Holiday Traditions Spread Culture
Caitlin Griffin, Staff Writer
Early this month, local col
lege students, staff, and faculty will be
headed home to celebrate the winter
holidays. Since the diverse Meredith
community recognizes various seasonal
occasions. The Herald sought to inter
view one student, Spenser Taub, and
one professor, Dr. Alisa Johnson, about
their personal holiday traditions and
festivities.
Hanukkah
Spenser Taub is a senior Jewish
student who celebrates Hanukkah every
year with her family. When asked to
elaborate on the histoiy of Hanukkah,
she explained, “When the Maccabees
succeeded against the evil King and
restored the temple, they discovered
that they had enough oil to light the
temple for only one day and one night.
In a grand miracle, however, the oil
lasted a whopping eight days and eight
nights. So we celebrate that miracle
symbolically by lighting a candle with
the shamish (the center and highest
candle on the menorah) each night for
eight nights and by waiting for all of the
candles to bum down.”
Spenser claimed that she and
her father are the primary ones re
sponsible for leading the Hanukkah
traditions in her family. “We perform
the ceremony of lighting the candles
and saying a prayer together, and each
night we read a different story about
Hanukkah,” she said. Generally when
the father is absent from the home over
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the holidays, the responsibility of
upholding the familiar Hanuk
kah prayers and festivities is left
to the eldest child instead of the
spouse. When the Herald in
quired about informal Hanukkah
practices in Spenser’s own fam
ily, she stated “We traditionally
choose one of the eight nights
as our ‘party night’ to which we
invite all of our friends. Then we
have a huge meal of oily foods ^
that we’ll spend the entire year g
trying to work off! ” a
This year, Hanukkah will^S
occur December 1-9. g
o
o
Winter Solstice ^
V
One other winter holiday’S
that some Meredith students , ^
may find unfamiliar is the Winter-1
Solstice, which Dr. Alisa John- ^
son has celebrated along with --d
Kwanzaa and Christmas for the
past decade. “I love to celebrate 'S
holidays, and I am always look- ii
ing for new' ones to incorporate,” %
Dr. Johnson claimed upon being «
solicited for an interview about o
her winter traditions by the |
Herald. On the morning of the -35
eve of the Winter Solstice, she
decorates her house with white m
candles and sprigs of holly and ^
evergreens in preparation for her .S
annual Solstice party. In addi
tion, she spends the day making
Layout Staff
Holly Meyer
Spenser Taub
.laneth Benitez
Literature Advisor
Suzanne Britt
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wassail and a Yule log cake and ordering
spicy Thai food. Dr. Johnson explained,
“Because winter arrives on the shortest
day and the longest night, we keep our
focus on the sun, which is why we eat
hot food. At dusk we light the candles
and our guests arrive. Once we have
all gathered, we have a brief ceremony
during which we take turns reading
about the importance of the sun to
humankind and the gifts of the seasons.
We read poetry and share stories, and
then we drink a toast with the wassail.
After our toast we have a brief period of
quiet meditation, and then we plant our
light garden.” According to Dr. John
son, the light garden is a large pan filled
with white sand into which small white
candles are placed in rows. During the
meditation period, it is customary to
reflect on the year that is passing and
the year that is to come. She elabo
rates, “We each write down five things
we wish to see grow in our lives in the
coming year on small strips of paper
and ball them up into tiny seeds. We
plant the seeds in the sand beneath the
candles, and when every seed is planted,
we light all of the candles and watch
them burn down. At midnight, we blow
out all of the candles except the one that
will bum until dawn.”
When The Herald inquired
about the significance of the light
garden seeds. Dr. Johnson replied, “I
harvest the seeds from the sand the next
morning. I hold on to them until around
Febmary, when I take them out and
plant them in my garden. Each spring
as things begin to bloom around me,
I reflect on the fact that my garden is
filled with the hopes and dreams of the
people I love.”
The 2010 Winter Solstice will
occur on December 21.
Care to share your local traditions in
a future Herald article? Email us at
herald@email.meredith.edu