Category Celebration All Around the World

Moomba

Moomba means “get together and have fun”. And that’s just what the people of Melbourne, Australia, do at the yearly Moomba Festival.

The Moomba Festival gets its name from the language of the Aborigines, the people who were the first to live in Australia. The festival runs for 11 days. And there is something for everyone.

Among the many events are water shows and boat races on the Yarra River, which flows through the city. At Melbourne Cricket Ground, children’s teams play all kinds of sports. There are games of cricket, which is a favourite sport in Australia, as well as soccer and rugby. Children’s plays are put on at an outdoor theatre.

The busy festival ends with a big parade on Australia’s Labour Day, the second Monday in March. Bagpipe bands play lively marches and there are colourful floats. The Moomba King and Queen lead the parade. Everywhere there are clowns and more clowns. Children may also dress up and take part in the parade.

Holi

Look out! That splash of red is coming straight towards you! It’s the festival of Holi in India. The streets are filled with people squirting coloured water or smearing brightly coloured powder on each other.

Holi is the spring festival that takes place in February and March. It combines singing, dancing, and traditional merrymaking with Hindu religious ceremonies. It also reminds Hindus of a story from their mythology.

In the story, a king was angry about his son worshiping Lord Vishnu, one of the two main gods of Hinduism. The boy’s evil aunt, Holi, tried to kill the boy by taking him into a huge fire. The boy escaped unhurt, but Holi was killed in the fire.

Today, Hindus light a large bonfire on Holi as a symbol of the burning of all evil things. The bonfire also marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Hindus in many parts of the world celebrate Holi, including people in Bangladesh, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, and Suriname. Wherever is celebrated, people forget about their differences and have fun together.

St. Patrick’s Day

In Dublin, Ireland, people wear shamrocks. In Chicago, U.S.A., the river is dyed green. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, a time to wear a bit of green and enjoy Irish traditions.

The colour green is a reminder of the beautiful green countryside of Ireland. It is also the colour of the shamrock, the clover-like plant that is the national symbol of Ireland.

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a holy day. People attend religious services. Saint Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint brought Christianity to Ireland. In many U.S. and Canadian cities, people celebrate with parades and enjoy Irish music and foods. In New York City, more than a hundred bands and a hundred thousand marchers join in the St. Patrick’s Day parade along Fifth Avenue. The parade lasts for hours.

Religious symbols include snakes and serpents, as well as the Celtic cross. Some say that Saint Patrick added the Sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross. Other Irish-related symbols seen on St Patrick’s Day include the harp, which was used in Ireland for centuries, as well as a mythological creature known as the leprechaun and a pot of gold that the leprechaun keeps hidden.

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Doll Festivals

Does your family have special dolls that decorate the shelves or mantel? In Japan, people display special sets of dolls every year on March 3 and May 5. These are doll festival days. The one on March 3 is the Girls’ Festival, and the one on May 5 is the Boys’ Festival.

During these celebrations, families display dolls that have been handed down for generations. Through the dolls, the children learn about their country’s culture, history, and outstanding men and women.

This festival had its origin about 1,000 years ago in the Heian Period (794-1192). It is a traditional custom to display ceremonial dolls on tiers of shelves covered with scarlet carpet. These dolls are dressed in the fashion of the people of the ancient court. The Emperor and Empress are placed on the upper-most tier, followed by the ladies in waiting and ministers.

Starting weeks before the festival, families display the dolls on a tiered stand called a hinadan that is covered with red cloth.

The stand may have 5 or 7 tiers, with the the top tier reserved for the Emperor and Empress, followed by guardians, musicians, and servants.

The display also includes small meal dishes, small furniture pieces like chests and stands, and fresh peach blossoms.

There is a superstition about hina dolls. If a girl does not put away the dolls quickly after the Hina Festival, then she will not get married for a long time.

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The Month of March

March is the third month of the year. On the Roman calendar, the year began with March. Romans named the month after Mars, their god of war, because they prepared to go off to war in springtime.

March has not always been the third month in a year. In early versions of the ancient Roman calendar, the year began with March or Martius. Because the month coincides with the time of the March equinox and the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, where the calendar originated, March was considered to be a month of new beginnings.

The months of January and February did not feature in earlier versions of the Roman calendar. They were added to the end of the year around 700 BCE and became the first months of the year around 450 BCE, pushing March to its currently held third position.

In the northern half of the world, people often say that “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”. This means that the weather in early March is often stormy, but by the end, it is mild. In the southern part of the world, March is the beginning of autumn.

Lent

Crowds of people leave the church. A cross of black ashes marks each person’s forehead. It’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Lent is a Christian religious season. It begins with Ash Wednesday, which falls sometime in February or March. Lent ends about 40 days later on Easter Sunday. The 40 days of Lent remind people of the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness.

Today, many Christians fast by giving up such luxuries as sweets during Lent. They also think about the things they have done wrong in their lives.

In many countries, special foods are eaten during Lent. In Ireland, people have a Lenten dish called champ. It is made of hot mashed potatoes with green onions and served with a lump of butter in the middle.

Ash Wednesday is observed in Roman Catholic churches and in some Protestant churches. In Catholic churches, ashes from burned palm leaves are blessed and used to mark a cross on each person’s forehead. The ashes remind people that they came from dust and will one day return to dust.

Early Christians felt the importance of Easter called for special preparations. The first mention of a 40-day period of fasting in preparation for Easter is found in the Canons of Nicaea (AD 325). It is thought that the tradition may have grown from the early church practice of baptismal candidates undergoing a 40-day period of fasting in preparation for their baptism at Easter. Eventually, the season evolved into a period of spiritual devotion for the whole church. During the initial centuries, the Lenten fast was very strict but relaxed over time.

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