Join
the World Party,
World Festivals and Holidays!
Holidays
are history, and holidays are about differences in peoples, both
their singularities and the unique characteristics
of individuals and groups. On the other hand, they are also about
similarities, and about how certain beliefs, values and attitudes
are the same the world over. Studying holidays, and experiencing
first-hand these celebrations, is the key to a greater cultural
understanding.
I think the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr. sums up
my feelings very well: "We have inherited a large house, a
great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together -- black and
white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant,
Muslim and Hindu -- a family unduly separated in ideas, culture
and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn
somehow to live with each other in peace."
All people on earth have feasts and fasts and celebrations of every
kind. They celebrate family holidays and national holidays. They
also have religious holidays that are recognized by all the people
of that religion regardless of where they live.
As time went by, new holidays were added to each culture's rich
traditional heritage. These celebrations commemorated escape from
destruction by great floods. They celebrated victories won over
enemies. They made joyful holidays when they gained independence
from tyranny. And when great religious leaders arose to teach justice
and peace, these leaders were also remembered in holidays.
That is why anyone who is interested in the beliefs and history
of a nation can become familiar with them through a study of that
nation’s holidays. The study of holidays is like the study of languages
-- the better we come to know other languages, the better we understand
the people who use them.
And everybody loves a holiday. People await a celebration as if
they were expecting a welcome guest. Often there are special foods
and fixed rituals, fireworks, parades and dancing, and these are
part of the excitement.
We hope that you will enjoy sharing some of these holidays with
us here at JustSayGo.com.
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