Lights, Cookies, Action!

Lights💡, Cookies🍪, Action 🏃

By Hannah and Riva, 4-5 School News Team

We all know Christmas is a holiday of giving and receiving. This is a time where we can get to know family and friends better thus, build strong relationships. Yet, we seldom think of how others celebrate Christmas at D39C. Many families at D39C came from different parts of the world to America earlier on in their lives with diverse cultures they believe in. For this reason, many cultures celebrate Christmas, and the people who believe in these have very different celebrations during the duration of the holiday season.  

D39C News and Blog wants to find out more.

D39C Holidays❄

Christmas is a fun and important holiday to most 4-5 students at D39C. How and why do they celebrate the holidays? Many people cherish their time during Christmas with family and friends. During christmas there is not only time to spend with family and friends, there are also delicious recipes. Many recipes the 4-5 students described to us as we were interviewing them, are ordinary Christmas desserts such as cookies and gingerbread. In spite of this, there are some intriguing delicacies that grabbed our attention, such as jelly-filled cookies, jelly thumbprint cookies, and rhubarb pie.

Paris, a 7th grader said, “Christmas is important so we can celebrate Christ.” With the many people we interviewed who celebrate Christmas, many D39C students that came from other countries do not actually celebrate Christmas. Omar, a student who moved from Kuwait, (A country in the Middle East) said, “I don’t celebrate Christmas, yet there is a similar holiday called Eid. Eid is a holiday in October and September where you give gifts, eat food, and gather with family and friends.”

Riva, a 5th grade student in Mrs. Rader’s class, said, “My mom celebrates Christmas, yet there is another holiday that is like Christmas that is more important to our culture. This holiday is called Diwali. This holiday is a festival of lights. There is no date exactly because it is the alignment of the stars in the sky that tell us when the date is. People decorate all of the streets and houses with lights. They burn fire crackers and eat food. This is our family celebration.”

Many people also celebrate a holiday called Hanukkah during the holiday season. This holiday began this year on December 6th. Mrs. Rosie, a substitute for Mrs. Rader, said, “Hanukkah is a holiday that celebrates an event in history  and most people spend this with their family. This holiday marks the dedication of a temple in Jerusalem and a small group of people winning their land back from invaders. Also, when they relit the menorah in the holy temple they found a jug of olive oil. They used this to keep the candles lit for a long duration of time. They only thought the olive oil would last them 1 day but, it lasted for eight. That is the origination of the eight days of Hanukkah.”  Kailey and Ellie in the 4-5 span both celebrate Hanukkah and said they eat mainly latkes during this time.      

The majority of students that D39C News and Blog interviewed, have a good ol’ traditional Christmas. For example, setting up a tree, putting out cookies and milk out for Santa Claus, and opening presents, and spending time with families. Putting up a tree has been a Christmas tradition for many families.  Also, many families who are Catholic or Christian go to mass at a local church. Hannah and Luke 5th grade students in Mrs. Rader and Lamb’s class said, “We pick and open one present on Christmas eve.”  Many of us enjoy and believe Christmas is necessary in many ways!

D39C News and Blog have found out a lot about the holidays yet, there is more to find out! So get ready for lights, cookies, and ACTION!