Imagine celebrating some sort of holiday every month of the school year. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

There are plenty of different religious holidays to choose from, including Diwali, a Hindu festival; Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday; Ramadan, an Islamic holiday; Christmas, a Christian holiday; and more. What if each of these holidays were celebrated at Day Creek?

The benefits of honoring more religious holidays

Many schools only commemorate certain holidays like Christmas and Halloween, but there are plenty of others that could be added to our calendar.

“[More religious holidays should be celebrated] because it is very important for us to know the cultures that people come from. Then people will be treated fairly and it will be nice for people to understand each other,” said Steven S.

Celebrating religious holidays can provide others with a better background of each other’s cultures and traditions, which might give people a richer insight into students across campus.

“I think religious holidays should be celebrated because everybody should feel included. Everybody wants to fit in [at] school,” said Zeynep O.

Everybody has their own opinions about different religions and beliefs, and some don’t understand much beyond their own experiences. If different holidays were celebrated, people might learn and understand the purpose of other faiths. This experience could be shared between different communities on campus.

Benefits of not celebrating more religious holidays

On the other hand, religion isn’t like studying history. If students were forced to celebrate the religious beliefs of others, it might violate their own.

“I don’t think we should [have to celebrate]. It’s our religion, [everybody] has different religious beliefs,” said Brooke B.

Forcing students to celebrate or go against their religious beliefs, could cause problems with students and teachers alike.

“I [wouldn’t want to force] it, because I have a freedom of belief. I should have my own right to say what I want to. You can’t have other people change what you think,” said Shreya P.

Because everyone has their own beliefs and thoughts, forcing religious holidays upon others comes with significant risk.

Compromise between two worlds

Could there be a happy medium between both sides?

“[Religious holidays] can be celebrated, but I don’t think [students] should be forced to be celebrated. If [people] want to celebrate their religion, like not eating during the day, the school shouldn’t be forcing students [to do it],” said Dean D.

Religious celebrations come with unique methods of celebration and invite different opinions on their objects of worship. Yet, sharing these opinions and learning more about different religious holidays could change your perspective of other cultures and people beliefs.

“I think it should be optional, where whoever wants to learn can learn, and whoever doesn’t want to, it’s okay. I think it’s important because you can’t really judge someone about their religion until you learn more about it,” said Youssef T.

Whether people celebrate them or not, religious holidays are ways to connect with others and are important to people’s daily lives.

“[It’s good to celebrate religious holidays] because it brings people together to celebrate. So [it brings about] good community,” said Nick A.