My Voice

Happy Holidays

Find the True Spirit

My Voice by Preethi Sriram

The holiday season is here, and it is almost time for a New Year, so now feels the perfect time to reflect on the different holidays through the year. One of my favorite “traditional” holidays has been Halloween. I think the aspect that I have always liked about the holiday is that one can be something wildly different from oneself. It is very creative and does not even need to be complicated. A cone hat and a broom transform the wearer to a witch that can fly around for candy. A colorful wig now transforms the individual to a clown. A stethoscope from a play kit, and one is magically a nurse, the heroine Florence Nightingale. Black lines under the eyes could transform one to a football player.

Dance, costume, and makeup can transform the mundane into a grand show. The possibilities are endless. Orange pumpkins light up with eerie smiles, cackly recorded laughs, light shows of ghosts flying around a house abound the neighborhood. Something about the anticipation of a crisp autumn night, seeing all sorts of characters and spirts, souls and ghouls on the street sparks the imagination.

And who can forget the candy! That will last at least until the winter.

Another holiday that I have always felt a pull towards, even if I have not been personally brought up in it, is Dia de Los Muertos, a Mexican holiday. While I have not specifically celebrated Dia de Los Muertos, I have also enjoyed the concept of it, and learning about it as it seems to be celebrated close to the Halloween season. In general, I have always enjoyed the concept of celebrating our ancestors and have as a child always felt some sort of connection to Shiva. I think this is because Shiva never seemed scared but welcomed all sorts of spirits. Shiva is “a natural” and helps us to understand the cycle of life and is known for having a presence in cemeteries and helping in transcendence, and thus maybe I have also appreciated Dia de Los Muertos and having the ancestors around us and feeling they are close to us, be it through what they have left for us, beautiful architecture, sculptures, poetry, music, and dance.

From fall to winter, another holiday I have always enjoyed is Christmas. Growing up in the north, Christmas has always evoked for me sledding down snowy hills and playing in the snow.

Of course, time off from school always gave something to look forward to which almost every kid can appreciate. Christmas also is the holiday for giving to those who are

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