DIVERSITY IN CALIFORNIA
Our class has 20 students ages 7-9. Each student shared what traditions and holidays their families celebrate and the country of origin it came from. We noticed that almost all of the celebrations shared had family, caring, giving, respect, a story, and the use of light in common. We heard stories from Germany, America, Spain, Mexico, France, Israel, England, and India. We noticed many traditions traveled across borders.
In Mexico we learned about Las Posadas. People walk their neighborhoods together with luminaries to light the way. They re-enact the story of Mary and Joseph on Christmas Eve.
From Israel we read the story of the Macabees and learned about how the oil they expected to last for 1 night lasted 8 nights so now some people light a candle each night on the menorah as a tradition. They also eat latkas and applesauce. We played dreidle and learned an Israeli folk dance.
For Italy we read La Belfana and ate some traditional foods like canolis. We also read stories about St. Nicholas and learned about the tradition of hanging a stocking out or putting a shoe out that he may fill with treats, oranges, nuts, or sticks.
We learned that people from Germany brought some traditions, which we still use, to America such as putting a pine tree in the house and putting lights in the windows as a symbol to light the way for the Christ child. We read a story about spiders who spun a web at night all through the Christmas tree. In the morning the web turned to silver, so now some people put tinsel on their trees for decorations along with lights and ornaments.
We also learned about the pickle ornament tradition. Many students in our class have parents who hide a pickle ornament in the tree and the child who finds it gets a special gift .
We learned about Saint Lucia and the crown of lights she wears on her head as she gives out treats in Sweden.
We learned about Kwanzaa. It starts December 26, and those who celebrate light candles in a special holder which reminded us of the menorah. We heard about the principals they keep in mind each year as they celebrate. We practiced 3 of the principles; unity, purpose, and faith for this month.
We learned about France and the tradition of hanging door banners on their doors to welcome their neighbors. Each child made a painted felt door banner for their own home as gifts.
We learned that the tradition of sending cards and caroling began in England. We all made cards and we sang carols.
We learned about Diwali and their Festival of Lights held in India from one of our students from India, and about the unique foods they share to celebrate.
Mostly we learned that all of these above traditions come from many countries and are honored and celebrated by many diverse people living in America and in our own classroom. For a culminating event we made paper mache lanterns and held our own school wide festival of lights in the evening. Our families brought in foods from their traditional celebrations, we heard a story and sang together.
Andrea Cirino’s Second Grade
Mariposa School of Global Education
Agoura Hills, California, USA
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"What does the holiday mean to me? I like seeing my friends. Our holiday is Christmas. We send cards to friends and family. We all eat together on Christmas. We also send presents to one another. We put up our Christmas tree with lights and ornaments, too. We also look at other houses. We make gingerbread houses and have stockings. I love Christmas because it is so much fun." by a second grade boy.
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" My family celebrates Hanukkah. There are 8 nights of Hanukkah. Each night we light the menorah. We light one candle on the first night, two candles on the second night, and we keep going until we get to eight. My mom makes the best potato latkas ever. They taste like pancakes made out of french fries. Me and my sister play dreidel and we all sing songs. My sister and I get lots of presents. Hanukkah is lots of fun." by a second grade girl.
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"We recognize the Winter's Solstice. We do something special every year. This year we made spice oranges. The reason we do not celebrate conventional holidays is that we are not religious. Winter Solstice is a fun thing that we celebrate." by a second grade boy.
