OSHOGATSU

Imagine getting to spend a week eating your favorite foods with your friends and family. From Dec. 30 to Jan. 3, those who celebrate Oshogatsu celebrate by throwing parties and eating traditional Japanese food. Time to wolf down buckets of fish cakes! Some other popular dishes include, mochi, black soybeans and anchovies. Each of these foods symbolizes something they hope to gain in the New Year. On Dec. 31, Japanese temples everywhere ring bells 108 times to symbolize the 108 human sins of the Buddhist religion. They believe that this will cleanse them of these sins from the past year as they prepare for the upcoming one.According to junior Jeremy Akioka, “New Year’s is a time to spend with family and start the year on a good note. New Year’s traditions are supposed to bring good luck and fortune to an individual for the coming year. For example, ozoni is a mochi soup that is supposed to bring prosperity and strength to the eater. It was a staple of the Japanese and is said to be the first dish that Japanese people ate. Kuromame are black soy beans that are said to bring good health. Tazukuri are dried anchovies that bring a plentiful harvest for the coming year. And lastly, we eat kamaboko which is a fish cake that symbolizes the first sunrise of the New Year. My favorite part of the New Year is seeing all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles and spending time with them while eating the delicious foods.”

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE DAY

Dec. 12 is Our Lady of Guadalupe Day, a Mexican holiday that celebrates Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe. Around this time every year, many Catholics journey to see treasured artifacts in Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. Talk about dedication! According to the story, in 1531, Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and she told him to talk to a bishop and build a church on top of Tepeyac Hill. When Juan Diego told the bishop what he saw, the bishop demanded he needed proof. And boy, did he get it! Juan Diego returned expecting to see the cacti that normally grew there, but in their place, a bed of roses had grown and a image of the Virgin of Guadalupe had appeared on the cloak he had left there. From then on, every 12th of December, Catholics have traveled to honor the Lady by going to see the cloak that is now preserved in Mexico City.

KWANZAA

How awesome would it be if we got to say goodbye to our busy lives for a WHOLE WEEK!? The lucky people who celebrate Kwanzaa from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 get to say goodbye to the monotony and stresses of everyday life for seven days while they celebrate the seven principles of African American heritage. The principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. The actual celebration includes art, decorations, music and, of course, food. Kwanzaa is a time to work on personal relationships, perhaps with the in-laws or your grandma, who thinks her shade of lipstick would look fab on your cheek. Those who celebrate Kwanzaa show respect for the creator, honor ancestors, and celebrate family (who we love unconditionally, right … even after days and days with them). During Kwanzaa, children receive gifts intended to help them learn about their heritage, such as books and art.
ST. LUCIA DAY

We all love when people bring us food — but have you ever heard of an entire holiday celebrating an awesome girl who did just that? Saint Lucia Day is a Christian holiday celebrated primarily in Sweden around Christmas. The holiday honors a young Christian girl who was killed tragically for her faith. She brought food to the persecuted Christians in Rome and wore candles around her head so her hands were free to carry food. The holiday is a ceremony of lights that is celebrated by wearing white clothing (time to break out that old wedding dress?). Along with the dress, they wear red sashes around the waist (wow throwback to those girl scout days!) and a ring of candles around one’s head. Let’s hope we don’t accidently light our brothers on fire! According to junior Ida Sunneras-Johnson, “There are two common traditions that most people in Sweden do. One of them is that we bake a special kind of bun made with saffron, kind of shaped like an eight. There’s also an event schools usually put up every year where students walk with candles in a train dressed up as either Saint Lucia or any other Christmas associated character, singing carols while family and friends watch.”