'Tis The Season

A collection of quotes from Katies about their holiday experiences.

By Jade Fehlen

The holiday season—filled with family, friends and cheer—can be a time of joy while we take a step back from our everyday troubles. Though the various holidays that take place annually around this time of year may seem different, they share commonalities that unite them. To gather a range of opinions on “the most wonderful time of the year,” I asked several Katies for their opinions—and this is what they had to say.

Q: What does the winter holiday season mean to you? 

Maimuna Kolley ‘25 (Fashion Design): “[The winter holiday season] does not mean anything to me because we didn’t celebrate Christmas where I grew up. We celebrated New Year’s, so that’s fun to me—we’d go out to dinner and we’d have hunting—but in terms of the holiday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, I don’t care. We don’t celebrate it, so it doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Najma Ali ‘26 (Undecided):  “I basically grew up in Minnesota, so wintertime is so fun. I love the snow. I like the winter, I like the family, cozy stuff—my parents get days off, I get days off. It’s a really good time to bond with families. For me, being a Muslim person, it’s not about the holidays, but more of the family, friends and being together.”

Abbey Haveman ‘26 (Psychology): “My family is spread into all corners of the country, so being able to come together during holidays is nice. We have a bunch of traditions for Christmas that as a kid were really fun, and looking back as an adult are really fun to remember.”

Melanie Vang ‘26 (Business Administration): “The winter holiday season is so fun. I think that is why it’s so many people’s favorite. I really love winter activities and the lights and snow. Having Christmas just makes things pretty and fun. To me, it’s not a religious holiday, but it’s a really fun and enjoyable time of the year.”

Fia Vanderlan ‘26 (English): “I really love the winter holiday season! Music is one of the most important parts of the holiday season, besides family, decorations, food and gifts. Music is important because it sets the mood and brings up old happy memories. Every holiday season I make a new Christmas playlist and (for the past seven years except for this year) have played ‘Sleigh Ride’ in band/orchestra.” 

What other holidays do you celebrate, and what do they mean to you?

Kolley: “I celebrate the New Year’s. I also celebrate Eid, which is after Ramadan, and then two months after you have the second Eid. The first one, we celebrate at the ending of Ramadan, and we go to the mosque and pray, then go back home and eat and celebrate with family. The second Eid we kill our sheep, and then you eat the sheep, and you pray, too. I haven’t been to prayer since I got here. All I do is just go and eat at my aunt’s house. It doesn’t hit the same. And then you get money. Well, for us, you get money. That’s a Gambian tradition. The easiest way to explain it is trick or treating, but instead of getting candy, you get money. [When we ate,] “my mom would take out all the good plates, all the good cutlery, put in new sheets, new drapes. And then we’d have guests over, and all the good food would come out. [We also have] this independence thing where a lot of people would meet in the national stadium and we’d have a march and wave to the president. He was a little bit of a dictator, so it was a little much, but yeah. We celebrate the Prophet’s birthday, too. My mom cooks food and then we give it out to charity. We cook food and then we go out to the mosque where people experiencing homelessness are, and give them food. [Here,] People wish you ‘Happy Thanksgiving,’ or ‘Merry Christmas,’ but if I was outside and someone said ‘Eid Mubarak,’ I would stop and stare. I haven’t gotten that since before I came here. It’s different because back home, everyone acknowledges it. Even the people who aren’t Muslim, they get into it. It’s the same here, when you guys have Christmas, everyone’s sharing in the Christmas joy, right?”

Ali: “[I celebrate Eid, but] one thing I’ve been really disappointed about Eid here vs in Yemen, which is a majority Muslim nation, is there’s a difference. Here, it’s not the same. In Yemen, you wake up as a community, and before the day everybody gets ready, everyone wears their best clothes. And then the whole town would go do henna together, all the girls in the village would come to two houses and you would do henna for free, no money. The fasting hurts, but the cooking together as a family, it’s special. No seriously, you cook and cook and cook. It’s big pots of cooking. I just love it, it’s that sense of community. You don’t have to worry about the money or anything. It’s [different here] because you walk out the door and you’re the only person who knows it’s Eid. I like my Independence Days too, because Somalis go hard for their Independence Days.” 

Vang: “The last ‘holiday’ I would say is Hmong New Year. I wouldn’t say it’s a ‘holiday,’ but it’s a year-round tradition, so I guess it is. In the Hmong culture it’s a time to bring your spirit from the current year to the next. Spiritually, we do a ritual every year in late November. There’s also the Hmong New Year at the RiverCentre downtown, where people come and dress up, sell Hmong clothing and accessories, food, dance competitions and talent shows. It’s just a fun part of the year to hang out for two days. It’s always the weekend after Thanksgiving.”

Vanderlan: “I usually have Thanksgiving (or as some people call it, ‘Thankstaking’) with the Native side of my family,” Vanderlan says. “I would describe it as a ‘normal’ Thanksgiving with a turkey, stuffing and everything else. I think that it is interesting that no one ever brings up the real story behind Thanksgiving. [As far as other holidays,] in Grand Portage Reservation, Minn., every second weekend in August we celebrate the ‘rendezvous’ between the fur traders and Ojibwe in the area during the late 1700s. Over 100 fur trade reenactors pretend that it is the rendezvous while Grand Portage Reservation has their powwow. This past Rendezvous Days, I jingle danced in the powwow (jingle dress dancing originated with the Ojibwe) and worked at the Grand Portage National Monument as an interpretive ranger (reenactor). Every Rendezvous Days, the entire Native side of my family travels up to Grand Portage and we have a family reunion, they get a personal tour of Grand Portage National Monument (by me), we eat fry bread and–most importantly–we go to the powwow. 

Are the holidays important to you? Why? 

Kolley: “The holidays are a time of peace, happiness and togetherness, however corny that may sound.”

Ali: “Every holiday in every religion is about being together. It gives someone a sense of belonging.” 

Vanderlan: “Holidays are a time to remember people and histories and to be with your family. It is also nice to get a day off of work or school.”

Vang: “It’s a part of someone’s culture, even if there isn’t a religious tie or meaning. It’s a time where people and strangers can bond and build relationships.”

No matter the holiday, they all have an undeniable power. They have the power to bring us together, to unite and to bring joy.