In America
a holiday is a day set aside by our nation to celebrate
a given event. Usually is has some special cultural
observance. In United States is also where the
government and most financial institutions close for the
day, which at times can be extremely frustrating.
Although we have several holidays each year, there are
only three major holidays the several books have been
written on collectible aspects, which are Halloween,
Thanksgiving and Christmas
The Halloween
Holiday
Halloween's origins date back to the
ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is
now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France,
celebrated their new year holiday on November 1. This
day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the
beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that
was often associated with human death. Celts believed
that on the night before the new year, the boundary
between the worlds of the living and the dead became
blurred. Which is the night of October 31.
It
should be noted the custom of trick-or-treating is
thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but
with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On
November 2 holiday, All Souls Day, early Christians
would walk from village to village begging for "soul
cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with
currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive,
the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of
the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was
believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time
after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could
expedite a soul's passage to heaven.
Part
of the holiday, the Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes
from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named
Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster,
tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an
image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil
up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he
would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him
down the tree.
Thanksgiving Holiday
The
first American Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated in
1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth
Colony after a harsh winter. In that year Governor
William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. The
colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest
feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag
Indians.
Days of thanksgiving were
celebrated throughout the colonies after fall harvests.
All thirteen colonies did not, however, celebrate the
Thanksgiving holiday at the same time until October
1777. George Washington was the first president to
declare the holiday, in 1789.
By the mid–1800s,
many states observed a Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile,
the poet and editor Sarah J. Hale had begun lobbying for
a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War,
President Abraham Lincoln, looking for ways to unite the
nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave
his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last
Thursday in November a day of
thanksgiving.
The Christmas
Holiday
Christmas is an annual holiday that marks the
birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Christmas combines
the celebration of Jesus' birth with various other
non-related traditions and customs, many of which were
influenced by ancient winter festivals. Christmas
traditions include the display of Nativity scenes, Holly
and Christmas trees, the exchange of gifts and cards,
and the arrival of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) on
Christmas Eve. Popular Christmas themes include the
promotion of goodwill, giving, compassion, and quality
family time.
Christmas Day falls on December 25.
It is preceded by Christmas Eve on December 24, and in
some countries is followed by Boxing Day holiday on
December 26. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates
Christmas on January 6, while some Eastern Orthodox
Churches (old rite or old style Orthodox) celebrate
Christmas on January 7, the date on the Gregorian
calendar which corresponds to 25 December. The date as a
birth date for Jesus is merely traditional, and is not
widely considered to be his actual date of
birth.
Christmas is celebrated in most countries
around the world, owing to the spread of Christianity
and Western culture. Various local and regional
Christmas holiday traditions are still practiced. You
will find many holiday books Delve Bookstore. Please
enjoy they many treasures you will find in them.
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