ranging in age from 24 to 87 years (M = 51.25) provided
information about their holiday card networks. Participants
completed surveys for up to 25 cards that they received during
one holiday season (n = 1,405 surveys completed) and provided
the holiday greetings as well, if they were willing (n = 1,152
cards). Over half of the cards participants received were
from individuals whom participants did not consider to be
close friends or family members and whom they had not seen
in over a year. Adults of all ages described emotional reactions
to approximately one third of the cards they received. Younger
adults tended to view their holiday greetings as a means of
maintaining or building new social ties, whereas older adults
were more likely to view their holiday greetings as a link
to their personal past. Receiving a greater number of holiday
cards and receiving cards from close social contacts were
associated with increased feelings of social embeddedness.
Similarities and differences between peripheral ties and close
social ties are considered.
Hammer M.B. (2000).
Rituals: family ties that bind. Vibrant Life, 16(6),
34-5, 37.
Horowitz, J.A.
(1999). Negotiating couplehood: The process of resolving
the December dilemma among interfaith couples. Family Process,
38(3, 303-23.
ABSTRACT: Christmas
forces interfaith couples to address questions concerning
holiday observances. The purpose of this investigation was
to explore the
Experience of the
"December dilemma," that is, the experience of Christmas
and Hanukah among couples in which one partner is Jewish.
A qualitative design based on the continuous comparison method
of Grounded Theory analysis was used. Participants were solicited
through interfaith couples' programs, referral, and snowballing.
Unstructured interactive interviews of 22 couples were audiotaped,
transcribed, and analyzed. The categories generated were:
Ghosts of Christmas and Hanukah Past, Coming Together, and
Holiday Observances as a Couple. The basic problem facing
these couples was how to bridge religious backgrounds with
differing holiday traditions in a way that integrated respect
for each partner's needs, heritage, and identity. The basic
social process of negotiating "couplehood," that
is, moving from individuality to partnership emerged when
mutual agreement could be reached to solve problems about
how to celebrate the December holidays. The data indicated
that exploration of the ways these couples managed the dilemmas
created by the December holidays provided a window to how
they negotiated other challenges in their relationships.
Joe, B.E.
(1989). Cooking for the Holidays. OT Week, 3(48),
20-21.
King, D.E.
(2000). How to beat the holiday blues -- surviving seasonal
stress. Nursing Spectrum (Washington, Dc/Baltimore Metro
Edition), 10(25), 14-5.
Luboshitzky, D.
& Gaber, L.B. (2001). Holidays and celebrations
as a spiritual occupation. Australian Occupational Therapy
Journal, 48(2), 66-74.
ABSTRACT:
Holistic occupational therapists acknowledge their responsibility
in addressing the spiritual dimension of their clients.
However, due to the difficulties in applying spirituality
to practice, the role of occupational therapists in regard
to their clients' spirituality remains unclear. This study
suggests that the celebration of holidays may be used as a
meaningful activity for fulfilling clients' spiritual needs.
Holidays, which commemorate religious, national, or personal
events, are a special time set apart from ongoing day-to-day
existence. While the meaning of holidays has been widely discussed
from a historical, anthropological, sociocultural, and educational
point of view, little can be found in the literature regarding
the therapeutic aspects of holidays. The present paper
discusses four dimensions in the meaningful celebration of
holidays and their therapeutic implications: religious; sociocultural;
time management; and leisure. These dimensions are explored
as foci of intervention in occupational therapy.
Sanna, Ellyn. (1999).
Favorite Christmas traditions. Uhrichsville,
Ohio: Barbour Pub.
Shu`aib, T.B. (1991).
Essentials of Ramadan, The Fasting Month. Los
Angeles, CA: Da`awah Enterprises International.
Wallis, M. E.
(2000). A healing journey: If a patient is dreading
the holidays because of a death in the family, teach him these
six helpful strategies. Nursing, 30(11), 64.
Walter, P.K. (2000) Home for the holidays: preventing foodborne
illness at family gatherings. FDA Consumer, 34(6),
8-10.
Ylanne-McEwen,
V. (2000). Golden times for golden agers: selling holidays
as lifestyle for the over 50s (with appendix).
Journal of Communication,
50 (3), 83-99.
ABSTRACT:
Part of a special section on negotiating lifestyle changes
in later life. The emergence of holidays targeted at
the over 50s is discussed. The discursive packaging
of these holidays in brochures available in the U.K., using
a critical discourse analysis framework, is examined.
Characterizing the target group and the holidays can present
dilemmas and this problem is assessed in relation to ideas
of ageism, anti-ageism, and the denial of aging. In
addition, through an analysis of two spoken extracts between
travel agency staff and older clients, the difficulty of selling
and buying these holidays--because it involves potentially
problematic age-salient positioning of the client--is revealed.
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