Christmas is about giving back to your loved ones and, while many people around the world celebrate Christmas, not everyone celebrates it in the same way. Religions vary in how they celebrate this time of year.

One of the worlds largest religions is Christianity, with the number of adherents being around 2.2 billion. According to BBC, the birth of Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God, marks His day of birth as Christmas. Churches often sing cheery Christmas carols. Many people give and receive presents as an action to remember the gift of Jesus, the son of God, beginning his earthly life. Another thing Christians is to prepare for the commemoration of the birth of Jesus in a celebration called advent. This allows them to count the days until Christmas begins. People can buy one of the advent calendars at the store but sometimes the churches they attend have an advent wreath where it contains 5 candles, “one for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas day and one for the day itself.” BBC.

Hinduism, one of the third largest religions practiced in the world with an estimated 900 million adherents, celebrate Diwali. This can be interpreted as “row of lights”. Diwali is celebrated towards the beginning of November. This is a five-day festival that honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Stores, houses, and public areas are decorated with small oil lamps called “diyas,” which are lit to help the goddess, Lakshmi, find her way into people’s homes and businesses. In India, some Hindus will have their windows and doors open so that Lakshmi can come inside. This celebration embraces the good overcoming evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. However, the legends are different in other parts of India.

A very important celebration to Muslims is Ramadan. The Islamic calendar is different so, Ramadan happens to be the ninth month of it. Those who participate in it will fast during the hours of sunlight. So, for example, if sunrise is at five thirty in the morning and sundown is at nine pm, that’s the time they will not be consuming any amounts of food or water. During this time, Muslims will attempt to give up any and all of their bad habits and be a better Muslim. Some reasons for this practice is because it teaches self- discipline, and generosity. Suffering is part of the teaching process because it gives those who are financially able and can eat a meal every day an experience as to how the poorer cannot because they can’t afford it. Towards the end of Ramadan, Eid ul Fitr is celebrated. Eid ul Fitr is the festival where the fast is being broken. Muslims thank Allah -which is Arabic for God- for helping them get through the month while fasting and is a time of forgiveness. Muslims will wear the finest clothes they own and will spend time with their family and friends. They will also give back to the children. A must for them is giving money to those in need so that they can have something to eat and be able to celebrate with everyone else.

Religion definitely affects the way people celebrate holidays, and that’s totally okay. We should just inform ourselves about it because not everyone celebrates the same thing and we all have different beliefs, which we should at the very least mutually respect.