Recently, all the religious world celebrated the saint holiday of Easter. There were and other celebrations, but this time they were individually for the different countries. So, in this context, our English Club, from the library “Maramures”, together with the students of the Republican Lyceum with Real Profile, decided to have a lesson dedicated exclusively to celebrations of USA, United Kingdom and our country Republic of Moldova.
All the audience had to present a holiday typical for one or another country, so there were a lot of really good presentations. We started with the American celebrations, and there was mentioned that there are many common holidays, but also there are some typical only for their country. For example, such celebrations like May Day, Easter, Christmas, St. Andrew’s Day, New Year, April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day are shared with the most other countries, but they have a lot of special days of celebrating, like Martin Luther King’s Birthday, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day and Halloween.
Martin Luther King’s Birthday is celebrated on January 13 and was introduced in 1990 and it’s a day dedicated to the famous clergyman and the reforms that he introduced in the whole world. President’s Day is a holiday celebrated to the honor of the two American presidents – George Washington (born on February 12) and Abraham Lincoln (born on February 22), so they are celebrated on the third Monday of the February. Memorial Day was introduced as a holiday in the honor of those who participated in the Civil War between North and South, and it is celebrated in the last Monday of the May. Independence Day is considerate the most important celebration of the American world as the nation official “birthday” and it’s celebrated on the July 4, the day of signing the Declaration of Independence. In the first Monday of September there is celebrated Labor Day, in the honor of all the working people. On the October 10 Americans celebrate Columbus Day, the day of the discovering the American Continent by the Italian seeker Columbus. On the November 11 there is celebrated Veteran’s Day, as an occasion to honor the veterans of all the wars. Thanksgiving Day is a well-known holiday, celebrated on the last Thursday of November, and it is considering that this is the oldest traditional and national celebration. Halloween is one of the most favorite holidays of the children, celebrated on October 31.
In the British world, there are not so many typically national celebrations, but there are some with a specific interest: Twelfth Night (January 5), Pancake Day (a day before Lent), Boxing Day (December 26). On the January 5, when is celebrated Twelfth Night, British people use to take down the Christmas tree, because they believe this action will avoid of bad events. Pancake Day is one of the most delicious holidays, and it is celebrated as a sign of preparing for the Lent. Boxing Day is a celebration with old hierarchical origins, and it is said that in this day the servants used to celebrate Christmas, after they served their masters.
In our country there are a lot of other national celebrations, most of them with religious or folkloric origins: Dragobete (an old holiday of love), Mărțișor (the first day of March, as the first sign of the Spring), 9 May (a day dedicated to veterans), Independence Day (August 27), National Language Day (August 31) etc.
So, there we observed that some holidays are common for two or the three countries, some of them are religious, other are non-religious, also there are a lot of international holidays, recognized and celebrated in the whole world. But we know that every country has its own, typical, national celebrations that make them different and unique as a nation.
FILIALA MARAMUREȘ 