Happy Christmas-Hanukkah-Solstice-Yule-Kwanzaa-Chinese New Year! As the leaves begin to fall and trees grow barren with winter frost, the holiday decorations come out to play. According to Music Machinery, there are over a million different Christmas songs aired on the radio between November and January each year. With the big commercial marketing of Christmas, STA students sophomore Abby Margolin, senior Aisling Catley-Goggin, and senior Roux Grey all agree that other winter holidays get overshadowed.  

     Margolin has been celebrating Hanukkah since before she could talk and loves taking part in her family’s celebrations. The importance of the holiday and its significance in her life leads Margolin to wonder why it’s not as prominent as Christmas.

     “I feel so left out [when all that people are talking about is Christmas],” Margolin said. “Pretty much everyone I’m close to knows I’m Jewish, but all anyone talks about during the winter season is Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. I think Christmas is great, I love the holiday time and I love Christmas music and I love Christmas decorations and I just love it all, but I wish Hanukkah was as prominent as Christmas. I wish all my friends a Merry Christmas but they don’t always wish me a Happy Hanukkah. Some of my friends wish me a Happy Hanukkah every single night of Hanukkah, and that makes me feel really special and included.” 

     Grey celebrates Christmas with her family but prefers to take part in the Pagan celebration of the winter solstice also known as Yule. The amount of buzz Christmas gets during the winter months causes Grey to share in Margolin’s feeling of being overlooked.

     “I just kind of miss the fact that there’s so much for Christmas and there’s not a lot for other holidays,” Grey said. “I’ve never really seen decorations, displays, or songs for other holidays. It’s kind of sad when you’re in a very small religion that doesn’t have a lot of art or music or decorations. So you have to have to make your own.”

     One of Cately-Goggin’s favorite parts about celebrating lesser-known holidays, such as the solstice, is the freedom that comes with the celebration. 

     “The Solstice is a holiday I celebrate by myself or with friends,” Cately-Goggin said. “We just decided to have a little party where we have a burning of intentions. We could do whatever we wanted. And I think that was so much fun for me because there weren’t any requirements or rules in place for the celebrations. I love having the ability to celebrate the winter season in my own way.”

     Grey’s choice of winter holiday commemoration primarily stems from her love of nature and the outdoors. Yule, which is a Pagan holiday originally celebrated by Germanic peoples, focuses on rebirth and renewal and is also known as the “Sun’s birthday.”

     “Celebrating Yule makes me feel more connected to nature,” Grey said. “ I feel like Christianity isn’t nature-oriented enough for me. So celebrating all these Pagan holidays makes me feel more connected to the earth. I normally take a walk on holidays so I can try and focus on the birds around me or the other wildlife. It just feels nice being connected to everything.”