Across the United States, the colder months of November and December are largely recognized as the holiday season. Airplane ticket prices spike as families rush to be together for the holidays, streets are filled with decorations and lights and kitchens across the country are filled with the smells of holiday treats as people prepare for their own celebrations. Christmas is credited as the one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States, but as a country made up of thousands of cultures, the season is a time for the celebration of other holidays as well.
Diwali
November 10 through November 14, 2023
Diwali is a five-day “festival of lights” that serves as the most widely celebrated holiday across India, observed within the Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist religions.
Senthil Gunasekaran, the current president of the Hindu Society of Brazos Valley, or HSBV, says that the Diwali celebration at the Shri Omkarnath Temple is the largest celebration of the year, with over 1,100 attendees last year. Every year for the past six years, the HSBV welcomes hundreds of Texas A&M University Hindu students who are not able to celebrate with their families to gather with the community at the temple for a day of worship and celebration.
Senthil explains that Diwali, as a multi-religious holiday, has various different stories of origin, but each one focuses on the overarching theme of good over evil.
In the Hindu religion, Diwali commemorates the great epic of Ramayana. In this story, the Hindu god known as the sustainer of the universe, Lord Vishnu, is incarnated on earth as King Rama, Senthil says. As a prince, Rama is sent into exile by his mother with his wife, Sita, the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. While in exile, Sita is kidnapped by a king, prompting Rama to fight for her return. Upon his victory, Prince Rama and his wife Sita are welcomed back into their original kingdom where they are greeted by rejoicing citizens who have decorated the city with thousands of clay lamps in celebration of their safe arrival.
Many other religions such as Sikh, Jain and Buddhism, celebrate Diwali according to their religious faith. Though the story of origin differs among each religion, the theme of holiday remains the same.
“India is a very diverse country,” Senthil says. “There are a lot of regions, there are a lot of legends and there are a lot of customs and rituals, but across them all, Diwali symbolizes the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, spiritual light over darkness.”
In Hinduism, Senthil says that each day of the five-day celebration of Diwali serves a different purpose. The first being a day of preparation.
“The idea here is you prepare your home, you clean your home and invoke auspiciousness, meaning you're inviting the Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi, who is the goddess of wealth, into your home,” Senthil says. “Cleanliness becomes a big thing, but this is also a day of generosity and charitable giving, where you are celebrating your abundance by sharing with others.”
Day two is known as “Small Diwali,” Senthil says. “This is where you are decorating the homes with clay lamps and rangoli, which are basically beautiful paintings that you do at home,” he says. “This day is more about preparing yourself to be ready to celebrate Diwali — you are purifying yourself by engaging in activities and cleansing the home of darkness by preparing the lamps.”
The third day is the big celebration — the actual day of Diwali. This day is celebrated by gathering with friends and family, praying at the temple, eating lots of sweets and even enjoying firecrackers.
The fourth day focuses on “celebrating your abundance with others,” Senthil says. Traditionally, a small mountain of sweets is prepared and shared as a symbol of gratitude. The fifth and final day of the celebration is a day to honor the family. Here, brotherhood and sisterhood is embraced and appreciated.
“There is a saying in Hinduism that is very close to our heart called ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,’ which means ‘the world is one family,’” Senthil says. “This is the spirit of the last day, so it doesn't mean you just celebrate with your small family, but it includes nature and others outside of your family. The brotherhood and sisterhood expands to the whole planet earth which is the oldest family.”
At the Shri Omkarnath Temple, the annual Brazos Valley Diwali event will kick off on Sunday, Nov. 12 with prayers and rituals before transitioning into a night full of food, firecrackers and other festivities.
“We invite people that support our community — whether it's people at the sheriff's office, firefighters or others — we welcome them and we make sure we recognize their contributions as part of the celebration,” Senthil says. “That is our way of inviting the community to be part of the celebration and saying thanks to the community who supports us.”
Hanukkah
December 7 through December 15, 2023
The word Hanukkah means ‘dedication’ in Hebrew, a fitting name for the Jewish holiday dating back to 164 BCE, which celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple after freeing the people of Jerusalem from the oppressive rule of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. In order to reclaim their holy temple after battle, the Jews needed to light the temple menorah with pure olive oil, but amidst the rubble, could only find enough to last one day. Miraculously, the oil remained burning for eight days, allowing enough time for the purification process to complete. This miracle of the oil is remembered among the Jews as Hanukkah, the eight-day Festival of Lights.
Claire Katz, Ph.D., a professor of philosophy and education and the department head for the Texas A&M Department of Teaching, Learning & Culture says while the holiday is a fun celebration with friends and family, it has shifted to hold more cultural significance than religious significance, providing Jews with an opportunity to rededicate themselves to Judaism and Jewish identity.
“Because of its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah is a more recognized Jewish holiday,” Katz says. “The menorah is a symbol that people recognize, so it carries cultural significance for that reason — because it's recognized outside of Judaism.”
The holiday itself is typically celebrated within the home by lighting the menorah each of the eight days and reciting the blessings that go along with the ceremonial lighting. Outside of the religious customs, Katz says Hanukkah traditions vary from family to family, most choosing to keep their celebrations small and personal, with one popular commonality: cooking with oil.
“There's always some kind of food that is symbolic of whatever the holiday is, so for Hanukkah, the oil becomes symbolic,” Katz says. “Depending on where you live geographically as a Jew, that's going to have an influence on the kind of food that you eat, but the oil will remain the same. If you're from Eastern Europe, you're likely to eat something called potato latkes or potato pancakes that are fried in oil. If you are in Israel, you eat something called a Sufganiyot which is like a doughnut.”
Other common Hanukkah traditions include playing dreidel, the four-sided spin top gambling game enjoyed by children and adults alike, exchanging small gifts or joining with friends and family.
“It's a fun holiday, so we would often have a party of some kind, have people over and make Latke tacos,” Katz says. “It’s always an occasion to do something fun, but it doesn’t carry the same religious significance that Christmas does for people who follow Christianity.”
The Hillel at Texas A&M is a Jewish student organization that serves as a “home away from home” for Jewish Aggies. Executive Director of the Hillel, Risa Bierman, says it's a place for students to attend Shabbat services, learn about their faith and join together in a community with other Jewish students. At the end of the semester, the Hillel will host a Hanukkah celebration for students who may be celebrating away from their families.
“For the Dec 8 Shabbat, which is our last Shabbat of this semester, we'll have a Hanukkah themed Shabbat, where we'll serve latkes, we’ll play Dreidel — which is always fun for our students — and we'll have a big party and a celebration, and obviously will light the menorah,” Risa says. “We’ll also provide a menorah for any student who doesn't have one. We have plenty to give out to our students so that nobody should be without and everyone can light the menorah.”
Kwanzaa
December 26, 2023 through January 1, 2024
Kwanzaa stands out from other holidays of the season by being the only national holiday with no religious ties. The seven-day celebration was established in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a professor at California State University who recognized a need for solidarity in the African American community after the devastating Watts riots in Los Angeles. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to a one of the seven principles — called the Nguzo Saba — which are Swahili words that Karenga selected to represent the values of the African culture including Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).
Gwendolyn Webb, Ph.D., associate professor at Texas A&M University and the Associate Director of Educational Research Center, says Kwanzaa is a way to unite the African American community and pay tribute to their cultural history.
“Kwanzaa celebrates seven principles that talk about unity, working together and responsibility because Karenga wanted African American people to understand that if our communities were going to change, we have to be a part of that change,” Webb says. “A lot of people think that Kwanzaa is a religious holiday, and it is not. It truly is a cultural holiday, because he didn't want religion to be a barrier to people celebrating the history of who they were as a culture; he wanted individuals to celebrate the community, and then work to build up the community every year.”
Every Kwanzaa celebration may look a little different, Webb says, but the core traditions of the holiday that remain consistent are lighting the Kinara — the seven-branched candle holder — and reflecting on the principle of that day.
“The children usually light the candles and then everyone takes on the responsibility of saying what they're grateful for, as it relates to the harvest of their lives for this past year and what they’re going to do in the next year to help their community,” Webb says. “People do it differently, but celebrating each principle — whether you do it each of the seven days, or you have people come over for one big celebration — it’s important that they be a part of the candle lighting ceremony.”
Other holiday traditions of Kwanzaa remain centered around the theme of celebrating African culture. Families may prepare traditional African meals, dress in traditional clothing, decorate their home in the Kwanzaa colors red, green and black, or exchange small handmade gifts.
“It's been very important not to commercialize Kwanzaa so that people are going out to buy gifts; instead we make our gifts or give knowledge, so children might get books about people helping one another in the African American community,” Webb says. “I would always tell my children when they were growing up that, ‘oh, I'm not rich with the green money, but I'm rich with African knowledge.’ So many years later my grandchildren had the opportunity when guests came in, they passed out candy canes and a cowrie shell, and they were able to say, ‘we're celebrating with this cowrie shell because it is a symbol of wealth.’”
Within our local community, Kwanzaa is celebrated at the Brazos Valley African American Museum with a large celebration that invites all to participate.
“Every year at the museum, we have diverse people,” Webb says. “We come together in celebration to share that Kwanzaa is a part of what they call the diaspora — there's an African presence virtually everywhere in the world.”
