SOUL MAGAZINE — DECEMBER — CHALLENGE — TRADITIONS
Traditions: December Holiday Writing Prompts!
How do you celebrate this time of year? What does it look like?
Hello, my dears, and Happy Holidays! I am unsure about the rest of you, but here in New York, the energy and magic of the holiday season are in full swing!
My name is Samantha, and Soul Magazine was one of the first publications I became a writer for when I initially joined Medium. I am proud to say that I am now a part of the wonderful Editing team! Always happy to help and answer questions as needed, so feel free to connect with me.
Let’s talk about traditions. How do you Holiday? Here are some ideas to get your wheels turning and show us what it all looks like through your eyes.
- What do your traditions look like? Do you have any from childhood that you still hold dear today? Did you ditch the old ones and make room for your own with your potential family/loved ones?
- Depending on where you live, you may have left home, the state, or the country. Did you immerse yourself into your new environment and embrace the possible differences of how you used to celebrate vs. how you celebrate now?
- Festive Drinks! How do you Hot Cocoa? Or maybe you’re more of a Chai, Cider, eggnog kind of person? Do you indulge in them during this season, or does it mean something special to you and your loved ones? Since I’m Puerto Rican, and for my fellow Hispanics out there, we do Coquito! Which is pretty much spiked, coconut eggnog, yum. Ironically, I hate eating/drinking coconut-flavored things, but I’ll never turn down a cup of coquito.
- Food! We all love food, so what do your tables look like? Are there unique dishes you only bring out on such occasions that you anxiously await all year? What possible cultural or traditional delicacies do you adorn the tables with?
- Christmas movies/shows? You can’t forget those magic-infused, feel-good movies that put you in the spirit. Are you a Charlie Brown Christmas? Do you enjoy the ever-cheesy Lifetime/Hallmark Holiday movies that are charmingly predictable? Or maybe you’re more of a Harry Potter, Nightmare Before Christmas person like myself.
- Perhaps you celebrate in a more traditional Pagan Yule (Winter Solstice) celebration? What does that look like for you?
- How do you decorate? Do you have ornaments that were passed down in the family as part of your tradition? Handmade ones that tell a story? Maybe your kids bring them home from school yearly just for the Christmas tree. Tell us all about them.
- You may take a more theological approach and attend Mass. Is this something you’ve always done or now do? If you just suddenly started attending, what made you go?
- As a follow-up, do you celebrate Hanukkah? Kwanzaa? Christmas? We want to hear about all traditions from any belief system you are a part of.
- Are there certain games you play during the holiday season? Do they hold a traditional meaning to your belief system, or strictly for holiday fun?
We celebrate this mesmerizing, magical time of year in so many amazing, fulfilling, joyous ways. There is so much culture and tradition out there that our readers want to learn about and explore. We at Soul Magazine are eager to read your stories, tell us your truths, and share your unique voices.
Either way, we are so happy you are here with us, and we can’t wait to see your holiday sparkle!
Happy Holidays and Happy Writing!
Tips, tricks, and Submission Guidelines:
- Comply with Medium’s Terms of Service and Rules.
- Properly credit all images.
- Use “Soul Magazine” as one of your topics.
- Include at least one main photo to accompany your article.
- Original, non-spam writing only.
- We encourage additional tags of MIND, BODY, SPIRIT, LIFE, LOVE, POETRY, INSPIRATION, SELF IMPROVEMENT, etc.
- Add genre topics to your pieces: poetry, nonfiction, fiction, short story, etc.
- For theme-specific pieces and genres, use tags: challenge, December, and tradition
- Topics NOT ACCEPTED: politics, personal attacks, hate speech, and any form of graphic or violent content.
- If a religious-based celebration of some kind pertains to THIS TIME OF YEAR and this time of year ONLY, we will accept it. Otherwise, it will be politely declined and not fit for this publication.
- Include a link back to this particular article or whichever challenge you write for via Soul Magazine so we can keep better track of challenge/prompt submissions.
Not a writer with us yet? Well, you can be, so feel free to join us on our journeys and share your voices with us.
