Category Celebration All Around the World

Mm-mmmm! Smell the turkey cooking! It’s Thanksgiving Day and company’s coming! In the U.S.A. and Canada, this is a special holiday. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessings.

Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. That’s why it is celebrated in late autumn, after the crops have been gathered.

The Pilgrims of New England celebrated the first harvest thanksgiving. They were early English settlers who went to America in 1620 looking for a better life. The Pilgrims had a hard time during their first year, many of them dying during the first winter. But the next year, in 1621, they had a good harvest. So, their governor declared a three-day feast.

The Pilgrims invited American Indian friends to join them for the special feast. In time, other colonies began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving.

Today, people in the U.S.A. celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October.

For thousands of years, people in many parts of the world have held harvest festivals. The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival was once a celebration of the end of the rice harvest. African Americans celebrate the African harvest at the end of December.

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Remembrance Day

For more than four years, the war raged on. Then, at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918, the guns stopped firing. World War I was over on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. An armistice – an agreement to end the war – had been signed.

November 11 became Armistice Day, a day on which many nations honour those who died for their country. In France, it is still called Armistice Day. In Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, November 11 is Remembrance Day and honours all people who have died in war. The United Kingdom celebrates Remembrance Day on the Sunday closest to November 11.

In 1954, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in the U.S.A. It became a time to honour all the men and women who have served in the nation’s armed forces.

Each year, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, U.S.A., there are special ceremonies. They begin with two minutes of silence, followed by a bugler playing “Taps”. A wreath is placed at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The tomb honours members of the U.S. armed forces who have died in war. The red poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day.

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Seven-Five-Three

According to an old tradition in Japan, girls who are 3 or 7 years old and boys who are 5 are thought to be especially fortunate. So on November 15, families who have children of these ages take part in a festival called Seven-Five-three.

On this day, the families go to a shrine, or place of worship. There, they give thanks for the good health of the children. They also ask for future health and happiness for the children.

Outside the shrine, parents buy sweets and toys for the children. Later, the children give some of their sweets to visiting friends and relatives. In return, they are often given gifts.

In the Japanese tradition, the Gedatsu Church observes this auspicious occasion with a special prayer before the local guardian shrine, offering thanks for the children’s healthy and safe development. Each child is given a colorfully decorated bag containing the traditional chitose ame (literally meaning “a thousand years”) candy in appreciation for the child’s vitality and long life. Applications forms for participation in the festival are available at church offices.

Day-of-the-Dead

Children bite into crisp sugar skulls. People dressed as skeletons dance down the streets. Cemeteries light up with the warm glow of candles. It’s November 1, the start of the two-day Day-of-the-Dead celebration in Mexico.

The Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos), is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration. A blend of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture, the holiday is celebrated each year from October 31- November 2. While October 31 is Halloween, November 1 is “el Dia de los Inocentes,” or the day of the children, and All Saints Day. November 2 is All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead. According to tradition, the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of children can rejoin their families for 24 hours. The spirits of adults can do the same on November 2.

On this day, many Mexicans believe that the spirits of the dead return to visit their homes. Processions are held through towns. Families and friends gather in cemeteries and clean and decorate gravesites with flowers to welcome the spirits.

People picnic together and enjoy such special foods as sugar skulls and breads baked with a plastic skeleton hidden in them. It is a time when people remember the dead and celebrate life.

You can make a Day-of-the-Dead decoration out of self-hardening clay.

Roll one colour of clay into an egg shape about the size of your fist. Lay it on its side and push down gently so that it has a flat bottom. Gently mould it use a pencil to make holes for the face. Decorate the skull with different colours of clay. Let the skull dry one or two days on a wire rack. When the skull is hard, display it on a windowsill.

The Month of November

November is the eleventh month of the year. In ancient Roman times, November was the ninth month of the year. This month got its name from novem, the Latin word for “nine”. And the name was never changed.

In the northern half of the world, many places are cold in November. In parts of the north, the trees are bare, and the dead leaves on the ground have lost the beautiful colours of October. In the southern half of the world, it is getting warmer in many places.

November Month Overview – November often blows in like a hurricane. Other times it lingers like the warmth of the sun. For many, the month fills us with gratitude. It represents family holidays, too. As warm and cozy and November seems to many, others consider the 11th month of the year to be somewhat bleary.

Diwali

It is late autumn in India, the day before Diwali, or the Festival of Lights. In many homes, the children are busy making special holiday lamps. They fill little clay bowls with mustard oil. Into the oil, they put a little wick made of cotton. These lamps are a very important part of Diwali. They are lit on the fourth day of this five-day festival.

In preparation for the holiday, families hang garlands of flowers over the door and prepare sweet cakes and biscuits.

The next day – Diwali – everyone gets up early. The day is spent visiting relatives. There are lots of good things to eat and gifts to be exchanged. There may also be a visit to a street fair, where the children can go on rides and watch fireworks.

Before sunset, each family sets out its Diwali lamps. All over the countryside the little lights glow, like stars brought down from the sky.

According to Hindu beliefs, the Diwali lamps will help guide Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good luck. She will fly down to Earth and visit each house where the lamps are twinkling. After her visit, the family in that house will be blessed with good luck for a whole year.

For many who practise the Hindu religion, Diwali is the first day of the New Year. Diwali means “rows of lights”. Hindus in Malaysia and other parts of the world also celebrate the Festival of lights.

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