As December rolls in and the spirit of Christmas fills the hallways, some students at SHS find themselves feeling out of place.
Instead of decorating trees or hanging stockings, some students light menorahs. They celebrate traditions that have been rooted in cultural holidays that don’t always get mentioned, such as Hanukkah.
Hanukkah, referred to as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday that honors family and perseverance. It celebrates the miracle of a small amount of oil lasting eight nights.
In a school as diverse as SHS, it is guaranteed that not everyone celebrates the same holidays. Some students hope to shed more light on traditions that go overlooked.
“It is a little disheartening sometimes when people are asking, ‘What are your Christmas traditions?’ or ‘What are you getting for Christmas?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t celebrate that,’” junior Rose Dyke said. It’s small things like these that make students feel overlooked or as if their traditional values don’t matter.
For students like Dyke, December looks quite different.
Growing up, she celebrated Christmas. That changed after reconnecting with her mother. As she and her family celebrated Hanukkah for the first time, Dyke began to learn the purpose of the holiday.
“My great-great grandmother was in the Holocaust and she did die in Auschwitz. It’s a way to honor her by participating in these Jewish celebrations,” Dyke said. “In a way, it’s saying that she didn’t die for nothing, because she was killed for being Jewish.”
Together, they eat cultural foods like Latkes, Sufganiyahs and Kugels. These foods are made using recipes passed down, which helps connect them to their roots and traditions.
“I love celebrating holidays like Hanukkah that have been around for thousands and thousands of years and just knowing that 20 years ago my great grandparents would have been doing this in some fashion,” EL teacher Ariana Murray said. By keeping traditions like these alive, by including holidays like Hanukkah, SHS helps ensure that history is not being erased and that students who celebrate feel seen.
