“What are you most excited to celebrate this Christmas?” This question was the single most-asked question at school this past week as we headed into the break. Yes, I am so excited for the holiday season, but not just for Christmas! I'm also hyped for Dongzhi, Yalda, and Hanukkah.

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Every year, Winter break is always so synonymous with the Christmas season. It's so synonymous that we sometimes forget that this season is also filled with so many celebrations from all different cultures.
So this holiday season, while stuffing our stockings and wrapping gifts under the Christmas tree, let's also learn about how other cultures celebrate the winter and engage in them too!
Winter Solstice (Dongzhi)
The Winter Solstice, often celebrated on December 21st, is the shortest day of the year and marks the beginning of winter for many Asian and Persian cultures.
For the Chinese, Dongzhi is an especially important festival of family and togetherness. Growing up in Beijing, I have fond memories of celebrating Dongzhi with my parents and sometimes extended family by making dumplings and reading stories before bed.
Historically, Chinese people divided the lunar calendar into 24 solar terms - each corresponding to a specific time in the season with traditions associated with them. Dongzhi is one of these solar terms - the 22nd one on the calendar - and one of the most important traditional solar terms in Chinese culture.
Ever since the Han dynasty (206 BCE) - way longer ago than Christmas! - the Chinese have celebrated Winter Solstice as Dongzhi, which literally translates to “the arrival of winter.” In fact, the celebration originated from the traditional Chinese philosophy of yin and yang, where balance and harmony dictate life. During this longest night of winter, the cold and dark yin persists yet once this day is over, the warmth and light of yang will triumph and continue for the new year.

Dumpling-making in Yunan, China by Frank Zhang from Unsplash
Jacky Chung, executive chef at Sheraton from Hong Kong, remarks that “For the people of the southern provinces in China, such as Guangzhou, winter solstice was more important than [Lunar] New Year because it’s the shortest and coldest day of the year…It quickly became a Chinese tradition to gather the family around a warm and cosy dinner to nurture the soul with celebration.” Interestingly enough, those in Southern China celebrate with “tangyuan”, which are glutinous rice balls filled with sesame or red bean filling in a hot soup, different from how I grew up eating dumplings in the North. Either way, as Chef Chung says, Dongzhi fuels “the body with good food to fight the remaining winter.”
Other East Asian countries and cultures like Japan, Korea, and Mongolia also celebrate a version of Dongzhi.
Winter Solstice (Yalda)
In the Persian culture, including Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, their version of the Winter Solstice celebration is called “Yalda”.
Originating from Iran, during Yalda night, those of Persian and Iranian origin come together with their families to celebrate the longest night of the winter to honor their Persian heritage. Families come together and prepare fruits like watermelon and pomegranate to symbolize life and protect themselves and their loved ones from illness in the coming year.

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Dating back to 502 BC, even before Dongzhi and Christmas, it has become an important celebration of warding out evil during the dark, long night. Now, families come together to enjoy a nice meal with fruit and recite poems of Divan-e Hafez, a traditional Iranian poet from the 14th century.
You can celebrate holidays like Dongzhi and Yalda by preparing traditional foods like dumplings and tangyuan for Dongzhi as well as pomegranates and watermelon for Yalda. Look into the history and stories of these celebrations on Winter Solstice to gain more understanding of their cultures too.
Hanukkah
Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish celebration of light that usually takes place right after Christmas and following into the new year. Jewish people around the world come together with their families and celebrate this special festival with a nightly menorah (Jewish candle) lighting, special prayers, and fried food.
Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah, means “dedication” in Hebrew - celebrating the rededication of the Holy Temple after the Jews won a fight against the powerful Syrian-Greeks and reclaimed the Holy Temple of Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE. Miraculously, despite only finding limited olive oil, the Jews were able to light up a seven-branched menorah for eight days, thus becoming to festival of Chanukah or Hanukkah.
Traditionally, the heart of Hanukkah is the lighting of the menorah which holds nine lights. One of these lights is kindled every night of the eight days while special blessings are recited to a traditional Jewish song.

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Many traditions - such as food and games - are also enjoyed during Hanukkah. One of my favorite events initiated by the Jewish Student Union at my school is playing Dreidel and eating Latkes. Since the menorah was lit with olive oil, Hanukkah is celebrated with fried foods like potato latke, a delicious fried pancake garnished with applesauce, and sometimes sour cream.
The Israeli favorite is to celebrate with sufganyas - jelly donuts. A game of Dreidel is also played on the nights of Hanukkah - where a four-sided “dice” with different Hebrew letters are spun and coins are awarded to each player depending on what letter lands.
While you might not be able to set up a menorah entirely, you can also participate and celebrate Hanukkah from December 25th to January 2nd this year by preparing Latkes and playing a game of Dreidel with chocolate gold coins!
Afterall, we live in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-cultural world. With globalization accelerating in the past decades, we're not just citizens of our own country and culture, but citizens of the world. In order to interact, understand, and work with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures, we need to first lean into their culture and listen to the stories of their people. So that their stories become our story and our stories become one story.
Plus, it's just so fun and awesome to learn about different cultural celebrations by eating good fun and playing cool games.
So while you have your iconic Hallmark Christmas movie in the background, why not find a Latke recipe, make some dumplings, prepare some pomegranates, and read about the stories behind these beautiful and diverse winter holidays.