Eddie and Freddie

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is an important holiday in the United States. The date of Christmas is December 25. On that day, people commemorate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, people believe the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus, but that was not the actual birthday of Jesus of Nazareth.

Although Christmas day is a traditional Christian holiday, many non-Christian also celebrated Christmas day. Christians celebrated in many different ways. On that day, Christians will come out, and some of them will tell other people the story about Christmas. Some people will paint their house and exchange the gifts with their friends. The adult will tell the story about Christmas to children, or the children will sing the song about Christmas. During Christmas, children will very happy, because they believe that Father Christmas will give them gifts. But actually, during the night, parents will put the gifts in the stocking after the children fall a sleep. A lot of people will buy a Christmas tree and put it in the house or in front of the house, and make the tree become colorful, with lights and decorates.

People also celebrate Christmas with painting, use the painting to tell the story.

Now, Christmas become a very popular festival, almost everyone know what it is. People like Christmas, because on that day they can relax. It is a good day for people who were busy all the time.

In China, some people also celebrate Christmas; parents will try to fill one wish from their children. Children will be very happy on that day; because they can eat the food they want and get a toy they want. People will also buy a Christmas tree and Father Christmas’ hat; have fun with their good friends.

HANUKAH

Hanukah, also known as the festival of lights, is an 8 day holiday for the Jewish people. The Hebrew date of Hanukah is 25 of Kislev, which is like in the middle of

December for the normal calendar. The name Hanukah means “establishing”. The Jewish people celebrate Hanukah because they commemorate the rededication of the temple at the time of the Maccabean revolt. The festival is observed by the turning on the lights of a special candelabrum of the nine-light called Menorah or Hanukiah. It is a tradition to light one light every day with the one in the middle called Shamash. The tradition is to let the candle burn for 8 day, because the Maccabees survived with one light and oil for a week  so that’s is a miracle that the jewfish people celebrate.

The traditions of Hanukah are to play with the dreidel and to eat Sufganiyot that is like doughnuts with jelly.

In Hanukah, like Christmas, the children receive presents but instead of one day of present the Jewish kids have 8 crazy nights. Every night that the family lights the Menorah the kids receive a gift.

In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4^th Thursday in November and it is a harvest festival that is also celebrated in Canada. Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks to God for the harvest and express gratitude to others for our many blessings.

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621, we do not know many details of the day but, with Edward Winslow’s 1621 letter we do know new things. At that day, people were busy; the pilgrims invited the Native Americans to have dinner together, the great Indian chief Massasoit came with 90 men from his tribe. They carried five large deer with them to cook. After the cooking finished, the pilgrims and gave thanks to God for saving their lives. They also thanked their new friends the Native Americans for helping them. The celebration continued for three days.

In 1620, when the “May Flower” arrived to America, the people had been in danger; they did not have enough food to help them to pass the winter, so a lot of people died, Only 53 of the colonist survived the winter, the Native Americans helped the pilgrims. They gave them a lot of supplies, and taught them how to hunt and plant. With the Native Americans’ help, the pilgrims had a successful a harvest, everyone had enough food to pass the winter, and they a big meal together the celebrated and gave thanks to the God for helping them.

In thanksgiving is a tradition to eat turkey. At the beginning of thanksgiving they didn’t eat turkey they eat lobster, goose, duck, seal, hand eel and cod because they were more plentiful.

There is one story that says that queen Elizabeth of 16^th century England was eating goose on the harvest festival. When somebody told her that the Spanish armada had sunk on its way to attack England, she was so pleased so she ordered another goose to celebrate the news. So the goose was the favorite bird at the harvest festival in England. When the pilgrims arrived to America the roasted turkey replaced the goose.

Veterans Day is an American holiday that honors military veterans. It is usually honored on November 11^th. It is celebrated on this day because it is the day World War I ended.

This holiday started in 1919 when Woodrow Wilson was the U.S president. He proclaimed an armistice day for November 11^th.  Armistice Day is the anniversary of the symbolic end of World War 1 on November 11th 1918.

In 1953, a shoe store owner from Emporia, Kansas named Al King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just the ones who served during World War I.  He began a campaign to change Armistice Day to “All Veterans Day”.  President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.

When Veterans Day comes, thousands of people visit the Tomb of Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The Tomb of Unknowns is a monument for American soldiers who have died without their remains being identified.   A color guard representing all military services will execute “Present Arms” at the tomb.  The president will put a wreath in the tomb; it means that the country and the world will remember all of those who died fighting for their country. A bugler will then play “Taps”.   Later, people will continue to a surrounding amphitheater to hear people speak and hear other forms of tribute.  It is important for people to commemorate those who fought and those who died for their country.

We Asked You!

We asked the school if they know when Veterans day was celebrated and ONLY 20% of the participants knew the correct date.

Halloween started 2000 years ago in the area now known as Ireland. Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st. It was during the end of the bright, warm, summer and the start of the cold, dark, fall. They believed that on the night before the New Year the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and the spirits of the dead would walk the earth.
The Celt’s would dress up because they believed that if they were walking along and they passed a spirit, their costume would hide the fact that they were not a ghost. Some Celts also believed that their costumes could scare the spirits away. These traditions evolved in Ireland and eventually were brought to America when Irish immigrants came to the U.S. during the potato famine of the mid 1800’s.
During Halloween children knock doors and say “Trick or Treat!”. It is believed that “treats” came from the tradition of poor people knocking on doors during Halloween and offering to pray for people that had passed away during the year. People believed that the more someone was prayed for, the better chance they had to move onto the afterlife. For their prayers they would be given a small treat. Over the years the saying “Trick or Treat” became an innocent threat to the owners of the house. If they did not give the children candy, they would play a trick on them, like toilet papering a tree outside.