Four winter celebrations, one shared sentiment

Describe the religion you celebrate. "Both of my parents were raised Muslim. My dad still prays five times a day, and he used to fast for Ramadan. They never tried to force Islam onto me, so I never felt any pressure to believe in it. But I did try it. For a couple weeks, I prayed three times a day. I learned this long prayer. Eighth grade is when I started questioning everything. And then atheism...

Describe the religion celebrated at home and how your beliefs correlate with it. "Our family is pretty reform. We’re not Orthodox, so we don’t go to [temple] every single holiday. We’re very lax about it. We just go once or twice a year, on the big holidays. And we celebrate Hanukkah, too." How do you celebrate Hanukkah, as an atheist? "A big part of it, for me, is just the tradition, en...

Describe the religion you celebrate around the holidays. "I celebrate Hanukkah. It goes on for eight nights. Every night you light a candle on the menorah, which is a- I mean, I hope people know what it is, but it has eight spots and then in the middle there is one center spot for the candle that you use every night. And then after that- you don’t have to do this, but it’s sort of a tradition- ...