By: M. Ahmadad

It’s 2024, meaning we get to have an extra day in February this year. February 29th only occurs once every 4 years, making it the leap day. This rare day has different types of traditions and superstitions surrounding it, so here are some beliefs and practices about the day that you may have heard of.

February 29th is sometimes called Ladies’ Privilege, which comes from an Irish legend about women having to deal with men being too slow to propose. So, Saint Bridget made a negotiation with Saint Patrick that once every 4 years, women would be allowed to propose to a man on the 29th. If he rejected, he’d have to financially compensate her.

Febuary 29th is considered to be an incredibly unlucky day in European superstitions, the Scots believed that those born on the 29th were doomed to be sickly and go through suffering, and Germans believed that leap years in general were entirely void of luck. In Greece, it’s also believed that the 29th is cursed, and those who got married during leap years would certainly divorce.

My own birthday is on Febuary 29th, but I don’t think I myself am a particularly unlucky person. I mean, I can remember a few weird things, like the odd increase in evil clown attacks in 2016, causing the president of the WCA (World Clown Association) to be upset because people were giving the nice clowns a bad reputation. In 2020, COVID was hitting the population and there were mandated quarantine and distancing, and now currently in 2024 there’s an approaching threat of a government shutdown.

But, to be fair, major events happen in many years so there’s no real proof these things are because of a leap year curse of sorts. I hope those reading this have a healthy and safe rest of 2024 and years to come.

By: Addison Strack & Sophie Johnson

Now that we are approaching the holidays, everyone is in the holiday spirit, and they are preparing themselves for the happiest time of the year. We celebrate Christmas, but there are other holidays that are also being celebrated at this time. It is important to recognize and learn about different holidays and their traditions, so that you can understand how and why people celebrate the holidays they do. In this article we will be covering some different winter holidays, and their traditions.

The first holiday we will be covering is Christmas. This is a holiday we celebrate, and it is our favorite holiday of the year. One of the most important aspects of Christmas is the Christmas tree. Every year in December, Christmas tree farms are filled with people who are in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Once the best tree is found and taken home, people will decorate it with string lights, ornaments, and a star.

Another huge tradition that is practiced on Christmas is gift giving. People buy gifts for loved ones to be opened on Christmas Day, to show how much they appreciate them. Gifts slowly fill underneath the Christmas tree creating more and more excitement for Christmas Day.

A third tradition that many young children participate in is leaving out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. Young kids are filled with anticipation and excitement waiting for Santa to leave them gifts, and of course they need to return his favor, by giving him some fuel to finish his long journey around the world. These are only three traditions that many people participate in on Christmas, and there are so many more.

New Years is another holiday that brings a lot of excitement to the winter season. This holiday is celebrated worldwide and marks the start of a new calendar year. Traditionally, the celebration starts on December 31st and continues into the morning of January 1st.

Many people write New Year’s resolutions which are goals that they want to attain or achievements they want to make within the coming year. New years is the start of a new beginning for lots of people and it’s almost a reset or a refresh where people can start up new things or start over on things they need to try again.

One of the main New Year’s traditions in America is the countdown to midnight and then the New York Times Square ball drop. This period of counting down is also a way of saying goodbye to the past year and remembering the memories that happened. It is also a way of preparing for what is to come in the future.

Many different cultures celebrate this holiday differently while doing traditional things that will provide them with good luck and good fortune for the new year. Some of these include lucky grapes in Spain, smashing plates in Denmark and eating black eyed peas in the Southern US for good luck.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that is celebrated from December 7 to December 15 this year. Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting a menorah, which is a nine candle holder. On each day of Hanukkah a candle is lit.

Religious rituals are also a way that people celebrate Hanukkah, for example many people will do daily readings of Scripture. 

A third tradition is gift giving. Many families will exchange a gift each night of Hanukkah, and these gifts are often smaller thoughtful gifts. 

Throughout the winter season, there are many holidays and traditions that families and individuals can look forward to all over the world. These three holidays are only a few examples of what a lot of people celebrate during this time. These holidays all include fun, giving and thoughtful routines that have been developed for centuries and will continue to be practiced for many generations to come.

By: Mira Kaufman

“Dre-del, dre-del, dre-del, I made you out of clay” is a song known by many. The lit menorah and latkes are loved across the world. People know these things as the celebration of Hannakkah but why is Hannakkah the only Jewish Holiday you may know?

Hannakkah is a Jewish holiday, celebrating the miracle of light! It takes place in early winter but dates vary because it follows the Hebrew calendar. In smaller communities all around the world Hannakkah is celebrated but why do we hear of this Jewish holiday more than anything else?

In Judaism Hanukkah is not a major Holiday; in fact it is not even written in the Torah (Jewish Holy Script). Hanukkah celebrates the story of the Makkabes taking place in the 160s BCE. The Makkabes had fought two battles and returned to their temple to reclaim it from the Greeks. When they got there they found the eternal light out (a never ending flame) and found only a singular jar of oil left to light the fire. A messenger was then sent to buy more oil and on the 8th day when he came back, the singular jar of oil was still burning, thus creating the miracle of light. Today Jews celebrate this story through lighting menorahs, symbolizing the eight days of lasting oil.

The holiday is well known by society because Christmas falls at around the same time every year. In every location aside from Israel, Jews make up a very small population of where they live and over time have acculturated into some of the traditions of the religions around them. For example, Jew’s gained the tradition of giving presents on Hanukkah from the celebration of Christmas.

Due to both Christmas and Hanukkah falling around the same time every year, stores started supplying decorations for not just Christmas but Hanukkah too. This was because there was money to be made, which opened people’s eyes to more cultures on the store shelves. Target, for example, sells both Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in the same area allowing customers to look at every sale as they shop.

Hannakkah is also known and loved for its traditional foods. Gelt (Yiddish for money) is a classic win in a Dreidel game. The only difference for the traditional meaning of gelt is that it’s chocolate money, not real. Sufganiyot are also very popular! They are jelly filled donuts eaten for dessert. While these are both popular foods, the most well known would have to be latkes. Latkes were originally a Polish dish before being taken on by the Jews, and are known in America as potato pancakes. A common thread you may have noticed is that two of these three foods are fried, which quite in fact has a purpose. To symbolize the miracle of oil, many Jews fry foods on Hanukkah to celebrate!