[intro]
JOHN KOWALSKI: This time of year sees many of us at our most festive.
KRISHNA KUMAR: While we were getting into the holiday mindset, we grew curious about how Northwestern students experience this season of festivities.
KOWALSKI: So, we went out and asked our fellow students what traditions they partake in.
KUMAR: Many Wildcats have their own cultures they celebrate:
ROHIT KIRAN: OK, well, I, yeah, I was gonna talk about probably Diwali.
KOWALSKI: That was Weinberg freshman Rohit Kiran. He elaborated on his experiences with the Festival of Lights:
KIRAN: I just, we, every single year, you know, my family and I, I guess I didn’t do it this year, unfortunately, but we would always go and light candles and we’d use, we’d use a lot of fake candles because we didn’t, we didn’t want to create fire hazards, but we would, we, we would light a few candles, we’d take a lot of photos. My mom would do a lot of decorations in front of our front door, which was always super fun and it was always a little interesting.
KUMAR: Margaret Zhang, a freshman majoring in economics and international studies, shared a little bit about Chinese New Year.
MARGARET ZHANG: Well, like I don’t usually, I’m here so I’m not usually in China, so it’s, like, not that big of a celebration, but you always have to, like, write your elders like good wishes and stuff like that, so I have to, like, compose a long message on WeChat. But, like, usually if you are, like back in, like, mainland China, like it was like more celebrated then you’ll have like a break and then there’s just like a lot of like gatherings and the people like to watch this like annual show, which is really fun and so like sometimes I would watch that but like here it’s mostly like I have to like just text my elders and and kind of commemorate that, yeah.
KOWALSKI: And Josuke Takashima, Weinberg freshman and international student, told us about his favorite holiday traditions back home.
JOSUKE TAKASHIMA: Oh, [it] might be New Year holiday in Japan, because, in Japan, we always eat, like, Japanese traditional food for like the first three days of January. And yeah, and my mother always, like, cooked, cooked them for two or three days. And yeah, so it’s kind of [a] big event for us and so every, all my family and, and relatives come to, come to this one place and we talk with each other and eat delicious Japanese traditional food. Yeah, it’s kind of, like, really warm. Like, atmosphere and it’s so like rare, rare opportunities for us to, like, meet each, meet in the same place, in one place. Yeah, so it’s very important traditional holidays for me.
KUMAR: Though this season is home to major celebrations from cultures across the globe, not all students engage with those specific holiday practices.
KOWALSKI: Here’s Medill sophomore Yanyan Li:
YANYAN LI: I really like buying Christmas gifts for my family. I think it’s a really fun way to, like, go out and do something and also think about helping others and how to make them happy. {0:18-0:38}
KUMAR: And some things are universal human experiences:
AVA SIU: Probably going out in the snow and playing with my dogs.
KOWALSKI: For WNUR News, I’m John Kowalski
KUMAR: … and I’m Krishna Kumar.
[outro]
