Every Halloween, sophomore Karin Felsher decorates the exterior of her house with frightening skeletons and an enormous spider hanging in the front window. In past years, Felsher’s house has easily become one of the most spirited on the block.
“Every year, we buy some new decorations to add to our collection,” Felsher describes. “My mom and I bought the skeletons in Mexico, and they’re actually supposed to be for Día de los Muertos, but they’re pretty scary.”
Felsher looks forward to Halloween each year because it is her annual opportunity to decorate her house. “I’m Jewish, so we don’t celebrate Christmas, which is when most people decorate their houses. For Hanukkah, the only decorating we do is put up Hanukkah lights, but they’re boring and blue,” says Felsher.
While dressing up in costumes for Halloween has become a custom, this is not universal.
“In Arabic culture, we believe that [Halloween] is the day of the devil. We are not encouraged to dress up in costumes every year,” says freshman Alaa Khalil. However, Khalil has dressed up several times before for Halloween.
“One year I was superwoman and I wore the cape,” says Khalil. “Another time my sister and I were witches. It’s just not every year that we celebrate [Halloween]. Otherwise, it would seem like we are inviting or praising the devil.”
Contrary, in Japan, many western holidays are welcomed. In addition to Halloween, Japanese teacher Junko Hosoi notices that Christmas is widely celebrated too.
“[It] wasn’t such a big holiday [when I was younger]. I didn’t get presents or have a Christmas tree,” Hosoi says.
While Christmas in Japan is not an official holiday since people are required to work, it has grown to be a commercialized holiday.
“Christmas is originally a holiday for Christians and probably one percent of the Japanese population is Christian,” explains Hosoi. “Nobody goes to church, instead [they buy] presents, decorate, and celebrate. They eat cakes, and Kentucky Fried Chicken is very popular in Japan, so they like [to eat] fried chicken on Christmas Day.”
Similarly, sophomore Nora Liu does not have concrete holiday traditions.
“My parents weren’t born here and aren’t religious, so there isn’t a big emphasis on holidays,” Liu explains. “Even when I stayed with my family for holidays, we would have family friends over because the rest of my family is back in China, so it’s never just family.”
However, Liu enjoys holiday festivities with friends.
“It’s like I get adopted for the day. For Christmas, we all eat together and then open presents. I have become familiar with [my friend’s] family, and I definitely don’t miss out on the celebrations.”
Sophomore Adrian Braanemark moved from Sweden a few months ago, where Christmas traditions are more family-oriented.
“We get presents on the night of Christmas Eve, instead of Christmas morning. Parents will put the presents outside the front door and kids will run outside to get them,” he says. “We don’t have Christmas parties with friends [like people here in the States do].”
Braanemark’s family, like many others in Sweden, also add their own dish to a traditional Christmas dinner.
“We eat a special fish, called sill. I personally don’t like it, but the older adults enjoy it,” Brannemark adds. “There are a bunch of different types of it too, like in mustard or with berries. It’s just not for me.”
Since this year is Brannemark’s first holiday season in the United States, he will have to create new holiday traditions.
“I’ve been asked to dress up with some friends for Halloween. For Thanksgiving [my family] might try to make some of the [traditional] food, but I’ve never tried turkey before,” he says.
Although within the United States, individuals still celebrate different cultural holidays. Many people have a perception on holiday traditions, but in reality, there is no rigid list of rules on how to celebrate a holiday.
