Celebrate Little Candles Day in your Classroom

By Team Meg | 15 November 2024

Little Candles Day, or Día de las Velitas, is a traditional festival celebrated in Colombia on December 8th each year. It was founded in 1854 by Pope Pius the IX. The origins of the festival mark the Immaculate Conception in the Christian nativity story and herald the beginning of the Christmas season. Today, Día de las Velitas is renowned for it’s breathtaking lights and candles that illuminate neighborhoods, windows and parks. The festivities are a reminder to be hopeful and grateful as we enter the festive season.

Connecting and Comparing Traditions

Christmas around the world is celebrated in different ways. For instance, Colombians have Novenas—nine days of gatherings from December 16th-24th. These gatherings are filled with cooking, eating, dancing, listening to music, and singing Christmas carols.

Encourage your students to reflect about their own family or community traditions during the holidays. How are they similar to, or different, from the Colombian traditions of Little Candles Day and Novenas? How do the themes of light, hope, and gratitude resonate across different cultural celebrations?

Explore our Classroom Resources

We’ve compiled some fun activities for different age groups for you to follow, choose from, and adapt for your students. Please explore and enjoy learning more about, and celebrating, this global festival!

Check out our Global Learning Activity Cards!

Explore additional activities linked to Hispanic culture with our ever-growing range of fun, cross-curricular activities for all ages, from prep to high school!

We hope you enjoy learning about, and celebrating Little Candles Day with your students and building their global awareness with these fun activities!