2004 FALL AND WINTER HOLIDAYS

Halloween           

“…trick or treat…?”

When one (as a foreigner) comes to the United States, the word “Halloween” becomes more interesting because one has the opportunity to learn how Americans experience this fall holiday.  The first thing to get to know is what Halloween means.  This word came from the medieval English words “All Hallows’ eve,” hallow meaning saint in old English.

Halloween was celebrated on October 31.  Starting at 5:00 p.m. lots of kids, some teenagers, and a few parents go out on the streets with their best and scariest costumes to trick or treat. Kids have so much fun going house to house and saying what their parents taught them to say: “…Trick or Treat… Happy Halloween” and “don’t forget to say Thank You kiddos…”.

  According to history, the Celts celebrated their new year and the beginning of the winter on November 1.  On the day before, they celebrated Samhain, which for them represented the day that the ghost of death returned to the earth, causing trouble and damaging crops.  That’s why people decorate their houses with pumpkins symbolizing the human skull and scary things in order to scare evil spirits away. [1]

On Halloween night, there is a lot going on. This year at SMC, there were lots of Halloween parties.  Many students gathered at Aliott Hall for a dancing party on October 30, and they also had parties in each room of their dorm.  At the Women’s Center they had a special way of celebrating Halloween. They had Pumpkin carving, which international students found so much fun to do. They also had a scary room, lots of the best horror movies, candies, pies and a fortune teller. Good, isn’t it? It was such an experience to see how Americans celebrate this day. Let’s ask an International student how she lived this scaaaaryyy day:

 “I went Trick or Treating with my friends and two little girls dressed up as princesses.  We walked from house to house decorated with many kinds of shapes of Jack-O-lanterns, ghosts, skulls, etc, which were really pretty.  The two pretty girls got a lot of candies and look so happy.  There were some other children dressed up as ninja, witches, or Batman for Trick or Treating.  I’ve never experienced Halloween so it was really fun!  The kids were so cute!  We don’t have any event for Halloween in Japan.  I wish I had such an enjoyable event for both children and adults.” Asami Majima, Japan

Halloween Party at 300's Town-House I		Halloween Party II (Standing: Amanda, Patrick, Yu, Kumimko, Aya. Sitting: Chie,  Daiki (He is a man, don't get confused! It's Halloween for Goodness Sake!)
	Pumpkin Carving Jack-O-Lantern

   THANKSGIVING  

     A Day of feasting, family and football

      In the United States on the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving is celebrated. It is celebrated on that day even though it is not known exactly when the original feast took place in 1621.  The pilgrims were people from England who came to America in 1620 because of religious persecution. They were not prepared for the new life they were going to live in America. Fortunately, a Native American named Squanto introduced himself and showed them how to survive by hunting, fishing and farming. Without his help they wouldn’t have survived. The next year, in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims invited Native Americans to join them in a celebration in order to express thankfulness to The Native American people. It is interesting to know that Thanksgiving wasn’t official until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln established a day to celebrate Thanksgiving in answer to a request from Sarah Josepha Hale. For her that day had to express the union of the country on a single holiday.  Since then, Americans have been celebrating it yearly[2]. 

     This year we had five days off, beginning on Wednesday November 25. From that day on SMC Staff and SIS students celebrated Thanksgiving. Actually, on 11/25 Polly made a Pre-thanksgiving dinner for seventeen SIS students. The previous day we went to her house and baked apple and cranberry pies. To help in fixing the dinner was so much fun and, if one wants to see it in the basic Thanksgiving spirit, it was a way to thank our teachers for teaching us English as a second language.

 Almost every store in the USA is closed after five o’clock. Almost everyone celebrates Thanksgiving with the traditional turkey, stuffing, pies and mashed potatoes. Several students spent Thanksgiving Day with SIS Staff and faculty having a great time sharing dinner and fun games. It was really neat of them to share with SIS students, who do not celebrate Thanksgiving in their native countries.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Women's Center

Thanksgiving Dinner (mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and bread)

CHRISTMAS

A time to celebrate Christ’s birth and a time to share …

The Twenty fifth of December is a very important day for Christians. On that day Jesus our saviour was born in Bethlehem of Mary, who was chosen by God. This celebration became widespread from the fourth century, but it wasn’t until the mid 19^th century when Christmas began to acquire its association with increasingly secularized gift-giving and good cheer. And, did you know that the first Christmas cards appeared around 1846 and that the current concept of a jolly Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) was first made popular in New York in the 19th century? Actually, St. Nicholas is considered the patron of children and sailors, in Greece, Sicily, and Russia, and for many other places and people[3].

           As we have experienced, just the day after Thanksgiving, people start getting prepared for Christmas by buying presents for friends and family and decorating houses, buildings and making the spirit of Christmas spread. You may also see people singing carols which are popular hymns of a joyful nature in celebration of Christmas .In Latin countries it is almost the same. In Nicaragua, for example, Christmas is a family event. Different members of one’s family come from other cities or countries to get together as a united family, have dinner together and party, and just after midnight, kids and grown ups open their gifts, and continue partying. Of course, some religious people go to mass to celebrate Christmas. There is one interesting tradition in Mexico which is called Las Posadas, nine consecutive days of candlelight processions and lively parties starting December 16.

It doesn’t matter how different cultures celebrate it …the spirit is the same!

 Kumiko Nakagawa & Fátima Avendaña