Traditional festivals and customs in foreign countries

Brief introduction of western traditional festivals

Easter

Easter is a Spring Festival. In Christian countries, Easter is a religious festival to commemorate the resurrection of Christ Jesus. However, there are many customs and legends about Easter, and their origins are non-religious. They have nothing to do with Christianity. Some traditions closely related to festivals are like the Easter Bunny, which is a symbol of reproduction and growth. And Easter eggs. It was originally painted with bright colors to represent the spring sunshine. These eggs can also be used to play the game of fuck off, or as small gifts.

Thanksgiving Day (Thanksgiving Day)

The first Thanksgiving celebrated by Americans was in 162 1 in order to commemorate the harvest of Plymouth colony after a barren winter. That year, Governor William Bradford of Texas declared this day Thanksgiving. The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest festival. On that day, they also invited the local Wampanoag Indians. Thanksgiving lasted the whole autumn harvest season, but the other thirteen colonies didn't celebrate it until June 1777+00. George Washington declared it a holiday on 1789, and he was also the first president to declare Thanksgiving.

Valentine's Day (Valentine's Day)

The history of Valentine's Day is full of mystery, but we know that February is a romantic month for a long time. Valentine's Day has traces of Christianity and Roman tradition. Valentine's Day is also called Saint Valentine's Day. There are many legends about Valentine's Day. One of them is that in the 3rd century, Roman Emperor Claudius II thought that single men were better at fighting than men with wives and families, so he declared marriage illegal, which also cut off the source of soldiers. Reverend Valentine realized the fallacy of this law, openly opposed it, and secretly married young people. Claudius II found out and executed Valentine.

Father's Day

At the beginning of the 20th century, Nassau Louis Dodd Jr. wanted to pay tribute to his father William Small, so Father's Day came into being. His father has been a widow since his wife died in childbirth. Mr. Small raised six children by himself on a farm in East Washington. When Ms. Dodd grew up, she felt obliged to pay tribute to her father. So, 1909, she proposed to pay tribute to her father one day in June. Her father's birthday is in June. The first Father's Day was celebrated in Washington, D.C. on June 19 10. 1924, President johncalvin coolidge expressed his support and made it a national holiday. However, it was not until 1966 that President lyndon johnson officially declared the third Sunday in June as Father's Day, which was officially celebrated throughout the country.

Mother's Day (Mother's Day)

The earliest celebration of Mother's Day can be traced back to the spring celebration in ancient Greece, to commemorate the mother of the gods, Youxi. In the17th century, Britain celebrated a festival called "Mother's Sunday" on the fourth Sunday of Lent. In the United States, Mother's Day was first proposed by Julia Ward Howe 1872, and it is a festival related to peace. By 19 1 1, almost all states have celebrated Mother's Day. Although Mother's Day is celebrated at different times around the world, many countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium, celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May.

(Note: In the New Testament, a devil seduced Jesus. It is said that the devil trapped Jesus in the wilderness and refused to feed him for 40 days. Although Jesus was hungry, he didn't accept the temptation of the devil. Later, in order to commemorate Jesus' fasting in the wilderness for these 40 days, believers regard the 40 days before Easter every year as a day of fasting and repentance, which is called Lent or Lent. It is said that the Goddess Festival in ancient Greece and Rome and bacchanalia are its predecessors. During these 40 days, people can't eat meat and have fun, so life is solemn and dreary, so one or half weeks before the start of Lent, people will hold banquets, dance and have fun. Later, such a day gradually evolved into a religious festival, which was called "carnevale" in Latin, meaning "Farewell to meat". Carnival is translated into carnival in English. Now, not many people adhere to the rules and regulations such as Lent, but the traditional carnival activities have been preserved and become an important festival for people. )

Boxing Day (Gift Box Festival)

Previously, because servants had to work at Christmas, they were allowed to take a holiday on the first day after the holiday. Employers often prepare some gift boxes and give them to their servants before they go home. Today, families with servants are very rare. However, the habit of giving gifts to people in the service industry continues.

Halloween (Halloween)

The word Halloween itself comes from Catholicism. 165438+ 10/day "Halloween" (or "Halloween"), also known as Halloween, is a day when Catholics hold ceremonies to respect saints. One of the sayings is that on that day, those souls who died before and are still floating will come back to find some living beings to prepare for next year's resurrection. They think this is the only hope of reincarnation. Christians believe that all time and space are suspended during this period, so that the soul world can be mixed with our living space. People who are alive naturally don't want to be possessed, so on the evening of June 30th of 10, the villagers will put out the fire at home, making it very cold, and no one wants to come. They also want to come. Therefore, although some believers may have accepted Halloween as their favorite festival, the day itself does not come from evil practices, but from the Celtic celebration of the New Year and the prayers of medieval Europeans. Today, even in many churches, Halloween parties are held, or children are asked to carve pumpkin lanterns and knock on the door to play trick or treat.

April fool's day (April fool's day)

In France before 1582, people began to celebrate the New Year on March 25th, and reached its climax on April 1 day. Later, the calendar was reformed, and the New Year moved to 65438+ 10/. However, in that era when information was very backward, the speed of news spread was very slow. Moreover, some diehards refused the new calendar and still celebrated the New Year on April 1 day. Other ordinary people call those stubborn people "fools" and make them do stupid things to make fun of them.