Four Seasons
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CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD

Social Studies Resource Links

Chanukah - Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is a celebration of the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple commemorating the miracle of the oil that burned for 8 days. ...

• more Judaism posters

Christmas, December 25 -

Christmas is the annual Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, on whose teaching the Christian religion is based. The word Christmas is from the Old English and is a contraction of ‘Christ's mass’. When written as Xmas it is because the X resembles the Greek letter ‘chi’, an abbreviation for Christ. ...

• more Christmas posters
• medieval history posters

Kwanzaa -
December 26 - January 1

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa is based on the first harvest celebrations of various African cultures. Its name is derived from the Kiswahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” or “the first fruit of the harvest.”

• Black History Posters
• more about Kwanzaa
• more December Observances

New Year, January 1

The New Year is celebrated at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. In countries and cultures using the Gregorian calendar the first day of the New Year is January 1.

MLKing Day Celebration
3rd Monday in January

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Global PathMarker
Fine Art Poster Print-
b. 1-15-1929; Atlanta, GA
d. 4-4-1968; Memphis, TN

“Freedom has always been
an expensive thing.”

• MLK short bio, books, Links for Learning

Valentine’s Day - February 14

• more February Observances
• February posters
• Circulatory system /heart posters

Washington's Birthday (February 22) was the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen. In 1971 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act shifted the observance to the third Monday in February. While Lincoln's birthday is February 12, Lincoln, whose birthday is February 12, is not included in the federal statute, individual states have created observances around “President's Day”.

• more George Washington posters
• more President’s posters
• more February Observances

Mardi Gras, which literally means Fat Tuesday, is the Carnival that preceeds Lent, the forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter.

The word Lent can be traced back to the German language lenz and Dutch lente which means “long” indicating the increased daylight of spring days.

Saint Patrick's Day, March 17th

Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland (and Nigeria, Montserrat, New York, Boston and engineers). His feast day is celebrated on the date of his death.

• more March Observances

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is celebrated on April 1 by playing hoaxes and practical jokes on family, friends and neighbors.

Jesters and fools in the Middle Ages were thought of as those whom God had touched and were permitted to point out “foolishness” in their superiors and in tense situations.

• more April Observances

The Easter feast and observances of the Easter Season through Pentacost celebrate the resurrection of Jesus three days after his crucifixion on Good Friday.

Easter is celebrated the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon which is the first full moon after the vernal equinox - sometime between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity).

• Christianity posters
• Easter Sunday Date Calculator

Earth Day

• more April Observances
• more Earth posters
• Environmental Bookshelf
• Rachel Carson posters

Ann Jarvis, the woman who established “Mother's Day” as the 2nd Sunday in May in the US (1912) was firm in her goal for the day to be set aside for each family to honor their personal mother.

James McNeil Whistler
b. 7-11-1834, Lowell, MA
d. 7-17-1903

Memorial Day, last Monday in May

Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, commemorates US men and women who died while in military service to their country. Decoration Day was first enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War and expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. As a United States Federal holiday Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May.

• more Motivational Posters
• Summer posters

Flag Day, June 14th

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress resolved: “That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The resolution did not specify the arrangement, orientation, or number of points in the stars, so there were many flags in different configurations, crafted by many different hands, during the Revolution.

• more Flag posters
• more June Observances

Father's Day - celebrated the 3rd Sunday in June.

Independence Day, 4th of July

The actual resolution of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britian was approved on July 2, 1776 by the 2nd Continental Congress; the Declaration of Independence explaining the decision was approved on July 4.

• American Revolution Era posters

Labor Day, the first Monday of September

Labor Day is a legal holiday observed in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands. The holiday in honor of the working class was initiated in the U.S. in 1882 by the Knights of Labor, and the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. ...

From Poster - “Labor conquers everything” - “The strictest law oft becomes the severest injustice.”

• “Those machines had kept going as long as we could remember. When we finally pulled the switch and there was some quiet, I finally remembered something ... that I was a human being, that I could stop those machines, that I was better than those machines anytime.” -
Sit-down Striker
• History of Labor posters

Columbus Day, October 12

Christopher Columbus made four voyages in search of Asia - the first in 1492, consisted of three ships- the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, and the land sighting date of October 12, is celebrated as a holiday in the United States.

• Great Explorers posters

Halloween - October 31, All Hallow's Eve (the day before All Saint's Day)

MeOnAPumpkin stencil software - click this link for a $3 discount on MeOnAPumpkin stencil software.

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles broadcast his adaptation of H. G. Wells “War of the Worlds” - scary stuff.

The Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca, is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world. The Hajj is an obligation that must be carried out at least once in a lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so.

The pilgrimage occurs from the 7th to 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. Since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar the Gregorian calendar date changes from year to year. From information found online the Hajj will be October 24-28, 2012; October 13-17, 2013, October 4-8, 2014, September 25-29, 2015.

Thanksgiving - 4th Thursday in November (US)

Thanksgiving Day, a harvest festival giving thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general, is celebrated primarily in Canada (2nd Monday in October) and the United States. Thanksgiving is primarily a secular holiday.

• more Thanksgiving posters