Professors are wrapping up their lectures and students are rushing towards the end of the semester with holiday bonfires hovering in the background. While students are preparing for the academic Olympiad, they are also engaging in cultural and religious winter vacations.
Queen’s has around 300 student-run clubs on campus, many of which allow students to meet peers from a common cultural and religious background. These clubs organize fun socials and events, offering students a space to celebrate their holidays at Queen’s.
newspapers interviewed four students from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds to gain a greater understanding of how students practice their holiday traditions outside the home.
Sydney-Savannah Joseph-Libstug, ArtSci ’24, explained how she reconciled her Christian and Jewish religious background with her Caribbean cultural background at Queen’s. In an interview with newspaper, she described herself as Catholic and said her father’s side is Jewish, so she tends to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukah.
She said events like Christmas are times when her extended family comes together. Much of her family comes from outside Canada from places like the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, where her parents are from. So she normally has a lot of people staying at her house during the holiday season.
At Christmas dinner, her family shares what they are thankful for and makes large portions of food together. On Christmas Day, they open presents and have a “really big breakfast” with about 15 to 20 people milling in and out of the house. Joseph-Libstug said this family environment is valuable because it gives her a space to have lots of people to play games with.
Speaking about her second year at Queen’s, she said she didn’t have the best opportunity to engage in holiday-related university culture because, around the time, “Covid[-19] it was getting too big again.”
In her first year, COVID-19 had an even bigger negative impact on her approach to the holidays.
“There wasn’t much of anything,” she said. “I haven’t really seen what kind of community Queen’s can offer at Christmas and times like that. So that would be great to see.”
Joseph-Libstug also said, as a science student, she had exams until December 23 last year. She said it was particularly difficult to have exams so close to Christmas Day because, during this period, she usually has many family events starting at home.
She said she found it difficult to cope with the stress of exams amid wanting to be at home with her family. She was also unfamiliar with many Catholic organizations at Queen’s, due to the pandemic.
“Usually [the exam period] it comes at a time when my family events are starting to happen so it can be difficult. It can be a very stressful time,” she said.
This fall, classes end on December 5th and exams run from December 8th to 22nd.
Emily Lackie, head of campus media for Queen’s Hillel, also spoke about the difficulty of writing exams during religious holidays – especially because Queen’s semester breaks do not coincide with minority religious holidays.
Lackie identifies as Jewish and practices her religion on campus, away from her home in Toronto. She has lived in Kingston for the past three years and enjoys going to Jewish events hosted by Queen’s Hillel.
“It’s really nice to have a band to celebrate,” she said in an interview with Newspaper.
She also likes to FaceTime her parents on Friday evenings to light the candles, say their blessings and celebrate the Sabbath. Shabbat is Judaism’s day of rest and can be celebrated beginning with a blessing called Kiddush.
In addition to these individual practices, Lackie shares her religion with her roommate; they light the candles of their menorah saying the blessings together during Hanukkah.
“It’s hard to do everything when you’re away from home because there are so many other responsibilities with school and learning to be independent,” she said. “I love having someone from my cultural background carry on my traditions with me.”
Last year, Lackie couldn’t go home for Passover, so she had her own Seder. The Seder is a ritual meal eaten at the beginning of Passover, often in the family home or in larger groups within the community.
In her efforts to bridge the gap between her religious traditions and her life at Queen’s, separated from her family and home, Lackie practices her religion when she can. However, she said these obstacles she faces are not limited to Judaism.
“I think anyone who’s part of a minority culture is likely to run into barriers in terms of scheduling classes, exams, that sort of thing.”
Like Joseph-Libstug, she has faced hurdles with exam scheduling. She added that some of these obstacles are more pronounced during the winter season since these exams usually take place during Judaism’s biggest holiday: Passover.
Lackie also knows that many people from different cultural backgrounds face similar issues and recognizes the difficulties of having a single schedule to accommodate every single holiday.
“Inevitably there will be overlap when the classes are and some people will struggle with that schedule,” she said.
If there are religious observances on the day of an exam, students may submit an accommodation that postpones their exam to another day.
These requests are submitted to the Faith and Spiritual Life Religious Accommodation website, which contains a multi-faith calendar and accommodation information. The site notes that there is a deadline for religious accommodation requests and defines a religious observance as a holy day observed by a member of a particular faith where they are not expected to work.
If the accommodation goes through, the University reassigns them at the earliest possible date.
Despite these obstacles to celebrating Judaism during the academic term, Lackie said Hillel has given her the opportunity to engage with a Jewish community on campus.
“I love hearing other people’s perspectives on the holidays […] I like that there is a change in the types of events.”
She mentioned a cooking event in which students make latkes together, eat Hannukah food, and gather together in a relaxed way. She said these events allow people who don’t regularly practice Judaism to go to events and connect with people in their community.
“The Jewish community is very diverse. There is something for anyone who wants to access some part of their Jewish heritage.”
Humna Siddigqui and Mayy Mounib, co-presidents of the Queen’s Muslim Students Association (QUMSA), also said newspapers about the events they hold at Queen’s, and the importance of holidays such as Eid, providing an insight into Islamic traditions at Queen’s.
Before Eid, Muslim students have a month of fasting from sunrise to sunset called Ramadan. This can be difficult for students because it is usually a time when Muslims gather and spend time with their families. It is also a time when they can feel more empathetic towards less fortunate communities who do not have access to food and water.
QUMSA organizes weekly night prayers every Friday at Queen’s, which last about an hour and serve as a good way for students to gather and participate in prayer.
Siddigqui and Mounib said Eid and Ramadan are the biggest holidays in Islam and echoed the issue of exam conflicts during the winter semester. This winter will be the first time in three years that Ramadan overlaps with the school year, so they feel they have a responsibility to make the campus more welcoming to Muslim students.
They plan to organize daily meals where students can come together to break their fast and experience a family as they would celebrate Ramadan at home.
“The main way we connect with our community is by hosting events because it gives them an opportunity to get together and do something fun,” Mounib said in an interview.
QUMSA went on a sunrise walk at Rock Dunder last week, which Siddigqui and Mounib said saw a huge turnout. They are also planning events during exam season, reaching out to residence hall donors and other students to make them feel more connected.
“We are trying our best to help people feel less alone, especially students in residences,” Mounib said.
When newspapers asked students about the impact of the holidays on their community, they spoke of a greater cultural experience unique to their hometowns and families.
“I feel like you’re seeing a lot of different forms of expression, and more people of color are more outwardly expressive,” Joseph-Libstug said.
Despite having a Catholic religious background, she was also raised Cuban and celebrates cultural festivals such as Caribana, which involves listening to soca music and going to dance halls. She struggled to adjust to the lack of this cultural presence at Queen’s as she came from a more diverse area like the GTA.
However, since students and clubs are organizing more cultural events again after the pandemic, she feels that she has more opportunities to meet like-minded people from similar cultural backgrounds and not find friends in her direction alone.
In a statement to newspapersThe university spoke about their efforts to provide support and community for students celebrating the holidays at Queen’s.
“That Queen’s University International Center and Four Directions work throughout the year to support students in building community, making connections and creating a ‘home away from home’ with their activities, spaces and programming,” the University wrote.
If students decide to stay in Kingston for the winter break, QUIC organizes two to three social events such as Coffee in the Market Square, where international students can meet each other and potentially make further plans.
“This helps them plan to stay as busy and social as they want,” the University wrote.
Four Directions services are also available during the exam period to provide local students with opportunities for ongoing support and community. Before the winter term ends, they host a party and social to celebrate the end of the classes. They will also host a pre-holiday party with student Social Ambassadors to kick off the festive season.
Faith and Spiritual Life will also organize study breaks and support programs through exams.
“[These events are] designed to foster an inclusive and supportive community and a sense of belonging in whatever way each student chooses to spend their winter break,” the University added.
If you’re looking for some special meals on campus, Hospitality Services will celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa with items inspired by special ingredients and dishes associated with these holidays and cultures. These services will be offered in dining halls across campus. They will also be hosting a Dining Hall Carnival from November 29th to December 1st.
“We find our own ways to celebrate,” Siddigqui said. “This is either the visiting family [or] branching out into that community and potentially doing some community outreach, like volunteering with other potential partners within faith communities.”
