By: Ayla Romero and Kimberly Martinez
Christmas is said to be the most wonderful time of the year and it is, especially if you’re spending the holidays with the people you love most. Many families across the world celebrate the holiday season in various ways. There’s not just Christmas; there is Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Las Posadas, and the list goes on. All of these celebrations are around the same time, and though they are from different cultures, one thing they have in common is that they all include traditions. These traditions allow us to be with our loved ones and truly appreciate one another. Family traditions keep us bonded, they give us something to look forward to every year, and most importantly, they help create memories that can last a lifetime. With family traditions being so significant, we thought it would be interesting to get a look into how students and staff celebrate their holiday traditions during this time of year.
We went to the students on campus to see how they spent their holiday season. Junior, Yara Hernandez shared her stories about her celebration during Christmas, like how she and her family always do a Secret Santa, a popular holiday tradition. When asking her how doing this tradition makes her feel she revealed, “I feel happy and glad to have such a big family to be able to do a lot of stuff together.” Hernandez also happily mentions her family’s love for ham during the holidays as her mom makes it multiple times from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
We also interviewed another junior on campus, Jesus Salazar and he let us in on some of his family traditions during the holidays. When asked what his favorite holiday tradition is, he answered, “I would say going to my parents’ house and making tamales together.” On campus, Christmas is the word you hear most in the weeks leading up to winter break. Students and staff are so excited to get the chance to spend the holidays with their families.
Yet there are many other holidays around this time, like the Jewish celebration, Hanukkah. Senior, Sienna Mcdonald described her experience with celebrating Christmas while also celebrating Hanukkah. “My family’s main holiday is Hanukkah,” she told us with immense pride. There are not very many people on campus who celebrate Hanukkah so it was fascinating to hear how Sienna celebrates the holiday with her family. Some activities they do to celebrate is to “spin the dreidel and light the menorah, [mainly] it’s a lot of games and partying.” It was really eye-opening to see that every student has their own idea of how to commemorate the holiday season.
We also have a few teachers here on campus who were happy to share their personal holiday traditions. One of the following teachers was our French teacher, Madame Maskel. She not only celebrates Christmas but also celebrates the French holiday, La Toussaint. She elaborated by saying that it’s very similar to Dia De Los Muertos, it’s just the French version. When asked just how special these traditions make her feel, Maskel answered, “It makes me feel close to my family because it’s something that we’ve done year after year so it feels like a warm happy feeling.”
We also got the chance to talk with P.E. teacher Mrs. Clevenger and see what her holiday traditions are like. Clevenger shared that most of her Holiday celebration revolves around her church. When asked how it makes her feel to be with the church for Christmas she stated, “It makes me feel great because we ultimately celebrate Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ, so just being able to celebrate his birth and give thanks during this time is really important.” Although the traditions ranged from teacher to teacher they all agreed on one thing and that is that warm happy feeling they get from celebrating their traditions with their loved ones.
Another big part of the holidays is the food. I mean who doesn’t love holiday foods? We interviewed Ms. Hill about what holiday food she enjoys. She responded saying, “My favorite is gumbo. My mom makes the most delicious gumbo, she puts crab, sausage, and shrimp in it. I mean it’s in this giant pot and the family comes over and she’ll put rice in the bottom of it, and it’s just so good.”
We asked another teacher on-campus Spanish teacher, Mrs. Jimenez who disclosed “We usually make tamales on Christmas Eve and we eat the leftovers the next day.”She also shared how her mother usually makes pozole, mainly pozole verde during the holiday season as well. Along with the holiday food she mentioned a few Hispanic traditions that she partakes in during the holidays. She explained, “We celebrate Las Posadas, which starts nine days before Christmas. We celebrate not just with family members but with friends.” All of these traditions were so great to hear and we are so grateful to our teachers for sharing them with us.
It’s such a beautiful thing to learn about all these unique traditions that our students and staff on campus participate in during the holiday season. These are timeless traditions that can be passed down for generations and no matter how long these traditions last, they never get old. It’s no secret that being a part of these significant moments shared with your loved ones is a very special feeling that can be replaced with nothing else. When all is said and done, the holidays give us the time to be thankful for our friends and family and remember that no matter our hardships and life, they are always there for us, they are the people who help us get through the years. These traditions are just a way of keeping us all together. Happy Holidays!