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Photo by Photo used with permission of Elliot Finn

Elliot Finn, sophomore, celebrates Hanukkah and says his favorite part of the holiday is making cookies and spending time with family. Here he practices his cookie craft during a baking class.

It’s that time of year again, stores are closing, snow is starting to fall, school is no longer in session. The holidays are finally here, but not everyone is celebrating.

Hanukkah

“It’s tough when the whole world kind of shuts down, and there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do,” Lauren Katzman, English department chair who celebrates Hanukkah, said. “So that’s why we’ve found ourselves something fun to do to spend the day.”

Like Katzman, Elliot Finn, sophomore, celebrates Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday that takes place over the course of eight days.

“I really like to bake and cook, so during the Holidays, my favorite thing to make is a cookie with chocolate inside. I also like being able to celebrate Hanukkah with my whole family. Every night, we go to someone else’s house and we light the candles. Of course, we get gifts, but the food is really good too,” Finn said, although Katzman points out, “Originally you weren’t supposed to give gifts on Hanukkah, that’s a tradition that evolved over time.”

Hanukkah doesn’t always coincide with the school’s winter break calendar, so Finn and Katzman don’t always have a holiday to celebrate over the winter vacation.

“Hanukkah goes by the Jewish calendar, so it’s different every year on the English calendar, sometimes it’s in November,” Katzman said. “This year it’s over Christmas break.”

Eid and Ramadan

Rose Alam, junior, celebrates the Muslim Holidays Eid and Ramadan and said that it was easier for her to feel left out of other holidays when she was younger but doesn’t feel that way anymore.

“When I was little, people used to make treats with Christmas colors, but my teachers would think I’m not allowed to do that for some odd reason, so they left me out of those types of activities,” Alam said.

One of the main holidays Alam celebrates is Ramadan, which was celebrated in spring this year. According to Alam, a big part of Ramadan is fasting and thanking God, but her favorite part is the parties.

“With Ramadan, people fast to show thanks to God, like ‘thank you for giving me food and stuff,’ so I fast in response to that,” Alam said. “However, my favorite holiday tradition is being able to meet with all my family and friends, having parties, and wearing really pretty dresses.”

Diwali

Sanya Ahuja, freshman, celebrates the Hindu holiday of Diwali, which is the five-day festival of lights. Ahuja believes that while both Christmas and Diwali are religious holidays, they have their differences.

“I think [Diwali] is much more of a religious celebration [than Christmas],” Ahuja said. “There’s a lot of praying incorporated so that’s probably the biggest difference.”

Although there are several differences between the Holidays, Ahuja enjoys connecting with people of different cultures who also don’t celebrate Christmas.

“I don’t usually [feel left out not celebrating Christmas] since I believe there are a lot of other people who don’t celebrate Christmas too,” Ahuja said. “So it’s nice to hang out with people from different cultures.”