Travel & Outdoors
Five Festive Getaways to Enjoy Multicultural Holiday Traditions
From Hanukkah lights in Philadelphia to one of the East Coast's largest Kwanzaa festivals in Richmond, these celebratory cities throughout the Mid-Atlantic are worth a visit this season.
If there’s one word to describe December, it’s palpable. The final month of the year has an aura that none of its 11 predecessors possesses. There’s the warmth of overdue family gatherings. The chance to indulge that holiday sweet tooth. The joy of celebrating the religious and cultural traditions dearest to us. The unmistakable nip in the air. And, of course, the satisfaction of self-reflection and anticipation of the year ahead.
Looking to expand your seasonal sensibilities even further? Well, if travel is a path to discovery, then exploring the many celebrations of various Mid-Atlantic communities this winter could be as eye-opening as it is entertaining.
Visit Philadelphia, for example, where eight days and nights of festivities commemorate Hanukkah. Or attend one of the East Coast’s largest Kwanzaa festivals in Virginia’s vibrant capital city of Richmond. Travel to historic Bethlehem (Pennsylvania, that is), where Moravians observe Christmas with carols, candles, and a special holiday market. Or channel Charles Dickens as New Jersey’s Cape May gets decked out for its over-the-top, Victorian-style yuletide cheer. To usher in the new season, there’s also a traditional Swedish winter solstice ceremony in a centuries-old Delaware church.
Wherever you end up for your winter holidays, here’s our guide to some celebratory cities worth a visit.
Dec. 25 – Jan. 2: Hanukkah in Philadelphia
Fifty years ago, a local rabbi lit a rustic, four-foot-high menorah in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and helped popularize a now-ubiquitous national tradition: the ceremonial public lighting of outsized Hanukkah menorahs. And to this day, the City of Brotherly Love’s sizeable Jewish population continues to celebrate Judaism’s joyous eight-day Festival of Lights in a big way for residents and visitors alike.
Now it’s a city-wide affair. Catch menorah lightings at city landmarks such as Independence Hall, Rittenhouse Square, and South Philly’s Singing Fountain. Following the lighting of a giant electric menorah at the Betsy Ross House, where its namesake is said to have sewn the first American flag, the Old City Jewish Arts Center serves traditional foods like potato pancakes (latkes) and jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) and distributes Hanukkah gelt coins to kids.
Enjoy another beloved Philly tradition when menorah-topped vehicles parade through Center City and Main Line Philadelphia during their separate parades. On Dec. 28, the Chevra, a group of young Jewish professionals and graduate students, throws what’s billed as the city’s largest Hanukkah fest. The bash at Rittenhouse Square features live music, dancing, and a familiar, if secular, sartorial tradition, an ugly Hanukkah sweater contest.
While you’re in town, don’t miss the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate and the nation’s only museum dedicated to interpreting the American Jewish experience. Its collections include everything from Irving Berlin’s piano to a Liberty Bell menorah lovingly crafted by a folk artist who survived the Holocaust.
Hanukkah’s Origins: Honors the rededication of the Second Temple in ancient Jerusalem as well as the temple’s miraculously long-burning jar of purified oil.
Customs: Nightly lighting of the menorah, a candelabra whose eight flames represent the number of days the temple’s one-day supply of oil burned. Jewish households accompany the lightings with scripture readings, prayers, hymns, and special foods.
Greeting: “Chag urim sameach.” (“Happy Festival of Lights.”)
For a full schedule of Hanukkah events, see visitphilly.com.
Dec. 26–Jan. 1: Kwanzaa in Richmond
Kwanzaa, in Swahili, refers to the harvest, and it’s in this spirit of giving thanks that millions of African Americans gather annually for this seven-day celebration of family, community, and pan-African history, culture, and values. Families share meals, light symbolic candles daily, honor their ancestors, educate children about African culture, and reflect on the future.
In fact, it’s a colorful, deeply significant celebration that happens to owe its origins to a Marylander. Kwanzaa’s founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga, was born in Wicomico County on the Eastern Shore. He devised the holiday in 1966 to promote African traditions while teaching at California State University, Long Beach.
Two years ago, Karenga delivered the keynote address at one of the East Coast’s largest Kwanzaa celebrations, the Capital City Kwanzaa Festival in Richmond, Virginia, now in its 33rd year.
Hosted by the Elegba Folklore Society, Richmond’s festival distills the week-long holiday into a one-day comprehensive celebration of African culture. View the ceremonial Kwanzaa candle lighting with its affirmation of Nguzo Saba, aka the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa (more on that below).
Enjoy music and dance performances. Participate in workshops and children’s activities. Sample African-inspired cuisine at the festival’s African Market, where you can also shop for crafts, clothing, and home decor.
While in Richmond, visit the Jackson Ward Historic District. Called the birthplace of Black entrepreneurship, the neighborhood is among the largest national historic landmark districts associated with African-American history and culture, and was established before the Civil War.
Customs: Each candle lit duriing Kwanzaa represents one of the Seven Principles by which African peoples strive to live: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work & responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith).
Greeting: “Habari gani?” (“What’s the news?”) To which celebrants respond with Kwanzaa’s principle of the day.
For more information, visit efsinc.org.
Dec. 1–24: Moravian Christmas in Bethlehem
Christened “Bethlehem” on Christmas Eve of the year it was founded (1741), this eastern Pennsylvania town became the New World’s first permanent settlement for German-speaking Moravians. Dubbed “The Christmas City,” Bethlehem packs its holiday calendar with celebrations that echo these European religious roots, from simple candlelight church services to soaring choral performances and a popular holiday market called Christkindlmarkt.
The Moravian calendar begins on the first day of Advent (Sunday, Dec. 1, in 2024), when Moravians host fellowship meals called Lovefeasts, as well as special worship services and musical performances through Christmas Eve.
On that day, Bethlehem’s Central Moravian Church conveys the Christmas story as it has for centuries, with a children’s service and an evening celebration featuring hymns, choral music, a brass quintet, and the lighting of traditional beeswax candles. (Bethlehem has so many original Moravian buildings that it recently became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)
Visit the Central Church and the town’s historic buildings-turned-museums throughout December to admire another moving Moravian tradition, the putz. From the German putzen (“to decorate”), these lovingly crafted, elaborate dioramas depict the story of Christ’s birth in multiple scenes using hand-carved figurines, plus rocks, moss, and other natural materials.
But there’s more. Shop aisles of artisan works at the massive Christkindlmarkt, held for six weekends beginning in mid-November, on the banks of the Lehigh River. Or explore other venues and activities: Buy a multi-pointed Moravian star at the Moravian Archives store, practice your German at a Moravian singstunde gathering (where Advent carols are sung in both German and English), or listen quietly to holiday carols in the hushed, candlelit Old Moravian Chapel, built in 1751.
Customs: Moravians traditionally use beeswax candles in religious ceremonies to symbolize purity and the light of God.
Traditional Treats: Wafer-thin Moravian sugar cookies, Moravian sugar cake, and Eastern European nut rolls and rolled kiffle cookies.
For a schedule of holiday events and tours, visit christmascity.org.
Dec. 8: Swedish Christmas in Wilmington
It’s an old Scandinavian ritual: On the shortest day of the year, the household’s eldest daughter, her head crowned with a candlelit wreath, leads her candle-carrying siblings upstairs to deliver sweet buns and coffee to their parents. The roots of this ceremonial breakfast in bed can be traced all the way back to fourth-century Italy and the times of Saint Lucy (“Santa Lucia” to Scandinavians), a Christian martyr and patron saint of the blind.
On her feast day, Dec. 13, she is honored for bringing light into the world and foretelling the end of long winter nights in a ceremony that blends pagan and Christian traditions.
Although we celebrate the winter solstice on Dec. 21, under the Julian calendar the year’s longest night was Dec. 13. In Scandinavia, it marks the traditional start of the Christmas season and is reason to reenact a simple yet elegant procession in homes and churches throughout the land. But you needn’t hop a plane to Stockholm or Oslo for the pageantry.
On the second Sunday in December, one of the nation’s most historic churches, Holy Trinity, aka the Old Swedes Historic Site, in Wilmington, Delaware, opens its doors to the public to honor Santa Lucia. Portraying her, a young woman from the community, dressed head to toe in white, leads a costumed procession down the aisles of the 326-year-old stone church, set aglow by candlelight. Lucia is followed by girls dressed in white, “star boys” (starngossar) wearing tall, pointy hats, and red-dressed elf-like helpers (tomtar), played by young children. There’s music, of course, and guests can enjoy both coffee and Swedish baked goods after the ceremonies.
Be sure to tour the adjacent Hendrickson House, an 18th-century Swedish-American home decorated for Christmas, and go holiday browsing at its gift shop. Nearby, visit the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel, which brought the first Swedish settlers to the area in 1638. Traditional Treats: Lussekatter saffron buns.
Greeting: “God Jul.” (“Merry Christmas.”)
Nov. 23–Dec. 31: Victorian Christmas in Cape May
Without the Victorians, the modern American Christmas might be unrecognizable: no roly-poly Santa Claus (hitherto a svelte Saint Nick), Christmas cards, or lavishly decorated Christmas trees. Also, no federal holiday (finally enacted in 1870), or umpteen Hollywood versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
For a deep dive into a Dickensian-era Christmas, head to Cape May, a Victorian gem on New Jersey’s southern seashore. Hundreds of preserved 19th-century buildings—ornately designed houses, hotels, inns, and businesses—make the entire city a National Historic Landmark District.
Every December, these “painted ladies” don their holiday finery and welcome visitors with candlelight tours, themed trolley rides, and street caroling. The season begins Nov. 23 with a Christmas tree lighting at Holiday HQ, aka the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate, a prominent Cape May physician’s 18-room mansion-turned-museum.
Register early for the most coveted ticket in town: Cape May’s annual self-guided Christmas Candlelight House Tours (Dec. 7, 14, and 21)—you’ll stroll streets lit by gas lamps and a multitude of twinkly lights while visiting select homes, B&Bs, and the Physick mansion, all decked out for the holidays.
If you can’t snag tickets, don’t despair; There are yuletide outings aplenty. BYO blanket and hop on Cape May’s open-air Jolly Trolley for one of their themed tours, during which you can admire holiday lights, hear from Mrs. Claus, or learn about the spirits who haunt the Physick Estate to this day. Swing by Cape May’s favorite Enchanted Vendor Village at Congress Hall, an iconic local resort once frequented by presidents and politicians. And don’t miss the West Cape May Christmas Parade, with festive floats parading through town on Dec. 7.
Victorian Customs: Parlor games were popular holiday amusements, including two depicted in A Christmas Carol: Blindman’s Buff (aka Bluff) and the guessing game Yes or No.
Traditional Treats: The yuletide tradition of wassail—a hot beverage of cider or wine with spices—is said to have originated as a pagan tradition, paying homage to the fruits of fall harvests that helped provide sustenance through the dead of winter. Now tied to caroling and Christmas, the drink can be enjoyed at the town’s historic Cold Spring Village during Wassail Day, an afternoon festival with wagon rides, wreath contests, and crafts on Dec. 7.
For more holiday happenings, consult the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, capemaymac.org.
Looking Ahead…
Jan. 29: Lunar New Year in Washington, D.C.
Asian Americans will welcome the Year of the Snake in 2025 when the Lunar New Year begins on Jan. 29. Join the festivities in the Nation’s Capital, including a return performance by the renowned National Ballet of China at the Kennedy Center Opera House, special family activities at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and its American Art Museum, and the popular, ultra colorful Lunar New Year Parade through the streets of Chinatown.
For a calendar of events, visit washington.org.
Jan. 27: Lailat at Miraj in Lanham
On this first major Islamic holiday of the new year, Muslims commemorate the journey of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem by reflecting on his life and teachings. At the nonprofit Diyanet Center of America in Lanham, Maryland—its magnificent exterior reflecting classical Ottoman architecture—and other mosques around the Washington metro area, congregations offer special prayers and recite passages from the Qur’an.
Learn more about the Islamic faith at the Islamic Center of D.C. during the holy month of Ramadan, from Feb. 28 through Mar. 30, during which community members fast daily from sunrise to sundown, breaking their abstinence with a communal meal (iftar) and holding nightly communal prayers (taraweeh).
Located on Embassy Row in the Nation’s Capital, the center serves practicing Muslims and promotes a better understanding of the faith by opening its mosque to all for regular prayers.