Celebrations and Traditions make the Season

Tis’ The Holiday Season

Christmas Traditions & Customs

byTommy Blood

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The snow is falling, finals will be coming to an end and the best part is we get to spend time with our loved ones for the holiday season. But the question is, what does that mean to some? Well, for starters, every family or group of loved ones celebrates and has different traditions. You may have a certain meal that is eaten especially in this time of year or have certain activities--it’s different for everyone. In my family, when it comes to the holiday season, you can count on two things being with us no matter where we are: great food and yes, the ornament exchange. Now, the ornament exchange has been in my family for as long as I can

remember and has grown every year with originally being 8 ornaments to now 22. Here’s how it goes: you get 3 chances at one ornament and then the ornament is on lock. You have the choice to open an ornament in the wrapped boxes or choose an ornament that has already been opened. What we do to start the game is everyone draws a number from the hat and we go in order from 1-22. The first person opens the first box and brings out the ornament and it’s usually really pretty. The goal with the exchange is to get your favorite looking ornament in the end. This is a tradition that brings a lot of happiness to the family and it’s an event that everybody looks forward to every year.

Not So Secret Santa

Family Tradition Doesn’t Go As Planned

by Megan Duffy

The holiday season is upon us and that means gift buying and spending time with family. Every year my family does a Secret Santa. For as long as I can remember, on Thanksgiving day we would write down 2-3 gifts that we wanted and put them in a bowl. Children would have their own drawing and adults would have a separate one. For kids, the price limit is about thirty dollars and for adults, it’s about fifty dollars. Of course, traditions change as time goes on, and this is true. This year’s Secret Santa drawing didn’t go the way it normally does. This year it was decided to take away the kids drawing and put everyone

into one big drawing. After all the names had been picked it is realized that one person doesn’t have a name to buy for. Many people sit down and try to figure out what went wrong. With nine family members that live out of state it can become difficult to keep track of drawing for those people. People then had to go around and figure out who everyone had drawn from the bowl to figure out how the drawing got so messed up.In the end it was pretty much spoiled, and everyone knew who everyone had. It was only a matter of time for this to happen so this years “Secret Santa” wasn’t very secret after all.

Let’s Celebrate!

Holidays and Traditions in Japan

by Sarai Jorgenson

Everyone around the world celebrates holidays differently and have different holidays along with traditions. Japan does not have Thanksgiving like the United States, but students from Japan who can’t go home kind of celebrate it here on campus. They celebrate Christmas and New Year’s, but the traditions are a bit different than ours. On the second Monday in January (in 2019 it will be the 14th), there comes the Coming of Age Day where individuals have a ceremony to celebrate the passage into adulthood at the age of twenty. I was able to interview two students from Japan, Keito Sugasaki and Kota Hiraaki, about these holidays and traditions. For Thanksgiving, Hiraaki stays on campus and cooks food for himself, but he’s also able to leave and drive around so he’s not cooped up the whole week. Sugasaki went to her first Thanksgiving dinner last November and was able to feast on turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Christmas in Japan is different than that of the U.S. by not really celebrating it with family, but with significant others. Christmas is a couples holiday there, but people can still be with their families if they’re not in a relationship. Both of Hiraaki’s and Sugasaki’s families eat KFC for Christmas dinner―which is a Japanese tradition―and they both have cake for dessert. Sugasaki has a family tradition of going to the shopping mall and looking at all the Christmas lights. New Year’s Eve and Day in Japan is the same as in the U.S., like being with family, except it’s over the span of three days. Sugasaki also explained the concept of ‘lucky money’ where “you get money from parents and relatives.” But since

she’s the oldest cousin and sibling in her family, she will have to start paying the younger cousins and her sister once she graduates and starts working. When Keito Sugasaki returns home to Japan, she will celebrate her coming of age ceremony in her city of Fukuoka, Japan. As explained by Kota Hiraaki, “it’s a big event held by the local governor. It’s a one or two hour party and you also meet with friends and teachers from junior high and high school.” Sugasaki explained that “the governor will give a speech, and at the reunion, some classmate or someone will also give a speech.” For Sugasaki’s coming of age ceremony, she will wear a kimono which is a traditional robe usually worn for formal occasions. Unfortunately, she will not be able to attend the reception after the ceremony because she will have to get on a plane back to the U.S. early morning the next day. However, Hiraaki has already has his coming of age celebration, and he explained, “after the ceremony, we’ll move to a hotel, restaurant, bar [twenty is the legal drinking age in Japan], anywhere else. There’s Japanese food or Chinese food.” There’s no specific foods at these parties. Before the ceremony involving everyone in the city, the family celebrates the birthday first, and Sugasaki hopes her mother will make her favorite food which is Ramen noodles―the authentic kind. Her family will also go to a Hot Pot restaurant where food like meat and vegetables are cooked in a pot for everyone to share. It’s so neat learning about what students from Japan experience during the holidays here in the U.S., like Thanksgiving, and also how and what they celebrate back home.