Lincoln East High School's home of Spartan news

The Oracle

Lincoln East High School's home of Spartan news

The Oracle

Lincoln East High School's home of Spartan news

The Oracle

A Different Take on the Holiday Season

A+Different+Take+on+the+Holiday+Season

With the holiday season approaching, many students are focused on their own family traditions. Fortunately, inside the walls of East High we have an associate principal who celebrates the holidays uniquely from what many students at East do. I was lucky enough to sit down with Dr. Bishara to discuss her family traditions for the holidays, many of which come from Spain.

Dr. Bishara grew up in Spain, a Catholic country, with a big family. She says “we always got together for Christmas” but after moving to America, she decided to start celebrating some of the traditional Spanish celebrations in her own home. This was to teach her daughter about their family’s traditions and holidays.

In Spain, instead of Santa-Claus, they have the Three Wise Men (Los Reyes Magos), that come on the night of January 5th. The kids open their gifts from the Three Wise Men on January 6th, and do not go back to school until after January 6th. Dr. Bishara says “Just the same way you leave milk and cookies for Santa, you leave everything for the Three Wise Men.” She also remembers leaving the food for the horses and camels that were the transportation for the Three Wise Men (think of what reindeer are for Santa-Claus). This is a tradition that she still does for her daughter here in the United States. Instead of hanging stockings for Santa, children leave their shoes out for the Three Wise Men to put gifts in. The “big tradition” was that, if a child was bad all year, they would receive coal in their shoes instead of gifts. She says “it was a mystery for me as a child how they got into my house, because with Santa you know he comes through the fireplace… I never knew exactly how the camels got into my house to eat the food, so for me it was mesmerizing.”

One thing that Dr. Bishara misses about the holiday season is the big Three Wise Men parade. This is similar to going to a department store to see Santa. On January 5th, there is a huge parade in which LosReyes Magos ride in on horses and camels, and ride around town. Then at the end of the parade, they arrive at a big plaza and the children can go up to the Three Wise Men and tell them what gifts they want by their shoes the next morning on January 6th. Mrs. Bishara says that her family normally watches it on television to celebrate here in the United States.

Food is also a big part of many holidays. For Dr. Bishara, her family would have a cake called Rosca de Reyes. She says “I still cook a lot of those things (traditional foods) here.” You can also reserve this cake from traditional Mexican bakeries here in the United States. There is a tradition to bake little toys inside the cakes, which her daughter enjoys.

There are many more unique traditions that the Bisharas celebrate; these are only a few. Here at East, we are lucky to have a diverse population of students that have many different traditions around the holiday season. Whatever traditions or holidays you may celebrate have, there is much to look forward to with the holiday season fast approaching!