They aren’t Christian, but they love Christmas. Here’s how they celebrate | 24CA News

Twinkling lights, the scent of pine, and a heat hug by a mug with scorching chocolate — these are simply a few of the issues that make Christmas.

While it has its roots in Christianity, the season to be jolly has been nicely beloved even by these with different faiths and ideologies.

Rizwan Sayani, of Waterloo, Ont., is Muslim, however has been celebrating Christmas together with his spouse and their two kids for about seven years. He mentioned they arrange a Christmas tree, put up lights and wrap presents.

“My seven-year-old daughter Raina gets really excited when it’s Christmas time,” he mentioned.

“She starts singing Christmas carols all over the all over the school and all over the house and everything. Just the joy that she gets from it really, really shines in the house.”

That Christmas pleasure has additionally touched Jayanti Dabhere, a Waterloo resident who has been celebrating Christmas for about 12 years along with her husband, Amol Patil, although they had been each raised Hindu.

“This is just our second Christmas in Canada,” Dabhere mentioned.

“Just wanting to be involved and a part of a larger celebration is what prompted us to celebrate Christmas in the first place. We have already noticed that we feel so much more a part of community when we celebrate Canadian festivals. So that’s what attracted us to do it.”

For Dabhere, Christmas has at all times been extra about love, kindness and sharing time with household — concepts that resonate with individuals irrespective of their faith.

Dabhere and Patil mentioned they began adorning someday in November. They additionally get pleasure from driving round, admiring the best way the lights and decorations their neighbours have put up for Christmas.

Carmen Che, one other Waterloo resident, mentioned her mother and father are Taiwanese immigrants who solely began celebrating Christmas as a result of she and her sister actually wished to.

“When my sister and I were young, my parents would humour us and get a real tree every year. But after a while, they started getting tired of all the fussing around,” Che mentioned.

“But even after that, my sister and I would still take all the ornaments that we already had and just decorate the staircases. It was part of wanting to fit in with the community. We didn’t want to miss out on the on the festive spirit with something that we grew up with.”

She mentioned she grew up in a neighbourhood the place individuals didn’t share one frequent religion, so Christmas was a possibility to have fun one thing with group members.

Che mentioned with out ever enthusiastic about it — or aspiring to do it — she has woven within the tradition and traditions she realized from her Taiwanese mother and father into the best way she celebrates Christmas. One of the most recent ornaments on her Christmas tree this yr is a fortunate cat, often known as the maneki-neko.

“To me, it represents my heritage. It represents the Chinese culture I had growing up,” she mentioned. “It’s also meant to be a symbol of luck and fortune. It’s cute and it has all the right colours.”

She mentioned taking part in Christmas celebrations as a baby was a approach for her and her sister to really feel part of the bigger Canadian tradition round them.

Mixing household traditions with Christmas can be very intentional for Sayani.

His two youngsters have grown up celebrating Christmas alongside Salgirah, which comes round yearly on Dec. 13. Salgirah is a vacation celebrated by Ismaili Muslims to commemorate the birthday of their religious chief, Mawlana Hazar Imam.

“I’m really hoping she keeps the tradition of Salgirah and Christmas and invites both cultures like having a nice family dinner and also helping people,” he mentioned, referring to his daughter Raina. “I’m really hoping that she continues that tradition even 20 years down the road.”

He mirrored on how Raina’s childhood Christmas recollections will likely be very totally different from his.

“Growing up, we never celebrated Christmas at all. We thought it was like, you know, just whatever, it’s another holiday, another free day off,” he mentioned. ” I think now having that openness [around celebrating Christmas] has just really brought cultural awareness to everyone.

“It’s not that she’s going to neglect her tradition. She’s at all times going to recollect. But not less than now she will be able to incorporate each features of it.”