Holidays, tradition and cultural awareness

By Lenny Mata Cuevas | Published by December 15, 2020

In preparation for holiday festivities, the Leadership Institute at Kean University met for their “Holiday Cultural Awareness and Customs” event, in which students from different cultural backgrounds had the opportunity to share stories about their own traditions and practices.

The Leadership Institute, a four-year certification program supported by the Center for Leadership and Service at Kean, held the meeting via Zoom hosted by Shelsea Araujo, one of the institute’s staff members.

The Holiday Cultural Awareness and Customs reunion was one of the few encounters that were all part of the “Holiday Bash Week,” launched on Nov. 30. The week also included “Holiday baking,” “Holiday Sing A-Long” and also, an “Ugly Sweater Party” event.

The purpose of this bash was to acknowledge “all different types of celebrations and traditions through fun and engaging activities during this holiday season,” according to the institute’s description on Cougar link.

Starting in November with Thanksgiving and usually until New Year’s day, holidays are a time to celebrate and remember but mostly to give back, a pattern that seems to coincide with most groups and students who attended the event.

For Tiffany Anele, senior majoring in Speech Language Pathology and Leadership Specialist, Thanksgiving is about giving back and that’s why it’s her favorite holiday.  

“Although you should be giving back all year, I love it when the atmosphere is all about giving.” Anele said.

Anele explained that besides her own cultural background her holiday traditions are also shaped by her faith.

“My family is very religious and so we got to mass and celebrate the birth of Christ,” Anele said.

Many students associate the holidays with Christ or other religious characters. For example, during the “Ugly Sweater Party” one of the attendees talked about “Tres Reyes,” or Three Wise Men. These characters are well known among the Hispanic communities, a group that represents 27.1% of undergraduates at Kean University, according to collegefactual.com.

These events were full of funny moments and interesting stories the students shared about their own holiday customs. Students managed to discuss the concept of cultural awareness in lighthearted ways, such as finding out the truth about Santa, a moment many adults may see as hilarious looking back. 

College factual website states that “Kean University boasts excellent racial diversity,” which could be one of many reasons why one could find different practices and customs for holiday celebration within the students body.

Yet, the most important thing about celebrating and learning about others’ customs during holidays, it is that it’s a safe and fun way to help to spread respect and inclusion on and off campus, besides being an educational and valuable asset for the students.

Another subject talked about during the event was related to New Year’s traditions, like kissing under the sycamore tree, counting down until midnight or eating twelve grapes during the last 12 seconds before New Year. Anele was particularly intrigued by this custom. 

“I really found Angelie’s tradition with her family to be interesting, how she uses grapes during the New Year,” Anele said.

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