Other Holidays In The Holiday Season

By: Brianna Madison

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When most of us think of the holidays, we think of Thanksgiving and Christmas. But what about the other holidays that are celebrated during this season? What do the religions who don't necessarily celebrate Christmas do at this time of the year? One other holiday celebrated in December is Pancha Ganapati.

Pancha Ganapati is a Hindu holiday beginning on December 21st and ending on the 25th. This celebration commemorates Ganesha, the elephant-headed lord of culture and new beginnings. During Pancha Ganapati, Hindus partake in things like picnics, gift giving, putting up lights, and putting up a statue of Ganesha in their homes and dressing him each day in colors of yellow, blue, red, green, and orange.

Another religion that celebrates a different holiday than Christmas is Judaism. Jews celebrate Chanukah (Hanukkah), which lasts eight days. Chanukah is also known as the festival of lights and was created to commemorate the Jews that defeated the Greek army in the second century BCE. On Chanukah, Jews celebrate by eating fried foods, saying special prayers, and a nightly menorah lighting. The menorah lighting is a symbol of when the Jewish army reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Chanukah and Pancha Ganapati are only two of the many, many other holidays that will be celebrated this holiday season that few people know about. Personally, I believe that we should know more about the other religious holidays that exist.