Sunday 3 March 2013


The Festivals



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April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on April 1st of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day. The origin is change of calendar in France when earlier new year was celebrated on April 1st,but in 1582 ,it was changed to January 1st.Few of the people refused to follow the same & still celebrated Aril 1st as new year , they were referred as Fools by others.
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Baisakhi is an ancient harvest festival of North India, in Sikhism, it is one of the most significant holidays in the Sikh calendar, commemorating the establishment of the Khalsa by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh.
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Buddha Poornima, which falls on the full moon night in the month of Vaisakha (either in April or May), commemorates the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, founder of Buddhism.
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Carnival: Carnival is a festive season which occurs usually during February. Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life.The Carnival in Brazil is a big part of the Brazilian Culture, and it is sometimes referred to by the Brazilians as the "Greatest Show on Earth".The most famous and iconic expression of the Brazilian Carnival takes place in the Rio Carnival, with samba schools parading in the Sambadrome. It's the largest Carnival event in this country, considered to be the largest of the kind in the world.
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Chinese New Year : most important of the traditional Chinese Festival.Chinese new year date is different than Western owing to the difference between Western and traditional Chinese methods for computing the seasons.
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Christmas :generally observed on December 25th by Christians to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. Christmas said to be originated from an old English word meaning “Christ’s mass”
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Diwali popularly known as the "festival of lights", is an important five-day festival in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, occurring between mid-October and mid-November. The name "Diwali" is a contraction of "Deepavali" which translates into "row of lamps”. Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama (Hindu God) from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana.
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Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It celebrates the resurrection from the dead of Jesus, three days after he was executed. According to Christian scripture, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.
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Eid ul-Fitr, often abbreviated to Eid, is aMuslim festival that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting .Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "conclusion of the fast".
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Eid al-Adha or "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is an important festival celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead.
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Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary.
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Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties.It is normally observed Christians.
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Hinamatsuri:is the Japanese Doll Festival.It is also known as Girls' Day.It is held on March 3.Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress.
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Holi, is a spring religious festival celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs in the month of March.It is celebrated by people throwing coloured water at each other.It is also known as Festivals of Color in India.It is in memory of the escape of a young devotee Prahlad ,when a demoness called Holika, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a devotee of God , escaped without any injuries .
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Passover is a mainly a Jewish festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.
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Ramadan - is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and a time when Muslims across the world will fast (do not eat) during the hours of daylight. The day Ramadan begins is decided by the sighting of the new moon. Muslims believe that the gates of Heaven are open and the gates of Hell are locked for the duration of Ramadan.
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Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year festival.It commemorates the creation of the world. Rosh Hashanah is also a judgement day, when Jews believe that God balances a person's good deeds over the last year against their bad deeds, and decides what the next year will be like for them.
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Seijin Shiki :Coming of Age is a Japanese holiday held annually on the second Monday of January. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority which is 20 in Japan.
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Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine
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Tanabata : (meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival.It celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair).According to legend, the Milky Way, separates these friends, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
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Thanksgiving Day: It is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.
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Tomatina :.La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located in Spain in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August.It started in 1945 when group of few young people wanted to show an act of fight in a main square of the town. There were few vegetable vendors near the venue ,to show the brawl ,these young people took vegetables from the vendors & started throwing on each other. Next year, they repeated the same at same venue. Gradually it converted into an annual fun event & only tomatoes were allowed to be used for throwing.
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    Yam - A popular holiday in Ghana and Nigeria, the Yam Festival is named after the most common food in many African countries. Yams are the first crops to be harvested. People offer yams to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers.

Acknowledgement: radha; www.makemegenius.com

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