EnglishViews: 3 Author: Grand Packing Publish Time: 2020-04-30 Origin: Grand Packing
From tomorrow to this Sunday (May 1st - 3rd), my colleagues and I will have a three-day holiday for May Day. Beside May Day, what other holidays the people all over the world will celebrate?
International Workers’ Day falls on the same date with May Day, so it is also often referred to May Day. Besides, it is also called Workers’ Day or Labour Day in some countries. In the late 19th century, the trade union and labor movement grew. Then May 1st was chosen to be the International Workers’ Day to commemorate the 1865 Haymarket affair in Chicago. Till now, the first of May is national and public Labor Day in many countries around the world. But in some countries such as America and Canada, Labor Day will be celebrated in the first Monday of September.
May day is a traditional holiday of Spring in many Western countries. Possibly, it can be linked with Floralia, the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flower. It is said that the first May Day celebration appeared with Floralia. Till now, May Day has been celebrated as a pagan religious festival after being combined with more recently European secular and Catholic traditions. People will celebrate it by singling, dancing and some cakes. In specific country, its citizens might also celebrate it by some other actions. For instance, French people may present loved ones either with bunches of lily of the valley or dog rose flowers.
Vesak is also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day. It is a traditional holiday observed by Buddhist. This festival commemorate the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Gautama Buddha in Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism. Many Buddhist from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka... Buddhism was spread from India to other countries and was assimilated into many foreign cultures. Therefore, people from different countries can celebrate this festival in different ways.
At first, Mother’s Day was to be held by Anna Jarvis to memorize her mother. From 1907, Anna started campaign to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday in the United States. In 1913, U.S. Congress stated that Mother’s Day fell on the second Sunday of May. Nowadays, Mother’s Day is celebrated by people from other countries on the second Sunday of May. And tulip, the favorite flower of Anna’s mother, becomes a symbol of this holiday. However, in some cultures, Mother’s Day is not simply a holiday starting from Anna Jarvis, but is related with some older traditions. Anyhow, if you want to celebrate Mother’s Day on this May 10th, don’t forget a bundle of tulips for your mother.
Ascension Day is also named Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday. It commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension day, together with the feasts of Passion, of Easter and Pentecost, are universally celebrated feasts of Christian churches. It always falls on a Thursday, the 40th day of Easter. However, some Christian denominations have moved it to the following Sunday, the day after Pentecost.
Eid al-Fitr, also called Festival of Breaking the Fast, is a religious holiday of Muslims worldwide. It marks the end of month-long dawn-to-sunset Ramadan. On this religious Eid, Muslims are not permitted to fast. This festival begins at sunset on the night when the crescent moon is first sighted. If the moon is not observed at the 29th day of the previous lunar month due to weather or some other reasons, the festival will be celebrated in the following day. As a result, there is no stable date for Eid al-Fitr.
Shavuot is a Jewish holiday and is also known as Feast of Weeks. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. In 2020, it falls on the 29th day of May. This festive has double significance. For one thing, it commemorate that god gave the Torah to the nation of Israel, although the giving didn’t happen on the same day with Shavuot. For another thing, this festival also marked the critical wheat-harvest in the land of Israel.
Pentecost, the Christian holy day, is celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday. It is also called White Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun, especially in the U.K., where traditionally the following day, White Monday, is also a public holiday. Pentecost is always observed by Christian to commemorate the descent of Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were celebrating the Feast of Weeks in Jerusalem. Generally, many christian denomination provide a special liturgy to Pentecost.
