Exchanging holiday traditions with exchange students
From left to right, Anu Purvetogtokh's, Bebars Mahasneh, Lina Mueller, Maja Modzelewaska, Mariia Maksymenko, Nuraidyn Yermekov, Piotr Michal Wojcik and Johann Riebschlager, pose for a photo earlier this year.
Emily Bell photo
By Abigail Cormier and Amelia McAvoy
December, 22, 2021
This year, Bonny Eagle has welcomed a variety of students from vastly different cultures and lifestyles. The holiday season is fast approaching and some of these students are really looking forward to sharing their culture and traditions and experiencing ours as well.
Anu Purvetogtokh's is from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a majority Buddhist nation. Because of that, Christmas is not celebrated. On the other hand, they have many end of year and new year festivities. New Years is celebrated by almost everyone in Mongolia and it is one of the most important holidays throughout the year, along with Naadam and The Lunar New Year. These two holidays are when they would practice family traditions and wear their cultural attire.
New Year's Eve and New Year’s Day are filled with a variety of delicious dishes in Mongolia. These dishes may include a whole chicken, dumplings, fried noodles, mashed potatoes, salads, cake, and bowls of fruit. Then they drink soda to wash it all down. On more traditional holidays, the soda is substituted with milk tea.
“We eat a beautiful dinner with our family or relatives at home,” explains Anu.
In preparation for New Years, everyone in the family gets together to clean the house. Anu usually does chores and helps her mother with dinner.
In Mongolia it is very important to respect relatives and ancestors. Family members speak words of deep respect when they speak with the elders. They serve food and tea to the oldest members of the family first.
When there’s only a few minutes left in the year, the Mongolian president will come onto the TV and wish everyone greetings and a happy new year. When the clock reaches 00:00 everyone will drink champagne and give out presents. The night ends as fireworks light up the sky across the city.
Maja Modzelewaska is an exchange student from Poland. Despite the vast ocean separating them, Poland is not too different from the United States. Poland has a large Christian population, but like many places, that’s not the only reason they celebrate Christmas.
“It’s a religious holiday, but even if someone isn’t religious and they don’t believe in God they still celebrate.” says Maja.
Despite the occasional homesickness, Maja is happier than ever with the holiday season fast approaching. She is hoping to bring some of her family traditions here to America.
A holiday celebrated by many Polish children is Mikołaja. Mikołaja or Saint Nickolas day is celebrated on Dec. 6. Children leave out their shoes and when they wake up the next morning, there will be presents next to them. This is when Santa visits the house. People will leave out cookies and milk for Santa as well.
Another tradition happens where hay is placed under the tablecloth to represent the manger where Jesus was born. It is a reminder of Jesus and where he was born. Many Polish people do this, but Maja says that her family typically doesn’t.
In Poland the festivities start early and continue throughout December. As we do in America, the Polish family will decorate a tree, wrap presents, and spend the whole day together. Maja’s family has quite a few unique traditions surrounding the joyful day. One of the most heartwarming is that the family will set up an extra seat at the table in case someone is in need of shelter, food, or simple companionship during the holidays. They have extra food and a place for this person, whoever they may be, to make sure no one spends the holidays alone.
For the Christmas Eve dinner, they wait until the first star appears in the sky before they eat a 12-dish meal in honor of the 12 apostles. These 12 dishes do not contain meat, except for fish. They eat a large variety of delicious foods from dumplings to cheesecake.
Some of the most popular foods include Pierogi with cabbage and mushroom, compote with dried fruit, red borscht with mushroom dumplings, mushroom soup, carp, herring, fish in gelatin, and “Greek” style fish.
“The beetroot soup is my favorite,” Maja says.
Along with this mouth watering spread of food there are a few famous desserts: Fruitcake, cheesecake, poppy seed cake, and poppyseed with dumplings (Kutia). Can’t forget the loads of gingerbread freshly baked every year!
Christmas Eve is finished off with Christmas mass, where the families will share wafers and wish each other a safe and happy new year.
After the presents are opened Christmas morning, the holiday season officially ends. Soon everyone heads off to party away the previous year. They spend time with friends as the clock switches to a new year.
Bebars Mahasneh, who goes by the nickname ‘Bebo,’ comes to Bonny Eagle from the Asian country, Jordan. As a majority Muslim country, there aren’t any winter holidays typically recognized by the Jordanian people. However, the Muslim holidays of Ramadan and Eid are widely celebrated.
Ramadan is a month long celebration of the Qur’an being revealed to the Prophet Muhammed where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and abstain from immoral behaviors, such as drinking and smoking. It occurs in the spring, but the actually dates differ from year to year. Bebo’s family has a tradition of hanging lights on their ceiling and outside their house for Ramadan, similar to how one may hang Christmas lights.
The day after the end of Ramadan is the first Eid, also called Eid al-Fitr, which is a celebration of the previous month’s spiritual reflection. The second Eid, Eid al-Adha, occurs two months after the first Eid and is a three day celebration of the Prophet Ibrahim’s devotion to Allah. Both Eids are celebrated with prayers and gifting money to the young and the poor, which, much to his chagrin, Bebo adds, “the girls get more than the boys.” Only during Eid al-Adha does the holiday include the slaughter of livestock. According to Bebo, “It’s kind of like a ritual, but not really a ritual. It’s just, we kill the sheep, and give the parts to our relatives.” This act of sacrifice is meant to reflect the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son to Allah.
In Jordan, the winter time is not a large holiday season the way it is in United States. As a Muslim, Bebo is not able to celebrate Christmas in a religious vein. He explains, “I can’t say ‘Merry Christmas,’ because it’s a religious thing. So, if you don’t see me saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to you, I’m not being impolite, it’s just, I can’t say it.’ However, this doesn’t stop him from being able to participate in the non-religious traditions that accompany the holiday. Already he has helped his host family decorate their tree and house for the season and has received his first Christmas gift. His host mother gifted him an ornament with his name on it to match their family ornaments, which he says he definitely is “going to take that home.”
December, 22, 2021
This year, Bonny Eagle has welcomed a variety of students from vastly different cultures and lifestyles. The holiday season is fast approaching and some of these students are really looking forward to sharing their culture and traditions and experiencing ours as well.
Anu Purvetogtokh's is from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a majority Buddhist nation. Because of that, Christmas is not celebrated. On the other hand, they have many end of year and new year festivities. New Years is celebrated by almost everyone in Mongolia and it is one of the most important holidays throughout the year, along with Naadam and The Lunar New Year. These two holidays are when they would practice family traditions and wear their cultural attire.
New Year's Eve and New Year’s Day are filled with a variety of delicious dishes in Mongolia. These dishes may include a whole chicken, dumplings, fried noodles, mashed potatoes, salads, cake, and bowls of fruit. Then they drink soda to wash it all down. On more traditional holidays, the soda is substituted with milk tea.
“We eat a beautiful dinner with our family or relatives at home,” explains Anu.
In preparation for New Years, everyone in the family gets together to clean the house. Anu usually does chores and helps her mother with dinner.
In Mongolia it is very important to respect relatives and ancestors. Family members speak words of deep respect when they speak with the elders. They serve food and tea to the oldest members of the family first.
When there’s only a few minutes left in the year, the Mongolian president will come onto the TV and wish everyone greetings and a happy new year. When the clock reaches 00:00 everyone will drink champagne and give out presents. The night ends as fireworks light up the sky across the city.
Maja Modzelewaska is an exchange student from Poland. Despite the vast ocean separating them, Poland is not too different from the United States. Poland has a large Christian population, but like many places, that’s not the only reason they celebrate Christmas.
“It’s a religious holiday, but even if someone isn’t religious and they don’t believe in God they still celebrate.” says Maja.
Despite the occasional homesickness, Maja is happier than ever with the holiday season fast approaching. She is hoping to bring some of her family traditions here to America.
A holiday celebrated by many Polish children is Mikołaja. Mikołaja or Saint Nickolas day is celebrated on Dec. 6. Children leave out their shoes and when they wake up the next morning, there will be presents next to them. This is when Santa visits the house. People will leave out cookies and milk for Santa as well.
Another tradition happens where hay is placed under the tablecloth to represent the manger where Jesus was born. It is a reminder of Jesus and where he was born. Many Polish people do this, but Maja says that her family typically doesn’t.
In Poland the festivities start early and continue throughout December. As we do in America, the Polish family will decorate a tree, wrap presents, and spend the whole day together. Maja’s family has quite a few unique traditions surrounding the joyful day. One of the most heartwarming is that the family will set up an extra seat at the table in case someone is in need of shelter, food, or simple companionship during the holidays. They have extra food and a place for this person, whoever they may be, to make sure no one spends the holidays alone.
For the Christmas Eve dinner, they wait until the first star appears in the sky before they eat a 12-dish meal in honor of the 12 apostles. These 12 dishes do not contain meat, except for fish. They eat a large variety of delicious foods from dumplings to cheesecake.
Some of the most popular foods include Pierogi with cabbage and mushroom, compote with dried fruit, red borscht with mushroom dumplings, mushroom soup, carp, herring, fish in gelatin, and “Greek” style fish.
“The beetroot soup is my favorite,” Maja says.
Along with this mouth watering spread of food there are a few famous desserts: Fruitcake, cheesecake, poppy seed cake, and poppyseed with dumplings (Kutia). Can’t forget the loads of gingerbread freshly baked every year!
Christmas Eve is finished off with Christmas mass, where the families will share wafers and wish each other a safe and happy new year.
After the presents are opened Christmas morning, the holiday season officially ends. Soon everyone heads off to party away the previous year. They spend time with friends as the clock switches to a new year.
Bebars Mahasneh, who goes by the nickname ‘Bebo,’ comes to Bonny Eagle from the Asian country, Jordan. As a majority Muslim country, there aren’t any winter holidays typically recognized by the Jordanian people. However, the Muslim holidays of Ramadan and Eid are widely celebrated.
Ramadan is a month long celebration of the Qur’an being revealed to the Prophet Muhammed where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and abstain from immoral behaviors, such as drinking and smoking. It occurs in the spring, but the actually dates differ from year to year. Bebo’s family has a tradition of hanging lights on their ceiling and outside their house for Ramadan, similar to how one may hang Christmas lights.
The day after the end of Ramadan is the first Eid, also called Eid al-Fitr, which is a celebration of the previous month’s spiritual reflection. The second Eid, Eid al-Adha, occurs two months after the first Eid and is a three day celebration of the Prophet Ibrahim’s devotion to Allah. Both Eids are celebrated with prayers and gifting money to the young and the poor, which, much to his chagrin, Bebo adds, “the girls get more than the boys.” Only during Eid al-Adha does the holiday include the slaughter of livestock. According to Bebo, “It’s kind of like a ritual, but not really a ritual. It’s just, we kill the sheep, and give the parts to our relatives.” This act of sacrifice is meant to reflect the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son to Allah.
In Jordan, the winter time is not a large holiday season the way it is in United States. As a Muslim, Bebo is not able to celebrate Christmas in a religious vein. He explains, “I can’t say ‘Merry Christmas,’ because it’s a religious thing. So, if you don’t see me saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to you, I’m not being impolite, it’s just, I can’t say it.’ However, this doesn’t stop him from being able to participate in the non-religious traditions that accompany the holiday. Already he has helped his host family decorate their tree and house for the season and has received his first Christmas gift. His host mother gifted him an ornament with his name on it to match their family ornaments, which he says he definitely is “going to take that home.”