Holiday Hoopla!

We thought for a long time about how we wanted to commemorate the holiday season coming up and although we could've talked about shopping, food or decorations, we decided we all wanted to learn more about the holidays we celebrate each year from October to December.

From Halloween through Kwanzaa, we delve into the history and traditions of each and hope you enjoy the journey...

HALLOWEEN
THANKSGIVING
CHRISTMAS
KWANZAA

Holiday- a day set apart for religious observance or for the commemoration of some extraordinary event or distinguished person, or for some other public occasion. Holidays are characterized by a partial or total cessation of work and normal business activities and are generally accompanied by public and private ceremonies, including feasting (or fasting), parades and carnivals, or displays of flags and speech making.

Originally, in ancient times, holidays were predominantly religious in character and linked to natural events such as the annual course of the sun or the phases of the moon. The word holiday, in fact, is derived from “holy day.” Subsequently, secular holidays commemorating historical occasions or distinguished persons outnumbered holy days, although many ancient religious rituals and customs have been carried over into modern times and incorporated into both secular and religious observations. Today, the outstanding holiday is one of religious observance and abstention from normal work routines, taking place on Sunday for Christians, Friday for Muslims, and Saturday for Jews. In the U.S., Sunday is not only a religious holiday but is also the only common-law holiday.

National holidays are days set aside by official government proclamation to celebrate such occasions as the achievement of independence, the founding of the nation, the adoption of a constitution, the birthday of the ruler, or the national patron saint's day.

The U.S. has no national holidays as such. Legal holidays—days on which banks, schools, or other public institutions and most places of business are closed—are designated by legislative enactment or by executive proclamation. Congress and the president designate the legal holidays for the District of Columbia and the federal territories but are without power to declare national holidays.

Independence Day and other holidays are observed on a national scale as a result of action by the states. In the case of Thanksgiving Day the president proclaims the calendar date and requests national observance, and the states then usually enact the necessary legislation. Federal statutes often specify certain days as holidays for purposes related to the legislation

HALLOWEEN
THANKSGIVING
CHRISTMAS
KWANZAA