All over the world, people celebrate holidays in the month of December. Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, Kwanzaa, and Lunar New Year are the most common holidays celebrated during this season. 

Leesville has a very diverse student population, which means people celebrate many different holidays.

Haley Baker, senior, celebrates Christmas and a lesser-known Hindu holiday: Diwali. Diwali is also known as the festival of lights, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness. 

Diwali lasts five days, each day having its own purpose.

The first day Dhanteras is the day were you clean and decorate for Diwali. You wash away darkness and evil and fill your home with nice gold and silver things to signify the invitation of wealth and prosperity. 

The second day is Naraka Chaturdashi. This day is focused on the elimination of inner darkness and ignorance. Homes are decorated with lamps in preparation for the festival the next day

The third day is the most important, Diwali. This is the festival of light, candles are lit, and fireworks are set off to welcome Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. 

The fourth day is Govardhan Puja. This day is reserved for celebrating nature and thanking it for the nourishment and protection it provides. This day is a reminder to live with nature, not against it.

The fifth and final day is called Bhai Dooj. This day is about the bonds between siblings. On this day, gifts are exchanged between siblings and the deep connection between siblings is celebrated. 

Baker said, “Diwali is coming out of the darkness and forming a new beginning.”

Baker’s favorite part of the holidays is spending time with her family, whom she doesn’t get to see all the time, and getting a break from school and everything stressful. 

June Noyes, sophomore, celebrates Christmas and Hanukkah. 

Hanukkah is celebrated over eight days, but unlike Diwali, each day doesn’t have its own celebration. Hanukkah is the celebration of the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. 

In the second century BCE, the Greeks tried to overtake Israel and force them to assimilate into Greek culture. The Jews won, but during the battle, most of the oil to light the menorah was destroyed. They only had one day’s supply left, but that supply miraculously lasted eight days, hence the holiday being eight days long.

Gifts are given each night of Hanukkah. Smaller gifts are typically given on the earlier nights, and larger gifts are given towards the end. 

“My favorite part of the holidays is going to Florida and seeing my extended family,” said Noyes.

Christmas is the most commonly celebrated winter holiday in the United States. Most of Leesville’s population celebrates Christmas, even along with other holidays that their family celebrates. 

In the modern world, mass consumerism has turned Christmas into a holiday of trying to get the best gift and having the perfect party.

Matthew Addonizio, senior, celebrates Christmas. “My favourite part about the holidays is family time and spending it with people that I love. We come together as a family and play games,” said Addonizio.

Christmas is a Christian holiday that takes place on December 25th every year. It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. 

Churches finally recognised the birth of Christ as a holiday in the 4th century, but Americans didn’t celebrate until the 19th century. Of course, America wasn’t a country until the 15th century, but that is still 400 years without celebrating the now most famous national holiday. 

In the early 1800’s there were always riots in the Christmas season. Washington Irving wrote a book called The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, a fictional tale about a happy European Christmas where different social classes joined together and had a good time.

Charles Dickens then wrote the very famous A Christmas Carol, with a theme of goodwill and charity during the Christmas season. 

These two stories made people want to have the perfect family holiday. People could gift their children nice things without appearing to spoil them, and many different traditions came together to make today’s common view of Christmas.

Perhaps the largest symbol of Christmas is Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas was a real person in 280 A.D. Saint Nick travelled the world giving away his wealth to the poor, sick, and children.

In the 1800’s the Dutch in New York would tell the tale of “Sinter Klaas” (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). Sinter Klass then turned into Santa Claus. 

The legend that we know today came from Clement Clarke Moore’s poem: The Night Before Christmas where Santa–a fat, jolly man–would come to houses with flying reindeer to deliver gifts. 

No matter the holiday celebrated here at Leesville, it is important to be with loved ones and remember where the holiday that you love so much came from.