Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah, Sankta Lucia, Diwali and… New Year!

New Year is already around the corner, Christmas lights are shining so brightly everywhere and people are getting ready to celebrate their holidays! But do you know that Christmas and New Year are not the only holidays which are celebrated all over the world?

We may know about American Christmas and Hanukkah by watching some episodes of "Friends", but what do we know about other countries?

I’ve been studying Swedish for three months now (it's really hard but unbelievably interesting) and recently I found out about "Sankta Lucia". Swedish people celebrate it at the same level with Christmas! And it’s in December too! (it's true that Swedes are kinda crazy:) It takes place on December 13 and has a huge bunch of traditions. They choose a girl (or a boy, no inequality in Sweden!) to be a Lucia. She/he wears a beautiful white dress and a crown with lighted candles. Also Lucia has her own team which includes a Star boy, the second Lucia with a less flammable crown, local Santa and Gingerbread Man (what could be sweeter than that!). Swedes bake saffron buns and cook their version of mulled wine (very strong I should say). They sing beautiful songs and celebrate it in a very warm and peaceful atmosphere. Our teacher organized a small Lucia for us and it was an amazing experience! Learning new languages could give you not only a new line in your CV but so much experience! New culture, new traditions!

My friend lives in India and they have a special holiday, Diwali. It’s not really a Christmas kind of holiday because it usually takes place at the end of October or November but the celebration is huge and students have a long break. Diwali means "victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance." People go to their relatives, eat sweets and have fun. Doesn’t it remind you of something?:) Also Indian people wear their traditional clothes and light up really really great fireworks.

So, if you someday have an opportunity to learn a new language or to meet people from different countries, please, do so. Because it’s worth it. Maybe the new 2019 year is a great chance to do something you always wanted to do. Merry Christmas, have a happy holidays and give your hearts only to good people:)