The Jacket Buzz
Starkville High School Starkville, MS
Kelley Mazzola
Vijay Pacharne and his family pray during Diwali. – Vijay Pacharne
Christmas is technically a Christian holiday, but Vijay Pacharne of India and Lahcen Belioume of Morocco, teachers at Starkville High School, don’t exactly see it that way.
Pacharne is Hindu and Belioume is Muslim, but both have participated in Christmas all their lives.
“In Morocco, there are a lot of Christians celebrating Christmas,” Belioume said. “Even though we [Muslims] do not celebrate the holy day of Christmas, schools do get off.”
Christmas is also deeply welded into Pacharne’s native Indian society.
“Christmas is like a regular festival in India because of British rule,” Pacharne said. “We go to church, even people of all different religions. I am Hindu, but I still go to church on Christmas to attend the prayers.”
For roughly 400 years, the British governed India and introduced their customs to the native Indians. For example, after visiting a church, the people go to visit other families and have dinner, but the food still has a touch of India to it.
“We almost celebrate the same way you do,” Pacharne said. “Like wearing new clothes, decorating our houses with lights, sitting around a table and eating with friends and the joint family. In fact, in India, there is a festival of light, called the Diwali, [where] you decorate your house with lights, like New Years. You keep the decorations up until Christmas.”
Meanwhile, Christmas is comparatively low-key in Morocco, aside from schools releasing early.
“[There’s] a lot of visiting each other and praying [with] each other,” Belioume said. “You don’t have to buy a tree to celebrate Christmas.”
Christianity is widespread in Morocco due to immigrants from Spain and France. In fact, France (like Great Britain and India) once governed Morocco and tried to merge French customs and religion into Moroccan society. However, Morocco remained predominantly Islamic and, due to this hodgepodge of cultures, tolerance and respect is mutual between the two religions.
“We [Muslims and Christians] respect each other’s holidays,” Belioume said. “Islam respects all the other religions during the holidays. It may not seem that way, but that’s just [because of] the radicals.”
Both Hinduism and Islam share many morals with Christianity, so Pacharne and Belioume said it’s not even too much of a stretch for them and their home countries to celebrate Christmas in the first place.
“Do according to the god’s wish, don’t tell lies, don’t hurt someone, stuff like that [is the same or similar],” Pacharne said. “We all say that God is one.”
