Holidays in USA

Holidays in USA
Mg. Karina Salas Sanchez
 New Year’s celebrations actually begin the night of
New Year’s
Day: Jan. 1
December 31 with parties, concerts, fireworks and
special events of all kinds. The day is marked in many
American towns and cities with parades and U.S.- style
football games.
 New Year’s Day abounds with rituals and superstitions
brought to the United States by immigrants.
 Immigrants of various nationalities believed that loud
noises — firecrackers or gunfire — drive away the bad
spirits of the past year and ensure a new year free of
evil. “
 New York City famously counts down to the midnight
hour in Times Square, where thousands gather to watch
a faceted crystal ball drop at the appointed hour. The
tradition dates from 1907.
 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.(January 15, 1929 – April 4,
Martin Luther
King Jr. Day:
Third Monday in
January
1968) is best known for his role in advancing civil rights
using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a
national icon in the history of American progressivism.
 King spoke before more than 200,000 regarding the
challenges African Americans face. His “I Have a Dream”
speech has gone down in many history books as one of
the greatest speeches ever given.

 February 22 was celebrated as a holiday by 19thcentury Americans. At least a dozen states officially
celebrate the third Monday in February as
“Washington and Lincoln’s Birthday,” and another
dozen states call it “Presidents Day.”
Presidents’
Day: Third
Monday in
February
 Each year in the United States, Americans observe the
Memorial Day:
Last Monday in
May
Federal holiday, Memorial Day, the last Monday in May. It
honors and remembers all men and women who have
died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
 (known as “Decoration Day”) honoring the lives lost in that
conflict, often by decorating their graves with flowers.
 The Independence Day holiday commemorates the adoption of the
Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on
July 4, 1776.
 Today, most citizens celebrate in much the same ways
Independenc
e Day: July 4
as Americans did during the 18th century, with parades,
picnics, neighborhood parties, outdoor concerts,
sporting events and fireworks displays at night.
 First observed in New York City in September 1882, the Labor Day
holiday commemorates the contributions of working men and women.
 Many Americans celebrate Labor Day with parades,
Labor Day:
First Monday in
September
picnics and parties – festivities, followed by a festival for
the recreation and amusement of the workers and their
families.
 This holiday commemorates Christopher Columbus’s first landing in
the Americas on October 12, 1492.
 During the anniversary of 1892, teachers, preachers,
Columbus
Day: Second
Monday in
October
poets, and politicians used the day to teach ideals of
patriotism. These patriotic teachings were framed around
themes of support for war, citizenship boundaries, the
importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social
progress.

 Veterans Day on November 11th honors military veterans
who served in the United States Armed Forces.
 Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day or
Armed Forces Day. Veterans Day celebrates all United
States military veterans. However, Memorial Day is set
aside for remembering the men and women who died
while serving. Additionally, Armed Forces Day recognizes
the men and women currently serving in the United States
military.
 In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians
shared an autumn harvest feast that many acknowledge
today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the
colonies.
Thanksgiving:
Fourth
Thursday in
November
 The observance is a time when families and friends
gather and give thanks for many reasons, each often as
different as each person who gathers around the table.
The pilgrims sailed to America from England in 1620.
The Indians taught the Pilgrims how to survive(how to plant,
Hunt, etc). The pilgrims in response to that decided to
Celebrate with Thanksgiving feast.
Thanksgiving:
Fourth
Thursday in
November
 Most Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth on December
Christmas
Day: Dec. 25
25. Before the 19th century, many Americans worked on Christmas,
but in the industrial era the holiday also began to honor universal
values such as home, children and family life, and to incorporate
secular customs like exchanging gifts and cards, and the decoration of
evergreen trees.
 Congress proclaimed Christmas a federal holiday in 1870. In 1999, a
federal court acknowledged the secular aspects of Christmas in
rejecting a claim that the holiday impermissibly endorsed and
furthered a particular religious belief.
Holidays in UK
 1 January: New Year’s Day - On New Year’s Eve (31
December) it’s traditional to celebrate midnight. There are
parties across the country, with Edinburgh’s ‘Hogmany’
being one of the biggest. New Year’s Day is a public
holiday so expect the celebrations to last well into the
night!
Hogmanay
First footing is when you visit friends or family immediately
after midnight in order to become the first person to visit
them and go into their house in the new year.
Your very first foot - the first person to visit you in the new
year –
should traditionally be a tall, dark-haired man. That is said to
date back to the Viking invasions, as Vikings were typically
fairer haired, so the arrival of a blonde man could have
meant imminent danger!
First footers also traditionally bring a lump of coal to ensure
the house remains warm in the coming months.
 St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17, the
anniversary of his death in the fifth century. St. Patrick’s
Day 2022 will take place on Thursday, March 17.
 Saint Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the
patron saint of Ireland and its national apostle. Born in
Roman Britain, he was kidnapped and brought to
Ireland as a slave at 16. He later escaped, but returned
to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity
to its people.
 Perhaps the most well-known legend of St. Patrick is
that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy
Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the
shamrock.
 21 June: Summer solstice
 The summer solstice marks the longest day and the
shortest night of the year, although the sun's position
remains in pretty much the same place for a few days
on either side. It is celebrated all over the UK in a
diverse variety of ways. Perhaps the most famous is the
celebration at the ancient monument of Stonehenge,
where around 10,000 people gather to watch the
sunrise.
 Late June: Glastonbury festival - Summer in the UK
means music festival time. With its 175,000 revellers
Glastonbury is the largest and most iconic.
 But from Wales’ Festival No.6 and Scotland’s T in the
Park, to the new grass-roots festivals emerging across
the country, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy
the festival season.
 https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/
 August: Edinburgh Festival Fringe - ‘The Fringe’
features over 50,000 performances and more than 3,000
shows, over three weeks every August. As the world’s
biggest arts festival it’s the place to go for stand-up
comedy, dance, theatre, art exhibitions, circus, spoken
word, opera and more.
 The Fringe began in 1947, concurrently with the
Edinburgh International Festival, an invitation-only
festival. In that first year eight theatre troupes who had
not been invited to perform arrived on the scene,
arranged a performance space, and put on their shows
during the run of the official festival. Their efforts were
fruitful, and the following year even more unofficial
participants were present.
 https://www.edfringe.com/
 London’s biggest street party, as the streets of west
London are filled with Caribbean colours, music and
flavours during Notting Hill Carnival.
 Carnival is a celebration of freedom and Caribbean
culture, with an iconic parade showcasing the best of
mas, soca, calypso, steel bands and soundsystems.
 https://nhcarnival.org/
 The year was 1605 and some English Catholics were angry
because King James I was treating them badly. In
November of that year, a group of men made a plan to blow
up the Houses of Parliament in London.
 An enormous explosion was planned for 5 November. This
was the day that the king was due to open Parliament. The
plan became known as the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ and the
leader of the group was called Guy Fawkes.
 The men put 36 barrels of gunpowder in the Houses of
Parliament and waited for the king to arrive. The group
decided that Guy Fawkes should light the gunpowder and
cause the explosion.
 Did they succeed? No, they didn’t. The police found the
gunpowder before it exploded and they caught all the men
involved in the plot. The men were tortured and killed. To
celebrate his survival, King James ordered the people of
England to have a bonfire on the night of 5 November.
 One idea is that December 26 was the day centuries
Boxing Day
ago when lords of the manor and aristocrats typically
distributed “Christmas boxes” often filled with small
gifts, money and leftovers from Christmas dinner to
their household servants and employees, who were
required to work on December 25, in recognition of
good service throughout the year. These boxes were, in
essence, holiday bonuses.
 Another popular theory is that the Boxing Day moniker
arose from the alms boxes that were placed in churches
during the Advent season for the collection of monetary
donations from parishioners