Last year it was discovered that over 72% celebrated New Years and 90% with Christmas, 2% celebrating Hanukkah, Yale, Shabe Yalda and Chinese New Year. Diwali with 8% and Omisoka with 4%. Lets see how those percentages match up with the ones of Fall Holidays and who here in Tahoma Celebrates different holidays.
This time up to 25 people answered questions about their Fall Holidays, the top 3 lands with Thanksgiving having 84%, Halloween with 72% and Veterans Day with 48%. The fourth place is taken by Labor Day with 20%. Fifth place tied in 3 different holidays Oktoberfest, Mid-autumn festival and Diwali with 10-12%, and sixth place is tied with 4 different holidays Columbus Day, Dia De Muertos, All Saints Day, and Guy Fawkes Night with 4%.
Natalie Keene selected that she celebrates Thanksgiving and Oktoberfest. We all know what thanksgiving is but what is the meaning in her own words? “Thanksgiving is a meal I share with family, where we appreciate the things we often take for granted, like family or opportunities.” But now that we know what thanksgiving is in her own words, what is her definition of Oktoberfest? “Oktoberfest is a party we have with our friends, we make German food and have a potluck, and play German games along with some fun ones. In my family we play hammerschlagen, pumpkin pong, bingo, and stein hold.” It’s always a good thing to know how others describe the holidays that they grew up with, and it’s always interesting to see things from other people’s perspectives as well.
Emmanuel James Muyuela selected that he celebrates thanksgiving and nothing else, he also stated what his favorite family tradition is to do with his family. “Typically the thing every Thanksgiving has in common with each other is that we have Thanksgiving dinners with my family, including extensions beyond my nuclear family.” It’s always important to celebrate holidays with friends and family as well, family traditions are like remembering old memories but everyone is just a little bit different each year and a little bit older as well.
Ahana Aneja is one of the few people that selected Diwali as the Fall holiday that her family celebrates, and i think its interesting to know her meaning of the holiday “Diwali which is known as the festival of Lights, its when I get to use my creative skills and make rangolis (designs created with sand), decorate the house with flowers and lights and do fireworks at night. It’s a 5 day long celebration I wait every year for!!” Along with what her favorite thing to do during this holiday is. “I make these Indian sweets from scratch every year which are called Motichoor Ladoo. You crush fried chickpeas and soak them in melted sugar and some other ingredients. After they combine you roll them into small balls around a cake pop size and wait for them to chill, then enjoy!” It’s a different experience when you are reading about other cultures and what they do during the holidays than when you experience it first hand. Which is what makes these traditions so important to others, building memories and starting new ones are a big part of the human mindsets and who we have created ourselves to be as a species. Gurbani (Mahi) Rehal was also one of the only people that chose Diwali as the holiday that she celebrates with her family, what are her meanings of this holiday “Diwali is bomb.com I’m Punjabi so we celebrate differently than the traditional Indians. Dia de muertos I don’t celebrate but it’s always so cool to see the celebrations.” These two people just demonstrated how every person sees the same holiday as a different event in different households. This shows that even though we all celebrate the same holidays we may all celebrate differently or with different people, no two families have the same way of celebrating.
There was one person who selected four different holidays but two of them stood out to me the most, he selected Veterans Day and Autumn Equinox. “My dad served in the army for 4 years, so we celebrate veterans day to celebrate the work he and many others put in and sacrifices made. My stepmother is pagan, so while she’s the one mostly celebrating the autumn equinox, I try to partake in as much as I can, because I find it to be interesting and I know it’s important to her.” While they would like to stay anonymous, this is another example of two people that don’t celebrate the same holidays but that doesn’t stop them from seeing things in a different perspective, and trying to connect with others in your life.
