Category Celebration All Around the World

Teacher’s Day

Do you have a special day to honour your teacher? In China, people honour all teachers with a national holiday called Teacher’s Day.

On this day, people throughout China also celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest thinkers and teachers in Chinese history – Confucius.

Some children may give their teachers cards or gifts on September 28, which is Teacher’s Day and Confucius’s Birthday. Also, some people in China hold a ceremony at dawn in Confucian temples. It includes music and special dances. People also put food offerings before the altar. This ceremony has been a Chinese tradition for more than 1,000 years.

Teachers’ Day in India is celebrated on 5th September to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. He was a renowned scholar, recipient of Bharat Ratna, first Vice- President and second President of independent India. He was born on 5 September, 1888. As an educationist, he was an advocate of edification and was a distinguished envoy, academician, and above all a great teacher.

As the common adage goes, the future of a country lies in the hands of its children, and teachers, as mentors, can mold students into future leaders who shape the destiny of India. They play an important role in our lives to become successful in career and business. They help us to become a good human being, a better member of society, and an ideal citizen of the country. Teacher’s Day is celebrated to acknowledge the challenges, hardships, and the special role that teachers play in our lives.

Teachers Day is one such event for which students and teachers equally look forward to. Teachers Day is important for the students as it gives them a chance to understand the efforts put in by their teachers to ensure that they get a proper education. Similarly, teachers also look forward to the Teachers’ Day celebration as their efforts get recognised and honoured by students and other agencies as well.

Teachers should be respected and honoured. In India, on the eve of Teachers’ Day, i.e. on 5 September, the National Teachers Awards are given to the meritorious teachers by the President of India. The awards are conferred as public gratitude to praiseworthy teachers working in primary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools.

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Mexican Independence Day

Grimly, Father Hidalgo, the priest of the little Mexican community of Dolores, tugged at the rope that rang the church bell. He was calling the people to church earlier than usual on this Sunday morning.

It was September 15, 1810, and Father Hidalgo was going to give a very different kind of sermon. He was going to call on the Mexican people to rise up and free themselves from Spain.

The speech Father Hidalgo gave that morning became known as Grito de Dolores, or “Cry of Dolores”. It was the beginning of years of war. Father Hidalgo, who is often called the Father of Mexican Independence, didn’t live to see an independent Mexico. He was killed in 1811, but Mexico won its independence in 1821.

September 16, the day after Father Hidalgo gave the Cry of Dolores, is celebrated along with September 15 as Mexico’s Independence Days. During the first evening of the Independence Days, the president of Mexico repeats the Cry of Dolores. Then he rings the same church bell that Father Hidalgo rang. Bells throughout Mexico ring out in honour of a free Mexico.

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Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur

It is sunset. The rabbi blows the shofar – a trumpet made from a ram’s horn. The notes of the shofar ringing out through the synagogue tell the people that Rosh Ha-Shanah has begun.

Rosh Ha-Shanah means “beginning of the year”. It is the Jewish New Year celebration, an important religious holiday.

During the next 10 days, Jews pray and express their sorrow for any wrongs they have done during the year. Rosh Ha-Shanah falls on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishri and lasts 1 or 2 days. It can come anywhere between September 5 and October 5. The tenth day following Rosh Ha-Shanah is called Yom Kippur, which means “Day of Atonement”. Atonement means making up for anything bad you may have done.

Yom Kippur is the most important and holiest day of the Jewish year. Like all Jewish holy days, it begins at sunset. Most people go to a service at a synagogue in the evening and again the following day.

During Yom Kippur, many Jews do not eat or drink anything. At sunset, a blast on the shofar signals the end of Yom Kippur.

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Brazilian Independence Day

Pedro’s face grew grim as he read messages that had just come from Portugal, which ruled Brazil. Pedro was the son of Portugal’s king and the leader of Brazil’s people. The messages told him that Portugal refused to listen to Brazil’s pleas to change some harsh new laws.

Pedro threw down the messages and shouted, “Independence or death!” And the fight for independence began that day – September 7, 1822. Less than two years later, Brazil was a free country. Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, has a big parade on September 7, when all Brazilians celebrate Independence Day.

On this day several activities held and on vast scale celebrations took place in the capital of Brazil that is Brazilia which include military parades, musical concerts and fireworks in the evening. People do outings, picnics and several outdoor events are performed by them. Let us tell you that Parades generally occur in the morning and fireworks in the evening. Thousands of Brazilians gather in the road on this day and celebrate together.

Feast of the Hungry Ghosts

Have you ever heard of ghost money or hungry ghosts? These things are part of the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts, a holiday celebrated by Chinese people in Singapore and other countries.

In China and many ethnic Chinese communities in Asia from Cambodia to India to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam all share the belief that real ghosts and spirits, hungry ones at that (!),  roam the streets during the entire seventh lunar month each year, which is designated as Ghost Month. No benign little trick-or-treaters, these roaming spirits are on the lookout for victims to claim so they can be reborn! This is the scariest and most dangerous month of the Chinese lunar year. On a special day, people offer gifts to the spirits of their ancestors.

The gifts are mostly food, clothes, and play money called “ghost money”. It is believed that if these things are burned, the spirits will get them. They will then have food to eat, clothes to wear, and money to spend.

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Homowo

Do you know any twins? Tell them there is a special day for them in Ghana. Ghana lies in western Africa on the Atlantic Ocean. During the maize harvest in August or early September, people known as the Ga enjoy a harvest festival that includes a celebration of twins. On this day, twins who dress up in white clothes get special treats.

The festival also includes dancing, singing, and parades. People wear their best clothes. All this fun continues for a week until Homowo Day. Then everyone opens up their home to friends and family and shares a wonderful harvest feast. There is fish from the sea and such traditional foods as special maize dough and yams. Like many holidays, Homowo is a time for enjoying the fruits of the harvest.

Homowo means “hooting at hunger”. The day celebrates the first good harvest that the Ga people had after a time when many people went hungry long, long ago. It also marks the beginning of the New Year for the Ga.

Picture Credit : Google