Transcript HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ENGLISH OR AMERICAN FESTIVALS?

By Aleksandra Adamczyk, III B
Independence Day, commonly known as
the Fourth of July, is a federal
holiday in the United
States commemorating the adoption
of the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 1776,
declaring independence from
the Kingdom of Great Britain (now
officially known as the United
Kingdom). Independence Day is
commonly associated
with fireworks, parades,
barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, co
ncerts, baseball games, family
reunions, and political speeches and
ceremonies, in addition to various
other public and private events
celebrating the history, government,
and traditions of the United States.
Independence Day is the National
Day of the United States.
Thanksgiving Day is a
national holiday celebrated
primarily in the United States and
Canada as a day of giving thanks
for the blessing of the harvest
and of the preceding year.
Several other places around the
world observe similar
celebrations. It is celebrated on
the fourth Thursday of
November in the United States
and on the second Monday of
October in Canada. Thanksgiving
has its historical roots in
religious and cultural traditions,
and has long been celebrated in
a secular manner as well.
Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and
religious holiday celebrated annually on 17
March, the death date of the most commonlyrecognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick
(c. AD 385–461). Saint Patrick's Day was made
an official Christian feast day in the early
seventeenth century and is observed by
the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion
(especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern
Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. he day
commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival
of Christianity in Ireland, as well as celebrating
the heritage and culture of the Irish in
general. Celebrations generally involve public
parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing
of green attire or shamrocks. Christians also
attend church services, and
the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking
alcohol are lifted for the day, which has
encouraged and propagated the holiday's
tradition of alcohol consumption. Saint Patrick's
Day is a public holiday in the Republic of
Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and
Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely
celebrated by the Irish diaspora around the
world; especially in Britain, Canada, the United
States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
Halloween also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly
celebration observed in a number of countries on 31
October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All
Hallows' Day. It initiates the triduum of Hallowtide,
the time in the liturgical year dedicated to
remembering the dead,
including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the
faithful departed believers. According to many
academic scholars, All Hallows' Eve is
a Christianized feast initially influenced
by Celtic harvest festivals,with possible pagan roots,
particularly the Gaelic Samhain.Other academic
scholars maintain that it originated independently of
Samhain and has solely Christian roots. Typical
festive Halloween activities include trick-ortreating (or the related "guising"),
attending costume parties, decorating,
carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns,
lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted
house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary
stories, and watching horror films. Because many
Western Christian denominations encourage,
although no longer require, abstinence from meat on
All Hallows' Eve, the tradition of eating
certain vegetarian foods for this vigil day developed,
including the consumption of apples,
colcannon, cider, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.
Red Nose Day is the main way in which Comic
Relief raises money. The first Red Nose Day
(RND) was held on 5 February 1988, when it
was launched as a National Day of Comedy,
and since then they have been on the second
or third Friday in March. RND 2011 was on
18 March. The concept was created by Wendy
Crossman (nee Robinson), the fundraising
director of Comic Relief. Red Nose Day is
often treated as a semi-holiday ; for example,
many schools have red-themed nonuniform days (i.e. the pupils have to wear
something red as part of their non-uniform
attire). The day culminates in a
live telethon event on BBC One, starting in
the evening and going through into the early
hours of the morning, but other moneyraising events take place. As the name
suggests, the day involves the wearing of
plastic/foam red noses which are available, in
exchange for a donation, from
Sainsbury's and Oxfam shops.
Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast
of Saint Valentine, is a holiday observed on February 14 each
year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world,
although it is not a holiday in most of them. St. Valentine's Day
began as a liturgical celebration of one or more
early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom
stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to
February 14, and added to later martyrologies. A popular
hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he
was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were
forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who
were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend,
during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer,
Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his
execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a
farewell. Today, Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in
the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran
Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint
Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6 and July 30, the former date in
honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter
date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna
(modern Terni). In Brazil, the Dia de São Valentim is
recognized on June 12. The day was first associated
with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High
Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In
18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in
which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting
flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting
cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that
are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the
figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten
valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.
Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a
widely observed cultural holiday, celebrated generally
on December 25 by millions of people around the
world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes
the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide,
which ends after the twelfth night. Christmas is a civil
holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an
increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of
the Christmas and holiday season. While the birth year of Jesus is
estimated among modern historians to have been between 7 and
2 BC, the exact month and day of his birth are unknown. His birth
is mentioned in two of the four canonical gospels. By the early-tomid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed
Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted in the
East, although some churches celebrate on the December 25 of
the older Julian calendar, which corresponds to January in the
modern-day Gregorian calendar. The date of Christmas may have
initially been chosen to correspond with the day exactly nine
months after early Christians believed Jesus to have been
conceived, or with one or more ancient polytheistic festivals that
occurred near southern solstice (i.e., the Roman winter solstice); a
further solar connection has been suggested because of a biblical
verse identifying Jesus as the "Sun of righteousness". The
celebratory customs associated in various countries with
Christmas have a mix of pagan, pre-Christian, Christian,
and secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the
holiday include gift giving, Christmas music and caroling, an
exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal,
and the display of various Christmas decorations,
including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity
scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition,
several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known
as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and Christkind,
are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas
season and have their own body of traditions and lore. Because
gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival
involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and
non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a
key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic
impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the
past few centuries in many regions of the world.
Groundhog Day is a day
celebrated on February 2.
According to folklore, if it is
cloudy when
a groundhog emerges from
its burrow on this day,
then spring will come early; if
it is sunny, the groundhog
will supposedly see its
shadow and retreat back into
its burrow, and
the winter weather will
persist for six more weeks.
Modern customs of the
holiday involve celebrations
where early morning festivals
are held to watch the
groundhog emerging from its
burrow.
Easter also called Pasch or Resurrection Sunday,
is a festival and holiday celebrating
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, described in the New Testament as
having occurred three days after his
crucifixion by Romans at Calvary. It is the
culmination of the Passion of Christ,
preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a forty-day
period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The
week before Easter is called Holy Week, and
it contains the days of the Easter Triduum,
including Maundy Thursday (also known as
Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last
Supper and its preceding foot washing, as
well as Good Friday, commemorating
the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In
western Christianity, Eastertide, the Easter
Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts
seven weeks, ending with the coming of the
fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Orthodoxy,
the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and
ends with the coming of the fortieth day,
the Feast of the Ascension.
Many countries in the New World and
elsewhere celebrate the anniversary
of Christopher Columbus' arrival in
the Americas, which happened on
October 12, 1492, as an official
holiday. The landing is celebrated
as Columbus Day in the United States,
as Día de la Raza ("Day of the Race")
in many countries in Latin America,
as Discovery Day in the Bahamas,
as Día de la Hispanidad and Fiesta
Nacional in Spain, as Día del Respeto
a la Diversidad Cultural (Day of
Respect for Cultural Diversity)
in Argentina, and as Día de las
Américas (Day of the Americas)
in Belize and Uruguay. These holidays
have been celebrated unofficially
since the late 18th century, and
officially in various areas since the
early 20th century.