A Season for Everyone: Honoring Winter’s Many Traditions
Written by: John "Jack" Hesser
In schools, the winter season often gets wrapped up in the Christmas imagery of trees, gifts, and carols. But our classrooms are filled with students who celebrate a wide range of traditions: each one has stories, symbols, and meanings worth sharing. Instead of avoiding holiday celebrations altogether, my middle school media students and I decided to approach them differently.
The slippery slope of anything holiday-themed in schools often comes from a genuine desire to avoid causing unintentional harm. While I think that’s an incredibly noble instinct, completely sidestepping the holidays and pretending they don’t exist in our students’ lives can feel disingenuous at best and invalidating at worst. Holidays and traditions matter deeply to our students and their families, and schools have a powerful opportunity to uplift and educate our communities through the ways we acknowledge and honor them.
Last year, our media classes created a special project to highlight winter holidays celebrated around the world. Students researched and produced short video features on Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Christmas, Three Kings Day, and even the Winter Solstice! Each video aired as part of our daily announcements, our public YouTube page, and was shared across classrooms, sparking conversations and connections among students and staff.
The project wasn’t about replacing Christmas—it was about widening the lens to include everyone. Students learned not only how to research and produce a story, but also how to represent others with care and accuracy. Many found pride in sharing their own traditions, while others discovered holidays they’d never heard of before. What started as a media assignment quickly became an exercise in empathy and belonging.
“What started as a media assignment quickly became an exercise in empathy and belonging.”
When students see their own cultures represented and learn about those of their peers, it transforms the classroom into a space where everyone feels seen. Our winter holiday series reminded our school community that celebration looks different for everyone, and that diversity is what makes the season so meaningful.
Our culminating project was a winter holiday display created by students. It featured the many celebrations they had researched or personally observed, and we invited all students and staff to contribute. Opening it up to the entire school made the display richer, the impact deeper, and the sense of ownership stronger.
As we enter this year’s holiday season, we’re expanding the project even further, inviting students to interview family members, explore local traditions, and reflect on what celebration means to them personally. In doing so, we continue to build an inclusive community—one story, one holiday, and one student voice at a time.
“Holidays and traditions matter deeply to our students and their families, and schools have a powerful opportunity to uplift and educate our communities through the ways we acknowledge and honor them.”
Getting Started
If you’re considering something similar in your school, start small and focus on stories. A single class, club, or advisory group can research and share features on different holidays through announcements, hallway displays, or short student-led presentations. What matters most is that the work feels authentic and student-driven. As students take ownership of learning about and representing traditions, whether their own or someone else’s, they begin to see diversity not as a topic to study, but as a strength to celebrate.
Projects like these don’t require special equipment or a media background; they simply need a space where curiosity and inclusion are valued. By making time to highlight the many ways people celebrate, schools send a powerful message: every student’s story belongs here.
Resources
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