Students celebrate Spring Holidays: Q and A

Oliker Konopko Staff Writer

Passover (Rose Korff (10)):

Q: How are you celebrating/observing the holiday and with whom?

A: “[On] Wednesday and Thursday night, my immediate family, grandparents, and cousins had seders at my grandparents’ house. The seder starts after sundown and it’s usually pretty long. We took turns reading the Hebrew and the story of Passover, and we had a big meal. There are also some fun songs we sing after. Then, until [next] Thursday night, we’re not eating any food that’s not kosher for Passover, which is eating any food that rises and is the hardest part of Passover. Sometimes you’ll be walking around the city and smell something good and you just can’t eat it. ”

Q: What is the meaning of this holiday to you?

A: “This holiday is important because of the history that it represents for the Jewish people. The story of being enslaved in Egypt - it’s important to remember that story. It’s also just a time when I’m all together with my family, because even though they all live in the city, we don’t get together that much … During Passover, we share the story of our shared ancestry and pass our culture to the next generations.”

Ramadan(Mikail Akbar (12)):

Q: How are you celebrating/observing the holiday and with whom?

A: “Ramadan is a very important month for me, my family, and Muslims across the world. Muslims not only abstain from food and drink, but we also try to improve our consciousness of God through increased prayer, reading the Quran, giving charity, and in general doing good deeds. One way that I really like celebrating Ramadan is by going to the mosque. Every day we break our fast together, and we have a free meal that’s sponsored by someone in the mosque. I’m able to see a lot of people who I don’t usually see during the year, and it’s great to build community with my fellow Muslims.”

Q: What is the meaning of this holiday to you?

A: “ Ramadan is a month of getting closer to God. All of the things that we do, such as increased worship, increased charity, and abstinence from food and drink, are all ways of getting closer to the religion. During most of the year, we don’t have the same level of connection with God.”

Easter(Jacob Meltzer(10)):

Q: How are you celebrating/observing the holiday, and with whom?

A: “I celebrated the holiday with my family and some of my extended family by going to my grandma’s house in Rhode Island the night before and then waking up and going to church. My grandma also makes us a really good breakfast in the morning..”

Q: What is the meaning of this holiday to you?

A: “I am Christian but not super religious. I think, to me, this holiday is a nice chance to get together with family and make memories with some of my cousins and my grandparents … My cousins live in Rhode Island, so I don’t see them very often, really only for the holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. It’s one of the chances each year I get to see them, and it’s always really nice”

Q: What is your favorite tradition?

A: “There’s always the afikomen, but that’s not particular to one family. Everybody does it, but everybody has different traditions regarding it. So, usually, we have the parents hide it, and then the kids find it, but then sometimes the little kids hide it, and we [the teenagers] find it … Another almost-unspoken tradition in my family is all of the kids trying to read the section about the wise son and then laughing at the person who reads about the evil son. ”

Q: What is your favorite food for this holiday and why?

A: “There’s so many good foods, so I love my grandma’s brisket and then matzah ball soup. My aunt makes a homemade matzah ball soup, not from a mix, and she puts [in] all the vegetables, and it takes hours. It’s super, super delicious. I also eat matzah pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner–lots of pizza. I eat it year-round too.”

Q: What is your favorite tradition?

A: “Every day during Ramadan, we have what’s called iftar, where everyone in the mosque breaks their fast together. So, my siblings and I like to come early to the mosque and help with volunteering. My fellow youth volunteers and I have fun organizing the dining hall, distributing the food, and cleaning up afterwards.”

Q: What is your favorite food for this holiday and why?

A: “One great thing about Islam, in general, is that it’s a global religion because there are adherents from all around the world. So, almost every day in the mosque, when someone sponsors Iftar, we eat foods from different cuisines. One day I may have Bengali food, or American food like burgers and fries. Arab, African, and Eastern European food is also very common. Many Muslims and I would agree that the best food to eat during Ramadan are dates. The tradition of eating dates goes all the way back to Prophet Muhammad because he always broke his fast with dates.”

Q: What is your favorite tradition?

A: “Growing up, I used to love the egg hunt I would do with my family, and when my sister was younger, we’d do it together with my other cousins my age … And now, as I’m older, I like getting to paint the eggs and hide them, and then watching my younger cousins have a really good time with it.”

Q: What is your favorite food for this holiday and why?

A: “I have a lot of Italian family from my mom’s side, like my grandmother. She makes a lot of Italian, breakfast-style foods. She’ll make this toasted bread and put ricotta cheese on it and honey, which, when I first tried it a few years ago, I thought it would be really disgusting, but it’s really good.”