By Matthew Laurrie
Features Assignment Editor
While many Bonaventure students are anxiously counting down the days until Christmas on their Advent calendars, other students from different spiritual backgrounds are observing ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ with their own religious customs.
Waheed Ameen, a senior journalism and mass communication major, has practiced Islam his entire life. Ameen said Ramadan, a month-long observance where Muslims reflect on their spiritual lives, sometimes falls around Christmastime, although the exact dates vary based on the Islamic calendar. During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating and drinking during the day, and some Muslims even choose not to listen to music or watch TV, according to Ameen.
“Ramadan is usually referred to as the holiest month on the Islamic calendar and, for a month, Muslims are expected to fast from sun up to sun down to show their devotion to God,” Ameen said. “Christians usually see Christmas as the holiest day, and Muslims see Ramadan as the holiest month.”
Ameen said he and his family still partake in Christian-based traditions around the holidays since some of his other relatives celebrate Christmas.
“I have relatives that are Christians, so sometimes we’ll go to their house, even though we don’t celebrate,” he said. “We’ll celebrate it with them.”
Ameen said although his religious beliefs differ from those typically celebrated at Bonaventure, he has received an interesting perspective on Christian faith from attending school here.
“I actually like the lights and Christmas cards and stockings – it puts me in a good mood,” Ameen said. “Even though I don’t celebrate, I really like being around it. We take Cath/Fran classes. I still attend church for class, and it’s pretty interesting – it’s not like it’s against our religion. I now have a better understanding of the Catholic and Franciscan faith, so it’s pretty cool. It’s nice to learn about other religions.”
Ruby Shah, freshman biology major, practices Hinduism and said the Hindu equivalent to Christmas is Diwali, a four-day festival that focuses on the goodness of life.
“Diwali is the celebration of lights,” Shah said. “One of the main aspects is lighting up the house with lights, and fireworks and meeting up with family.”
Shah said many Diwali traditions are akin to some Christmas customs.
“It’s kind of similar to Christmas in the sense that we exchange gifts, and we meet up with family,” she said. “Around the time of Christmas though, we don’t really celebrate, but we do exchange gifts just because it’s part of the American culture now.”
Simone Bernstein, on the other hand, was born and raised in the Jewish faith. Like almost all Jewish individuals, Bernstein celebrates Hanukkah, an eight-day holiday that takes place annually in November or December to commemorate the rededication of the Holy Temple, a sacred Jewish structure.
“You light a menorah every night during Hanukkah, which is a celebration of lights,” Bernstein, an altruism and social entrepreneurship major, said. “You light a candle for each night of Hanukkah and then typically you have a variety of different (foods), you also play with a dreidel and have chocolate gelt. Also very similar to Christmas, you do get gifts, or at least most families do give them out to their children.”
Bernstein said she noticed retailers in Olean prepare differently for the holiday season than her hometown of St. Louis, MO.
“When I go into Walmart, especially in Olean, there’s very few elements of Judaism, as opposed to when I’m home and go into a Walmart,” Bernstein said. “I think with Olean being a small town with a very small population of Jews, it makes it harder to find some Jewish elements that I can easily find when I’m at home.”
Bernstein reflected on some of her family’s favorite traditions, which include making latkes (potato pancakes) together and attending synagogue.
“Doing things you did when you were younger, and doing them again now as a college student really brings about a lot of fond memories,” she said.
Although St. Bonaventure is prized for being a Catholic and Franciscan University, Bernstein said she feels the campus community has always embraced all belief systems.
“The entire campus makes being of a different religion so amazing, because they really try to include everyone and there I still feel that this campus has made it very inclusive for us to celebrate our holidays and our traditions,” Bernstein said.
