Holiday

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

A holiday is a special day. The word "holiday" comes from the words "holy" and "day" and originally meant a special religious day.

During holidays, people can do many things. They can travel to other places (called a "vacation" in North America) or celebrate. Sometimes on holidays people do not have to go to school or the office.

Contents 1 Long holidays without having to go to work 2 Religious holidays 2.1 Buddhist holidays 2.2 Celtic, Norse, and Neopagan holidays 2.3 Christian holidays 2.4 Hindu holidays 2.5 Islamic holidays 2.6 Jewish holidays 2.7 Bahá'í holidays 3 Holidays in Western countries during Winter 3.1 Greetings 4 Holidays celebrated around the world

[edit] Long holidays without having to go to work

• Spring Festival, May Day, and National Day (People's Republic of China)
• Golden-week (Japan)
• The Majówka, also called the Picnic (Poland)
• Holy Week, sometimes with Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Easter Monday and Good Friday (Ireland)
• A long weekend, when a holiday is next to the weekend (Australia and England). In the United States, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, and Washington's Birthday are sometimes moved to Monday so they also create a 3-day weekend. Calendars sometimes mark these holidys twice. For instance, in 2006, Veteran's Day in America is on Saturday 2006 November 11. Veteran's Day (observed) is also on the calender; it is Friday 2006 November 10.

[edit] Religious holidays

[edit] Buddhist holidays

• Vesak
• Matsuri (in Japan, could also be considered a Shinto holiday)
• Blessed Rainy Day in Bhutan

[edit] Celtic, Norse, and Neopagan holidays

In the order of the Wheel of the Year:

• Samhain (Celtic): 31 October-1 November, Celtic New Year, first day of winter
• Winternights (Norse): 29 October-2 November, Norse New Year
• Yule (Norse): 21 December-22 December, winter solstice, Celtic mid-winter
• Imbolc (Celtic): 1 February-2 February, Celtic first day of spring
• Ostara/Easter (Norse): 21 March-22 march, vernal equinox, Celtic mid-spring
• Beltane (Celtic): 30 April-1 May, Celtic first day of summer
• Litha (Norse): 21 June-22 June, summer solstice, Celtic mid-summer
• Lughnasadh (Celtic): 1 August-2 August, Celtic first day of autumn
• Mabon/Harvest End (Norse): 21 September-22 September, autumnal equinox, Celtic mid-fall

[edit] Christian holidays

Main article: liturgical year

• Advent
• All Saints' Day
• All Souls' Day
• Ascension Day (Jesus enters Heaven)
• Ash Wednesday
• Assumption of Mary (The Virgin Mary enters Heaven)
• Candlemas
• Childermas
• Christmas (Birth of Jesus)
• Corpus Christi(Sacrifice of Jesus)
• Easter (Jesus is born again)
• Easter Triduum
  • Easter Vigil
  • Good Friday (Death of Jesus)
  • Holy Saturday
  • Holy Thursday (The Last Supper)
• Epiphany
• Lent
• Pentecost or Whitsun (The Holy Spirit goes to the followers of Jesus)
• Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (last day of Carnival)
• Winter Lent
• Watch Night

The Catholic fiestas patronales are during each place's patron saint's day. This is recorded on the Calendar of saints.

[edit] Hindu holidays

• Baisakhi
• Daserra
• Diwali
  • Diwali Amvasaya (Laxmi Puja)
  • Diwali (day 2)
  • Bhaubeej
• Ekadasi
• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Gokul Ashtami
• Gudhi Padwa
• Holi
• Mahashivratri
• Makar Sankranti
• Onam
• Pongal
• Rama-Lilas
• Ram Navami
• Vaikunta Ekadasi
• Ugadi

[edit] Islamic holidays

• Aashurah Muharram
• Eid (date changes because of lunar calendar)
  • Eid ul-Fitr, Lesser Bairam
    • Eid ul-Adha, Greater Bairam
• Mawlid Al Rasul - Prophet Muhammad's Birthday
• Nisfu Shaaban
• Nuzul Al Qur'an - First announcement of Holy Koran
• Ramadan-Ul-Mubarik
• Isra' Mi'raj - Prophet Muhammad's enters heaven.
• Youm Arafat - Day before Eid ul-Adha

[edit] Jewish holidays

• Hanukkah (also: Chanukah; the Festival of Lights)
• Lag Ba'omer
• Passover
• Purim (Deliverance from Evil)
• Rosh Hashanah (New Year)
• Shavuot (Festival of Weeks; Harvest Festival)
• Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles)
• Tisha B'Av
• Tu Bishvat (New year of the trees)
• Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)

[edit] Bahá'í holidays

• Naw Ruz (Bahá'í New Year)
• 1st Day of Ridván
• 9th Day of Ridvan
• 12th Day of Ridvan
• Declaration of the Báb
• Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh
• Martyrdom of the Báb
• Birth of the Israel
• Birth of Bahá'u'lláh

[edit] Holidays in Western countries during Winter

• New Year's Day
• Boxing Day
• Kwanzaa
• Christmas Day
• Hanukkah
• Thanksgiving

[edit] Greetings

• Merry Christmas (also called Feliz Navidad (Spanish) and Joyeux Noel (French))
• Happy Hanukkah
• Happy Solstice
• Season's Greetings
• Happy Holiday(s)
• Joyous Yule
• Happy Kwanzaa
• Happy New Year
• Happy Thanksgiving

[edit] Holidays celebrated around the world

• Valentine's Day (14 February)
• International Women's Day (8th of March, mostly in Eastern European Countries)
• Earth Day (22 April)
• Labour Day, Worker's Day or May Day (1 May, most countries - United States and Canada do not celebrate it)
• Mother's Day (second Sunday in May in North America, fourth Sunday in Lent in UK)
• Father's Day (Different countries have different dates)
• Halloween (31 October)