Story by Emme Bowe

Five students share cultural traditions for their favorite holidays.

As students return to campus for spring semester, some are reluctant to let go of the relaxation, comfort and excitement that comes with the holiday season. Traditions surrounding food, family and activities are often celebrated during the holidays, but can also be celebrated year round. Regardless of the differences in when, where or what one celebrates, there is usually a universal feeling of joy that comes when engaging in favorite holiday traditions. With these celebrations in the past and the next break seemingly so far away, Backdrop asked five students to look back on their favorite holiday traditions to remind them of all the good to come in the new year.

Kwanzaa

According to History.com, in 1966, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, sought ways to unite the African American community. After extensive research, Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa. The week-long holiday is modeled after African harvest celebrations and honors African values through the kinara lighting ritual. Each night, one of the seven principles is discussed, and its corresponding candle is lit.

Nailah Johnson, a sophomore studying psychology at Spelman College, appreciates the pertinence of the seven principles.

“These things make us a group and show the values that are important to us,” Johnson says. “It’s nice to see these principles are not arbitrary and that they actually show up in real life.”

On the last day of Kwanzaa, Johnson’s family celebrates with gifts that align with the seven principles. The gifts are usually either creative, which relates to the principle “Kuumba,” or educational, which culminates aspects of the other six values.

The African Student Association Undergraduate Chapter (ASAUC) and the African Students’ Union at OU provide resources for African and non-African American students looking to learn more about African and African American culture. Email asaucohio@gmail.com or asu.ohio@gmail.com to connect.

Navratri

While this Hindu dance festival translates to “nine nights” as it is celebrated from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5, the nature of Navratri means so much more. The colorful celebration honors the divine feminine through hours of folk dance on a ground decorated in lights, according to Nivedita Chawda, a freshman studying studio art at Ohio University.

Navratri is the biggest cultural festival in Chawda’s state of Gujarat, India, because of the story behind it.

“This festival celebrates the feminine power and mythologies describe the valor of women who conquered demons that supposedly brave men couldn’t,” Chawda says. “In a patriarchal society, I absolutely love how this festival recognizes female empowerment and the right of every woman to be angry, rebel, pursue education and their goals.”

Latinx Christmas

The Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus is widely celebrated across the world, but in the United States, Christmas traditions are often portrayed in a way that does not highlight its intersectionality with other cultural practices. For Maribel Antunez-Uriostegui, president of OU’s Latino Student Union, Christmas is a time to gather with family and celebrate through Mexican customs.

Antunez-Uriostegui’s Christmas traditions start on Christmas Eve, when the entire family comes together to make tamales, which can take up to six hours. Once the tamales are ready to be eaten, the true holiday fun begins.

“We usually have a bonfire with smores; one year we even had a piñata,” she explains.

The family stays up until midnight waiting to open the Christmas presents, and Antunez-Uriostegui eagerly waits to see their reactions to the thoughtful gifts she gives. The excitement doesn’t end after the gifts are opened, though, as the traditions continue into the next morning.

“Everyone spends the night wherever dinner is hosted and the next morning we have ‘el recalentado,’ which is essentially the reheating of all the food,” Antunez-Uriostegui says.

For more information on the Latino Student Union, check out their Instagram @lsuohiou or email latinostudentunionou@gmail.com.

Passover

Based on a Biblical story found in the book of Exodus, Passover is celebration of the Jewish people escaping slavery in Egypt after God sent a wave of ten plagues upon Egypt to coerce the Pharoah into granting their freedom, as explained by the Index of Medieval Art website. The first night of Passover occurred after the tenth plague — which called for the death of every first born and caused the pharaoh to finally surrender. The holiday is traditionally a Jewish holiday, but some Christians also celebrate this time of rebirth and new beginnings.

With a Christian mother and Jewish father, Rowan Behrens, a sophomore studying musical theater at OU , experiences a medley of traditions during Passover. The two religions bring their own unique forms of celebration to the holiday but are happy to come together to rejoice their common ground.

“This holiday celebrates something both faiths are thankful for,” Behrens says. “My dad sometimes hosts a Seder at mom’s church to educate the congregation and celebrate Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt.”

Seder is the ritual that takes place during Passover and involves food, song and storytelling. The Seder plate includes foods that represent different elements of the story. Behrens finds the food to be the best part of the holiday, specifically the Charoset, which she explains as “an apple paste, symbolizing the mortar they used to lay brick for the pharaoh. It tastes very sweet and is good with matzah, which is unleavened bread.”

To learn more about Jewish resources on campus, check out Chabad at OU or Hillel at Ohio University. Email info@jewishbobcats.com or info@hillel.org to learn more.

Korean New Year

How can a baby be born and turn two years old the next day? Birthdays and aging are two separate entities in South Korean culture due to a tradition in which everyone ages one year on New Year’s Day, according to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Norway website. A child is considered one year old as soon as he or she is born, and every other child born in that same year ages concurrently in correspondence with the New Year. While birthdays are still celebrated, the New Year’s traditions are markedly significant due to the importance of age for titles of respect and hierarchy in Korean culture.

Similar to the tradition of presents for one’s birthday, Korean New Year comes with presents and a celebration of becoming older and wiser.

“We’d get little money pouches from our grandparents with cash matching the age we were becoming. It was always so special to me,” Rosaline Jun, a postgrad medical student in Portland, Oregon, says. Aging is an honor, and those aging on the New Year admire themselves by dressing in Korean clothing meant for special occasions.

“I loved to get dressed up in the traditional costume called ‘Hanbok,’ which is an intricately detailed, brightly colored dress,” Jun says. “… It’s made up of several layers, so I always felt like a princess putting on the underskirt and numerous layers that went on top of it!”

The Asian American/Pacific Islander Student Union serves as a resource for Asian American students at OU. Email ouaapisu@gmail.com to connect.