There are many holidays that are celebrated in the winter season. Some holidays include Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Three Kings Day, Diwali, Las Posadas, and so many more.

Senior Stephanie Chavez celebrates Las Posadas.

“I don’t think Las Posadas are talked about a lot because they are religious, but even so, it would be nice to acknowledge the holiday especially since it’s celebrated the days before Christmas,” Chavez said. ”I think the most important part of the holiday is enjoying and celebrating the day because it only comes one day a year. Most holidays have different traditions, so participating in the traditions that the holiday does to enjoy the day is important too.”

Sophomore Alani Daye is a Jehovah’s Witness. Daye’s beliefs don’t center around holidays.

“Well, for starters, I don’t celebrate holidays. This includes Halloween, Christmas, birthdays, and all other holidays. I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but not by force. I believe I’m well respected in school despite my beliefs. Besides, it’s not called Christmas break, it’s called winter break, and Thanksgiving break is more hospitable instead of calling it what the tradition is. But I do think people should understand the origins of these holidays, because to be honest, people are blinded by the gifts in Christmas, and the dressing up in Halloween, instead of viewing what these holidays REALLY mean,” Daye said.

Senior Marnie Glass celebrates Hanukkah.

“I think that it is very important to have an understanding of other people’s beliefs and religions. Religion is tied to so much in our society, and if we were to spend time educating ourselves, a lot of future and past conflicts could be avoided. Most religions that don’t get much attention have a minority group that has experienced some form of oppression or genocide. Seventeen million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and this has heavily dragged down the number of people that celebrate [Hanukkah] today,” Glass said.

Senior Paulina Aldana celebrates Three Kings Day.

She doesn’t think people know or celebrate Three Kings Day as much as other holidays.
“I feel it’s because there’s not as many Hispanics that do it. I know that some of my family doesn’t even care about it, and they’re like ‘why am I even going to go to it?’” Aldana said.
Aldana would love to know more about other holidays and cultures.

“You kind of connect more with other people, and then you can just hang out and get free food,” Aldana said.

Junior Laura Melis celebrates Befana and Carnival.

Melis believes that some holidays could also be talked about less or more depending on where they are often celebrated.

“It’s an Italian tradition, and we have Italian traditions only in Italy and that’s why,” Melis said.
Senior Ava Klein celebrates the Winter Solstice.

Klein would love to know more about other holidays. She wants to see more about it and talk to others about their traditions.

“I feel like (with) the amount of Christmas movies that there are, I want a Kwanzaa movie and I want a Hanukkah movie. I want something that is Hallmark that doesn’t have Santa to do with it,” Klein said.

Klein talks about how certain holidays have actually taken tradition from other holidays, even her own holiday.

“Going into Wicca, I learned that a lot of the traditions for the holiday were picked and put into Christmas basically, like gift giving and decorating a Christmas tree. So for yule, we have an evergreen tree that you put your witch balls in, and it’s a bunch of these potion ingredients, like herbs, good vibes, intentions, you put that and decorate the tree,” Klein said.

Senior Tanvi Shahi celebrates Diwali.

“I would love to learn about other holidays. I find them all to be so interesting, and I think it would help in the future when it comes to creating relationships with people,” Shahi said.
Many holidays have not been as equally represented as others, even though many of the people who celebrate these different holidays and or traditions have the same thoughts about views on the holidays.