American holidays have been around ever since the Mayflower made its long voyage overseas. Many of the holidays that we celebrate today have originated from holidays from before America even existed. Even though the historical figures that holidays are for, as well as the beliefs holidays are based upon are slipping away from Americans’ minds, holidays should not be eliminated from the calendar. This is because they have shaped and are continuing to shape American culture, and they are all cultural and/or historical events.
To begin, all holidays have or are continuing to shape American culture. Thanksgiving is one of the holidays that start the holiday season each year. Thanksgiving was one of the first holidays created when the pilgrims came
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over. Even today it is the day that everyone spends time with their family or friends being thankful for all that privileges we have in America. Even holidays that are not as big as Thanksgiving, such as Presidents’ Day, shape American culture still today. Presidents’ Day is a day that we are thankful for the people who have ran our country and a day from work is a great way for even the president to spend that day. Although the historical figures or religions that a lot of the holidays are based upon are starting to fade from the American minds, they still have had a huge impact on our country.
St. Patrick's Day that is loved by many people who may not even be Irish. Another example would be Christmas. Even though it seems more and more people in the United States don't believe in the birth of Jesus Christ, but it’s still a huge holiday that is celebrated all over the world no matter if you’re a christian or not. So even if the people are fading in our minds or it does not seem like many are a part of the religion anymore, many people do still celebrate.
To add on to that, all the holidays are based on historical and cultural events. Memorial Day was created after the Civil War to decorate the graves of the war veterans who had died fighting for our country. It on May 30th because they believed on that day that flowers would bloom all over the United States. Also, there is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This holiday was created after his assassination to celebrate him and all he did for the country by creating equality among the citizens.
Overall, even though the government is considering making holidays workdays, there will always be a reason why that holiday shouldn’t be removed from the schedule. Whether it be a big holiday like Thanksgiving or a smaller holiday like St. Patrick's day, they still have an importance to the shaping of American
culture.
Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be honored as a hero with his own holiday. Close to 500 years, people have praised Christopher Columbus and also celebrated him as though he was the one who truly founded America. Teachers teach students that he was a great man, also how he found treasures and land known as America. Students are also taught about the names of his three ships he used on his first voyage. However, they did not teach us the truth about Christopher Columbus, and his so called “discovery”.
St Patrick’s day and Valentine's day are two very known holidays. St Patrick’s day is celebrated on March 17th every year. The irish holiday began as a religious holiday , where people would gather around and pray to find good luck. St Patrick's day is filled with special activities such as they would do national pardes all over the united states and
In America, Christmas is celebrated on one day, December 25th, but in Mexico, Christmas is celebrated from December 16th to February 2nd, whereas in Puerto Rico people celebrate Christmas from December 24th to January 6th. Americans just celebrate this one day because it is the day Jesus was born. The Mexican people celebrate for so long for many reasons. From December 16th to Christmas Eve they perform “Posada,” which means that they celebrate the time in which Joseph and Mary looked for an inn in Bethlehem. A few days after Christmas ...
El Dia de los Muertos goes back to the Aztecs, who had not just a few days but an entire month dedicated to the dead. When the Spanish conquistadors vanquished the Aztecs, they changed the tradition so it was at the same time of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. El Dia de los Muertos was brought to the United States when Mexican-Americans underwent a cultural reawakening in the early 1970s. The holiday's popularity has since spread to other races and cultures.
...Christ making it the most honored and important holiday in the Christian religion. But it does have its traditions that are a far cry from the original intent. It should come as no surprise to find that the Easter Bunny was not present and distributing multi-colored hard-boiled eggs to the twelve apostles two-thousand years ago.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson. Holiday Symbols and Customs: A Guide to the Legend and Lore behind the Traditions, Rituals, Foods, Games, Animals, and Other Symbols and Activities Associated with Holidays and Holy Days, Feasts and Fasts, and Other Celebrations, Covering Ancient, Calendar, Religious, Historic, Folkloric, National, Promotional, and Sporting Events, as Observed in the United States and around the World. Detroit MI: Omnigraphics, 2009. Print.
...t happening can make the holiday tradition hard to enjoy, so hopefully we adapt and change to make the gathering more enjoyable and less stressful by altering the tradition.
Thanksgiving Day is a day of family, food, and giving thanks for the blessings in life and yet some people believe Thanksgiving to be a prep day for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. The focus of Thanksgiving shifted from family bonding to incessant shopping. This trend of taking away from the hours of Thanksgiving in order to shop is enraging. It steals away from family time for the shoppers and the employees. Employers threaten workers that if they do not work on that certain holiday, they will be fired. Black Friday should be kept to Friday instead of moving in on my family time. The whole culture of Black Friday has become repugnant and unnecessary.
Thanksgiving is a holiday in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Although the way holidays are celebrated over time, thanksgiving has always been a holiday feast. However, Thanksgiving is more than just eating food together with your family. For instance, some families do charity work for the poor people and create a Thanksgiving dinner for them, other family’s watch sport in addition to the food that they eat together. One part that is common at almost every Thanksgiving dinner is the type of food that is served. Families in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving for hundreds of years, but the way it is celebrated has slightly changed from the first Thanksgiving. To be able to explain
Thanksgiving break a bust,I thought.The fall air swept through as my sister and I kept playing volleyball.My mom came bursting out,she was trying to catch her breath as I questioned,
Again why Black Friday should be on Friday. For example, on the U.S. news reported that retail employees have gone to the internet media and started a petition site, change.org, asking for early-opening retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target to push back their sales. They argue that by opening earlier that retailers are stealing time away from their families. I use to work for a major retail store and we could not request to have that day off so I had to work on Thanksgiving Day. Not only did I not get to spend time with my husband and three kids, but family that came out of town to spend time with my family and I.
During fall, the leaves fall, the temperature drops, and people sit around a table and say what they are thankful for. While we are consuming pounds of turkey and stuffing, the Pilgrims are to thank for the annual feast. Because the meaning of this holiday is to not stuff your face with endless amount of carbs, we should be reminded of how grateful we are for what we own. Thanksgiving was a very memorable time in U.S. history.
...f greed, we as a nation need to seriously rethink why we celebrate the holiday, and make amends to our practices in order to embody that meaning.
Black Friday is always the fourth Friday of November and or the day after Thanksgiving. Even though it is widely practiced throughout the United States every year, it is not recognized as a federal holiday. In the past few years, Black Friday has not just been a one day event. Each store wants to attract more customers than the next, they have come up with some ways to do just that. By leaking their ads early they hope to attract more customers or start the sale a couple days early. Some have even been known to extend the sale a few days after the initial Black Friday. Since stores are now extending the sale longer than one day, there is no more sense of urgency the event once held. Hence the recent decline in the public's participation (“What is Black Friday”). The day after Thanksgiving is the day my family sets up the Christmas tree, so you could say Black Friday marks the beginning of the holiday season. For others, it marks the beginning of holiday shopping. Most people have the day after Thanksgiving off from work because their employers gave an extra day off for Thanksgiving. Personally, I would take that day as it should be, a rest day. My body is already in a food coma, and I need time to let it settle so I have room for leftovers. Some families have created other Thanksgiving traditions that are not related to Thanksgiving at all but to Black Friday. Bundled up outside their favorite store, waiting hours to get inside just to see if they can snag a couple of discounted items- whether they are needed or
Many holidays are celebrated around the world, and all of them follow a different set of ideologies. Some ideologies may be religious, political,