As the holiday season starts, there are many holiday traditions that people partake in around the world. Hanukkah and Christmas are two of the most popular holidays in the U.S. These two holidays carry family, religious, or cultural traditions that are well known around the country.
Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights, and it remembers the rededication of the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem, Israel. Hanukkah starts on December 2nd and ends December 10th. It is an eight day celebration with a tradition of lighting Eight Candles. The eight candles represent eight nights. The center candle, the smamash, lights the other eight candles.
“We bring my whole family together each night to light the menorah and on the first night of Hanukkah we all play dreidel and call my grandma to wish her a happy Hanukkah,” Nathan Maryanov ‘22 said. Celebrating Hanukkah carries its traditions, special blessings are said, lighting the menorah, playing games, and eating traditional foods.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. This holiday usually takes place on December 25, and people celebrate it because of their religious beliefs, cultural tradition, or just because they enjoy spending time with their family.
During Christmas there are many traditions that people partake in. Whether it is looking for the perfect tree and cutting it down and then putting it up, or wrapping gifts or even rocking a baby Jesus, there is so much joy and cheer that this holiday brings to families
“ My host family took me shopping for decorations for the house, and decorations on the house. We cut a Christmas tree from a farm and wrapped Christmas presents,” Siraphat Teerawattananon ‘20 said. Shopping, decorating, wrapping gifts and cutting Christmas trees are common traditions that families like to do to bond.
These holidays may not be the same, but they do have something in common, they are both holidays filled with plenty of traditions that are celebrated by the whole world, or celebrated in a family setting. People get together to celebrate, and cherish their loved ones and their religions and cultures by celebrating with each other during these special holidays.
