HOLIDAY, day set apart for religious observance or for the commemoration of some extraordinary event or distinguished person, or for some other public occasion. Holidays are characterized by a partial or total cessation of work and normal business activities and are generally accompanied by public and private ceremonies, including feasting (or fasting), parades and carnivals, or displays of flags and speechmaking.
Originally, in ancient times, holidays were predominantly religious in character and linked to natural events such as the annual course of the sun or the phases of the moon. The word holiday, in fact, is derived from "holy day." Subsequently, secular holidays commemorating historical occasions or distinguished persons outnumbered holy days, although many ancient religious rituals and customs have been carried over into modern times and incorporated into both secular and religious observations. Today, the outstanding holiday is one of religious observance and abstention from normal work routines, taking place on Sunday for Christians, Friday for Muslims, and Saturday for Jews. In the U.S., Sunday is not only a religious holiday but is also the only common-law holiday.
National holidays are days set aside by official government proclamation to celebrate such occasions as the achievement of independence, the founding of the nation, the adoption of a constitution, the birthday of the ruler, or the national patron saint's day.
The U.S. has no national holidays as such. Legal holidays days on which banks, schools, or other public institutions and most places of business are closed are designated by legislative enactment or by executive proclamation. Congress and the president designate the legal holidays for the District of Columbia and the federal territories but are without power to declare national holidays. Independence Day and other holidays are observed on a national scale as a result of action by the states. In the case of Thanksgiving Day the president proclaims the calendar date and requests national observance, and the states then usually enact the necessary legislation. Federal statutes often specify certain days as holidays for purposes related to the legislation.
For the principal legal holidays, in addition to Sunday, observed in the U.S., its territories, and its possessions, see the accompanying chart.
In order to give federal employees 3-day weekends, a 1968 federal law made several changes in dates of holiday observances, effective in 1971: Washington's Birthday now falls on the third Monday in February; Memorial Day, on the last Monday in May; Columbus Day, on the second Monday in October; and Veterans Day, on the fourth Monday in October. Individual states later adopted these Monday holidays.
A number of states commemorate important events in their history. In Vermont, for example, the Battle of Bennington, fought in the American Revolution, is commemorated annually on August 16; in Louisiana the Battle of New Orleans of the War of 1812 is commemorated on January 8; Patriot's Day, commemorating the first battle of the American Revolution, is celebrated on or about April 19 in Massachusetts and Maine; and several southern states celebrate a Confederate Memorial Day on different days in the spring. Throughout the U.S., the birthdays of great women and men are also celebrated on legal holidays that have been set apart for that purpose.
The days listed in the following chart are usually observed throughout the U.S., but they are not legal holidays.
Canada's legal holidays, or statutory days, are New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Victoria Day (May 24), Dominion Day (q.v.), Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day (October 12), Remembrance Day (November 11), and Christmas. Certain legal holidays in Great Britain, known as bank holidays, occur on Mondays: Easter Monday, Whitmonday, and August Bank Holiday (the first Monday in August).
FESTIVALS AND FEASTS, in secular society, communal celebrations involving carefully planned programs, outpourings of respect, rejoicing, or high revelry, established by custom or sponsored by various cultural groups or organizations. Such secular celebrations differ from reli-gious festivals and feasts in that the focus is not on the significance of the rituals of holy days of a particular faith but on the public honoring of outstand ing persons, the commemoration of important historical or cultural events, or the recreation of cherished folkways. In some parts of the world, however, particularly in Latin America and southern Europe, traditional secular festivities follow attendance at reli-gious services.
Origin. The origin of communal celebration is a matter of conjecture. Folklorists believe that the first festivals arose because of the anxieties of early peoples who did not understand the forces of nature and wished to placate them. General agreement exists that the most ancient festivals and feasts were associated with planting and harvest times or with honoring the dead. These have continued as secular festivals, with some reli-gious overtones, into modern times.
The beginnings of many secular celebrations are linked to historic happenings. Noteworthy examples include the discoveries of Christopher Columbus and other early navigators and the creation of new, independent nations from former colonies. A particular event may spontaneously generate a national festival, celebrated only that one time, as in the case of the coast-to-coast jubilation over the Jan. 20, 1981, release of the American hostages after 444 days of captivity in Iran. The nationwide manifestation of reli-ef and joy was a festival of freedom.
Functions. Secular festivals and feasts have many uses and values beyond the public enjoyment of a celebration. In prehistoric societies, festivals provided an opportunity for the elders to pass on folk knowledge and the meaning of tribal lore to younger generations. Festivals celebrating the found ing of a nation or the date of withdrawal of foreign invaders from its borders bind its citizens in a unity that transcends personal concerns. Modern festivals and feasts centering on the customs of national or ethnic groups enrich understand ing of their heritage. Contemporary festivals related to regional developments, such as westward expansion on the North American continent, aid the local economy by attracting visitors to a pageant of historic authenticity that also fulfills an informal educational function.
Types of Festivals and Feasts. An infinite variety of harvest festivals exists in every hemisphere. Harvest and thanksgiving festivals are an inheritance from the ages when agriculture was the primary livelihood. Among the most attractive are the harvest-home festivals of England where parish churches are decorated with flowers, fruits, and vegetables in the fall, and harvest suppers climax a happy event. A popular type of harvest festival in the U.S. is that featuring a special crop, such as the National Cherry Festival in July in Michigan. Exhibitions of flowers are among the most beautiful of harvest festivals. Outstand ing is the international Floralies held throughout the summer every five years since about 1837 in Ghent, Belgium. The festival traces its origins to the Roman Floralia, a spring rite honoring the goddess Flora. In 1980 the Floralies was held in North America for the first time, in Montréal, under the auspices of the International Association of Horticultural Producers.
Days of thanksgiving are celebrated in many lands and at various times of the year. Thanksgiving Day (q.v.), as celebrated in the U.S., now a traditional family feast, is the nation's oldest celebration of gratitude, dating from 1621. The Virgin Islands observe a Thanksgiving Day (October 25) to rejoice in the end of the hurricane season.
The most important festivals of respect honor the dead. Such festivals have been observed for centuries, and many modern peoples continue age-old customs to honor national heroes and the deceased members of their own immediate family groups. In the Far East the festivals of the dead include family reunions and ceremonial meals at ancestral tombs. Mexicans observe November 2 as Día de Muertos ("Day of the Dead") with celebrations in cemeteries made colorful by offerings of flowers, earthen pots of food, toys, and gifts, along with the burning of candles and incense. In the U.S. the custom of honoring dead heroes on special days began in 1868 with the decorating of the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. A quiet tone is characteristic of the approach to the general Memorial Day and the Confederate Memorial Day celebrated at different times in different southern states. Both community and family observances reflect a spirit of reverence and remembrance.
The timing of seasonal festivals is determined by the solar and the lunar calendars and by the cycle of the seasons. The Chinese New Year, set by the lunar calendar, and celebrated for an entire month in late January or February, is a time of gaiety, parades, and theatrical performances. Many other kinds of seasonal festivals are celebrated, ranging from the Québec Winter Carnival, usually held in February, to Beach Day (December 8), marking the beginning of the beach season in Uruguay. Historic customs are often perpetuated in seasonal festivals. An example is Homstrom (c. February 3), an old Swiss festival exulting in the end of winter with the burning of straw people as symbols of the end of Old Man Winter. The most famous of seasonal festivities, set by the church calendar, but secular in tone, are the pre-Lenten carnivals of Europe and Latin America and the Mardi Gras (q.v.) in New Orleans, La.
National festivals are official observances of such events as the confederation of the provinces of Canada, the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the U.S., the adoption of a constitution, as in Japan (May 3), or the origin of the world's oldest national flag, as in Denmark (June 15). Closely allied to this type of festival are victory celebrations. An example of an outstand ing victory festival is the Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican commemoration of their defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This festival is observed not only in Mexico but also in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities with large Mexican-American populations.
Another important type of festival is the commemorative day, celebrated since ancient Greek and Roman times, when rulers as well as gods were honored. Planned programs in the U.S. annually offer respect to presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., on or about their birthdays. Ecuador and Venezuela honor the birth of the revolutionary statesman Simón Bolívar, the "George Washington of South America," on July 24. Festivals honoring the Icelandic explorer Leif Ericson, who discovered Vinland, are held on October 9 in Iceland and Norway and in the U.S. in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Gandhi Jayanti is a festival held in India on the birthday (October 2) of Mohandas K. ("Mahatma") Gandhi. An honor roll assembled from worldwide commemorative days would be impressive.
Cultural festivals are popular throughout the world. Kalevala Day (February 28) in Finland is the occasion for parades and ceremonials dedicated to the Finnish national epic the Kalevala (q.v.) and to its 19th-century editor-compiler, the scholar Elias Lönnrot (1802-84). The most famous annual festival in Wales is the Royal National Eisteddfod held in August to honor the finest talent in Welsh literature and music. Austria holds the annual summer Salzburg Festival of music, and Hawaii has its spectacular Aloha Festival pageantry in October and November. In addition to these examples, film, art, dance, children's, and theatrical festivals crowd the calendars of many nations.
The festivals of many ethnic and national groups are credited with the preservation of unique customs, folktales, costumes, and culinary skills. An interesting recent development is the merging of the arts, lore, and customs of various regions in Africa in the cultural festival known as Kwanzaa (Swahili kwanza, "beginnings"). Introduced from Africa into the U.S. in 1977, this festival is celebrated with feasts and songs in the home for seven days and nights from December 26 to January 1. The African colors, green for the future and black for struggle, are prominently displayed. Parents play the key role in this celebration, which stresses family unity and cultural self-determination, responsibility, purpose, creativity, and faith.
Communal feasts, as occasions for eating, drinking, and merrymaking, have a long recorded history, going back to early Greece. The most famous contemporary eating and drinking festivity is the Oktoberfest, which has been held in Germany annually since Oct. 17, 1810, the wedding day of the future King Louis I of Bavaria. It is a fall festival celebrating the best in beer, food, and entertainment.Changing Festivals. Halloween (q.v.), associated historically with All Hallows' Eve, is now, in the U.S., primarily a "trick or treat" secular festival for children. Formerly, the fun centered on playing tricks on unwary neighbors. Changing attitudes in communities resulted in Halloween becoming an occasion for small children, usually garbed in costume, to go from house to house for treats. Older children still participate, but many forfeit treats to collect funds for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
As societies change, the characteristics of their traditional festivals and feasts may alter also; new ones often emerge as others decline in popularity. Most likely, however, some festivals will remain unaltered for generations. For participants they are a tonic. For observers they offer a nostalgic experience. Certainly communal celebration in its various forms is part of the life-style of all peoples and makes a contribution to the living history of modern civilization.
Above References from Infopedia CD.
I Introduction
Festivals and Feasts, in secular society, communal celebrations involving carefully planned programs, outpourings of respect, rejoicing, or high revelry, established by custom or sponsored by various cultural groups or organizations. Such secular celebrations differ from religious festivals and feasts in that the focus is not on the significance of the rituals of holy days of a particular faith but on the public honoring of outstanding persons, the commemoration of important historical or cultural events, or the re-creation of cherished folkways. In some parts of the world, however, particularly in Latin America and southern Europe, traditional secular festivities follow attendance at religious services.
II Origin
The origin of communal celebration is a matter of conjecture
. Folklorists believe that the first festivals arose because of the anxieties of early peoples who did not understand the forces of nature and wished to placate them. General agreement exists that the most ancient festivals and feasts were associated with planting and harvest times or with honoring the dead. These have continued as secular festivals, with some religious overtones, into modern times.
The beginnings of many secular celebrations are linked to historic happenings. Noteworthy examples include the discoveries of Christopher Columbus and other early navigators and the creation of new, independent nations from former colonies. A particular event may spontaneously generate a national festival, celebrated only that one time, as in the case of the coast-to-coast jubilation over the January 20, 1981, release of the American hostages after 444 days of captivity in Iran. The nationwide manifestation of relief and joy was a festival of freedom.
III Functions
Secular festivals and feasts have many uses and values beyond the public enjoyment of a celebration. In prehistoric societies, festivals provided an opportunity for the elders to pass on folk knowledge and the meaning of tribal lore to younger generations. Festivals celebrating the founding of a nation or the date of withdrawal of foreign invaders from its borders bind its citizens in a unity that transcends personal concerns. Modern festivals and feasts centering on the customs of national or ethnic groups enrich understanding of their heritage. Contemporary festivals related to regional developments, such as westward expansion on the North American continent, aid the local economy by attracting visitors to a pageant of historic authenticity that also fulfills an informal educational function.
IV Types of Festivals and Feasts
An infinite variety of harvest festivals exists in every hemisphere.
Harvest and thanksgiving festivals are an inheritance from the
ages when agriculture was the primary livelihood. Among the most
attractive are the harvest-home festivals of England where parish
churches are decorated with flowers, fruits, and vegetables in
the fall, and harvest suppers climax a happy event. A popular
type of harvest festival in the United States is that featuring
a special crop, such as the National Cherry Festival in July in
Michigan. Exhibitions of flowers are among the most beautiful
of harvest festivals. Outstanding is the international Floralies
held throughout the summer every five years since about 1837 in
Ghent (Gent), Belgium. The festival traces its origins to the
Roman Floralia, a spring rite honoring the goddess Flora. In 1980
the Floralies was held in North America for the first time, in
Montréal, under the auspices of the International Association
of Horticultural Producers.
Days of thanksgiving are celebrated in many lands
and at various times of the year. Thanksgiving Day, as celebrated
in the U.S., now a traditional family feast, is the nation’s oldest
celebration of gratitude, dating from 1621. The Virgin Islands
observe a Thanksgiving Day (October 25) to rejoice in the end
of the hurricane season.
The most important festivals of respect honor the
dead. Such festivals have been observed for centuries, and many
modern peoples continue age-old customs to honor national heroes
and the deceased members of their own immediate family groups.
In the Far East the festivals of the dead include family reunions
and ceremonial meals at ancestral tombs. Mexicans observe November
2 as El día de Los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) with celebrations
in cemeteries made colorful by offerings of flowers, earthen pots
of food, toys, and gifts, along with the burning of candles and
incense. In the U.S. the custom of honoring dead heroes on special
days began in 1868 with the decorating of the graves of both Union
and Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. A quiet tone
is characteristic of the approach to the general Memorial Day
and the Confederate Memorial Day celebrated at different times
in different southern states. Both community and family observances
reflect a spirit of reverence and remembrance.
The timing of seasonal festivals is determined by
the solar and the lunar calendars and by the cycle of the seasons.
The Chinese New Year, set by the lunar calendar, and celebrated
for an entire month in late January or February, is a time of
gaiety, parades, and theatrical performances. Many other kinds
of seasonal festivals are celebrated, ranging from the Québec
Winter Carnival, usually held in February, to Beach Day (December
8), marking the beginning of the beach season in Uruguay. Historic
customs are often perpetuated in seasonal festivals. An example
is Homstrom (celebrated February 3), an old Swiss festival exulting
in the end of winter with the burning of straw people as symbols
of the end of Old Man Winter. The most famous of seasonal festivities,
set by the church calendar, but secular in tone, are the pre-Lenten
carnivals of Europe and Latin America and the Mardi Gras in New
Orleans, Louisiana.
National festivals are official observances of such
events as the confederation of the provinces of Canada, the signing
of the Declaration of Independence in the U.S., the adoption of
a constitution, as in Japan (May 3), or the origin of the world’s
oldest national flag, as in Denmark (June 15). Closely allied
to this type of festival are victory celebrations. An example
of an outstanding victory festival is the Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican
commemoration of their defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla
on May 5, 1862. This festival is observed not only in Mexico but
also in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities with large Mexican-American
populations.
Another important type of festival is the commemorative
day, celebrated since ancient Greek and Roman times, when rulers
as well as gods were honored. Planned programs in the U.S. annually
offer respect to presidents such as George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln, and leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., on or about
their birthdays. Ecuador and Venezuela honor the birth of the
revolutionary statesman Simón Bolívar, the “George Washington
of South America,” on July 24. Festivals honoring the Icelandic
explorer Leif Eriksson, who discovered Vinland, are held on October
9 in Iceland and Norway and in the United States in Wisconsin
and Minnesota. Gandhi Jayanti is a festival held in India on the
birthday (October 2) of Mohandas K. (“Mahatma”) Gandhi. An honor
roll assembled from worldwide commemorative days would be impressive.
Cultural festivals are popular throughout the world.
Kalevala Day (February 28) in Finland is the occasion for parades
and ceremonials dedicated to the Finnish national epic the Kalevala
and to its 19th-century editor-compiler, the scholar Elias Lönnrot.
The most famous annual festival in Wales is the Royal National
Eisteddfod (see Eisteddfod) held in August to honor the finest
talent in Welsh literature and music. Austria holds the annual
summer Salzburg Festival of music, and Hawaii has its spectacular
Aloha Festival pageantry in October and November. In addition
to these examples, film, art, dance, children’s, and theatrical
festivals crowd the calendars of many nations.
The festivals of many ethnic and national groups are
credited with the preservation of unique customs, folktales, costumes,
and culinary skills. An interesting recent development is the
merging of the arts, lore, and customs of various regions in Africa
in the cultural festival known as Kwanzaa (Swahili kwanza,”beginnings”).
Introduced from Africa into the U.S. in 1977, this festival is
celebrated with feasts and songs in the home for seven days and
nights from December 26 to January 1. The African colors, green
for the future and black for struggle, are prominently displayed.
Parents play the key role in this celebration, which stresses
family unity and cultural self-determination, responsibility,
purpose, creativity, and faith.
Communal feasts, as occasions for eating, drinking,
and merrymaking, have a long recorded history, going back to early
Greece. The most famous contemporary eating and drinking festivity
is the Oktoberfest, which has been held in Germany annually since
October 17, 1810, the wedding day of the future King Louis I of
Bavaria. It is a fall festival celebrating the best in beer, food,
and entertainment.
V Changing Festivals
Halloween, associated historically with All Hallows’
Eve, is now, in the U.S., primarily a “trick or treat” secular
festival for children. Formerly, the fun centered on playing tricks
on unwary neighbors. Changing attitudes in communities resulted
in Halloween becoming an occasion for small children, usually
garbed in costume, to go from house to house for treats. Older
children still participate, but many forfeit treats to collect
funds for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
As societies change, the characteristics of their
traditional festivals and feasts may alter also; new ones often
emerge as others decline in popularity. Most likely, however,
some festivals will remain unaltered for generations. For participants
they are a tonic. For observers they offer a nostalgic experience.
Certainly communal celebration—in its various forms—is part of
the life-style of all peoples and makes a contribution to the
living history of modern civilization.
