Holidays in UK, USA and Mxico

Christmas
Day

New Year's
Day

UK
Christmas Day is
celebrated in the
United Kingdom on
December 25. It
traditionally
celebrates Jesus
Christ's birth but
many aspects of this
holiday have pagan
origins. Christmas is
a time for many
people to give and
receive gifts and
prepare special
festive meals.

USA
Many people in
the United States
celebrate
Christmas Day
on December 25.
The day
celebrates Jesus
Christ's birth. It is
often combined
with customs
from preChristian winter
celebrations.
Many people
erect Christmas
trees, decorate
their homes, visit
family or friends
and exchange
gifts.

MEXICO
is celebrated annually
on the 25th of
December, as in
many other parts of
the world.
Mexican Christmas tr
aditions are not
influenced by the
American way. Rather
they are homegrown
and based mainly on
Mexico's form of
Roman Catholicism.
Popular cultural
traditions in Mexico,
called "posadas",
have also given rise
to several traditions
observed here
during Christmas.

New Year's Day is a

public holiday in the
United Kingdom on
January 1 each
year. It marks the
start of the New
Year in the
Gregorian calendar.
For many people
have a quiet day on
January 1, which
marks the end of the
Christmas break
before they return to
work. However,
there are some
special customs,
particularly in

The start of New

Year's Day, at
midnight, is
heralded by
fireworks, parties
and special
events, which are
often televised.
Very few people
have to work on
the day itself. For
many it is a day
of recovery from
the New Year's
Eve celebrations
the previous
night. In some
towns and cities,

New Year's Day falls

on January 1. With
the arrival of a new
year in Mexico, hopes
for better times also
arrive. In the Mexican
culture, so full of
traditions, year-end rit
uals are an important
part of popular
belief for finding love,
money, good luck

Scotland.

Mother's Day

Father's Day

parades are held

and special
football games
are played.
Mothering Sunday,
Mother's Day in
sometimes known
the United States
as Mother's Day, is
is annually held
held on the fourth
on the second
Sunday of Lent. It is Sunday of May. It
exactly three weeks celebrates
before Easter
motherhood and
Sunday and usually it is a time to
falls in the second
appreciate
half of March or
mothers and
early April.
mother figures.
Many people make
Many people give
a special effort to
gifts, cards,
visit their mother.
flowers, candy, a
They take cards and meal in a
gifts to her and may restaurant or
treat her to brunch,
other treats to
lunch or high tea in
their mother and
a cafe, restaurant or mother figures,
hotel.
including
grandmothers,
greatgrandmothers,
stepmothers, and
foster mothers.
is held on the third
Sunday of June in
the United Kingdom.
It is a day to honor
fathers and father
figures, such as
grandfathers and
fathers-in-law. Many
people make a
special effort to visit
their fathers or to
send them a card or
gifts.

Father's Day in
the United States
is on the third
Sunday of June.
It celebrates the
contribution that
fathers and father
figures make for
their children's
lives. Its origins
may lie in a
memorial service
held for a large

Mothers Day is a
popular celebration
for mothers and
mother figures across
Mexico on May 10.
Mothers and mother
figures are given
flowers, cards, candy,
and other gifts that
symbolize
appreciation, respect
and love. It is a
bittersweet day for
moms of missing
children).

Fathers Day is
celebrated to honor
fathers and male
parental figures in
Mexico on the third
Sunday of June. It is
also observed in other
countries.
Like Mothers
Day and Childrens
Day in Mexico,
Fathers Day is a
family-centric

Halloween

Easter Day

group of men,
many of them
fathers, who were
killed in a mining
accident in
Monongah, West
Virginia in 1907.
Halloween is an
Many Americans
observance
celebrate
annually celebrated Halloween on
on October 31.
October 31.
Some people hold
Celebrations
Halloween parties
include costume
on or around this
parties and trickdate, where the
or-treating.
hosts and guests
Halloween is
often dress up as
usually
skeletons, ghosts or celebrated
other scary figures.
amongst family,
Common symbols of friends and,
Halloween include
sometimes, copumpkins, bats and workers.
spiders.
However, some
areas hold large
community
events.
Easter Sunday in
Many Christians
the United Kingdom celebrate Jesus
is a Christian
Christ's
holiday about Jesus resurrection on
Christ's
Easter
resurrection. The
Sunday. The
Easter date is the
Easter
first Sunday after
date depends on
the first full moon on the ecclesiastical
or after the March
approximation of
equinox
the March
In churches, it is
equinox.
generally a festive
Many churches
occasion with an
hold special
emphasis on the
services on
dawn of a new life.
Easter Sunday,
In Battersea Park in which celebrate

observance. Cards,
chocolates, artwork, tshirts, and other
presents are given to
fathers and father-like
role models on this
day
Halloween (Da de las
Brujas) is hailed
mainly as a childrens
festivity in Mexico on
October 31. It is often
overshadowed by the
Day of the Dead (Da
de los Muertos)
celebrations on All
Saints Day and All
Souls Day.

One of Mexicos
biggest celebrations is
Easter Sunday
(Domingo de
Pascua), which
remembers the
biblical story of when
Jesus rose from
death.
Celebrations in some
towns and cities can
be quite upscale,
featuring fireworks
and various events.
Churchgoers attend
special Easter mass,
followed by festive

London, there is a
the Jesus Christ's
large Easter parade. resurrection after
his crucifixion.
Many people also
decorate eggs.

Columbus
Day

Good Friday

Columbus Day,
which is on the
second Monday
of October,
remembers
Christopher
Columbus' arrival
to the Americas
on October 12,
1492. This
holiday is
controversial
because the
European
settlement in the
Americas led to
the demise of the
history and
culture of the
indigenous
peoples.
Good Friday
commemorates the
crucifixion of Jesus
Christ and is a
public holiday in the
United Kingdom. It
falls just before
Easter Sunday,
which is the first
Sunday after the
first full moon on or
after the March
equinox.

parties that include a

variety of Mexican
dishes as well as fun
activities and games

Many Mexicans
observe October 12
as Columbus Day, or
Day of the Race (Da
de la Raza) in
remembrance of
when Christopher
Columbus came to
the Americas.
is viewed as a
celebration of
Hispanic heritage for
Mexicans who
celebrate it. However,
it has also been a day
chosen for protests,
rallies and street
marches in past
years.

Good Friday (Viernes

Santo) is a bank
holiday in Mexico
prior to Holy
Saturday and Easter
Sunday. Christians
remember Jesus
crucifixion and death
on this day.
Crowds of people
take part in
processions in a
number of Mexican

People who
regularly attend
church will probably
attend a special
church service on
Good Friday. For
other people, it is a
day off work in the
spring.

towns and cities. The

processions include
actors carrying large
crosses to reenact
Jesus final moments
before his death.
Good Friday is a
solemn day when
churches are often
draped in dark colors.