Students’ celebrations differ, display diversity

For the Christmas season, many students will travel home for the holidays. For freshman Yamini Reddy, this year will be completely different.

Reddy is from Bangalore, India, and came to the University of South Dakota to play tennis. Reddy will spend the Christmas holiday in the United States this year with her sister for the first time.

Although Christmas is not usually celebrated in India, Reddy said her family still celebrates the holiday.

“We put up the Christmas tree and decorate it with lights and have presents,” Reddy said. “When we put the tree up, though, we leave it up for exactly 21 days so that it is left up until after New Year’s.”

Reddy said her family also has traditions with the meals they make.

“Every year we make a homemade wine with cinnamon,” Reddy said. “We also make a Christmas plum cake.”

Reddy said the holiday is family-oriented.

“The next morning we open presents with the whole family and have a Christmas lunch,” Reddy said. “We call the whole family over — the aunts, uncles and cousins.”

Reddy said she also watches “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” every year.

“You can’t not watch that movie on Christmas day,” Reddy said.

Sophomore Timon Wulss is from Hamburg, Germany, and will be travelling there for the holidays this year. Most of the traditions in Germany are the same as in the U.S., Wulss said.

“Germany does have the Christmas market,” Wulss said. “The Christmas market is a street market where people can buy lots of items.”

Although the Christmas traditions are the same, Wulss said New Year’s is different.

“On New Year’s we have fireworks,”

Wulss said. “It’s kind of like the Fourth of July.”

Freshman Tiffany Lerew is from Groton, S.D., and said she will be returning home over the holiday break.

“I’ll be going to my grandmother’s for Christmas,” Lerew said. “Our only tradition is to go to my grandparents’ house. Everyone always meets there every year for Christmas, it’s never been different.”

Lerew said the activities her family does on Christmas Day changes

every year.

“Sometime we’ll go out and shop or go four wheeling or anything else there is to do,” Lerew said.

Lerew said her family mainly focuses on the idea of Santa Claus and presents during the holidays.

“Everyone usually hangs out during Christmas and New Year’s,” Lerew said. “It’s usually really relaxed.”

Sophomore Leyla Osman is Muslim and a native of Sioux Falls, S.D., she said.

Osman said she doesn’t celebrate most holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

“We celebrate four types of Eves, instead,” Osman said. “They are simple little holidays where we have big get-togethers and feasts; it’s kind of like Thanksgiving.”

Although Osman does not celebrate Christmas, she said some of her family is Christian and does celebrate Christmas.

“My grandma will stop by and give me presents,” Osman said. “She will call it Eve presents but I get them on Christmas.”

Reach reporter Emily Niebrugge

at [email protected]