Tis the Season
Patrick Ivanov:
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, we celebrate Christmas on January 7th.
In my family, we have a special dinner on Christmas Eve. It's a vegetarian dinner where the most important ingredient is a honeyed porridge called "kutya." After dinner, still on Christmas Eve, we open our presents, and then go to church. The church service lasts all night, ending in the early morning. But on CHristmas we can have Russian Christmas nut cake.
Natalia Skoufas:
Also, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, before Christmas, we fast.
In my family, we take the twelve days of Christmas seriously, and make sure to keep a fire going every night to keep away evil spirits. We also spread out our Christmas presents over the twelve nights. I help my mother make honey-nut christmas cookies called "melomacarona," and these "diples" which are sort of like doughnut holes in honey.
Mary-Helen Goldstein
Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukkah, is a Jewish festival in remembrance of the reconsecration of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. It's really nothing like Christmas. You see, to simplify a long story. . .
A long time ago, the Greeks took over Judea and started opressing and killing all the Jews. The Jews weren't happy about this so they got together and drove the Greeks out, even having to fight on the Sabbath (which is against our Law). When the Temple was freed, the sacred flame had to stay lit for eight days while the Temple was being blessed, but there was only enough oil to keep the fire lit for one day. But a miracle happened, and the oil which could only keep the sacred flame lit for one day lasted eight days.
And that's why we have that funky candle thing.
Uhhh. . . my Mom wants me to tell you that it's called a Hanukkah Menorah. We light one more light every eight days of Hanukkah using the ninth middle candle. I get a present for each night, but that's not a big part of the holiday. The holiday is about remembering our past and our holy tradition. It's a big family tradition, and Temple gets really fun around Hanukkah too.
Horace Azif
Islamic holidays move around a lot each year because they are based on a lunar calendar. We call a holiday an "eid." Earlier this year, my family and Thomas' celebrated my favourite time: Eid ul-Fitr. Eid ul-Fitr is a three day the celebration after the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
My family celebrates Eid ul-Fitr the Turkish way, and we actually call it "Şeker Bayrami" which means Sugar Festival. After going to the mosque, I came back home and put on really nice brand new clothes that were bought just for the festival. Then there were lots of visits to friends and relatives and lots and lots of candy... especially "lokum" aka Turkish Delight, a sugary and sticky kind of jelly candy. I went around with my little sister and she got candy from all our neighbours sort of like at Halloween. We had a lot of family over, including my grandmother from Turkey who brought me a little pouch of money. I kissed her hand and wished her a happy festival: "Mutlu Bayramlar!"
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