Holiday Plans Unwrapped

As snow begins to fall and the weather changes, winter is often recognized as a time to wrap presents and celebrate Christmas. But Christmas isn’t the only winter holiday that is celebrated in JA.

Freshman Abigail VanDegrift celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah. Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights, and unlike Christmas, it lasts for eight days.

“[Hanukkah] for me feels less like Santa and stuff like that, but rather the history of it,” VanDegrift described. 

Instead of elves and reindeer, Hanukkah commemorates themes like freedom, faith, and the concept of light over darkness.

“My favorite part about Hanukkah is the fact I get to spend more time with my mom and I get to learn about the history of it all over again,” VanDegrift explained

To show how different winter holidays are celebrated across cultures, Vida Arissian shared an alternative tradition celebrated during the cold winter season.

 “I'm Iranian,” Arissian stated. “The main thing that we really celebrate during the winter is Shab-e Yalda. And it's the celebration of the longest night.” 

There are many ways to celebrate winter holidays such as Shab-e Yalda. Different families may have different traditions.

“When you celebrate Shab-e Yalda, and you stay up all night and you party and have fun. You eat special kinds of food, and you normally hang out with your friends and family,” Arrissian noted. “You wear red, because red is the signature color for this Holiday. So that's what we're going to be doing over this break.”

Many holiday traditions highlight togetherness during the winter season.

“Friends and family [are] a really big thing,” Arissian explained. “Some people rent out entire hotels and they just have lots of different foods.”