Celebrating Mixed Religious Heritage During the (COVID) Holidays

By: EllaRain Mordente '21

(Image courtesy of myersparkbaptist.org)

In many households during the holiday season people only celebrate one of the well known holidays because of their religion. And this makes total sense as religion is important for most people to abide by. But if you are like my family, you celebrate two major holidays from two completely different religions, Christmas and Hanukkah. Growing up I thought a lot of people celebrated both, but as I got older and started to understand the concept of religion, I realized that my holiday traditions were not the norm.

In my family Christmas and Hanukkah were always celebrated on my dad’s side because his mom is Jewish and his dad was Catholic, though my dad was raised 100% Jewish and even had a bar mitzvah. My mom on the other hand was raised Christian and only celebrated Christmas until she met my dad and found out that her mom was actually Jewish and only converted because of the Holocaust. So, you can see how traditions from both religions got mixed into my family.

Every year we get a tree and take out our Menorah, and nothing makes me happier than seeing them both out. Each of these holidays are mostly about coming together and being with family, and being grateful for what and who we have, more so than religious beliefs. Each year we get together with my dad’s side of the family to celebrate at least one night of Hanukkah together and spend Christmas Eve together. One of our unique Hanukkah traditions is to make a wish with every candle we light. This isn’t a Jewish thing in any way, it’s just something that my grandma started when my dad was young and it stuck because so far these wishes have a habit of coming true.

The COVID pandemic is really putting a damper on our holiday rituals though and we might not be able to spend these holidays with my aunt, uncle, and cousin like we usually do. So instead we will probably be lighting candles and opening Christmas Eve presents together over the phone. It's definitely a big bummer, we’ve never celebrated these holidays without them, but it’s important to stay safe, especially right now when COVID is spiking again.

No matter what or how you celebrate this time of year, have a wonderful holiday season and stay safe.