American Studies Geography Festivals Mr. Popovich

Objective: Knowledge of cultural festivals from around the world.

Background: The Geography Festivals Activity will be a 150-point assignment that will provide comprehension of different cultures form around the world! It will be done in groups of three to four people. You will be allowed to choose your own groups. Once you have met your group, exchange phone numbers with those people, because some work outside of class will be necessary. Remember: I reserve the right to change any member of your group or your entire group, if I think it is in the best interests of learning.

The Process: You will have three full class days to work on this project in class. I will provide supplies such as colored pencils, glue sticks, markers, scissors, and rulers for you to work with in class. You will need one piece of white butcher paper (22” X 28”). You will receive a piece of paper from Mr. Popovich. You may buy a piece of poster board from the book store if you do not want to use butcher paper. Each group member’s name should be written neatly on the back of the butcher paper. Everything on your butcher paper should be neatly written and spelled correctly.

The Research: First, you must find information and pictures for your festival. YOU MUST READ the handout given to you as a group. Then, more information may be found on the Internet, in the school library or public library. You will have to draw the pictures of find them on your own. Do not use this as an excuse for not being able to find pictures. Any Information can be found in outside books such as: atlases, encyclopedias, and magazines. Make copies of pictures that show the culture of your festival.

Graphic Designer- Responsible for the overall look and organization of the banner. Lead discussion, takes notes, and contributes ideas during the brainstorming session. Make sure visuals accurately represent the festival. Leads in the production of the banner. You will also find additional information about the festival from textbooks or the library. Helps with answering questions.

Illustrator- Creates or finds a copy of the map of where the festival is. Creates visuals for the banner. Helps brainstorm ideas for the project. Creates a rough sketch of the collage for the teacher to review. Assists in the final production.

Paraphraser/Researcher- Helps the group understand the information given in the handout. Helps brainstorm ideas for the banner. Makes sure the most important ideas are included on the banner. Leads a discussion on how to restate the information about the festival so classmates can understand it. Assists in the final production of the collage.

Celebrations around the world activity The Steps: Check off each step as it is finished.

1. You are going to create a banner for your celebration. The banner must have 10 pictures from the celebration (party), the name of the party, your answers on the poster, and an explanation of the celebration. There will be no computer time for this. You have three days to work on this.

2. Draw a map of where your celebration is held. Use the American Studies book map section to find the country.

3. Cut out at least 10 pictures from magazines, newspapers, travel brochures, or pictures you have copied from a book or the Internet. Your may draw all of the pictures yourself if desired. Glue them onto your poster surrounding your map.

4. All of these pictures should be about your celebration.

5. Number each picture. Write or type a description of each pricture on a piece of paper with the corresponding number from the front of the poster. Glue these on the back.

6. Next, you must think of something to make to pass out to the class so they can be a part of the celebration. You can make hats, bracelets, or anything else. If you pass out food you have to double check with me. You must also have something for them to do at your booth. For example you can create board games, puzzles, quiz games, or any other type of game that they think will be both fun and educational. We will not present but go around the room and share our celebrations.

Answer the following questions on your poster:

1. Where does this celebration take place? Is it a countrywide celebration, or a regional or local event (such as Mardi Gras in New Orleans)? 2. How long does this celebration usually last, and how often does it take place? 3. Is this celebration new or old? What is its history? Is the festival held for a specific event? 4. What makes this celebration specific to its location? Could you find a celebration exactly like it in any other part of the world? Why or why not? 5. What traditions or customs are associated with this celebration? 6. Are there any songs, chants, or poems associated with this celebration? If so, what? 7. Do many visitors or tourists come to celebrate with the locals? Why or why not?

Name ______Period ____

Celebrations Project Rubric

CATEGORY POINTS

Map of Celebration Locations 5 pts. ______Questions Answered (3 pts each answer) 21 pts. ______Pictures used and descriptions(Between colored/printed/2 pts each) 20 pts. ______Game 24 pts ______Neatness (30= very neat, 24= some erase marks and wrinkles, 18= 1/3rd wrinkled or sloppy, 12- 1/2 wrinkled or sloppy, 6= very sloppy) 30pts. ______

Extra Credit Food/Music/Costume ______

TOTAL GROUP POINTS ______/ 100

Contributed fair share of the workload to the team 25 pts. ______Followed directions, worked quietly and cooperatively in class 25 pts. ______

TOTAL INDIVIDUAL POINTS ______/ 50

TOTAL POINTS ______/ 150

World Geography Name:______Celebrations Notes Name of festival Definition or facts What is something new that you (List what they learned? passed out)

Guy Fawkes Night

Gaucho

Carnival

Crop Over

Chinese

Basant

Puck Fair

Name of festival What did they Definition or facts What is something new that you give out? learned?

Day of the Dead

Songkran

Holi

Queen’s Day

Australia Day

What was your favorite festival? Why?

Explain what a perfect festival would be like for you?

Gaucho Portrait of a gaucho from Argentina. Photographed in Peru, 1868.

Gaucho in ring lancing contest, Buenos Aires Province

Gaucho (gaúcho in Portuguese, gaucho in Spanish) is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southwestern Rio Grande do Sul. In Brazil, written Gaúcho and pronounced differently, it is also used to designate people from the state of Rio Grande do Sul in general.

The word gaucho could be described as a loose equivalent to the North American "cowboy" (vaquero, in Spanish). Like the North American word cowboy, Venezuelan or Colombian llanero, or Chilean huaso, or the Mexican charro, the term often connotes the 19th century more than the present day; then gauchos made up the majority of the rural population, herding cattle on the vast estancias, and practising hunting as their main economic activities. The word "gaucho" is sometimes used to refer to chimichurri, a steak sauce common to Argentina.[1]

There are several conflicting hypotheses concerning the origin of the term. It may derive from the Mapuche cauchu ("vagabond") [2] or from the Quechua huachu ("orphan"), which gives also a different word in Spanish "guacho". The first recorded uses of the term date from around the time of Argentine independence in 1816.

History

Cattle were brought to the Pampas from Paraguay in 1580, by the colonial expedition of Juan de Garay.[3] In the 18th century, the gauderios, who lived by hunting wild cattle, were recorded, most famously by the travel writer Alonso Carrió de la Vandera, when he passed through what is now northern Argentina.[4] Commercial cattle ranching began in the second half of the 18th century.

Gauchos were generally nomadic, and lived in the Pampas, the plain that extends north from Patagonia, bounded on the west by the Andes and extending on the east to Uruguay and the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. These skilled riders lived from the feral cattle. Most gauchos were of Spanish and/or Portuguese and/or Amerindian (native American) ancestry. There are also gauchos of largely African or part African ancestry as well.

A Brazilian Gaúcho. Laçador Statue, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

An inconclusive genetic study conducted by FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) in 2007 detected a Amerindian with a, perhaps, stronger Spanish than Portuguese admixture in Brazilian gaúchos. A small African admixture was also found.[5] The area that is Rio Grande do Sul belonged to the Spanish Crown for over two centuries before it became a Portuguese possession in 1750 (Treaty of Madrid)[clarification needed]. The results of the study were not conclusive, and raised questions that will require further attention. The study clearly showed that their MtDNA has much stronger affinities with Amerindian MtDNA in Argentina and Uruguay than with Amerindian MtDNA from other parts of Brazil and suggests that this is probably due to genetic ancestry from the now extinct Pampean Indians (Charrúa, Minuano).[6][7]

Dramatization of a fight between gauchos. Notice the ponchos wrapped around the arms, to function as shields against stabbing.

Some gauchos were recorded as being in the Falkland Islands,[8] and have left a few Spanish words in the local dialect e.g. camp from campo.

Culture

The gaucho plays an important symbolic role in the nationalist feelings of this region, especially that of Argentina and Uruguay. The epic poem Martín Fierro by José Hernández used the gaucho as a symbol against corruption and of Argentine national tradition, pitted against Europeanising tendencies. Martín Fierro, the hero of the poem, is drafted into the Argentine military for a border war, deserts, and becomes an outlaw and fugitive. The image of the free gaucho is often contrasted to the slaves who worked the northern Brazilian lands. Further literary descriptions are found in Ricardo Güiraldes' Don Segundo Sombra.

Modern typical party of Gaúchos in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Like the North American cowboys, gauchos were generally reputed to be strong, honest, silent types, but proud and capable of violence when provoked. The gaucho tendency to violence over petty matters is also recognized as a typical trait. Gauchos' use of the famous "facón" (large knife generally tucked into the rear of the gaucho sash) is legendary, often associated with considerable bloodletting. Historically, the facón was typically the only eating instrument that a gaucho carried.

There is, perhaps, more of an air of melancholy about the classic gaucho than the classic cowboy

Also like the cowboy, the gauchos were and still are proud and great horseriders. Typically, a gaucho's horse constituted most of what he owned in the world. During the wars of the 19th century in the Southern Cone, the cavalries on all sides were composed almost entirely of gauchos. In Argentina, gaucho armies such as that of Martín Miguel de Güemes, slowed Spanish advances. Furthermore, many caudillos relied on gaucho armies to control the Argentine provinces.

The gaucho diet was composed almost entirely of beef while on the range, supplemented by yerba mate, an herbal tea-like drink rich in caffeine and nutrients. Argentine cooking draws influence from the simple but delicious recipes used in gaucho meals.

Gauchos[9] dressed quite distinctly from North American cowboys, and used bolas or boleadoras - in Portuguese boleadeiras - (three leather bound rocks tied together with approximately three feet long leather straps) in addition to the familiar "North American" lariat or riata. The typical gaucho outfit would include a poncho (which doubled as saddle blanket and also as sleeping gear), a facón (large knife), a rebenque (leather whip), and loose-fitting trousers called bombachas, belted with a tirador, or a chiripá, a piece of cloth used in the fashion—but not the function—of a diaper. Several of these items were British imports into the area; for example, bombachas were originally made in Turkey. In the wintertime, gauchos wore heavy wool ponchos to protect against cold. Nowadays, working gauchos are as likely to be found in overalls and wellington boots as in their traditional dress.

Just as the disappearance of the "Wild West" of the United States altered the character and employment of "cowboys" so too did the nature of gauchos become changed. In southern Patagonia, on both the Chilean and Argentine sides of the frontier, the term "gaucho" became synonymous with "bandit" or "stock rustler" or imply "thief." The rural population of Patagonia often does not share the traditional or "literary" image of the gauchos as "honest but solitary cowboy types" but instead as undesirables. Those with urban and academic orientations typically continue to cling to an image of gauchos that is no longer accurate or consistent with contemporary rural realities. Gaucho Festival takes place at a few estancias – a Latin American Ranches (San Antonio de Areco, Realico, Quemu – Quemu, Rolon etc.). Gauchos were men who took care of the animals in the farms, in English they are called cowboys. Traditional dances and music are presented on gaucho festivals which include also horseback riding, hayrides, Argentine barbecue ("asado criollo") and wine.

The gaucho - the South American cowboy - is one of the icons of Argentina's rural farming areas.

WHERE: Each year the main events of the gaucho festival, which celebrates the gaucho way of life, takes place in the vast plains of Las Pampas, around 360 miles south of the capital Buenos Aires.

The festival will be celebrating all things rural, offering a unique insight into the traditions of Argentinian country life.

Holidaymakers will get chance to take in horse parades, dancing and music, and enjoy barbecued meat - a major feature of the region, and a food Argentina is famous for.

HOW LONG: The festival can last from one day to one week. On September 20, the festival ends with a splendid evening of traditional gaucho dances, where young and old are dressed in traditional gaucho clothes. Men wear high, leather boots in which they tuck their baggy gaucho pants and they wear a neckerchief tied at the throat. Women are dressed in ankle-length, wide skirts with white blouses or brightly coloured dresses and may put flowers in their hair.

IS THIS CELEBRATION NEW OR OLD: The Gauch festival has been celebrated since the mild of the 18th century. Since 1996, September 20 is an official holiday in Rio Grande do Sul and each year [September 13- 20] Gaucho is celebrated, in commemoration of the Farrapos War. During this week gaucho dances, music and traditions come back to life in the form of parades, shows of fandango dances, typical music and other manifestations of Rio Grande de Sul.

Latin American Carnival

Carnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life Carnival is a festival traditionally held in Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Orthodox societies. Protestant areas usually do not have carnival celebrations or have modified traditions, such as the Danish Carnival or other Shrove Tuesday events. The Brazilian Carnaval is one of the best-known celebrations today, but many cities and regions worldwide celebrate with large, popular, and days-long events. History The Lenten period of the Church calendar, being the six weeks directly before Easter, was marked by fasting and other pious or penetential practices. Traditionally during Lent, no parties or other celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fats and sugar. The forty days of Lent, recalling the biblical account of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, serve to mark an annual time of turning. In the days before Lent, all rich food and drink had to be disposed of. The consumption of this, in a giant party that involved the whole community is thought to be the origin of Carnival. While it forms an integral part of the Christian calendar, particularly in Catholic regions, some carnival traditions may date back to pre-Christian times. The ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia may possibly have been absorbed into the Italian Carnival. The Saturnalia, in turn, may be based on the Greek Dionysia and Oriental festivals. While medieval pageants and festivals such as Corpus Christi were church- sanctioned celebrations, carnival was also a manifestation of medieval folk culture. Many local carnival customs are based on local pre-Christian rituals, for example the elaborate rites involving masked figures in the Swabian-Alemannic carnival. Some of the best-known traditions, including carnival parades and masquerading, were first recorded in medieval Italy. The carnival of Venice was for a long time the most famous carnival. From Italy, carnival traditions spread to the Catholic nations of Spain, Portugal, and France. From France, they spread to the Rhineland of Germany, and to New France in North America. From Spain and Portugal, they spread with Catholic colonization to the Caribbean and Latin America. Other areas have developed their own traditions. In the United Kingdom, West Indian immigrants brought with them the traditions of Caribbean Carnival, however the Carnivals now celebrated at Notting Hill, London; Leeds, Yorkshire, and other places have become divorced from their cycle in the religious year, becoming purely secular events, that take place in the summer months. Length and individual holidays While the starting day of Carnivale varies, the festival usually builds up to a crescendo in the week before lent, ending on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. In the Ambrosian rite of Milan (Italy), the carnival ends on the Saturday after Ash Wednesday. In areas in which people practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Carnival ends on the Sunday seven weeks before Easter, since in Eastern tradition lent begins on Clean Monday. Most common the season begins on Septuagesima, the first Sunday before Ash Wednesday. In some places it starts as early as Twelfth Night (January 6) or even in November. The most important celebrations are generally concentrated during the last days of the season before Ash Wednesday. The origin of the name "carnival" is disputed. Variants in Italian dialects suggest that the name comes from the Italian carne levare or similar, meaning "to remove meat", since meat is prohibited during Lent.[1] A different explanation states that the word comes from the Late Latin expression carne vale, which means "farewell to meat", signifying that those were the last days when one could eat meat before the fasting of Lent. Yet another translation depicts carne vale as "a farewell to the flesh", a phrase embraced by certain carnival celebrations that encourage letting go of your former (or everyday) self and embracing the carefree nature of the festival. However, explanations proceeding from carne vale seem to be folk etymologies and are not supported by philological evidence.[1] Another possible explanation comes from the term "Carrus Navalis" (ship cart), the name of the roman festival of Isis, where her image was carried to the sea-shore to bless the start of the sailing season.[2] The festival consisted in a parade of masks following an adorned wooden boat, that would reflect the floats of modern carnivals.[3] Argentina In Argentina, the most representative carnival performed is the so called Murga, although other famous carnival, more Brazilian stylized, are held in the Argentine Mesopotamia and the North-East. Gualeguaychú in the east of Entre Ríos province is the most important carnival city and has one of the largest parades, with a similar afro-American musical background to Brazilian or Uruguayan Carnival. Corrientes is another city with a lively carnival tradition. Chamame, a kind of polka is played during the carnivals. In all major cities and many towns throughout the country, Carnival is also celebrated, but less famous than in the above mentioned places. As carnival coincides with summer, in many parts of Argentina children play with water. The 19th century tradition of filling empty egg shells with water has evolved into water games that include the throwing of water balloons. Bolivia La Diablada carnival, takes place in the city of Oruro in central Bolivia. It is celebrated in honor of the patron saint of the miners, Vírgen de Socavon (the Virgin of the Tunnels). Over 50 parade groups dance, sing and play music over a five kilometre-long course. Participants dress up as demons, devils, angels, Incas and Spanish conquerors. There are various kinds of dances such as caporales and tinkus. The parade runs from morning until late at night, 18 hours a day, 3 days before Ash Wednesday. Meanwhile throughout the country celebrations are held involving traditional rhythms and water parties. In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, at the east side of the country, the tropical weather allows a Brazilian-type carnival, with agropuations of people called "Comparsas" dancing traditional songs in matching uniforms. Brazil An important part of the Brazilian Carnival takes place in the Rio Carnival, with samba schools parading in the Sambadrome ("sambódromo" in Portuguese). It's the largest carnival event in this country, considered to be the largest of the kind in the world. Called "One of the biggest shows of the Earth", the festival attracts millions of tourists, both Brazilians and foreigners who come from everywhere to participate and enjoy the great show. Samba Schools are large, social entities with thousands of members and a theme for their song and parade each year. Tourists are allowed to pay ($500-750) to buy a Samba costume and dance in the parade through the Sambadrome with one of the schools. Blocos are generally small informal groups also with a definite theme in their samba, usually satirical of the current political situation. But there are also a lot, about 30 of them in Rio de Janeiro, that are very big in number of participants, gathering hundreds of thousands of people. There are more than 200 blocos in Rio de Janeiro. Bandas are samba musical bands, usually formed by enthusiasts in the same neighborhood. An adapted truck from Salvador, with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music, Samba-reggae and Arrocha, is driven with the following crowd both dancing and singing. It was originally staged by two Salvador musicians, Dodo & Osmar, in the 1950s. Several cities in the state of Bahia still celebrate Carnaval this way, with as most popular the carnival of Porto Seguro. Pernambuco has large Carnival celebrations, including the Frevo, typical Pernambuco music. Another famous carnival music style from Pernambuco is Maracatu. The cities of Recife and Olinda also host large carnival celebrations in Brazil. The largest carnival parade in all of the world according The Guinness Book of World Records is named Galo da Madrugada, which takes place in downtown Recife on the Saturday of carnival. Another famous event is the Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos.[16]

Also called the Spring Festival (Chun Jie or Ch'un Chieh); the most important festival in the Chinese year. The New Year is celebrated in late January or early February, according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, and lasts for 15 days. This festival starts a new cycle and celebrates the arrival of spring. People who live away from home return to spend the holiday with their families. For several weeks before the New Year begins, Chinese send red cards with good wishes to their friends and relatives. Activities during the New Year festival include paying respectful visits to elders, writing poems, hanging red strips of paper, and enjoyingbanquets with many courses. The Chinese also display brightly colored woodcuts in the folk art tradition that depict happy children, beautiful women, good harvests and folk heroes.

The Chinese carefully clean their homes for the festival. They traditionally believe that one week before the New Year festival, the Kitchen God (Caozhun or Ts'ao-chun; "Stove Prince") travels to Heaven to report what has happened on Earth during the year. Male members of the family make offerings to the Kitchen God and then take down the piece of red paper decorated with his picture from the shrine over the kitchen stove. After a week, when members of the household have completed their preparations for the festival, a new picture of the Kitchen God is hung above the stove on New Year's Eve, the 30th night of the Twelfth Moon. Then all the members of the family share a to reinforce their harmonious relations. Special foods with symbolic meanings are served. For example, abalone represents abundance; bean sprouts, black seaweed, soybeans and pork represent prosperity; dumplings symbolize unity and happiness; oysters foretell good business; and carp, a large , symbolizes success. Special foods are also offered on the altar to the family's ancestors, including ground nuts and lotus seeds, which represent childbirth and continuity; lichees, which indicate success; and longan, a sweet, round fruit that symbolizes unity and happiness.

During the New Year period, the Chinese continue to eat and drink together and pay visits to friends and family members. They traditionally try to pay off old debts by the New Year. They also hold lion dances and set off strings of noisy firecrackers to chase away evil spirits. The New Year Festival was traditionally believed to have begun in ancient times, when a wild beast called (nien) ate many people in a certain village at the end of every winter. One year the villagers scared the beast away by beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers. This practice then spread throughout . The New Year Festival closes with the Lantern Festivalon the 15th day, the first full moon of the first lunar month. Beautiful paper lanterns are hung to decorate houses and shops and are carried by children.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year's Eve in Meizhou, , China Chinese New Year, , or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is commonly called "Lunar New Year", because it is based on the lunisolar . The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; : zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends with which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as chú xī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve". Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Han Chinese populations (Chinatowns), such as Mainland China, , Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans (Seollal), Tibetans and Bhutanese (), Mongolians (), Vietnamese (Tết), and the Japanese before 1873 (Oshogatsu). In countries such as , Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issue New Year's themed stamps. Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile; forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. Although the Chinese calendar traditionally does not use continuously numbered years, outside China its years are often numbered from the reign of the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various scholars, making the year 2010 "Chinese Year" 4708, 4707, or 4647.[2]

Chinese New Year decoration in London's Chinatown Mythology According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nien (Chinese: 年; pinyin: nián). Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid of the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nien. From then on, Nien never came to the village again. The Nien was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nien became Hongjun Laozu's mount.[3] Public holiday Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend. The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits" (Chinese: 拜年; pinyin: bài nián). New clothes are usually worn to signify a new year. The colour red is liberally used in all decorations. Red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders. See Symbolism below for more explanation. Preceding days On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. There is a saying "Wash away the dirt on ninyabaat" (年廿八，洗邋遢), but the practice is not usually restricted on nin'ya'baat (年廿八, the 28th day of month 12). It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes, and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start. In many households where Buddhism or is prevalent, home altars and statues are cleaned thoroughly, and altars that were adorned with decorations from the previous year are also taken down and burned a week before the new year starts, and replaced with new decorations. Taoists (and Buddhists to a lesser extent) will also "send gods" (送神), an example would be burning a paper effigy of Zao Jun the Kitchen God, the recorder of family functions. This is done so that the Kitchen God can report to the Jade Emperor of the family household's transgressions and good deeds. Families often offer sweet foods (such as candy) in order to "bribe" the deities into reporting good things about the family. The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families. It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. In northern China, it is customary to make dumplings ( 饺子) after dinner and have it around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. By contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a new year cake (Niangao, 年糕) after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year. Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out. After the dinner, some families go to local temples, hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year by lighting the first incense of the year; however in modern practice, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year. Beginning in 1982, the CCTV New Year's Gala was broadcast four hours before the start of the New Year. First day The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth, officially beginning at midnight. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before. For Buddhists, the first day is also the birthday of Maitreya Bodhisattva (better known as the more familiar Budai Luohan), the Buddha-to-be. People also abstain from killing animals. Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. Some families may invite a troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises. Members of the family who are married also give red envelopes containing cash to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers. Business managers also give bonuses through red envelopes to employees for good luck and wealth. While and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards, which have resulted in increased number of fires around New Years and challenged municipal fire departments' work capacity. For this reason, various city governments (e.g., Hong Kong, and Beijing, for a number of years) issued bans over fireworks and firecrackers in certain premises of the city. As a substitute, large-scale fireworks have been launched by governments in cities like Hong Kong to offer citizens the experience.

Cuisine

Niangao, Chinese New Year cake A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes chicken and fish. In some areas, fish (simplified Chinese: 鱼; traditional Chinese: 魚; pinyin: yú) is included, but not eaten completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" (simplified Chinese: 年年有余; traditional Chinese: 年年有餘; pinyin: nián nián yǒu yú) sounds the same as "may there be fish every year." In mainland China, many families will banter whilst watching the CCTV New Year's Gala in the hours before midnight. Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. These packets often contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability. Several foods are consumed to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. Several of the Chinese food names are homophones for words that also mean good things. Food items Name Description Buddha's delight (simplified An elaborate vegetarian dish served by Chinese families on the eve and the first day of the Chinese: 罗汉斋; New Year. A type of black hair-like , pronounced "" in Cantonese, is also traditional featured in the dish for its name, which sounds like "prosperity". Hakkas usually serve kiu Chinese: 羅漢齋; nyuk (Chinese: 扣肉; pinyin: kòu ròu) and ngiong teu fu. pinyin: luó hàn zhāi) Is usually eaten or merely displayed on the eve of Chinese New Year. The pronunciation of Fish fish (魚yú) makes it a homophone for "surpluses"(餘yú). Jau gok (Chinese: The main Chinese new year dumpling. It is believed to resemble ancient Chinese gold ingots 油角; pinyin: yóu (simplified Chinese: 金元宝; traditional Chinese: 金元寶; pinyin: jīn yuán bǎo) jiăo) jiao zi Eaten traditionally in northern China because the preparation is similar to packaging luck (dumplings) inside the dumpling, which is later eaten. Mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year – jin ju (Chinese: 金橘子; pinyin: jīn júzi) translation: golden tangerine/orange or kam Mandarin oranges (Chinese: 柑; pinyin: gān) in Cantonese. Also, the name gik (橘 jú) in Teochew dialect is a homophone of "luck" or "fortune" (吉 jí).[9] Melon seed/Kwatji Other variations include sunflower, pumpkin and other seeds. (Chinese: 瓜子; pinyin: guāzi) Most popular in eastern China (Jiangsu, and Shanghai) because its pronunciation is a homophone for "a more prosperous year (年高 lit. year high)". is also popular in Nian gao the Philippines because of its large Chinese population and is known as tikoy there. Known (Chinese: 年糕) as Chinese New Year pudding, nian gao is made up of glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, salt, water, and sugar. The colour of the sugar used determines the colour of the pudding (white or brown). Families may serve uncut noodles, which represent longevity and long life, though this Noodles practice is not limited to the new year. Sweets Sweets and similar dried fruit goods are stored in a red or black Chinese candy box. Chinese salty-sweet dried meat, akin to jerky, which is trimmed of the fat, sliced, marinated (Chinese: 肉干; and then smoked for later consumption or as a gift. pinyin: ròu gān) Taro cakes Made from the vegetable taro, the cakes are cut into squares and often fried. Turnip cakes A dish made of shredded radish and rice flour, usually fried and cut into small squares. or Yee sang (simplified Chinese: 鱼生; Raw fish salad. Eating this salad is said to bring good luck. This dish is usually eaten on the traditional seventh day of the New Year, but may also be eaten throughout the period. Chinese: 魚生; pinyin: yú shēng) Practices Red envelopes This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (February 2010)

Red packets for sale in a market in Taipei, Taiwan, before the Year of the Rat

The act of requesting for red packets is normally called (Mandarin): 讨紅包, 要利是. (Cantonese):逗利是. A married person would not turn down such a request as it would mean that he or she would be "out of luck" in the new year. Gift exchange In addition to red envelopes, which are usually given from elder to younger, small gifts (usually of food or sweets) are also exchanged between friends or relatives (of different households) during Chinese New Year. Gifts are usually brought when visiting friends or relatives at their homes. Common gifts include fruits (typically oranges, and never pears), cakes, biscuits, chocolates, candies, or some other small gift.[11] Markets Markets or village fairs are set up as the New Year is approaching. These usually open-air markets feature new year related products such as flowers, toys, clothing, and even fireworks. It is convenient for people to buy gifts for their new year visits as well as their home decoration. In some places, the practice of shopping for the perfect plum tree is not dissimilar to the Western tradition of buying a Christmas tree. Fireworks

Local man setting off fireworks during Chinese New Year in Shanghai. Bamboo stems filled with gunpowder that were burnt to create small explosions were once used in ancient China to drive away evil spirits. In modern times, this method has eventually evolved into the use of firecrackers during the festive season. Firecrackers are usually strung on a long fused string so it can be hung down. Each firecracker is rolled up in red papers, as red is auspicious, with gunpowder in its core. Once ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud popping noise and, as they are usually strung together by the hundreds, the firecrackers are known for their deafening explosions that are thought to scare away evil spirits. See also Myths above. The burning of firecrackers also signifies a joyful time of year and has become an integral aspect of Chinese New Year celebrations.[12] Firecracker ban The use of firecrackers, although a traditional part of celebration, has over the years led to many unfortunate outcomes. There have been reported incidents every year of users of fireworks being blinded, losing body parts, or suffering other grievous injuries, especially during the Chinese New Year season. Hence, many governments and authorities eventually enacted laws completely banning the use of firecrackers privately, primarily because of safety issues. Taiwan – Beginning 2008, firecrackers are banned in urban areas, but still allowed in rural areas. Mainland China – As of 2008, most urban areas in mainland China permit firecrackers. In the first three days of the traditional New Year, it is a tradition that people compete with each other by playing with firecrackers. However, many urban areas banned them in the 1990s. For example, they were banned in Beijing's urban districts from 1993 to 2005.[13] In 2004, 37 people were killed in a stampede when four million[14] people gathered for a rumoured Lantern Festival firework display in nearby Miyun.[15] Since the ban was lifted, the firecracker barrage has been tremendous. An unusual[clarification needed] feature is that many residents in major cities look down on street-level fireworks from their tower blocks. Bans are rare in rural areas. Clothing

Clothing mainly featuring the colour red or bright colours is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the new year. Wearing new clothes also symbolizes having more than enough things to use and wear in the new year. Symbolism During these 15 days of the Chinese New Year one will see superstitious or traditional cultural beliefs with meanings which can be puzzling in the eyes of those who do not celebrate this occasion. There is a customary reason that explains why everything, not just limited to decorations, are centered on the colour red. At times, gold is the accompanying colour for reasons that are already obvious. The following are popular floral decorations for the New Year and are available at new year markets.

Floral Decor Meaning Plum Blossom symbolizes luck Kumquat symbolizes prosperity Narcissus symbolizes prosperity Chrysanthemum symbolizes longevity Bamboo a plant used for any time of year Sunflower means to have a good year Eggplant a plant to heal all of your sickness Chom Mon Plant a plant which gives you tranquility

Icons and ornamentals Icons Meaning Illustrations The Koi fish is usually seen in paintings. Fish Decorated food depicting the fish can also be found. It symbolizes surplus or success.

These lanterns differ from those of Mid Autumn Festival in general. They will be red in colour and tend to be oval in shape. These are the traditional Chinese paper lanterns. Those Lanterns lanterns, used on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year for the Lantern Festival, are bright, colourful, and in many different sizes and shapes.

Decorations generally convey a New Year greeting. They are not advertisements. Chinese Decorations calligraphy posters show Chinese idioms. Other decorations include a , Chinese knots, and papercutting and couplets.

Dragon and lion dances are common during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of dance and Lion dance the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits. Lion dances are also popular for opening of businesses in Hong Kong.

Fortune gods Cai Shen Ye, Che Kung,etc.

Day of the Dead

Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddessMictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures.

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the Indigenous cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths ofancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500–3,000 years.[1] In the pre-Hispanic era, skulls were commonly kept as trophies and displayed during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.

The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the , about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess[2] known as the "Lady of the Dead", corresponding to the modern Catrina.

In most regions of Mexico, November 1 honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 mainly as Día de los Inocentes ("Day of the Innocents") but also asDía de los Angelitos ("Day of the Little Angels") and November 2 as Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos ("Day of the Dead").[3]

People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages, as well as photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them. Celebrations can take a humorous , as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.[3]

Plans for the day are made throughout the year, including gathering the goods to be offered to the dead. During the three-day period, families usually clean and decorate graves;[2] most visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with ofrendas (offerings), which often include orange Mexican marigolds (Tagetes erecta) called cempasúchil(originally named cempoaxochitl, Nahuatl for "twenty flowers").

In modern Mexico, this name is sometimes replaced with the term Flor de Muerto (Flower of the Dead). These flowers are thought to attract souls of the dead to the offerings.Toys are brought for dead children (los angelitos, or "the little angels"), and bottles oftequila, mezcal or pulque or jars of atole for adults. Families will also offer trinkets or the deceased's favorite candies on the grave. Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead"), and sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased.[2] Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrendas food, so though the celebrators eat the food after the festivities, they believe it lacks nutritional value. Pillows and blankets are left out so the deceased can rest after their long journey. In some parts of Mexico, such as the towns of Mixquic, Pátzcuaro and Janitzio, people spend all night beside the graves of their relatives. In many places, people have picnics at the grave site, as well.

Some families build altars or small shrines in their homes;[2] these usually have the Christian cross, statues or pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pictures of deceased relatives and other persons, scores of candles and an ofrenda. Traditionally, families spend some time around the altar, praying and telling anecdotes about the deceased. In some locations, celebrants wear shells on their clothing, so when they dance, the noise will wake up the dead; some will also dress up as the deceased.

Public schools at all levels build altars with ofrendas, usually omitting the religious symbols. Government offices usually have at least a small altar, as this holiday is seen as important to the Mexican heritage.

Those with a distinctive talent for writing sometimes create short poems, called calaveras (skulls), mocking epitaphs of friends, describing interesting habits and attitudes or funny anecdotes. This custom originated in the 18th or 19th century, after a newspaper published a poem narrating a dream of a cemetery in the future, "and all of us were dead", proceeding to "read" the tombstones.Newspapers dedicate calaveras to public figures, with cartoons of skeletons in the style of the famous calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican illustrator. Theatrical presentations of Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla (1817–1893) are also traditional on this day.

A common symbol of the holiday is the skull (in Spanish calavera), which celebrants represent in masks, called calacas (colloquial term for "skeleton"), and foods such as sugar or chocolate skulls, which are inscribed with the name of the recipient on the forehead. Sugar skulls as gifts can be given to both the living and the dead. Other holiday foods include pan de muerto, a sweet egg bread made in various shapes from plain rounds to skulls and rabbits, often decorated with white frosting to look like twisted bones.

José Guadalupe Posada created a famous print of a figure he called La Calavera de la Catrina ("skull of the rich woman") as a parody of a Mexican upper-class female. Posada's striking image of a costumed female with a skeleton face has become associated with the Day of the Dead, and Catrina figures often are a prominent part of modern Day of the Dead observances.

Gran calavera eléctrica ("Grand electric skull") by José Guadalupe Posada, 1900–1913.

The traditions and activities that take place in celebration of the Day of the Dead are not universal, often varying from town to town. For example, in the town of Pátzcuaro on theLago de Pátzcuaro in Michoacán, the tradition is very different if the deceased is a child rather than an adult. On November 1 of the year after a child's death, the godparents set a table in the parents' home with sweets, fruits, pan de muerto, a cross, a rosary (used to ask the Virgin Mary to pray for them) and candles. This is meant to celebrate the child's life, in respect and appreciation for the parents. There is also dancing with colorful costumes, often with skull-shaped masks and devil masks in the plaza or garden of the town. At midnight on November 2, the people light candles and ride winged boats called mariposas (butterflies) to Janitzio, an island in the middle of the lake where there is a cemetery, to honor and celebrate the lives of the dead there.

In contrast, the town of Ocotepec, north of Cuernavaca in the State of Morelos, opens its doors to visitors in exchange for veladoras (small wax candles) to show respect for the recently deceased. In return, the visitors receive tamales and atole. This is only done by the owners of the house where someone in the household has died in the previous year. Many people of the surrounding areas arrive early to eat for free and enjoy the elaborate altars set up to receive the visitors from Mictlán.

In some parts of the country (especially the cities, where in recent years other customs have been displaced), children in costumes roam the streets, knocking on people's doors for a calaverita, a small gift of candies or money; they also ask passersby for it. This relatively recent custom is similar to that of Halloween's trick-or-treating.

Some people believe possessing Day of the Dead items can bring good luck. Many people get tattoos or have dolls of the dead to carry with them. They also clean their houses and prepare the favorite dishes of their deceased loved ones to place upon their altar or ofrenda.

Pan de muerto, traditionally eaten on the holiday

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. Due to occurring shortly after Halloween, the Day of the Dead is sometimes thought to be a similar holiday, although the two actually have little in common. The Day of the Dead is a time of celebration, where partying is common. Scholars trace the origins of the modern holiday to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl. In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe and in the Philippines, and similarly themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures. Observance in Mexico

Families tidying and decorating graves at a cemetery in Almoloya del Río in the State of Mexico

Origins The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500–3,000 years.[1] In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the god[2] known as the "Lady of the Dead", corresponding to the modern Catrina. In most regions of Mexico, November 1 honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 mainly as Día de los Inocentes ("Day of the Innocents") but also as Día de los Angelitos ("Day of the Little Angels") and November 2 as Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos ("Day of the Dead").[3] Beliefs People go to cemeteries to communicate with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages as well as photos and memorabilia of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them. Celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.[3] Plans for the day are made throughout the year, including gathering the goods to be offered to the dead. During the three-day period, families usually clean and decorate graves;[2] most visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with ofrendas ("offerings"), which often include orange mexican marigolds (Tagetes erecta) called cempasúchitl (originally named cempoalxochitl, Nahuatl for "twenty flowers"). In modern Mexico, this name is sometimes replaced with the term Flor de Muerto ("Flower of the Dead"). These flowers are thought to attract souls of the dead to the offerings.

Catrinas, one of the most popular figures of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico Toys are brought for dead children (los angelitos, or "the little angels"), and bottles of tequila, mezcal or pulque or jars of atole for adults. Families will also offer trinkets or the deceased's favorite candies on the grave. Ofrendas are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead"), and sugar skulls and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased.[2] Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the "spiritual essence" of the ofrendas food, so even though the celebrators eat the food after the festivities, they believe it lacks nutritional value. Pillows and blankets are left out so that the deceased can rest after their long journey. In some parts of Mexico, such as the towns of Mixquic, Pátzcuaro and Janitzio, people spend all night beside the graves of their relatives. In many places, people have picnics at the grave site as well. Some families build altars or small shrines in their homes;[2] these usually have the Christian cross, statues or pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pictures of deceased relatives and other persons, scores of candles and an ofrenda. Traditionally, families spend some time around the altar, praying and telling anecdotes about the deceased. In some locations, celebrants wear shells on their clothing, so that when they dance, the noise will wake up the dead; some will also dress up as the deceased. Public schools at all levels build altars with ofrendas, usually omitting the religious symbols. Government offices usually have at least a small altar, as this holiday is seen as important to the Mexican heritage. Those with a distinctive talent for writing sometimes create short poems, called calaveras ("skulls"), mocking epitaphs of friends, describing interesting habits and attitudes or funny anecdotes. This custom originated in the 18th or 19th century, after a newspaper published a poem narrating a dream of a cemetery in the future, "and all of us were dead", proceeding to "read" the tombstones. Newspapers dedicate calaveras to public figures, with cartoons of skeletons in the style of the famous calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican illustrator. Theatrical presentations of Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla (1817–1893) are also traditional on this day. A common symbol of the holiday is the skull (colloquially called calavera), which celebrants represent in masks, called calacas (colloquial term for "skeleton"), and foods such as sugar or chocolate skulls, which are inscribed with the name of the recipient on the forehead. Sugar skulls are gifts that can be given to both the living and the dead. Other holiday foods include pan de muerto, a sweet egg bread made in various shapes from plain rounds to skulls and rabbits, often decorated with white frosting to look like twisted bones. José Guadalupe Posada created a famous print of a figure that he called La Calavera de la Catrina ("calavera of the female dandy") as a parody of a Mexican upper-class female. Posada's striking image of a costumed female with a skeleton face has become associated with the Day of the Dead, and Catrina figures often are a prominent part of modern Day of the Dead observances.

Gran calavera eléctrica ("Grand electric skull") by José Guadalupe Posada, 1900-1913 The traditions and activities that take place in celebration of the Day of the Dead are not universal and often vary from town to town. For example, in the town of Pátzcuaro on the Lago de Pátzcuaro in Michoacán, the tradition is very different if the deceased is a child rather than an adult. On November 1 of the year after a child's death, the godparents set a table in the parents' home with sweets, fruits, pan de muerto, a cross, a rosary (used to ask the Virgin Mary to pray for them) and candles. This is meant to celebrate the child's life, in respect and appreciation for the parents. There is also dancing with colorful costumes, often with skull-shaped masks and devil masks in the plaza or garden of the town. At midnight on November 2, the people light candles and ride winged boats called mariposas (Spanish for "butterflies") to Janitzio, an island in the middle of the lake where there is a cemetery, to honor and celebrate the lives of the dead there. In contrast, the town of Ocotepec, north of Cuernavaca in the State of Morelos, opens its doors to visitors in exchange for veladoras (small wax candles) to show respect for the recently deceased. In return, the visitors receive tamales and atole. This is only done by the owners of the house where somebody in the household has died in the previous year. Many people of the surrounding areas arrive early to eat for free and enjoy the elaborate altars set up to receive the visitors from Mictlán. In some parts of the country (especially the cities, where in recent years there are displaced other customs), children in costumes roam the streets, knocking on people's doors for a calaverita, a small gift of candies or money; they also ask passersby for it. This custom is similar to that of Halloween's trick-or-treating and is relatively recent. Some people believe that possessing Day of the Dead items can bring good luck. Many people get tattoos or have dolls of the dead to carry with them. They also clean their houses and prepare the favorite dishes of their deceased loved ones to place upon their altar or ofrenda. Observances outside Mexico

San Francisco's annual Day of the Dead celebration in Garfield Square United States In many American communities with Mexican populations, Day of the Dead celebrations are held that are very similar to those held in Mexico. In some of these communities, such as in Texas[4] and Arizona,[5] the celebrations tend to be mostly traditional. For example, the All Souls' Procession has been an annual Tucson event since 1990. The event combines elements of traditional Day of the Dead celebrations with those of pagan harvest festivals. People wearing masks carry signs honoring the dead and an urn in which people can place slips of paper with prayers on them to be burned.[6] In other communities, interactions between Mexican traditions and American culture are resulting in celebrations in which Mexican traditions are being extended to make artistic or sometimes political statements. For example, in Los Angeles, California, the Self Help Graphics & Art Mexican-American cultural center presents an annual Day of the Dead celebration that includes both traditional and political elements, such as altars to honor the victims of the Iraq War highlighting the high casualty rate among Latino soldiers. An updated, inter-cultural version of the Day of the Dead is also evolving at a cemetery near Hollywood.[7] There, in a mixture of Mexican traditions and Hollywood hip, conventional altars are set up side-by-side with altars to Jayne Mansfield and Johnny Ramone. Colorful native dancers and music intermix with performance artists, while sly pranksters play on traditional themes. Similar traditional and inter-cultural updating of Mexican celebrations is occurring in San Francisco, for example, through the Galería de la Raza, SomArts Cultural Center, Mission Cultural Center, de Young Museum and Garfield Square. Oakland is home to Corazon Del Pueblo in the Fruitvale district. Corazon Del Pueblo has a shop offering handcrafted Mexican gifts and a museum devoted to Day of the Dead artifacts.[8] In Missoula, Montana, skeletal celebrants on stilts, novelty bicycles, and skis parade through town.[9] It also occurs annually at historic Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Sponsored by Forest Hills Educational Trust and the folkloric performance group La Piñata, the Day of the Dead celebration celebrates the cycle of life and death. People bring offerings of flowers, photos, mementos, and food for their departed loved ones, which they place at an elaborately and colorfully decorated altar. A program of traditional music and dance also accompanies the community event. Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes' Night, or Bonfire Night, is celebrated on 5 November. The holiday commemorates the failure of a 1605 plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and the subsequent execution of the plot's ringleader, Guy Fawkes. On the night of 5 November, bonfires are built in backyards and public parks. Fireworks are lit after dark. Effigies of Guy Fawkes are made and later burned on the bonfires. Traditionally, children took the effigies door to door, asking for “a penny for the Guy.” While many who celebrate Guy Fawkes' Night are not fully aware of its origins, it is a festive and widely celebrated event. It is often unclear whether the day celebrates the plot's failure or the revolutionary sentiment behind the plot's formation.

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes was born and educated in York. His father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes later converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformators. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England but was unsuccessful. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters secured the lease to an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder they stockpiled there. Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and eventually he broke. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes jumped from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the drawing and quartering that would have followed. Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, which has been commemorated in England since 5 November 1605. His effigy is burned on a bonfire, often accompanied by a firework display. Military career In October 1591 Fawkes sold the estate in Clifton that he had inherited from his father.[nb 4] He travelled to the continent to fight in the Eighty Years War for Catholic Spain against the new Dutch Republic and, from 1595 until the Peace of Vervins in 1598, France. Although England was not by then engaged in land operations against Spain, the two countries were still at war, and the Spanish Armada of 1588 was only five years in the past. He joined Sir William Stanley, an English Catholic and veteran commander in his mid-fifties who had raised an army in Ireland to fight in Leicester's expedition to the Netherlands. Stanley had been held in high regard by Elizabeth I, but following his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587 he, and most of his troops, had switched sides to serve Spain. Fawkes became an alférez or junior officer, fought well at the siege of Calais in 1596, and by 1603 had been recommended for a captaincy.[3] That year, he travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England. He used the occasion to adopt the Italian version of his name, Guido, and in his memorandum described James I as "a heretic", who intended "to have all of the Papist sect driven out of England." He denounced Scotland, and the King's favourites among the Scottish nobles, writing "it will not be possible to reconcile these two nations, as they are, for very long".[12] Although he was received politely, the court of Philip III was unwilling to offer him any support.[13]

Gunpowder Plot

A contemporary engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by Crispijn van de Passe. Fawkes is third from the right. In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth.[14][15] Fawkes was described by the Jesuit priest and former school friend Oswald Tesimond as "pleasant of approach and cheerful of manner, opposed to quarrels and strife ... loyal to his friends". Tesimond also claimed Fawkes was "a man highly skilled in matters of war", and that it was this mixture of piety and professionalism which endeared him to his fellow conspirators.[3] The author Antonia Fraser describes Fawkes as "a tall, powerfully built man, with thick reddish-brown hair, a flowing moustache in the tradition of the time, and a bushy reddish-brown beard", and that he was "a man of action ... capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies."[4] Fawkes's first meeting with Catesby took place on Sunday 20 May 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the fashionable Strand district of London.[nb 5] Catesby had already proposed at an earlier meeting with Thomas Wintour and John Wright to kill the King and his government by blowing up "the Parliament House with gunpowder". Wintour, who at first objected to the plan, was convinced by Catesby to travel to the continent to seek help. Wintour met with the Constable of Castile, the exiled Welsh spy Hugh Owen,[17] and Sir William Stanley, who said that Catesby would receive no support from Spain. Owen did, however, introduce Wintour to Fawkes, who had by then been away from England for many years, and thus was largely unknown in the country. Wintour and Fawkes were contemporaries; each was militant, and had first-hand experience of the unwillingness of the Spaniards to help. Wintour told Fawkes of their plan to "doe some whatt in Ingland if the pece with Spaine healped us nott",[3] and thus in April 1604 the two men returned to England.[16] Wintour's news did not surprise Catesby; despite positive noises from the Spanish authorities, he feared that "the deeds would nott answere".[nb 6] One of the conspirators, Thomas Percy was promoted in June 1604, gaining access to a house in London which belonged to John Whynniard, Keeper of the King's Wardrobe. Fawkes was installed as a caretaker and began using the pseudonym John Johnson, servant to Percy.[19] The contemporaneous account of the prosecution (taken from Thomas Wintour's confession)[20] claimed that the conspirators attempted to dig a tunnel from beneath Whynniard's house to Parliament, although this story may have been a government fabrication; no evidence for the existence of a tunnel was presented by the prosecution, and no trace of one has ever been found. Fawkes did not admit the existence of such a scheme until his fifth interrogation, but even then he could not locate the tunnel.[21] If the story is true, however, by December 1604 the conspirators were busy tunnelling from their rented house to the House of Lords. They ceased their efforts when, during tunnelling, they heard a noise from above. Fawkes was sent out to investigate, and returned with the news that the tenant's widow was clearing out a nearby undercroft, directly beneath the House of Lords.[3][22] The plotters purchased the lease to the room, which also belonged to John Whynniard. Unused and filthy, it was considered an ideal hiding place for the gunpowder the plotters planned to store there.[23] According to Fawkes, 20 barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by 16 more on 20 July.[24] On 28 July however, the ever-present threat of the plague delayed the opening of Parliament until Tuesday, 5 November.[25]

Overseas In an attempt to gain foreign support, in May 1605 Fawkes travelled overseas and informed Hugh Owen of the plotters' plan.[26] At some point during this trip his name made its way into the files of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who employed a network of spies across Europe. One of these spies, Captain William Turner, may have been responsible. Although the information he provided to Salisbury usually amounted to no more than a vague pattern of invasion reports, and included nothing which regarded the Gunpowder Plot, on 21 April he told how Fawkes was to be brought by Tesimond to England. Fawkes was a well known Flemish mercenary, and would be introduced to "Mr Catesby" and "honourable friends of the nobility and others who would have arms and horses in readiness".[27] Turner's report did not, however, mention Fawkes's pseudonym in England, John Johnson, and did not reach Cecil until late in November, well after the plot had been discovered.[3][28] It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August 1605, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed. More gunpowder was brought into the room, along with firewood to conceal it.[29] Fawkes's final role in the plot was settled during a series of meetings in October. He was to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames. Simultaneously, a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Acts of regicide were frowned upon, and Fawkes would therefore head to the continent, where he would explain to the Catholic powers his holy duty to kill the King and his retinue.[30] Discovery

Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot (c. 1823), Henry Perronet Briggs A few of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who would be present at Parliament during the opening.[31] On the evening of 26 October, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to "retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for ... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament".[32] Despite quickly becoming aware of the letter – informed by one of Monteagle's servants – the conspirators resolved to continue with their plans, as it appeared that it "was clearly thought to be a hoax".[33] Fawkes checked the undercroft on 30 October, and reported that nothing had been disturbed.[34] Monteagle's suspicions had been aroused however, and the letter was shown to King James. The King ordered Sir Thomas Knyvet to conduct a search of the cellars underneath Parliament, which he did in the early hours of 5 November. Fawkes had taken up his station late on the previous night, armed with a slow match and a watch given to him by Percy "becaus he should knowe howe the time went away".[3] He was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.[35] Torture Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson and was first interrogated by members of the King's Privy Chamber, where he remained defiant. When asked by one of the lords what he was doing in possession of so much gunpowder, Fawkes answered that his intention was "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains."[36] He identified himself as a 36-year-old Catholic from Netherdale in Yorkshire, and gave his father's name as Thomas and his mother's as Edith Jackson. Wounds on his body noted by his questioners he explained as the effects of pleurisy. Fawkes admitted his intention to blow up the House of Lords, and expressed regret at his failure to do so. His steadfast manner earned him the admiration of King James, who described Fawkes as possessing "a Roman resolution".[37] James's admiration did not, however, prevent him from ordering on 6 November that "John Johnson" be tortured, to reveal the names of his co-conspirators.[38] He directed that the torture be light at first, referring to the use of manacles, but more severe if necessary, authorising the use of the rack: "the gentler Tortures are to be first used unto him et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur".[36][39] Fawkes was transferred to the Tower of London. The King composed a list of questions to be put to "Johnson", such as "as to what he is, For I can never yet hear of any man that knows him", "When and where he learned to speak French?", and "If he was a Papist, who brought him up in it?"[40] The room in which Fawkes was interrogated subsequently became known as the Guy Fawkes Room.[41]

Fawkes's signature after torture. "Guido" is a barely evident scrawl, compared to his earlier signature of "Guido Fawkes". Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, supervised the torture and obtained Fawkes's confession.[36] He searched his prisoner, and found a letter, addressed to Guy Fawkes. To Waad's surprise, "Johnson" remained silent, revealing nothing about the plot or its authors.[42] On the night of 6 November he spoke with Waad, who reported to Salisbury "He [Johnson] told us that since he undertook this action he did every day pray to God he might perform that which might be for the advancement of the Catholic Faith and saving his own soul". According to Waad, Fawkes managed to rest through the night, despite his being warned that he would be interrogated until "I had gotton the inwards secret of his thoughts and all his complices".[43] His composure was broken at some point during the following day.[44] The observer Sir Edward Hoby remarked "Since Johnson's being in the Tower, he beginneth to speak English". Fawkes revealed his true identity on 7 November, and told his interrogators that there were five people involved in the plot to kill the King. He began to reveal their names on 8 November, and told how they intended to place Princess Elizabeth on the throne. His third confession, on 9 November, implicated Francis Tresham. Following the Ridolfi plot of 1571 prisoners were made to dictate their confessions, before copying and signing them, if they still could.[45] Although it is uncertain if he was subjected to the horrors of the rack, Fawkes's signature, little more than a scrawl, bears testament to the suffering he endured at the hands of his interrogators.[46] Trial and execution The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall with seven of his co-conspirators.[nb 7] They were kept in the Star Chamber before being taken to Westminster Hall, where they were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. The King and his close family, watching in secret, were among the spectators as the Lords Commissioners read out the list of charges. Fawkes was identified as Guido Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson". He pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured.[48]

The outcome was never in doubt. The jury found all of the defendants guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham proclaimed them guilty of high treason.[49] The Attorney General Sir Edward Coke told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air".[50] Fawkes's and Tresham's testimony regarding the Spanish treason was read aloud, as well as confessions related specifically to the Gunpowder Plot. The last piece of evidence offered was a conversation between Fawkes and Wintour, who had been kept in adjacent cells. The two men apparently thought they had been speaking in private, but their conversation was intercepted by a government spy. When the prisoners were allowed to speak, Fawkes explained his not guilty plea as ignorance of certain aspects of the indictment.[51] On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and three others – Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, and Robert Keyes – were dragged from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy.[52] His fellow plotters were hanged, drawn and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies", and aided by the hangman began to climb the ladder to the noose. Although weakened by torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the agony of the latter part of his execution.[36][53] His lifeless body was nevertheless drawn and quartered,[54] and as was the custom,[55] his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.[56]

Legacy

Procession of a Guy (1864) On 5 November 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, "always provided that 'this testemonye of joy be careful done without any danger or disorder'".[3] An Act of Parliament[nb 8] designated each 5 November as a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of deliverance", and remained in force until 1859.[57] Although he was only one of 13 conspirators, Fawkes is today the individual most associated with the failed Plot.[58] In England, 5 November has variously been called Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day and Bonfire Night; the latter can be traced directly back to the original celebration of 5 November 1605.[59] Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom to burn an effigy (usually the Pope) after 1673, when the heir presumptive, James, Duke of York made his conversion to Catholicism public.[3] Effigies of other notable figures who have become targets for the public's ire, such as Paul Kruger and Margaret Thatcher, have also found their way onto the bonfires, although most modern effigies are of Fawkes.[57] The "guy" is normally created by children, from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask.[57] During the 19th century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, but in American English it lost any pejorative connotation, and was used to refer to any male person.[57][60] William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason, portrays Fawkes in a generally sympathetic light,[61] and transformed him in the public perception into an "acceptable fictional character". Fawkes subsequently appeared as "essentially an action hero" in children's books and penny dreadfuls such as The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes; or, The Conspirators of Old London, published in about 1905.[62] Fawkes is sometimes referred to, jokingly, as "the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions".[63]

Remember remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason Should ever be forgot... The colorful festival of Holi is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima which comes in February end or early . Holi festival has an ancient origin and celebrates the triumph of 'good' over 'bad'. The colorful festival bridges the social gap and renew sweet relationships. On this day, people hug and wish each other 'Happy Holi.'. Holi celebration begins with lighting up of bonfire on the Holi eve. Numerous legends & stories associated with Holi celebration makes the festival more exuberant and vivid. People rub 'gulal' and 'abeer' on each others' faces and cheer up saying, "bura na maano Holi hai". Holi also gives a wonderful chance to send blessings and love to dear ones wrapped in a special Holi gift.

History of Holi Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as 'Holika'. The festivals finds a detailed description in early religious works such as Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras. Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India.

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped.

Calculating the Day of Holi There are two ways of reckoning a lunar month- 'purnimanta' and 'amanta'. In the former, the first day starts after the full moon; and in the latter, after the new moon. Though the amanta reckoning is more common now, the purnimanta was very much in vogue in the earlier days.

According to this purnimanta reckoning, Phalguna purnima was the last day of the year and the new year heralding the Vasanta-ritu (with spring starting from next day). Thus the full moon festival of Holika gradually became a festival of merrymaking, announcing the commencement of the spring season. This perhaps explains the other names of this festival - Vasanta- Mahotsava and Kama-Mahotsava.

Reference in Ancient Texts and Inscriptions Besides having a detailed description in the Vedas and Puranas such as Narad Purana and Bhavishya Purana, the festival of Holi finds a mention in Jaimini Mimansa. A stone incription belonging to 300 BC found at Ramgarh in the province of Vindhya has mention of Holikotsav on it. King Harsha, too has mentioned about holikotsav in his work Ratnavali that was written during the 7th century. The famous Muslim tourist - Ulbaruni too has mentioned about holikotsav in his historical memories. Other Muslim writers of that period have mentioned, that holikotsav were not only celebrated by the Hindus but also by the Muslims.

Reference in Ancient Paintings and Murals The festival of Holi also finds a reference in the sculptures on walls of old temples. A 16th century panel sculpted in a temple at Hampi, capital of Vijayanagar, shows a joyous scene of Holi. The painting depicts a Prince and his Princess standing amidst maids waiting with syringes or pichkaris to drench the Royal couple in coloured water.

A 16th century Ahmednagar painting is on the theme of Vasanta Ragini - spring song or music. It shows a royal couple sitting on a grand swing, while maidens are playing music and spraying colors with pichkaris.

There are a lot of other paintings and murals in the temples of medieval India which provide a pictoral description of Holi. For instance, a Mewar painting (circa 1755) shows the Maharana with his courtiers. While the ruler is bestowing gifts on some people, a merry dance is on, and in the center is a tank filled with colored water. Also, a Bundi miniature shows a king seated on a tusker and from a balcony above some damsels are showering gulal (colored powders) on him.

Legends and Mythology

In some parts of India, specially in Bengal and Orissa, Holi Purnima is also celebrated as the birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (A.D. 1486-1533). However, the literal meaning of the word 'Holi' is 'burning'. There are various legends to explain the meaning of this word, most prominent of all is the legend associated with demon king Hiranyakashyap.

Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. Hiaranyakashyap commanded his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap. Holika had a boon whereby she could enter fire without any damage on herself. However, she was not aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result she paid a price for her sinister desires, while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the god for his extreme devotion. The festival, therefore, celebrates the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of devotion.

Legend of Lord Krishna is also associated with play with colors as the Lord started the tradition of play with colours by applying colour on his beloved Radha and other gopis. Gradually, the play gained popularity with the people and became a tradition.

There are also a few other legends associated with the festival - like the legend of Shiva and Kaamadeva and those of Ogress Dhundhi and Pootana. All depict triumph of good over evil - lending a philosophy to the festival. Rituals of Holi

Rituals of the ancient festival of Holi are religiously followed every year with care and enthusiasm.

Preparations Days before the festival people start gathering wood for the lighting of the bonfire called Holika at the major crossroads of the city. This ensures that at the time of the actual celebration a huge pile of wood is collected.

Holika Dahan Celebrations Then on the eve of Holi, Holika Dahan takes place. Effigy of Holika, the devil minded sister of demon King Hiranyakashyap is placed in the wood and burnt. For, Holika tried to kill Hiranyakashyap's son Prahlad, an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. The ritual symbolises the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of a true devotee.

Children also hurl abuses at Holika and pray pranks, as if they still try to chase away Dhundhi who once troubled little ones in the Kingdom of Prithu. Some people also take embers from the fire to their homes to rekindle their own domestic fires.

Play of Colors Next day, is of course the main day of Holi celebrations. The day is called Dhuleti and it is on this day that the actual play of colours take place. There is no tradition of holding puja and is meant for pure enjoyment. The tradition of playing colours is particularly rampant in north India and even in that region, there can be no comparison to the Holi of Mathura and Vrindavan. In Maharashtra and Gujarat too Holi is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and fun.

People take extreme delight in spraying colour water on each other with pichkaris or pouring buckets and buckets of it. Singing Bollywood Holi numbers and dancing on the beat of dholak is also a part of the tradition. Amidst all this activity people relish gujiya, mathri, malpuas and other traditional Holi delicacies with great joy.

Drinks, specially thandai laced with bhang is also an intrinsic part of the Holi festivity. Bhang helps to further enhance the spirit of the occasion but if taken in excess it might dampen it also. So caution should be taken while consuming it.

Holi Celebrations in South India In south India, however, people follow the tradition of worshiping Kaamadeva, the love god of Indian mythology. People have faith in the legend which speak about the great sacrifice of Kaamadeva when he shot his love arrow on Lord Shiva to break his meditation and evoke his interest in worldly affairs.

After, an eventful and funfilled day people become a little sober in the evening and greet friends and relatives by visiting them and exchange sweets. Holi special get togethers are also organised by various cultural organisations to generate harmony and brotherhood in the society.

Happy Holi The trees smile with their sprout of tender leaves and blooming flowers, Eternal nature with its transient expression. Hails spring with ecstasy and joy! Bewildering shades with so many tinge. The land of beauty and greatness, India, witnessing color of happiness and peace. Nation come alive to enjoy the spirit A celebration of color- Holi! An experience of content, harmony and delight.

Holika burns amidst merriment and mirth. Evil overpowered by love and devotion. A festival to commemorate 'Ras Lila'- an enduring love saga of Radha and Krishna.

Gulal - red, green, yellow and countless. A day's canvas - a riot of colors. Lively crowd running hither and thither, Rainbow of colors, dashing from every nook and corner. Disregarding their woe and despair fervent folks, rejoicing at the marvel of colors. A day filled with luster and gaiety, A day to smear our dreams- With a splash of vibrant frenzy colors. Holi Hai! A spring of unbounded fun and frolic!!

Environmental Impact An alleged environmental issue related to the celebration of Holi is the traditional Holika Dahan bonfire, which is believed to contribute to deforestation. A local tabloid had a view published that 30,000 bonfires each burning approximately 100 kg of wood are lit in one season.[15] Several methods of preventing this consumption of wood have been proposed, including the replacement of wood with waste material or lighting of a single fire per community, rather than multiple smaller fires. However, the idea of lighting waste material antagonizes large sections of a certain community who take it as a Western attack to their cultures and traditions citing several examples of similar festivities elsewhere. There is also concern about the large scale wastage of water and water-pollution due to synthetic colors during Holi celebration.

Of all the feasts and festivals in Thailand, which are many, the Songkran Festival is the most striking, for it is widely observed not only in this country but also in Burma, Cambodia and the Lao State. Songkran is a Sanskrit word in Thai form which means the entry of the sun into any sign of the Zodiac. But the Songkran in this particular instance is when the sun enters the sign of Aries or the Ram. Its full name is Maha Songkran or Major Songkran to distinguish it from the other ones. But the people call it simply the Songkran for it is the only one they know and in which they take interest. It is their traditional New Year when they can enjoy their holidays to the full with no economic hindrance. Songkran is a fixable feast on the solar calender. It begins on the 13th April and ends on the 15th April, but occasionally in certain years on the 16th April. The Songkran is in fact the celebration of the vernal equinox similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter. The beginning of spring when the sun crosses the equator is now on the 21st of March which is due to the precession of the equinox. The Songkran Festival is in a certain sense like April Fool's Day, when the maids of the village play pranks on any gallant who happens to pass by their way. He will be caught and bound by the united strength of the maids and they will daub him with blacking. Origins of Songkran Friday, 23 February 2007 01:35 National Culture Commission

There was once a young man who was prodigious in learning. He understood even the language of the birds. This excited the jealousy of Kabil Maha Phrom, one of the gods of a higher heavenly realm. He came down to meet the young man and posed him three sphinx-like riddles with the wager that if the young man failed to give the right answers within seven days, he would lose his head but if he succeeded, the god himself would give his own. Like all folk tales the young man was at first at his wit's end to answer such difficult riddles and he repaired to a certain place in order to kill himself rather than face defeat.

He stopped at the foot of a tall tree at the top of which was an aerie. By chance he heard the mother eagle comforting her eaglets who cried for more food, that they would be gratified soon by feasting on the body of the young man who would fail to solve the riddles. She then related the story of the wager between the god and the young man, and in answer to her children's question the mother eagle satisfied them with the right answers to those three riddles. The young man availed himself of this information and on the appointed day he gave the god the three right answers.

The god, as was the case in such tales, lost the wager and himself cut off his own head. His head was a terrible one for if it touched the earth there would be a universal conflagration and if it fell into the sea, the sea would dry up through its intense heat. The god's head therefore was deposited in a certain cave in the heavens. Every new year that is on Songkran Day one of the god's seven daughters in turn will carry her father's head in procession with millions of other gods and goddesses circumambulating like the sun round the Meru, the Buddhist Olympian Mount. After that there are feasts among the celestial beings who enjoyed themselves with drinks made from the juice of the chamunad creeper. The god's head was taken back to the cave after the feast, to be taken out again on Songkran day the next year.

On the eve of Songkran Day, i.e. on the 12th April, the people clean their house and burn all the refuse. This is a Spring Cleaning Day done as a duty in the belief that anything bad belonging to the old year will be unlucky to the owner if left and carried on to the coming New Year. It is something like a Public Health Cleaning Day but backed by traditional belief has proved more effective to emotional people than prosaic reason.

Early on the first day of Songkran, the 13th April, the people both young and old in their new clothing go to the Wat or monastery belonging to their village or district to offer food to the monks there. A long table is erected in the compound of the wat where monk's alms bowls stand in a row on either side of the table. Into the alms bowls the gathering people put boiled rice and into the covers of the alms bowls, food, fruits and sweetmeats. Such a performance can be seen at wats outside Bangkok on Songkran Day. While the monks partake of their feast, music sometimes is played to celebrate the occasion. In the afternoon of the same day there is bathing ceremony of the Buddha images and also of the abbot of the wat. After this begins the well-known "water throwing feast". The bathing of images is done as ritualistic ceremony, but it is no other than a New Year's purification. Younger people will also on this day or the succeeding days go to pay their respect to and ask blessings from their elders and respected persons. They will pour scented water into the palms of the old people and present them with a towel and other bathing requisites.

Another duty to be done during the Songkran Festival is a religious service called Bangsakun performed in sacred memory to the dead. When a person died and was cremated, the ashes and charred bones of common people were buried at the root of a sacred fig-tree in a wat. Such trees are to be found in the grounds of almost every wat. It is a symbol of the Lord Buddha's enlightenment for under such a tree did Buddha sit in meditation and receive his enlightenment. If a person is able to erect a Pra Chedi or pagoda in the wat the ashes and bones are then deposited in it. In later times a portion of the bones was sometimes kept in the house in a receptacle. On Songkran Day a religious service in sacred memory to the dead may be officiated by a monk or monks at the place where the ashes and the bones have been deposited, or as in some localities the people bring their dead bones to a village wat in company with others where a joint memorial service is performed. In some parts of the country the guardian spirits of the village and town receive also their annual offerings on Songkran Days. Obviously there are reminiscences or traces of ancestor and animistic worship in by-gone days.

Although Songkran officially starts on the 13th April, some people like to get the festivities off to an early start. After all, four days isn't usually enough time for a water fight. The pictures on the following pages were taken while I was having a break from the fun. I went around in a car for a couple of hours to try and give you a feeling of what it is like on the streets. All of these pictures were taken in Paknam in Samut Prakan. Most provinces would be the same as this.

Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) .

Koninginnedag ( pronunciation (help·info)) or Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba on 30 April or on 29 April if the 30th is a Sunday. Queen's Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and is supposed to be a day of national unity and "togetherness" (Dutch: saamhorigheid). The tradition started on 31 August 1885, on the birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, later Queen Wilhelmina. Since 1949, after the accession of Queen Juliana, Queen's Day is Queen Juliana's birthday on 30 April. Although Queen Beatrix's birthday is on 31 January, she officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April.

Queen's Day is known for its "freemarket" (Dutch: vrijmarkt) all over the country, where everybody is allowed to sell things in the streets. Other activities during Queen's Day are children's games, individual musical performances, and music concerts. The night before Queen's Day is celebrated too in most cities, and this is called Queen's Night (Dutch: Koninginnenacht). The largest celebration of Queen's Day is in Amsterdam, Queen's Night in The Hague and Queen's Dance (Dutch: Koninginnedans) in Rotterdam. During the celebrations as reference to the colours of the House of Orange-Nassau, people dress in the colour orange, which is sometimes called "orange craze" (Dutch: oranjegekte).

History

Queen's Day on August 31, 1932 in Amsterdam

Queen Wilhelmina's birthday celebrations were the first Queen's Days in the Netherlands

The present-day celebration of Queen's Day was originally intended by the Liberal Union to be a day of national unity in the Netherlands. It started with the celebration of the birthday of Princess Wilhelmina on 31 August 1885. From 1885 to 1890 the celebration was therefore called Prinsessedag or Princess' Day, until the Coronation of Wilhelmina in 1890. Since 31 August 1891, the celebration was called Koninginnedag or Queen's Day. The day was not only the birthday of the Queen, but also the last day of the summer vacation, which made the celebrations popular with children. Unlike her successors, Queen Wilhelmina almost never attended festivities on Queen's Day.[1][2]

In September 1948 Queen Juliana ascended to the Dutch throne and from 1949 onwards Queen's Day was on her birthday on 30 April. When 30 April is a Sunday, Queen's Day is celebrated on 29 April.[3] On this day, Queen Juliana received a flower tribute at Soestdijk Palace, where she lived.[1] The Queen and her family would stand on a dais and a long line of citizens would walk past, congratulating her and presenting her gifts and flowers.[citation needed] The parade was broadcast on national television from the 1950s. When more and more people received a day off from their work, Queen's Day became a national holiday of togetherness (Dutch: samenhorigheid).[1]

Queen Beatrix speaks with the mayor of The Hague Wim Deetman in Scheveningen during Queen's Day in 2005When Queen Beatrix succeeded her mother Queen Juliana on 30 April 1980, she decided to keep the holiday on 30 April as a tribute to her mother.[1] Furthermore for practical reasons, the weather on her own birthday in the winter on 31 January tends to prohibit the traditional outdoor festivities, while 30 April normally has better weather. In contrast to her mother, Juliana, Beatrix decided to go into the country to meet the people, rather than receiving people at her residence. Since her ascension to the throne, Queen Beatrix and her family visit one, two, or sometimes three places on Queen's day,[4] where she is shown regional versions of traditional Dutch dances and demonstrations of old crafts. In 2001, the Queen's Day visits of the Royal Family were canceled as there was worry about maintaining the quarantine measures to control an ongoing outbreak of foot- and-mouth disease.[5] Queen Beatrix has visited the following cities over the years on Queen's Day:[4]

Orange

People dressed in orange in Amsterdam during Queen's Day in 2007

This is a typical occasion for oranjegekte (orange craze), when the colour orange is a ubiquitous sight, referring to the name of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange. There are orange banners, orange-colored foods and drinks, and extreme amounts of orange clothing and creative accessories are worn as well. Sometimes even the water in fountains is dyed orange. It is not uncommon for people to impersonate the queen, not always in a flattering manner.

Of course there are also people who are dressed in the national colours red, white and blue.

Freemarket

Freemarket in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam

The so-called 'vrijmarkt' ('freemarket') is similar to a nationwide car boot sale or flea market. Owing to a holiday dispensation from the Dutch government, people do not need to pay taxes on their sales. Many people set up stalls or blankets in parks, on sidewalks and even on the roads themselves (cars are banned on some streets). The items sold are traditionally secondhand discards, but for commercial traders this is also an extremely profitable day. ING bank has estimated the size of the trade in 2007 at about 200 million euros, with the approximately 1.8 million sellers making 111 euros each, on average. The freemarket in Amsterdam attracts the most visitors.

The sign says 'overthrow the royal house', referring to the pictures of the royal family on the pile of boxes one can throw balls at

Typically, many children sell their cast-off toys and clothes while entrepreneurs sell food, beverages and a wide range of items. Prices tend to be negotiable and drop as the day progresses. By the end of the festivities, much of the unsold merchandise is left on the streets to be picked over until it is removed by local municipalities shortly after. In Amsterdam, the main streets in the city centre are increasingly being taken over by commercial traders, pushing the intended car boot sales out towards smaller streets and the centre's outer ring.

There are, however, some areas where the original style is preserved. One of these is the Jordaan, a gentrified former working class neighbourhood, where prices are very low because the sale is second to spending a pleasant day and a friendly chat with complete strangers. Sections of the Jordaan can become so full of pedestrian traffic that they become completely gridlocked, despite the absence of cars. Another is the Vondelpark, which is officially reserved for children. Especially there, but also elsewhere, there are many other activities besides the selling of secondhand goods, such as the performing of music or other entertainment for money.

Utrecht has a unique "vrijmarkt"; at 18:00 on the evening before "Koninginnedag" the sales booths are set up in the streets and operate throughout the night and the next day. It is the only city that has a 24-hour "vrijmarkt". The entire central area is car-free and packed with people.

Open-air concerts

In recent years, Koninginnedag has become more and more of an open-air party, with many concerts and special events in public spaces, particularly in Amsterdam, which attracts anywhere from 500,000 to 800,000 visitors. Many Dutch people living abroad try to make the pilgrimage home (with many 'clued-up' tourists) to experience this holiday each year. Booking accommodations in Amsterdam and elsewhere for Queen's Day is notoriously difficult, requiring booking 6 months or more ahead.

Queen's Night

During the preceding 'koninginnenacht' (Queen's Night) many bars and clubs throughout the Netherlands (particularly in Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague) hold special events catering to revelers that last all night long. This tradition started in the early nineties when pre-Koninginnedag riots were an increasing problem in The Hague. The idea of convincing the rioters that a celebration is a much better way to spend 'Koninginnenach' (without the 't', as it's pronounced locally), proved successful. The event draws tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Vasanta (Basant) (Ritu)

Vasanta (Sanskrit: , Hindi: , Punjabi: ) is one of the six ritus (seasons) corresponding to spring[1].

It is also short for Vasanta Panchami (Sanskrit: ), an Indian festival celebrated every year on the fifth day (Panchami) of the Hindu month Magh (January-February), the first day of spring.

Some of the Indian festivals have a seasonal and cultural significance, in addition to a religious significance (which can vary depend on the specific tradition), and are thus often celebrated by non- Hindus also in some form. These include Holi and Diwali in addition to Basant. Amir Khusro (1253- 1325 CE) has composed songs using the word Basant (festival), and Nizamuddin Auliya used to join him in celebrating Basants of Sufis.[2].

Origin of Vasanta

In sanskrit Vasanta means spring and Panchami is the fifth day of the fortnight of waxing moon (Shukla Paksha) in the Hindu month of Magh, January-February of English calendar.

In the Vedas the day of Vasanta Panchami is dedicated to Goddess Sarasvati. It is not a national holiday in India but the schools are closed and the students participate in decoration and arrangement of the worship place. A few weeks before the celebration, schools become active in organizing various annual competitions of music, debate, sports and other activities. Prizes are distributed on the day of Vasanta Panchami. Many schools organize cultural activities in the evening of the Saraswati Puja day when parents and other community members attend the functions to encourage the children. Sarasvati is the goddess of learning. Sarasvati bestows the greatest wealth to humanity, the wealth of knowledge.

In the Vedas the prayer for Sarasvati depicts her as a white lady in white dress bedecked with white flowers and white pearls, sitting on a white lotus, which is blooming in a wide stretch of water. She holds Veena, a string-instrument, like Sitar, for playing music. The prayer finally concludes, "Oh Mother Sarasvati remove the darkness (ignorance) of my mind and bless me with the eternal knowledge." The Vedas describe Sarasvati as a water deity, goddess of a river of the same name. According to popular belief Sarasvati, originating from the Himalayas, flowed southeast, ultimately meeting the Ganges at Prayag, near the confluence of Yamuna. Hence the place is called Triveni. In due time this course of water petered away.

The mythological history of Sarasvati associates her with the holy rituals performed on the banks of the river Sarasvati. She is worshipped as a goddess of speech, attributed to the formation of Vach (words), invention of Sanskrit language and composition of hymns. [3]

Vasant in Punjab (India)

Vasant is known as Basant Panchami in Punjab and Haryana. It heralds the advent of spring. Fields of mustard present a colourful sight all over rural Punjab. The Basant fair is held in many villages of the Punjab. People put on yellow costumes appropriate to the season and eat boiled rice dyed in safron.[4] Symbolizing greenery and reproduction, the event signifies sprouting of tender leaves and also filled- up granary with the recently-harvested crops. [5]

It is traditional to fly kites on Basant. The phrase "Ayi Basant Pala Udant" (with the onset of spring season, winter bids adieu) holds true at this time of the year. [6]

Vasanta and Sufi Culture

Sufis are credited for bringing the festival into the Muslim pantheon in the Indian subcontinent. By the Mughal period, Basant was a popular festival at the major Sufi shrines. We have, for example, mentions of Nizam Auliya ki Basant, Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki ki Basant, Khusrau ki Basant; festivals arranged around the shrines of these various sufi saints. Khusrau, the famous sufi-poet of the thirteenth century, even composed verses on Basant:

Aaj basant manaalay, suhaagan, Aaj basant manaalay Anjan manjan kar piya mori, lambay neher lagaalay Tu kya sovay neend ki maasi, So jaagay teray bhaag, suhaagun, Aaj basant manaalay. Oonchi naar kay oonchay chitvan, Ayso diyo hai banaaye Shah Amir tuhay dekhan ko, nainon say naina milaaye, Suhaagun, aaj basant manaalay.

Translation:

Celebrate basant today, O bride, Celebrate basant today Apply kajal to your eyes, and decorate your long hair Oh why are you the servant of sleep? Even your fate is wide awake, Celebrate basant today O high lady with high looks, That is how you were made When the king looks at you, your eyes meet his eyes, O Bride, Celebrate basant today

Another historic account is given in the book Punjab Under the Later Mughals. According to this book, when Zakariya Khan (1707-1759) was the governor of Punjab, a Hindu of , by the name of Haqeeqat Rai Bakhmal Puri spoke words of disrespect for the Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima due to teasing by Muslim boys. He was arrested and sent to to await trial. The court, gave him capital punishment. The Hindu population was stirred to request Zakariya Khan to lift the death sentence given to Haqeeqat Rai but he did not accede to their request. Eventually the death penalty was carried out and the entire Hindu population went into mourning.

As a tribute to the memory of this child, a prosperous Hindu, Kalu Ram initiated the Basant 'mela' in (Marrhi) Kot Khwaja Saeed (Khoje Shahi) in Lahore. (This place is now known as Baway di marrhi.) It is the last stop on the route of Wagon no. 60 from . Dr. B.S. Nijjar states on Page no. 279 of his book that the Basant 'mela' is celebrated in memory of Hakeekat Rai. [7] Vasanta in

Being the historic capital of Punjab Basant is celebrated with as much vigour and enthusiasm as the ancient city of Lahore. Although traditionally it was a festival confined to the old-walled city it has spread all through out the city. Other cities in which Basant is mainly celebrated are , , , Sialkot and /Islamabad.

Vasanta is celebrated with great joy in Lahore:

"There was a lot of rush at kite shops, especially in old Lahore as children and middle-aged men gathered to purchase their favourite coloured kites and string. Rehan, an intermediate student said ...the festival was part of the city’s culture, adding that a number of special dishes were also prepared for the occasion. He said this year, however, people would only be flying kites. Arsalan, a resident of the Walled City, said Basant was the event of colours and lights, adding that a number of people in his area had installed lights at their residences. He said “the dance of kites in lights” would be visible to everyone who would look up at the sky"[8].

It was for many years officially backed by the government and sponsored by multinational corporations. Although Basant is celebrated throughout Pakistani Punjab, it is Lahore which made it popular not only in Pakistan but all over the world as the largest kite festival. However, there are accidents and even deaths during the festival each year because of the public's ignorance towards the use of banned strings and also gunfire.

2005 kite ban in Pakistan

The ban follows a number of deaths in recent days, mostly in the provincial capital Lahore, caused by glass-coated or metal kite-strings. Families of the victims protested last week, demanding that a Supreme Court ban on the sport be re-enforced. The spring festival known as Basant is hugely popular across Punjab. "We cannot allow people to play with the lives of ordinary citizens in the name of sport," a statement issued from the Punjab chief minister's office said.

A new twist was added to their protest this year when some members of the hardline Muslim Jamaat-e- Islami party declared that the festival was initiated in the memory of a Hindu who was hanged for blaspheming against the Muslim prophet Muhammad.[9]. Others see Basat simply as a spring festival, and point out that even Allama Iqbal used to fly kites and enjoy the festival[10].

In 2005, an advocate MD Tahir of Lahore High Court, Pakistan, contended that many dangers, including the kite strings and power breakdowns, resulted from kite flying. As a result, in 2005, kite flying has been banned in Pakistan. Violent protests occurred outside the Pakistani Supreme Court house.[11]

Despite the ban on kite flying one can see hundreds of kites every afternoon and evening on Lahore's sky and the number of kites is even higher on Sundays and public holidays. Kite flyers compete to cut each other's kites loose. In the past strings were coated with a slurry of fine glass shards which allowed one flyer to cut another's kite lose. In small villages the custom of 'kite running' allows poorer children to chase down and claim the free flying kites. Today wire coated with glass has become very popular with such strands of wire, though they have killed more than nine people in 2009. The Lahore High Court hoped the government would not lift the ban.[11] Over the years, the Basant festival has drawn thousands of revellers to Lahore from all over the world. Even Indian movie stars had started participating in the festival which peaks with an all-night flood-lit kite flying marathon on the eve of the festival.

Australia Day

Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and ANA Day)[1] is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.[2]

Australia Day is an official public holiday in every state and territory of Australia, and is marked by the Order of Australia and Australian of the Year awards, along with an address from the Prime Minister.

Although it was not known as Australia Day until over a century later, records of celebrations on 26 January date back to 1808, with Governor Lachlan Macquarie having held the first official celebration of the formation of New South Wales in 1818. In 2004, an estimated 7.5 million people attended Australia Day celebrations and functions across the country.

The day is seen as controversial for many Australians, particularly Indigenous Australians, who see commemorating the arrival of the First Fleet as celebrating the destruction of the native Aboriginal culture by British colonists.[3][4][5] Dating back to the 1938 Day of Mourning, there have been significant protests from and on behalf of the Indigenous Australian community, and the birth of the alternative name Invasion Day. Others have begun to use the name Survival Day to highlight that a people and culture expected to die out has survived.[6] In light of these (and other) concerns, proposals to change the date of Australia Day have been made, but have failed to gain widespread public support.

History

The Founding of Australia, 1788

Arrival of the First Fleet Main article: First Fleet

On 13 May 1787, a fleet of 11 ships, which came to be known as the First Fleet, was sent by the British Admiralty from England to Australia. Under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, the fleet sought to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay on the coast of New South Wales, which had been explored and claimed by Captain James Cook in 1770. The settlement was seen as necessary because of the loss of the colonies in North America. The Fleet arrived between 18 and 20 January 1788, but it was immediately apparent that Botany Bay was unsuitable.

On 21 January, Philip and a few officers travelled to Port Jackson, 12 kilometres to the north, to see if it would be a better location for a settlement. They stayed there till 23 January; Philip named the site of their landing Sydney Cove, after the Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. They also had some contact with the local aborigines.

They returned to Botany Bay on the evening of 23 January, when Philip gave orders to move the fleet to Sydney Cove the next morning, 24 January. That day, there was a huge gale blowing, making it impossible to leave Botany Bay, so they decided to wait till the next day, 25 January. However, during 24 January, they spotted the ships Astrolabe and Boussole, flying the French flag, at the entrance to Botany Bay; they were having as much trouble getting into the bay as the First Fleet was having getting out. On 25 January, the gale was still blowing; the fleet tried to leave Botany Bay, but only the HMS Supply made it out, carrying Arthur Philip, Philip Gidley King, some marines and about 40 convicts; they anchored in Sydney Cove in the afternoon.

On 26 January, early in the morning, Philip along with a few dozen marines, officers and oarsmen, rowed ashore and took possession of the land in the name of King George III. The remainder of the ship's company and the convicts watched from onboard the Supply.

Meanwhile, back at Botany Bay, Captain John Hunter of the HMS Sirius made contact with the French ships, and he and the commander, Captain de Clonard, exchanged greetings. Clonard advised Hunter that the fleet commander was Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse. The Sirius successfully cleared Botany Bay, but the other ships were in great difficulty. The Charlotte was blown dangerously close to rocks; the Friendship and the Prince of Wales became entangled, both ship losing booms or sails; the Charlotte and the Friendship actually collided; and the Lady Penrhyn nearly ran aground. Despite these difficulties, all the remaining ships finally managed to clear Botany Bay and sail to Sydney Cove on 26 January. The last ship anchored there at about 3 pm.[7]

The first fifty years: 1788 to 1838

Australia Day Picnic, Brisbane, 1908

Although there was no official recognition of the colony's anniversary, with the New South Wales Almanacks of 1806 and 1808 placing no special significance to 26 January,[8] by 1808 the date was being used by the colony's immigrants, especially the emancipated convicts, to "celebrate their love of the land they lived in"[9] with "drinking and merriment".[10] The 1808 celebrations followed this pattern, beginning at sundown on 25 January, and lasted into the night, the chief toast of the occasion being Major George Johnston. Johnston had the honour of being the first officer ashore from the First Fleet, having been carried from the landing boat on the back of convict James Ruse. Despite suffering the ill-effects of a fall from his gig on the way home to Annandale, Johnston led the officers of the New South Wales Corps in arresting Governor William Bligh on the following day, 26 January 1808, in what became known as the "Rum Rebellion".

In 1817 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser reported on one of these unofficial gatherings at the home of Isaac Nichols:

On Monday the 27th ult. a dinner party met at the house of Mr. Isaac Nichols, for the purpose of celebrating the Anniversary of the Institution of this Colony under Governor Philip, which took place on the 26th of Jan. 1788, but this year happening upon a Sunday, the commemoration dinner was reserved for the day following. The party assembled were select, and about 40 in number. At 5 in the afternoon dinner was on the table, and a more agreeable entertainment could not have been anticipated. After dinner a number of loyal toasts were drank, and a number of festive songs given; and about 10 the company parted, well gratified with the pleasures that the meeting had afforded. —The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser[11]

1818 was the 30th anniversary of the founding of the colony, and Governor Lachlan Macquarie chose to acknowledge the day with the first official celebration.[12] The Governor declared that the day would be a holiday for all government workers, granting each an extra allowance of "one pound of fresh meat", and ordered a 30 gun salute at Dawes Point – one for each year that the colony had existed.[13] This began a tradition that was retained by the Governors that were to follow.[9]

Foundation Day, as it was known at the time, continued to be officially celebrated in New South Wales, and in doing so became connected with sporting events.[12] One of these became a tradition that is still continued today: in 1837 the first running of what would become the Australia Day regatta was held on Sydney Harbour.[9][14] Five races were held for different classes of boats, from first class sailing vessels to watermen's skiffs, and people viewed the festivities from both onshore and from the decks of boats on the harbour, including the steamboat Australian and the Francis Freeling – the second of whom ran aground during the festivities and had to be refloated the next day.[15] Happy with the success of the regatta, the organisers resolved to make in an annual event.[14] However, some of the celebrations had gained an air of elitism, with the "United Australians" dinner being limited to those born in Australia.[9] In describing the dinner, the Sydney Herald justified the decision, saying:

The parties who associated themselves under the title of "United Australians" have been censured for adopting a principle of exclusiveness. It is not fair so to censure them. If they invited emigrants to join them they would give offence to another class of persons – while if they invited all they would be subject to the presence of persons with whom they might not wish to associate. That was a good reason. The "Australians" had a perfect right to dine together if they wished it, and no one has a right to complain.

—The Sydney Herald[16]

The following year, 1838, was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the colony, and as part of the celebrations Australia's first public holiday was declared. The regatta was held for a second time, and people crowded the foreshores to view the events, or joined the five steamers (the Maitland, the Experiment, the Australia, the Rapid, and the miniature steamer Firefly) to view the proceedings from the water. At midday 50 guns were fired from Dawes' Battery as the Royal Standard was raised, and in the evening rockets and other fireworks lit the sky.[17] The dinner was a smaller affair than the previous year, with only 40 in attendance compared to the 160 from 1837,[16][17] and the anniversary as a whole was described as a "day for everyone".[12]

Contemporary celebrations

Perth's Australia Day celebration attracted 500,000 people in 2006.

Since 1988 participation in Australia Day has increased and in 1994 all States and Territories began to celebrate a unified public holiday on the actual day for the first time.[19] Research conducted in 2007 reported that 27.6% of Australians polled attended an organsied Australia Day event and a further 25.6% celebrated with family and friends making Australia Day the largest annual public event in the nation.[20] This supported the results of an earlier research project where 66% of respondents anticipated that they would actively celebrate Australia Day 2005.[21]

Outdoor concerts, community barbeques, sports competitions, festivals and fireworks are some of the many events presented in communities across Australia. These official events are presented by the National Australia Day Council, an official council or committee in each state and territory, and local committees.[22] In Sydney the harbour is a focus and races are held, such as a ferry race and the tall ships race. Featuring the People’s March and the Voyages Concert, ’s events[23] focus strongly on the celebration of multi- culturalism.[24] Major celebrations are not confined to the East coast capitals. Despite a drop in attendance in 2010, but still with audiences estimated at 400,000,[25] the Perth Skyworks is the largest single event presented each Australia Day.[26]

Citizenship ceremonies are also commonly held with Australia Day now the largest occasion for the acquisition of citizenship. On January 26 2009, 13,000 people from 120 countries took Australian Citizenship.[27] In recent years many citizenship ceremonies have includes an affirmation by existing citizens. Research conducted in 2007 reported that 78.6% of respondents thought that citizenship ceremonies were an important feature of the day.[20]

The official Australia Day Ambassador Program supports celebrations in communities across the nation by facilitating the participation of high-achieving Australians in local community celebrations. In 2009, 340 Ambassadors participated in 377 local community celebrations.[22] The Order of Australia awards are also a feature of the day. The Australia Day Achievement Medallion is awarded to citizens by local governments based on excellence in both government and non-government organisations. The Governor-General and Prime Minister both address to the nation. On the eve of Australia Day each year, the Prime Minister announces the winner of the Australian of the Year award, presented to an Australian citizen who has shown a "significant contribution to the Australian community and nation", and is an "inspirational role model for the Australian community".[28] Subcategories of the award include Young and Senior Australian of the Year, and an award for Australia's Local Hero.

Various music festivals are held on Australia Day, such as the Big Day Out, the Triple J Hottest 100, and the Australia Day Live Concert which is televised nationally. For many years an international cricket match has been held on Australia Day at the Adelaide Oval. These matches have included both Test matches and One Day Internationals.[citation needed]

Research in 2004 indicated that Australians reflect on history and future equally on Australia Day, with 44% of those polled agreeing ‘our past’ is the most important thing to think about on Australia Day and 41% saying they look towards ‘our future’. Thirteen percent thought it was important to ‘think about the present at this time’ and 3% were unsure.[29] Despite the date reflecting the arrival of the First Fleet, contemporary celebrations are not particularly historical in their theme.[citation needed] There are no large-scale re-enactments and the national leader’s participation is focused largely on events such as the Australian of the Year Awards announcement and Citizenship Ceremonies.[citation needed]

Possibly reflecting a shift in Australians’ understanding of the place of Indigenous Australians in their national identity, Newspoll research in November 2009 reported that ninety percent of Australians polled believed ‘it was important to recognise Australia’s indigenous people and culture’ as part of Australia Day celebrations. A similar proportion (89%) agreed that ‘it is important to recognise the cultural diversity of the nation’.[30] Despite the strong attendance at Australia Day events and a positive disposition towards the recognition of Indigenous Australians, the date of the celebrations remains a source of challenge and national discussion.

Criticism

An Invasion Day rally in Brisbane, 2007.

For some Australians, particularly Indigenous Australians, Australia Day has become a symbol for adverse effects of British settlement on Australia's Indigenous people.[31] The celebrations in 1938 were accompanied by an Aboriginal Day of Mourning. A large gathering of Aboriginal people in Sydney in 1988 led an "Invasion Day" commemoration marking the loss of Indigenous culture.[32] The anniversary is also known as "Survival Day" and marked by events such as the Survival Day concert first held in Sydney in 1992, celebrating the fact that the Indigenous people and culture have not been completely wiped out.[33]

In response, official celebrations have tried to include Indigenous people, holding ceremonies such as the Woggan-ma-gule ceremony, which was held in Sydney in 2006 and honoured the past and celebrated the present; it involved Indigenous Australians and the Governor of New South Wales.

Tomatina

La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. Tens of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets in exactly one hour.

The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks. On the night before, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest. It is tradition for the women to wear all white and the men to wear no shirts. This festival started in a casual way in 1945[1], but wasn't officially recognized until 1952.

Approximately 20,000–50,000 tourists come to find out more about the tomato fight, multiply by several times Buñol's normal population of slightly over 9,000. There is limited accommodation for people who come to La Tomatina, and thus many participants stay in Valencia and travel by bus or train to Buñol, about 38 km outside the city. In preparation for the dirty mess that will ensue, shopkeepers use huge plastic covers on their storefronts in order to protect them. They also use about 150,000 tomatoes, just about 90,000 pounds.

History

The festival is in honor of the town's patron saints, St. Louis Bertrand (San Luis Bertràn) and the Mare de Déu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary.

The tomato fight has been a strong tradition in Buñol since 1944 or 1945 during the represive years of post-war Spain.[1] No one is completely certain how this event originated. Possible theories on how the Tomatina began include a pie local food fight among friends, a juvenile class war, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, a practical joke on a bad musician, and the chaotic aftermath of an accidental lorry spillage. One of the most popular theories is that disgruntled townspeople attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration. Whatever happened to begin the tradition, it was enjoyed so much that it was repeated the next year, and the year after that, and so on. [2]

Barbados: Crop Over Festival

Crop Over Photo Gallery | Crop Over Calendar

The Crop Over summer festival is Barbados' most popular and colourful festival. Its origins can be traced back to the 1780's, a time when Barbados was the world's largest producer of sugar. At the end of the sugar season, there was always a huge celebration to mark the culmination of another successful sugar cane harvest - the Crop Over celebration.

As the sugar industry in Barbados declined, so too did the Crop Over festival and in the 1940's the festival was terminated completely. However, the festival was revived in 1974 and other elements of Barbadian culture were infused to make the extravaganza that exists today an event that attracts thousands of people from across the globe.

Activities During The Crop Over Festival

The festival begins with the Ceremonial Delivery of the Last Canes and the crowning of the King and Queen of the Festival - the most productive male and female cane cutters of the season.

Bridgetown Market consists of several stalls which sell local food and beverages as well as local arts and crafts. Enjoy the calypso music and the live tuk bands as you browse through the stalls.

Cohobblopot is a huge carnival-like show with members of the Kadooment bands displaying their elaborate and stunning costumes. There is also a huge entertainment package with the most popular calypsonians and bands performing to packed audiences.

The children are not left out as they can participate in the Kiddies Kadooment, donning beautiful costumes and joining their friends in a band to parade before the judges of the competition.

Folk concerts and art and photographic exhibitions are integral parts of the festival, highlighting Barbadian history and culture as well as the artistic talents of Bajans.

Calypso is one of the main features of the Crop Over festival. The calypsonians are organised into "tents" and these tents are sponsored by Barbados businesses. Calypsonians compete for several prizes and titles, including the Party Monarch, the Road March Monarch and the Pic-O-De-Crop Monarch. The Party Monarch and more recently the Sweet Soca competition are among the festivals most popular events! The finals of the Pic-O-De-Crop competition is held at Kensington Oval, and this is followed by the Fore-Day Morning Jump-Up!

The grande finale is the Grand Kadooment! This carnival parade features large bands with members dressed in elaborate costumes to depict various themes. Designers compete for the coveted Designer of the Year prize while the revelers seem more intent on having a good time! The revelers make their way to Spring Garden accompanied by the pulsating rythym of calypso music. When they reach Spring Garden, the party continues with more fantastic music, lots of food and drink and, for some, a quick swim at the nearby beach. A grand end to a grand festival.

Puck Fair

Every year, starting on 10 August, Killorglin holds the three-day Puck Fair, the oldest traditional fair in Ireland, and one of the oldest non-religious fairs in the world.

[edit] Puck goat

"An Puc Rí", bronze statue of King Puck in Killorglin

Every year a group of people go up into the mountains and catch a wild goat. This goat is brought back to the town and the Queen of Puck Fair, traditionally the a girl in the town crowns the goat "King Puck". The goat is then put into a small cage on a high stand in the middle of the town. From this moment on, once the fair has started, there is singing and dancing. Pubs stay open until 3.00 AM although last call is at 02:30. On the opening day there is a horse fair and on the second day there is a cattle fair. In the main parking lot a company called Birds Bizarre has a collection of various portable rides and rollercoasters. The fair ends with a firework display which can be fully appreciated from the old iron railway bridge.

"Nobody really knows how it came about or when," said Jean Kearney, a spokeswoman for the festival, which is expected this year to attract more than 100,000 visitors for a marathon of music, drinking and dancing (but mostly drinking). It has been traced back to the 1600s, but some say it dates back to a festival held in pagan times. One of the most popular theory is that the event pays tribute to a wild goat that alerted the town to the advancing armies of military leader Oliver Cromwell in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland of 1649-53 (although Cromwell himself, who left Ireland in May 1650, never reached as far west as Killorglin). Another is that it stems from the pagan Celtic festival of Lughnasa, when feasting and sacrifices marked the start of the harvest season."

Puck fair history

Although there is no written evidence of when Puck Fair started, there are several legends about the fair.

It is thought that the fair started in pre-Christian times as a celebration for a good harvest. The goat may also represent the pagan god, Pan. It is also likely that it is a representation of the Celtic god Lugh and a celebration of Lughnasa. James VI of Scotland, I of England and Ireland granted legal status to the fair in 1603.

The other theory is when a clan called the roundheads occupied killorglin a goat ran down from the mountains and 'warned' the roundhead tribe that their enemies were approaching. This allowed the roundheads to prepare and eventually defeat their enemies. This explains why the goat is crowned.

Killorglin (Irish: Cill Orglan) is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is located on the river Laune, which has a rowing club and a new boathouse. The population of Killorglin is 1,539 (CSO 2000) although this expands considerably during Puck Fair due to visitors and returning emigrants.

Killorglin is a major activity centre for Kerry and has a number of tourist hostels on Dromin Hill and also has one of the last inn chains started by Charles Bianconi. It is right in the centre of the town, called the Bianconi and features his famous transportation painted on the sign and on the inn. The town hall is held to have been built with the help of Andrew Carnegie.[1] Among the businesses in Killorglin is FEXCO, which includes the operations center for the Prize Bond Company. Pharmaceutical firms such as Temmler and Astellas, precision tubes maker Schmitter (Ireland) Ltd. and specialist bolts manufacturer Simpson Strongtie/Liebig have small plants in the town.

While at one time it was notorious for drinking, with the pubs open round-the-clock for three days and nights, nowadays, Puck Fair is famous for meeting up with old friends, forging new friendships and putting the cares of everyday living on hold. But how did it all get started? Nobody knows the exact origins, but it is said to date to medieval times – or perhaps even before then.

King Puck The most widely mentioned story relating to the origin of King Puck, associates him with the English Ironside Leader Oliver Cromwell. It is said that while the Roundheads were pillaging the countryside at the foot of the McGillycuddy Reeks, they routed a herd of goats grazing on the upland. The animals took flight before the raiders, and the he-goat or "Puck" broke away on his own and lost contact with the herd. While the others headed for the mountains he went towards Cill Orglain (Killorglin) on the banks of the Laune. His arrival there in a state of semi exhaustion alerted the inhabitants of the approaching danger and they immediately set about protecting themselves and their stock. It is said that in recognition of the service rendered by the goat, the people decided to institute a special festival in his honour and this festival has been held ever since. Other legends regarding the origin of King Puck relates to the time of Daniel O'Connell, who in 1808 was an unknown barrister. It seems that before that year, the August fair held in Killorglin had been a toll fair, but an Act of the British Parliament empowered the Viceroy or Lord Lieutenant in Dublin to make an order, at his own discretion, making it unlawful to levy tolls at cattle, horse or sheep fairs. Tolls in Killorglin at this time were collected by the local landlord – Mr. Harman Blennerhassett – who had fallen into bad graces with the authorities in Dublin Castle and as a result the Viceroy robbed him of his right to levy tolls. Blennerhassett enlisted the services of the young Daniel O'Connell, who in an effort to reverse the decision decided that goats were not covered by the document and that the landlord would be legally entitled to hold a goat fair, and levy his tolls as usual. Thus the fair was promptly advertised as taking place on August 10th, 1808, and on that day a goat was hoisted on a stage to show to all attending that the fair was indeed a goat fair – thus Blennerhassett collected his toll money and Killorglin gained a King.

The Fair Itself There are many wild inventive tales about how it began, but there is no definitive written record. However, we do know that in 1603 a charter by King James I granted legal status to a fair in Killorglin. Whether or not it’s the Puck Fair of today, we don’t know for certain and various commissions set up over the past two hundred years have tried in vain to find out. Evidence suggests that the fair existed long before written record of everyday occurrences were kept as there is one written reference from the 17th Century in existence which grants Jenkins Conway, the local landlord at the time, the right to collect a sum for every animal brought to the August Fair. This would suggest that a fair at this time of year was something already well established in the local community. It has also been suggested that it is linked to pre-Christian celebrations of a fruitful harvest. Whatever its origins, the fair has long been and continues to be the main social, economic and cultural event in the Killorglin Calendar. It is attended by upwards of 100,000 people according to the organisers, and, while copious amounts of alcohol are still consumed there’s a much bigger emphasis now on musical entertainment and fun on the streets. The highlights of 2010 included pipe bands, trad sessions, Wobbly Circus Walkabouts, Music, Dance & Storytellinga by Sproai Ciarrai, The Blues Bells, The Walls, craft fair, and headlining the final concert of the festival is the world famous traditional group De Dannan. Their performance was followed by a massive fireworks display to bring the curtain down for another year.