Even here in Liberty there are a variety of people with different backgrounds. In December, the first thing that springs to a lot of people’s mind is Christmas, but some people think of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or even Festivus.

   A survey was conducted to see who celebrates what holiday at LHS. There were 258 responses.

   “I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas because my father was raised Jewish and my mother was raised Christian so we celebrate both traditions,” senior Phoebe Alpern said. “I think I like Hanukkah more because it isn’t subject to that same sort of attention; it isn’t commercialized in the same way. It’s definitely about family and community and we don’t have any of that weird intersection between is this a religious holiday, is it a holiday about family, is it a holiday about commercialism. It’s just about being with people.”

   Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday that celebrates the Jews’ recovery of the temple of Jerusalem. The Jews were restoring the temple after it had been desecrated, where they had a ceremonial lamp. There was only enough oil to keep the lamp burning for one night. The story says that God extended that oil so that it would last for eight nights. This is why Hanukkah cooking revolves around using oil. It is also why people who celebrate it light a candle each night for eight nights.

   Christmas and Hanukkah are holidays tied to religion. However, Kwanzaa is not. It is a celebration of African American heritage. The name Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits of the harvest.” It was created by Maulana Karenga, an African American professor of African studies. He started it during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s and it became the first holiday celebrated by African Americans.

   The point of Kwanzaa is to embrace the “seven core principles of African heritage,” as Karenga puts it. Each principle is a Swahili word. The first principle, Umoja, translates to unity. The second is Kujichagulia, or self-determination. Then comes Ujima, collective work and responsibility, then Ujamaa, cooperative economics. The fifth is Nia, which means purpose. The sixth is Kuumba, which is creativity and lastly is Imani, which means faith.

   Kwanzaa revolves around using the Pan-African colors (red, black and green), reading literature, having an artistic performance, candle lighting and a feast. There were no survey responses detailing how LHS students celebrate this event.

   The least familiar of this list is a holiday called Festivus. Festivus was popularized by the hit 80’s-90’s sitcom Seinfeld. One of the characters of the show, George Costanza’s father, celebrates this holiday. Contrary to popular belief however, the holiday existed before the show. Dan O’Keefe was a writer for Seinfeld and he said that his father celebrated it when he was a kid. His father was against the commercialism of Christmas and decided to create his own holiday.

   “Festivus is basically where your friends and family come together and you do a lot of activities,” sophomore Stefan Bramwell said. “You have the Festivus dinner and the airing of grievances where basically we just air out all of our problems throughout the whole year that we’ve had with everybody. There are the feats of strength, too. We all celebrate around a giant aluminum pole.”

   Festivus is mostly a spoof holiday, but it is celebrated both by fans of Seinfeld and people that are anti-commercialism.

   Christmas is celebrated by billions of people across the world. The holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and is a time to be with family. More secular celebrations include decorating a Christmas tree or setting out cookies for Santa Claus, but some students at LHS have some interesting traditions.

   “Generally what we do is as a family we go to Olive Garden,” junior Connar McKillip said.

   “It started a few years ago when we used to go to other movies to watch the new blockbusters that were coming out. Recently, we decided there weren’t any movies we wanted to see and decided to go to Olive Garden instead. In late November or early December we go to the Longview Lake and they have a special light show that you can drive through,” McKillip said. “It’s like a safari instead only it’s for lights. So you slowly drive through it, there’s different displays like a snowman and when different lights flash it looks like it’s taking off its hat.”

Others have a longer way to travel.

   “My family has a really long drive down to Texas,” freshman Aubrey Peterson.  “They always have great Christmas decorations up. My grandfather was a pastor and my grandmother played the organ for their church, so we always played little Christmas hymns with her and it’s really fun.”

   Regardless of what families celebrate during the holidays, what students need to remember is the meaning of family. With seniors going off to college and high schoolers growing up in general, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most.

   “Our youngest is still in high school, but our oldest are in college,” teacher Brenda Parker said. “It’s different because you don’t have Santa Claus surprise moments where they’re so excited. It’s a time to be together as a family.”