Ohio University students Jenna Tricaso and her boyfriend, Max Laird, have created a new holiday, a celebration they call Chrismakkuh.
Tricaso, a junior hearing, speech and language science major, is Catholic, and Laird, a senior political science major, is Jewish. The couple will spend winter break commemorating both faiths.
We are getting a Christmas tree for the apartment
and I'm bringing down a menorah Laird said. We're going to celebrate both and kind of intertwine them.
Approximately 28 million U.S. couples that are married or in domestic partnerships live in mixed-religion homes, according to the American Religious Identification Survey done in 2001 by The City University of New York. This is nearly a quarter of all marriages or domestic partnerships.
While many couples make their relationship work, maintaining a bi-religious relationship can be difficult.
If the partners grew up practicing different religions and continue to strongly identify with their religion there are going to be some issues they will have to face when living in a committed relationship
said Dr. Paul Castelino, a psychologist and clinical counselor with OU Counseling and Psychological Services.
He said problems can include attending religious rituals, giving up one's faith, being rejected by a partner's family, moving into a community that practices a different faith and raising children in one partner's faith.
According to a May 2006 study by Scott M. Myers published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, married partners that share the same religious background report greater marital quality than do bi-religious partners.
For Tricaso and Laird, combining two religions hasn't always been easy. Tricaso grew up in a strict Italian Catholic household, with a father who wanted her to date someone of the same background.
I never thought I would date somebody that wasn't my faith
she said. When Max and I started talking
I was freaking out about it a lot. Taking the next step was huge for me.
After initial concerns, the couple moved forward by celebrating both faiths.
I just think that there's nothing wrong with bringing more than one religion together if they're working toward the same objective
Laird said.
Tricaso chimed in, stating, Once you learn to respect each other
that's what makes everything else fall into place.
Tiana McKenna, a freshman Honors Tutorial College English major, and her partner, Benjamin Toth, haven't let different beliefs get in the way of a major commitment.
McKenna, an atheist, is engaged to Toth, a Catholic who attends college in Elyria. She said they disagree about certain topics, such as whether to raise their children in a religious background, but always find ways to compromise.
We work it out like we do any other difference
McKenna said, adding that in the end they just acknowledge their different opinions.
For Toth, the bi-religious relationship has benefited both partners.
I'm open to the way she believes things
and we understand one another better because of that
he said. That gives us a better scope of understanding of life. It makes us independent.
The couple's toughest trial might emerge with the walk down the aisle.
The wedding issue is going to be a big deal
