Appreciating The Holiday Season

By Larissa Lytwyn

Students at Middle Gate Elementary School recently enjoyed Happy Holidays from Around the World, a rousing musical revue by Beth & Scott and Friends.

Scott Bierko and his wife Beth are professionally trained actors and singers whose programs are, according to their website mission statement, designed to encourage interest in “the arts and literature, fostering a broader sense of respect for other cultures.”

They have been performing their assortment of variety shows, including Happy Holidays, since 1993.

Mr Bierko’s brother, Craig Bierko, is a well-known actor and television personality, who starred as Professor Harold Hill in the recent Broadway revival of The Music Man.

During their show at Middle Gate, the Bierkos celebrated the culturally and religiously unique stories behind Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

Mr and Ms Bierko took the stage by storm, their already-formidable voices booming from their microphone headsets. Behind the couple hung a colorful mosaic merging the three well-known winter holidays through Jewish, Christian, and African symbols.

Through their song, “Christmas Rappin,’” the twosome rapped about the special Christmas traditions enjoyed in Spain, Poland, and Norway. In Norway, for example, as well as other Scandinavian countries, the figure known in America as “Santa Claus” is a gnomelike creature called “Julebukk,” or “Christmas buck.”

In “La Flor De La Noche Buena,” Mr and Ms Bierko sang about the cultural significance of the poinsettia “Christmas” flower in Mexico.

According to legend, a young, poverty-stricken girl did not know what to get her sickly mother for Christmas. She ventured into the fields, finally returning with a fistful of weeds. Humbly, she presented the weeds to her mother as a gift. The humility of the act created a night of magic. The weeds transformed into the beautiful red flowers now known as the poinsettia.

The Bierkos also sang about the story behind Hanukkah.

Thousands of years ago, the Jewish people were suffering deep oppression under the might of Antiochus IV and his forces. Groups of Jewish nationalists, however, including one led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee incited a successful revolt against Antiochus.

In the fight, virtually all the oil needed to light the menorahs, or candelabrums, in the temple, was gone. The menorahs were supposed to burn each night to dawn.

Though there was only enough oil to burn in one menorah for one day, the menorah miraculously burned for eight, time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil.

Today, Hanukkah is an eight-day festival commemorating this special event.

Finally, the Bierkos sang about the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperation, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Founded by Dr Maulana Karenga, the cultural holiday is celebrated from December 26 through January 1.

Throughout the singing, students were invited to take part by joining the Bierkos on stage. For the finale, teachers were also invited for a sing-along.

The Middle Gate PTA’s Cultural Arts committee sponsored the show.

For more information on Beth & Scott and Friends, visit www.bethandscott.net.