 Happy New Year, Arlington Public Schools! Civilizations around the world have been celebrating the start of each new year for a few thousand years. Today, most New Year's festivities begin on December 31, New Year's Eve, and continue into the early hours of January 1 to New Year's Day. Common traditions include making resolutions, watching fireworks displays, and counting down to midnight to toast the start of a new year. Many folks serve culturally traditional dishes that symbolize hope and joy, such as lentils in Italy, black eyed peas in the southern United States, pork to represent progress and prosperity in countries such as Cuba, Austria, Hungary, and Portugal, and ring-shaped cakes and pastries to signal that the year has come full circle in the Netherlands, Mexico, and Greece. In Sweden and Norway, families and friends hide an almond in their rice pudding, and whoever finds it can look forward to 12 months of good fortune. What is a New Year's tradition in your family? I'd like someone to share with you as we gather back together this January and see what you might learn. Haiti became a free republic on January 1, 1804. This date culminated their revolution that began in 1791 against French colonialism and enslavement, and has since been declared Haitian Independence Day. Ancestry Day is then celebrated annually on January 2 to commemorate the sacrifices of all Haitian ancestors who laid down their lives in the fight for freedom. Haiti begins each new year with these back-to-back holidays that serve to remember the people's fight for emancipation and self-determination. As the first post-colonial, independent, black-led nation in the world, and the first Caribbean nation to abolish slavery, Haiti has inspired liberation worldwide. Haitians and Haitian-Americans traditionally eat soup jumeau on Haitian Independence Day. A dish with significant cultural roots. During the period of French colonial rule over what was then called Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, only enslavers were allowed to eat this soup, which was prepared by the Haitian people they enslaved. After Haiti gained its independence, Haitians reclaimed soup jumeau for themselves. Today, as family and friends gather to celebrate each year, it is seen as a symbol of freedom, independence, and dignity. We honor the ancestors whose strength and resilience paved the way for Haiti's continued fight for freedom, and we wish a happy Haitian Independence Day to all who celebrate. Every year on January 4, we pause to celebrate World Braille Day in honor of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille's birthday. Braille is a tactile representation of the alphabetical and numerical symbols. It uses six dots to represent each letter and number. There are also dot arrangements for musical, mathematical, and scientific symbols. Braille is used by people who are blind, people who are partially sighted, and people who are visually impaired to access the same information that is printed in visual fonts. An organization called Braille Works reminds us that today's reality is that many establishments, such as restaurants, banks, and hospitals, don't offer Braille versions of their printed materials like menus, statements, and bills. Because of this, people with visual impairments often don't have the freedom to choose a mail on their own or to keep their financials private. World Braille Day spreads awareness about Braille and other accessible forms of communication, as everyone deserves and is legally entitled to the same services with equitable accommodations, regardless of ability. Braille is essential in the context of education, freedom of expression and opinion, and social inclusion. As we celebrate World Braille Day, we invite you to recommit to do your part in ensuring accessibility for all in our community. Happy World Braille Day, Arlington! This year, on January 15th, Hindus around the world celebrate Makar Sankranti. Makar Sankranti is the only Hindu festival based on the solar calendar instead of the lunar. With Makar translating as Capricorn and Sankranti, which means transition, Makar Sankranti is the celebration of the sun's journey from the southern to the northern hemisphere. Each state in India observes Makar Sankranti in different ways. The celebration illustrates solidarity and diversity, however, with the theme of the harvest. Some observers celebrate by bathing in sacred rivers and lakes. Others express gratitude to our natural resources, including cattle on farms who are lovingly decorated and fed. Others still arrange traditional feasts of sweet rice and jaggery and pay respects to their ancestors. And finally, as perhaps the most symbolic tradition of the celebration, communities fly kites to symbolize the bond between humans and nature. We wish a happy Makar Sankranti to all who celebrate. Since 1983, on the third Monday in January, we pause to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a visionary leader and advocate for racial equality, who tirelessly fought for a more just and equitable society. His leadership of nonviolent protest was fundamental throughout the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s to ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the United States. Through a widely observed holiday today, the National Museum of African American History and Culture reminds us that legislation to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was first introduced just four days after his assassination on April 4, 1968. Still, it would take 15 years of persistent campaigning by civil rights activists for the holiday to be approved by the federal government. An additional 17 years for it to be recognized in all 50 states. This extraordinary effort to simply acknowledge Dr. King's legacy and sacrifice is symbolic of the continued fight for social and legal civil rights in America and around the world. Today, MLK Service Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service. By volunteering our time to participate in service projects, we pay respect to Dr. King's actions and dream of bridging divides. Healing wounds and creating lasting change that benefits our communities for years to come. We encourage everyone in our Arlington community to find a meaningful event to participate in this year, and we wish a reflective and inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of service to all. The world around us is bustling with vibrant cultures, belief systems, and history. World Religion Day, observed annually on the third Sunday of January, was created to uplift and celebrate the diversity of each of these. Originally established in 1950 by members of the Baha'i Faith in Portland, Maine to promote interfaith understanding and harmony, World Religion Day has grown into events across the globe that gather authors, educators, and philosophers to connect about the importance of religious accord and camaraderie. During this observance of awareness and peace, religious leaders invite us all to learn more about the roots and practices of different faiths around the world, to attend an interfaith service, to inquire with an open mind and heart about others' beliefs, and spend time sharing our own. We wish you a peaceful day of awareness as we celebrate the many interconnected religions which shape the world around us. Happy World Religion Day. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day serves to remember the systematic killing of 6 million Jews, two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population, and millions of other in Nazi Germany during World War II. As we reflect on this atrocity and the ongoing impact it has had on our world today, we must remember that the Holocaust began with exclusion, discriminatory laws, hate speech, the silence of observers, and increasingly organized and systematic radicalization. We observe this remembrance annually on January 27th to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenheim, and symbolize the freedom and dignity of Jewish people. As UNESCO reminds us, we share a collective responsibility for addressing the residual trauma and maintaining effective remembrance policies, caring for historical sites and promoting education, documentation, and research of the Holocaust. This responsibility entails educating about the causes and consequences and dynamics of the violence that occur, so as to strengthen the resiliency of young people against ideologies of hatred. As genocide and atrocity crimes keep occurring across several regions, and as we are witnessing a global rise of anti-Semitism and hate speech, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day of 2024 rings especially relevant for our community this January. We wish peace and justice for all communities as we continue to advocate that our world learn from history and move forward towards a more harmonious future.