Harbor School celebrates year-end holidays, by Nathan Weiser

PS 676 hosted a December Family Fun Night / Holidays Around the World event on December 19 with dancing and holiday activities.

In the auditorium, there were two dances by the dance team performed to holiday songs that talked about Christmas and Hanukkah. The students were wearing festive shirts with snowflakes on them.

After the performances, the students, teachers and parents went into the cafeteria for the celebration of holidays around the world.

There were six different holidays around the world celebrated. Students led activities that happen in conjunction with these holidays and helped choose and find out information about the holidays leading up to the event.

Parent Coordinator Marie Hueston told us that the school’s Future is Inclusive Club researched holidays around the world with their adviser, paraprofessional Michael Hisry. They helped to plan and facilitate the different holiday activity stations in the cafeteria.

The students discovered that eating KFC is a Christmas tradition in Japan, which led to KFC sponsoring the food at the event. The students had chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and biscuits.

Another holiday that was featured was Dongji. It’s the traditional Korean festival of the changing season. This festival takes place on the winter solstice.

Traditionally, danpatijuk is eaten during Dongji. It’s a sweet red bean porridge, and it’s said that the color scares away ghosts.

Another table was Peruvian themed. There was Paneton, which is the sweet bread that is traditionally eaten on Christmas, as well as hot chocolate.

A very colorful table featured the Juankanoo holiday that is celebrated with dance and music in the Bahamas from December 26 to January 1. It’s a celebration of Bahamian freedom, culture and history.

The Kwanzaa table featured a  student explaining the significance of the unity cup, which is traditionally filled with water, grape juice or wine. It is passed around to family and guests who each will take a sip, raise the cup and say “Harambee,” meaning “let’s pull together.”

Kwanzaa is a celebration of Black culture, African heritage and unity. It lasts seven days from December 26 through January 1 and each day is dedicated to a principle that is reflected on and celebrated. It often involves the lighting of candles.

There was a table dedicated to Hanukkah, which is the Jewish festival of lights.

The students made latkes (potato pancakes) and there was gelt on the table. There were dreidels on the table for people to play.

At another table students wrote letters to trans people. These were sent through an organization called Repair the World, which sends letters around the country.

The instructions were to choose a material and then to write the card while being as creative as you’d like but to not add personal information.

A student organized the letter writing and found Repair the World through research. One letter said: “Think like a proton and stay positive.”

For dessert there were homemade Pizzelle (traditional Italian waffle cookie), pastries from Monteleone and pumpkin pie.