All of Chicago knows it as “Christmas Around the World” at the Museum of Science and Industry, 57th Street at Lake Shore Drive. It’s actually a part of the larger exhibit billed this year as Winter Festival ’94, which runs through Jan. 2.
At 53 years old, “Christmas Around the World” is a veritable Chicago tradition. That creates a problem for the museum: how to outdo itself each year; how to make the exhibit bigger and better. This year, the museum’s goal is to reach out to cultures that don’t celebrate Christmas.
Depicting the exhibit’s theme is a 15-foot acrylic sculpture of a flame under which are six “windows.” Each depicts a cultural celebration that sparks enlightenment or uses a flame as a part of the observance.
Erin Okamoto Protsman, a museum exhibits coordinator and project manager for Winter Festival ’94, explains, “Light is often a central theme in unrelated cultural celebrations.”
A peek inside the first window portrays an oldest daughter donning a traditional white garment and a crown of candles for Santa Lucia Day in Sweden.
Candles are also important in the celebration of African-American Kwanzaa, which is Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. A candle is lit on a candelabra, called a kinara, on each of the seven days of the holiday; each day represents one of seven principles, such as unity or creativity.
Similarly, a menorah is lighted for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. There are nine candles on the menorah. Eight are for each day that a cruse of oil lighted the temple after the Jewish Maccabees defeated an oppressive king and retook the building, and one is used to light all the others.
Okamoto Protsman explains that light even plays a role in the traditional Ramadan Fast and Eid-Ul-Fitr. Going by the Moslem calendar, the fast begins with the bright full moon of late summer or early fall. During the monthlong fast, worshipers do not eat between sunrise and sunset. After the fast is a three-day “happiness to everyone” festival called Eid-Ul-Fitr.
A clay lamp called the Dipa is lighted by Hindus and Sikhs who celebrate Diwali. The lamp fires depicted in the “window” at the museum exhibit burn brightly to assist Rama, a son exiled by an ancient king, to find his way home.
Chinese New Year kicks off with glowing lanterns and booming fireworks. Families light candles and burn incense with the coming of the New Year, which will be in late January; the year will be 2693, the year of the boar.
“We sought to include other cultures that we haven’t in the past,” says Okamoto Protsman. “We didn’t want to leave any ethnic group out.”
Still, the focal point of the Winter Festival remains the long-lived traditional parade of Christmas trees. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the seasonal trip around the world is always fascinating. This year, there are 39 Christmas trees, each representing a different culture.
Love is the theme of the tree from Wales. It’s filled with love-spoon ornaments. In Wales intricately carved love spoons are given to fiances instead of rings. A spoon with a lock inscribed on it, for example, means the woman has the key to the man’s heart. The Welsh tree is also sprinkled with enough mistletoe to spark romance.
Ornaments on the Japanese tree are made of traditional folding paper called origami with examples of samurai, geisha girls and cranes.
Another tree is a shared project of 30 Native American tribes. One ornament highlights the white buffalo born this year in Wisconsin. The white buffalo represents impending good luck.
On Saturday and Sunday, ethnic and cultural groups are giving traditional holiday presentations: Saturday at 11 a.m., Romania; at 12:30 p.m., Croatia; at 2 p.m., Germany; and at 3:30 p.m., Hawaii; and on Sunday at 11 a.m., France; at 12:30 p.m., Poland; at 2 p.m., Scotland; and at 3:30 p.m., Greece.
In addition, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, the Imagination Theater presents “Winter’s Tale.” At 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Dec. 23, the Paint Box Theater and Trinity Square Ensemble perform “Jack Tales.” Also, throughout Winter Festival ’94, storytellers will read tales of Christmas celebrations from around the world.
Even the cafe at the exhibit is getting into the act. It’s selling desserts from around the world, including a Jewish mondel bread cookie, a Scottish shortcake, American brownies and chocolate chip cookies, and French tortes.
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Admission to the Museum of Science and Industry is $6, $5 seniors, $2.50 children 5-12 and free under 5. (No additional cost for admission to Winter Festival ’94.) For more information, call 312-684-1414.
