Holiday traditions and foods from different cultures
In every household, each family, culture and person has a different way of celebrating, whether it’s celebrating different holidays or eating various foods. All around the world there are many ways to celebrate holidays and many different traditions.
In England, there are many traditions and food staples during Christmas time, as the majority of the population celebrates that holiday. One of their more known traditions are “Christmas crackers.” Christmas crackers are cylinder shaped presents that are pulled to reveal small gifts, paper crowns, sweets, riddles, small toys, etc. A staple holiday food that is normally shared between English people is an English Trifle. An English Trifle is made of sponge cake soaked in white wine, with fresh jam, custard and whipped cream all layered on one another.
Harley Nix ’24 said, “When it’s just me and my mom, we usually just open gifts and watch the ‘Holiday Baking Championship,’ but I also go spend time with family for a day.”
In Mexico, people have many different traditions and types of food that are shared during the holidays. The food normally includes tamales, pozole and champurrado, a Mexican hot chocolate. Tamales are made in many different ways but the traditional way is with masa, meat, cheese, salsa and then wrapped in either corn husks or banana leaves. Many Hispanic cultures will celebrate Christmas on Dec. 24 rather than the Dec. 25, as they have big parties and celebrations on the Dec. 24, and then at midnight, they start opening presents to celebrate the day before and the day of Jesus’ birth.
Charlie Ruff ‘24 said, “I am Hispanic, and a few traditions my family has is spending Christmas at my [aunt’s] house with my dad and with my mom. We either celebrate [Christmas] at my uncle’s [home] or grandparents. I eat cookies, sweets and Mexican food as well.”
In Russia many people celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7. The reason Christmas is celebrated on Jan. 7 is because it follows the Julian calendar which corresponds to Dec. 25 on the Gregorian calendar. As for food, Russians eat a dish called Peljmeni, a dumpling that originated in Ural, Russia or Siberia. Peljmeni is typically made with flour, water, and sometimes eggs with a filling of minced meat and herbs made of pork, lamb, beef, fish or any other kind of meat.
Many people that are Jewish celebrate Hanukkah. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days. This year it’s from Dec.7-15. Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C., after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated the temple from occupying foreign forces. One Hanukkah tradition involves the menorah, a stand that holds nine candles. The menorah represents a miracle where one day’s worth of oil lasted for eight days. The shamash, the ninth candle, is used to light the rest. Latkes are a food eaten on Hanukkah. Latkes are fried potato pancakes with cheese, sour cream, onion, zucchini and carrots as toppings.
