The Holiday Market has quickly become a beloved tradition, bringing good cheer and holiday spirit to campus

The McMaster Holiday Market took place in the arts quad and McMaster University Student Centre from Nov. 25 to 28, 2024 and was open from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. each day. Speakers playing holiday music and a variety of light displays were set up around the arts quad to create a festive atmosphere. This event was run as a collaboration between the MSU, MSU Campus Events, the Alumni Association and the Student Success Centre.

The market had vendors both outdoors in wooden cabins and at tables in the student centre. MSU Campus Events offered student vendor tables for $10 per day and advertised the application form on their Instagram in early November.

In an interview with The Silhouette, Thomas Saab, the MSU Campus Events director, shared that the planning for the market starts in September. “I meet with AVTEK and we go over, we walk through the space and based on our notes last year look at what we want to change as far as the decorations and the layout, so all the physical spaces,” said Saab. The next stage of planning involves coordinating with the SSC and Alumni Association to plan entertainment and activities. 

According to Saab, new to the market this year are fireplaces and propane heaters, additional decorations and a snow machine. “I love the snow machine. I think it adds a completely new layer to the event. It just makes it a little bit more magical. That was my vision going in, I wanted to go from a cute little event to a magical event,” said Saab.

New programming for the event includes a live reindeer petting zoo, taking place this afternoon and a screening of Home Alone happening tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Hub. This year’s market also featured live ice sculpture carving and caroling performances from members of the McMaster University Choirs.

The SSC partnered with Hospitality Services to offer a special Taste of Home menu, available at La Piazza from Nov. 25 to 29. The SSC asked international and exchange students to submit traditional dishes from different cultures. The selected dishes were rajma chawal, jollof rice with chicken and plaintain, lasagna Bolognese and stir-fried beef noodles

The SSC also set up a wood and plexiglass dome in the arts quad, which served as a spot for students to take photos. Students could enter a draw to win a dinner in the dome through a form on the SSC website. The winning student got to enjoy dishes from the Taste of Home menu with three of their friends.

Saab shared he had hoped to include a maple taffy station. “We wanted to do maple taffy [like in] the old village and Quebec. We wanted to include that but it wasn’t within the budget this year so hopefully next year we’ll be able to add that as a fun snack for students,” said Saab. Saab estimated that the MSU contributed over $20,000 towards the budget for the market.

With its impressive array of decorations, vendors, food and activities, the McMaster Holiday Market is a must-visit event. Stop by the arts quad today to kick off your holiday season!

Brianna Buziak
The Silhouette

Especially around the holidays, even though “‘tis the season to be jolly”, being single has unfortunately led me to have a great feeling of sadness about love and relationships. A season meant to bring people together makes people feel so lonely and long for that “special someone” more so than any other. The holiday season brings upon us two holidays that often make singles feel even more like singles, Christmas and New Years Eve.

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When every other commercial or advertisement you see around this time of year is about getting the aforementioned “special someone” the “perfect gift,” it tends to get to you a little bit. The gift itself is not what is at the root of the problem but who gave it and how. Remember that commercial where the couple is skating on a pond and he leaves a diamond necklace on a tree branch for her to find? Or the one circulating this season is where a guy travels by foot and subway with a multitude of balloons to stand outside his girlfriend’s window in John Cusack Say Anything-fashion in an attempt of a romantic proposal. I have almost cried watching two-minute jewelry commercials

And if I end up crying at a short YouTube ad, you had better believe that I am a wreck for feature-length romantic Christmas movies. One in particular that pulls at the heartstrings every time is Love, Actually. Seeing all the relationships work out in the end or become resolved makes you wonder- if all these people can get it together, why can’t I? I’m well aware that this is fictitious and a Hollywood representation, but when even the twelve-year old boy professes his love to his dream girl on Christmas Eve, cute factor aside, I feel like I may as well quit trying.

And New Year’s Eve. I absolutely love New Year’s Eve, the possibility of something new or a fresh start is always exciting, but one part is extremely daunting. The New Years kiss. I wish I could say that it doesn’t mean anything, but it does. When the clock quickly approaches midnight and there is no one around, that feeling of loneliness seeps its way into your psyche. Healthy relationships are wonderful any time of the year, but around New Years Eve, it is comforting to know who that person will be at midnight and hopefully it will be someone you want by your side for 2014. Because if what “they” say is true, how you spend New Years Eve is how you spend the rest of the year, and no wants to spend 12 months feeling lonely.

So to all those who are shaking their heads, this is just an interpretation of singledom during the holiday season. Not everyone who is single and in their twenties will feel this way, this is just one girl’s take on it. So bring on the mistletoe-adorned doorways and fireworks to ring in the New Year, but in the mean time, I’ll be spending my days with a box of Kleenex and a queue of jewelry commercials.