*** holiday and celebration attire -- important holiday








Important Seasonal Holidays and Celebrations

seasonal holidays
Figure 1.--Here an American boy reads the book he has just received under the family Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is of course a German tradition that Prince albert popularized in England and which quickly crossed the Atlantic.

Quite a large number of holidays are celebrated by people all over the world, or at leasr by large numbers of countries. HBC for the time being is listing the holidays chronolgically. This is slightly complicated by the fact that many countries celebrate certain holidays on different days--prinmarily because of religious differences. We hope to eventually add many national holidays, but will them by country in the national diversity section above. Do let us know if you have any information on holidays in your country.

New Year

New Years cards and decorations commonly pictured the old year as an old man with sythe and the new year as a young boy (never a girl) with the new year embazoned on a ribbon he is wearing. Other cards, especially French cards, showed children in fancy dressup clothes.

Valentine Day

I know of no special boys' costuming associated with Valentine Day. American children used go through the annual ritual of exchanging cards at school, but they do not dress up for the parties. Popular Venentine cards used to picture boys cutely dressed up as Cupid, complete with quiver and arrows.

Presidents' Day

The United States used to celebrate both President Washington and President Lincoln's birthday. These were the two greatest U.S. presidents and both have birthdays in February. The holiday has been changed to one day in February which is celebrated as Presidents' Day. The most notable event is a carryover from Washington's bityhday. Many stores offer special bargains on Presidents Day nd i has become an important day for shopping and eating cherry pie--a tradition based on the story about Geoge Washington as a boy admitting to cutting down a cherry tree.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is one of many ethnic holidays celebrated in America. It is the most widely recognized of all the ethnic celebrations. This is fitting as about 30 million Americans identify themselves as being Irish. That is 10 times the population of Ireland itself. St. Patrick's Day may be thought of as an Irish holiday. The celebrations in America were much more extensive, and often racaous, than Ireland itself, although the Irish celebrations expanded--in fact copying the American celebrations.

Easter

Easter is traditionally the time for buying a new Spring outfit. Special attention is traditionally given to the girls, but new suits for boys are also common. Early 20th Century post cards, especially the French ones, show boys in a wide range of fancy dress. I'm not sure how many of these were actually worn. New suits for easter were, however, very common for boys from affluent families. Some of these suits during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries could indeed be very fancy. After World war I (1914-18), they common were the more ordinary suits worn by boys.

May Day

May Day is celebrated around the world. Interestingly, May Day is the only major festival of pre-Christian Europe which was not coopted by the Christian church for its own purposes. Traditional May Day celebrations were pre-Christian agricultural festivals. Eventually the significance was lost and the practices survived merely as popular festivities. It is a festival of happiness, joy and the coming of summer. Many schools around the world use the observance of May Day as a rich source of multicultural activities that can complement the May curriculum. Dancing around the Maypole is an often popular activity for the younger children, although the boys may need a little encouragement.

National Days

Most countries have national days. Some of the most important are Fourth of July (America), Bastille Day (France), Cibo de Mayo (Mexico). This major U.S. holiday is about fire works and the rockets red glare. Some one may dress up as Uncle Sam or the Revolutionary war soldiers with fide, drum, and and bugle scene. The Cubs and Scouts particuate in parades. And of course before the fireworks are picnics and cookouts. For many countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin Ameriuca is it is independence from colonial rule. This of course was the origin of America's July 4th celebration. Other countries do not have clear national days, such as Britain, Germany, Russia (since the fall of Communism), and Spain. .

Columbus Day

Columbus Day celebrating the birthday of Christopher Columbus is a major celebration in the United States during October. Columbus of course is noted for discovering America. He was a Ventian financed by Queen Isabella of Spain. It has become primarily a celebration of Italian Americans in the United States. Italians were one of the primary immigrant groups in the late 19th and early 20th century. YThey were the kmost important imigrant group following the Irish immigration of the mid-19th century. There are only two ethnic groups (Ireland and Italy) that have important national celebrations in America. Many ther countries celebrte Colunus Da with some different names such as the Dia de Raza. It is celebrated in Latin America, Italy and spain.

Octoberfest

Octoberfest is the most well known holiday in Germany. It is an important eating and ethnic event. Music and dance is also an important part of Octoberfest. While Octoberfest is primarily associated with Germany. Octoberfests are also held in many other countries where there are German populations.

Halloween

Unlike many other holidays, the children didn't dress up for Halloween, there is of course a good deal of dressing down. Children used to make their costumes using much imagination. Now costumes are generally massed produced and brought in discount stores. Trick or treat had declined in popularity because of saftey concerns. Fundamentalists groups have asailed this once rather innocent child's celebration as satantic. (These are of course the same people who see the Teletubbies as subverting innocent young minds.) In recent years Halloween has become mpre popular as an adult holiday.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an American holiday, giving thanks for the bouty of the land. Children dress up in Pilgrim and Native American costumes at school to celebrate the holiday. At home the centerpice is a huge turkey dinner. Often the entire family gathers at their parents or grandparents house for the event. Unlike some other holiday, however, the children do not generally dressup, even for the turkey dinner/.

Christmas

No other holiday compares to Christmas for children. With the exception of Easter, Christmas has traditionally been a holiday where the children dresses up in their best party suits and dresses. The styles of the outfits have changed greatly over time. Today in our more casual modern age, dressing up is less common, but certainly not completely lost. Church going families in particular still dress up for a variety of Christmas events. An important dress up occassion in many American families is attending the annual performance of the Nutcracker.






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Created: December 27, 1998
Last updated: 1:34 PM 1/20/2009