1.Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most important and longest annual cultural celebration in Chinese culture. New Year’s Day falls sometime between late January and early February, depending on the lunar calendar. The holiday is celebrated for fifteen days.Many traditional beliefs, superstitions, and cultural practices are observed during Chinese New Year. Homes are given a good cleaning to sweep away the previous year’s bad luck. Debts are paid off. On New Year’s Eve, families gather for a traditional meal of seafood and dumplings. On New Year’s Day, Chinese put on new clothes and give to family, friends, and business associates. Married adults give lai see, little red packets containing money to children, unmarried adults, and employees. People enjoy fireworks and lion dances, believed to attract the attention of kind gods and to drive away evil spirits. Elaborate Lantern Festivals end celebrations on the fifteenth day of the New Year. Big Chinese New Year celebrations take place in the Chinatowns located in American cities with large populations of Chinese-American and Chinese residents: San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Houston, and Honolulu.

2.Super Bowl Sunday

Although it is not an official U.S. holiday, Super Bowl Sunday has become one of the biggest sporting, entertainment, and commercial spectacles in American society. The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the main professional American football league in the United States. Super Bowl Sunday has grown beyond simply matching two teams playing for a championship title and trophy. Each year, the U.S. city (and stadium) that hosts the Super Bowl attracts tens of thousands of fans, the news media covering the event, and hundreds of businesses that support the game.The multi-million dollar contracts signed between the NFL and the television network broadcasting the game have transformed the game into a huge commercial event. The Super Bowl is usually one of the highest rated television programs in the United States. Since the early 1980s, companies have spent millions of dollars producing and placing commercials during the Super Bowl broadcast. In addition to avid football fans, casual fans often participate in the excitement surrounding the Super Bowl game. People celebrate the day with food, drink, and snacks. Fans often wear the uniforms of the team they are supporting.

3.Valentine’s Day (February 14)

Valentine’s Day is celebrated annually on February 14th and is associated with love and romance. Valentine’s Day has roots in Greek, Roman, and Christian history. In Greek and Roman times, the month of February was associated with love and fertility. Around 500 AD, the Catholic Church declared February 14th as the day to commemorate at least three different saints (people awarded sacred and holy status after their deaths) named Valentine. The first documented connections between St. Valentine’s Day and romantic love date from fourteenth century England. February 14th was believed to be the day when birds paired off to mate. Lovers exchanged handwritten notes and called each other “valentines.” Today, most people do not focus on the religious aspect of Valentine’s Day. For most Americans, Valentine’s Day is associated with romance. Couples exchange “valentines,” cards with romantic messages. The first commercial Valentine’s Day cards were produced in the 1840s. Today, millions of Valentine’s Day cards are sold. Couples often also exchange gifts of chocolate and roses as tokens of their feelings for one another. As a result, Valentine’s Day is a big business for candy companies, florists, and other businesses that produce romance-themed merchandise for this holiday.

4.Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day, February 2, is an unusual holiday. It is really more of a tradition than a day that people celebrate. A groundhog is a small wild mammal that lives in burrows. Legend has it that if a hibernating groundhog comes out of its burrow on February 2 and sees its shadow, it means that there will be six more weeks of winter weather. So, the groundhog retreats back to its burrow to wait for spring. However, if February 2 is a cloudy day and the groundhog casts no shadow, then it means that spring will come early and the groundhog remains above ground. The small town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania is the center of attention on Groundhog Day. Records have been kept since 1887 on whether or not the town’s “official” groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw its shadow on February 2. There have been countless “Phil’s” over the years, as the life span of a groundhog is relatively short. Phil often appears on national television on February 2 to give his forecast. Phil even met President Reagan in 1986 and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1995. Each year tens of thousands of people descend on Punxsutawny on February 2nd to see what Phil will do.

5.Black History Month (February)

In 1926 Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the son of parents who had been born into slavery, established “Negro History Week.” Woodson, who earned his Ph.D. at Harvard and was a noted historian, was distressed that American schools and American textbooks largely ignored the history of African Americans. Woodson chose the second week of February to celebrate what was African American history because it included the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Douglas, who was born into slavery in 1817, became an international figure in the fight against it. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which led to he freeing of all slaves in the United States. In 1976 the week in February that Woodson had worked to establish commemorate African American history became Black History Month. In high schools, Black History Month activities often take place in social studies or history classes. Students study the many important contributions African Americans have made to the United States throughout its history. Students learn about the African American struggle for freedom, from slavery, through the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 60s, and to the present.

6.St. Patrick’s Day (March 17)

St. Patrick’s Day is named in honor of Ireland’s patron saint, Patrick who was very successful in winning converts to Christianity during the fifth century. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17th, the anniversary of Patrick’s death in 432 C.E.In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated for centuries as a national and Catholic religious holiday. Irish families attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Celebrations include food, drink, and dancing. In the United States, St. Patrick’s Day is a day for Irish Americans to celebrate their Irish heritage with festive parades, food (corned beef and cabbage), and drink. During the mid-nineteenth century, Irish immigrants escaping the Great Potato Famine in Ireland struggled to gain a foothold in American society. They celebrated their culture and ethnic pride despite economic hardship and discrimination. St. Patrick’s Day became a high point of celebrating Irish identity.New York City hosts America’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Parades also take place in other U.S. cities with large Irish-American populations, including Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Both Irish-Americans and non-Irish Americans enjoy participating in the parades, eating, drinking, and wearing green. Many people also wear shamrocks, the symbol of Ireland.

7. April Fools’ Day (April 1)

April Fools’ Day (or All Fools Day) is celebrated on April 1, as the traditional day on which people play practical jokes on each other. April Fools’ Day has been celebrated for centuries in countries such as Britain and France. In ancient times, many cultures celebrated the beginning of the new year around April 1, shortly after the spring equinox. In the mid-sixteenth century Pope Gregory XIII, ordered that a new calendar—the Gregorian calendar—replace the old Julian calendar. The new calendar called for New Year’s Day to be celebrated on January 1. Many Protestant European countries refused to obey the pope’s order. France adopted the Gregorian calendar and shifted New Year’s Day to January 1, but many people refused to accept the new date or simply did not hear about the change. They continued to celebrate New Year’s on April 1. Other people teased these people, trying to trick them into believing other false stories. The custom of playing April Fools’ jokes was brought to the United States by the British. Today, people try to play good-natured tricks upon one another. When a victim believes a false story or is tricked, pranksters yell out “April Fool!”

8. Easter

Easter is the most important Christian holy day. Christians believe that after Jesus died on the cross and was buried, on Good Friday, that he arose from the dead three days later, the day now celebrated as Easter. Easter is a joyful day for Christians who believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus was a miraculous event that washed away human sins and repaired the relationship between God and humankind.Easter is celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, which falls sometime between March 22 and April 25. The Easter worship service is one of the high points on the Christian church calendar. Many Americans participate in Easter traditions that are not religious. European immigrants brought some of these traditions to the United States. In the eighteenth century, for example, German immigrants told their children that the Easter Bunny would leave Easter baskets for good boys and girls. Today, American children receive candy-filled Easter baskets left for them by the “Easter Bunny.” Children also dye eggs, called eggs and participate in festive egg hunts. The giving of eggs can be traced back to the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, who believed eggs to be symbols of life. In Europe, eggs were colored to represent Spring sunlight.

9. Passover (April)

Passover is an eight-day Jewish holiday (seven days in Israel) that commemorates the liberation and exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Passover is observed on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, which falls sometime between April 5 and April 13 on the Western calendar. It is not a federal U.S. holiday. The term “Passover” comes from the book of Exodus in the Bible. According to the story recorded in Exodus, God promised the Israelites, ancestors of today’s Jewish people, that he would deliver them from enslavement in Egypt. The Israelites were instructed to mark their doorways with lamb’s blood, a signal for God to pass over them and spare their children, while all the firstborn children of Egyptians died. For Jewish-Americans—and all worshipping Jewish people throughout the world— Passover is a time for celebration with family. Traditionally, Jewish families gather for a Seder, a special symbolic meal celebrated over the first two nights of Passover. The meal is festive and full of symbolism. Through readings of Jewish scripture and eating the traditional Seder meal, celebrants recall the hardships and commemorate the liberation of their ancestors from Egypt. There are two main commandments for Passover are the eating of matzoh, or unleavened bread that is the official food of Passover, and not eating any food with leavening.

10. Mother’s Day (Second Sunday in May)

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May, when mothers are honored by their children. Many countries celebrate Mother’s Day, usually in May, as a day to honor mothers. In England, Mother’s Day, or Mothering Sunday, has been celebrated for hundreds of years on the fourth Sunday of Lent (usually March or April). In the United States, children express their affection for their mothers through gifts, flowers, greeting cards, and other tokens of appreciation.The first Mother’s Day in the United States was proclaimed by activist Julia Ward Howe in 1870 in Boston to promote peace after the bloodshed of the U.S. Civil War. Early Mother’s Days were often celebrated by women’s peace groups working for pacifism and disarmament. In the early twentieth century, Anna Marie Jarvis celebrated Mother’s Day to honor her mother (also named Anna Jarvis), who fought for peace and worker’s health and safety. Jarvis organized a large-scale celebration of Mother’s Day. The idea won widespread acceptance. In 1910, the state of West Virginia first recognized Mother’s Day as a holiday, and U.S. president Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 declaring the second Sunday in May “Mother’s Day.”

11. Father’s Day (Third Sunday in June)

Father’s Day is a day to celebrate fatherhood (just as Mother’s Day celebrates motherhood) in many cultures throughout the world. It is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. It is not a federal U.S. holiday. On Father’s Day in the United States, children honor their fathers with greeting cards and gifts of appreciation. In the United States, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in 1910 as a result of the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd. Dodd wanted to honor her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who raised six children as a single parent. The idea won widespread support. The all-male U.S. Congress, however, did not want to pass legislation that might seem so favorable to males. Father’s Day thus did not receive official recognition until 1972 by President Richard Nixon.

12. Halloween (October 31)

Halloween is celebrated on the night of October 31 in much of the Western world. It began as an ancient festival of the dead celebrated by the Celts, and almost all modern Halloween traditions can be traced back to this celebration. A favorite Halloween activity of American children is trick or treating. Children put on costumes and go door-to-door, yelling “Trick or Treat!” In return, they receive gifts, usually candy. Traditionally, costumes would often take the form of witches, ghosts, vampires, and skeletons. The ancient belief behind this tradition was that wearing such costumes would trick the evil spirits who came out that evening, determined to commit evil deeds, and protect the costume wearer from harm. Giving gifts to the ghoulish visitors of the night would also keep them from causing harm. Nowadays, children often wear mass-produced costumes of characters from movies or television. Adult costume parties also have become a popular tradition.The jack o’ lantern is one of the most distinctive Halloween symbols and traditions. People will carve a scary or comical face into a pumpkin and place a candle or light inside it, making a simple lantern.

13. Ramadan

Ramadan is the holy month of fasting for Muslims. Ramadan falls during the ninth month of the lunar calendar, which often falls sometime during November on the Western calendar. It is not a U.S. federal holiday. Muslims believe that the Koran, the Muslim holy book, was revealed to the prophet Muhammad during Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the revelation of the Koran to Muhammad. Throughout the entire month, devout adult Muslims fast, or refrain from eating or drinking, from sunup to sundown. Muslims believe fasting purifies their bodies and spirit and increases their devotion to Allah (God). Worship and charity is considered very important during Ramadan. Muslims pray and recite the Koran during Ramadan. At the end of Ramadan, Muslims gather to pray together, often in mosques, greet family, friends, and neighbors, and celebrate with feasts. It is also considered important to offer charity to the poor.

14. Hanukah

Hanukah or the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday. Hanukah is a Hebrew word that means “dedication.” The holiday begins at sunset on a date on the Jewish calendar that usually falls in December on the Western calendar. Hanukah is a joyful festival commemorating the re-dedication of the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem in the first century BCE (before the common era.) Hanukah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over a Syrian king who had occupied present-day Israel and prohibited Jews from practicing their faith. When the Maccabees tried to rekindle the eternal light, they could only find enough ritually purified oil for one night. Miraculously, however, the oil lasted for eight nights. Today Jews celebrating Hanukah light a menorah, a branched candlestick with eithgt candles, adding an additional candle a night for eight nights to commemorate the miraculous event. Hanukah is a festive family occasion with special foods and song. Children often are given gifts, money, or chocolate coins. Songs are sung to commemorate the rededication of the temple. A popular Hanukah game is played with the dreidel, a four-sided spinning top with Hebrew letters that stand for “A Great Miracle Happened There.”