Winter Holidays Around The World Celebrated At Penn Museum
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A celebration of winter holidays and world cultures took place this weekend at the Penn Museum.
This was the 19th annual "Peace around the World" celebration. Tena Thomason, assistant director of special events at the museum, says representatives set up booths illustrating how the holidays are celebrated in other cultures:
"Well, everyone has something a little different. Everyone has their own tradition. In Mexico, they play a lottery game, which, it's kind of like Bingo on Christmas Eve."
Bin Wu, president of the Chinese Culture Exchange at the University of the Arts, says there are many winter holidays in China, one of which is the Lantern Festival that takes place in mid-January:
"People will raise up the lanterns and make some very fancy things there; and also, they use the fireworks to celebrate the Lantern Festival."
Monica Wojciechowski, president of the Penn Polish Club, describes Christmas Eve dinner in Poland:
"You're supposed to have 12 dishes to symbolize the 12 apostles. There's also a tradition of putting hay under the tablecloth to symbolize Jesus's crib."
Meanwhile, Rita Sheth with Barthea Temple says the big winter holiday in India is Divali, and says it's a very colorful way to celebrate.
