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Community Corner

Holiday Traditions: How We Celebrate in Alameda

Islanders from different backgrounds talk about their winter holiday traditions.

It's holiday season in Alameda. As the days grow shorter and the air colder, holidays such as Diwali, Hanukah, Muharram, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Epiphany fill the calendar.

Patch asked a few Alamedans to talk about the holidays they celebrate and share some of their traditions.

Anitha Sastry: Diwali, the festival of lights, is really special to our family. My kids wake up early in the morning, get showered, and start by eating a special Indian sweet such as kheer (rice pudding) or jelabi that I make special for Diwali. We wear new clothes, new saris, and light festive lamps on the front porch. On Diwali, we worship the goddess Lakshmi devi, and say prayers for health, wealth and prosperity.

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I grew up in India and loved celebrating Diwali as a child. We'd go to the mall and pick our own fireworks — there are many different kinds and we did not have restrictions in India. The houses would be decorated with festive clay lamps and sweets would be unlimited.

Melanie Morash: I come from a Jewish family. I would describe my family as cultural Jews who enjoy the festival meals, songs and rituals of Jewish heritage. I guess you could call me a matzoh ball Jew.

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I will be flying home to spend time with my family in New York for Hanukah. I'm sure we will light the menorah and make potato pancakes (latkes). My mother loves to sing, so we will be singing lots and lots of Hebrew songs together.

A Christmas-time, we will fly to New Hampshire to spend the holiday with my husband's family. My husband and I consider ourselves very spiritual people without a connection to one religion. We want to raise our daughter to do good deeds and be a moral person with integrity who feels pride in giving to her community.

Erinn Larsen: I come from a really big family. For Christmas, 70 of us fly in from all over the country and gather at my uncle's house in Massachusetts. We'll eat pierogi, a Polish pastry filled with meat. This year we ordered about 15 dozen from a local church. We get together and the kids sing and we exchange small presents and celebrate with family. 

Kriste Falkner: We have a lot of Christmas traditions. Our Christmas clock starts 99 days before Christmas, so the countdown starts in September. Christmas is my favorite holiday because I love, love, love the decorations!  (Check out the video of what Falkner calls her bubble tree — one of ten that she decorates in her home.) We go to the Ritz Carlton for the Teddy Bear Tea, and we also go to the Christmas Revel, a solstice celebration at the Scottish Rite Temple in Oakland. And I've always been crazy about the Nutcracker, so the fact that one of my daughters actually dances in it now is really fun. And we go to Christmas Eve Mass. Every year we get Christmas PJs and everyone has to wear them, even the dog!

When my kids were really, really little, we'd go outside and sprinkle reindeer food on the yard. Reindeer food is basically oatmeal, glitter and Cheerios. We were shocked that they wanted to do it again this year since they are 14 and 11 years old. It doesn't stop!

Edith Cortez: When I was growing up in southern California, I enjoyed Las Posadas. For nine days before Christmas Day, we would go from house to house. At each house, the host of the day would invite us in to celebrate the birth of Christ with singing and candles. There would be tamales and special drinks like chomporrada. When my boys were little here in Alameda, we would do the same with a group of families. The children would play with the Nativity sets and make special decorations. On Christmas Eve, they would place the baby Jesus in the manger and we would end with a piñata filled with candy.

We go to Midnight Mass at St. Joe's every year. And both the boys are hoping to serve as altar boys at the Christmas Masses.

For my kids, Dia de Los Reyes or Three Kings Day on Jan. 6 is the day for gifts more than Christmas Day. We also serve Rosca de Reyes, which is a bread that has a little figurine of baby Jesus baked into it. The person who got the piece with the baby Jesus in it would be the host for the next Christmas party.

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