Posts Tagged ‘traditions’
Christmas foods and traditions from around the world
In two days, families around the world will gather to celebrate the Christmas holiday. The traditions that they share will vary by country, region and culture. This includes the foods that they’ll enjoy for a holiday meal. For a glimpse into a few of these holiday dishes, check out this article about Christmas treats and traditions from [...]
How Columbus Day is celebrated in the Americas
Happy Columbus Day! That is, if you celebrate it. Columbus Day has been a federal holiday in the United States for several decades now, and the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas is observed in various ways. New York City has a big parade and celebration of Italian-American heritage. Other cities, such as San [...]
Christmas traditions
Tomorrow is Christmas Day, so it’s a good time to take a look at some of our holiday traditions – how they’ve evolved through the years and how much these customs are a product of celebrations from various other countries and cultures. A story in the Orlando Sentinel makes the point that our current holiday is [...]
4th of July and Texas-style barbecue
Friday is the 4th of July and U.S. Independence Day. For many Americans, that means a party and a backyard barbecue. In Texas, though, which has its own unique culture within the U.S., the word barbecue takes on a particularly special meaning. Bonny Wolf explains it in a feature for NPR’s Kitchen Window. It’s the Fourth of July [...]
Spring and the Persian New Year
Today is the first day of spring. Which means it’s also the start of the Persian New Year, or Nowruz. To mark the day, NPR just ran a story about the holiday and the foods that are used to celebrate the occasion. Nowruz, the Persian New Year, begins at the exact moment of the vernal [...]
Carnival celebrations in many nations
This year, February is Carnival month in Rio de Janeiro and Mardi Gras month in New Orleans. These are the most famous pre-Lenten celebrations in the world but they are far from the only ones. As this article points out, many countries and cities celebrate Carnival with a diverse array of local traditions. The hedonistic bacchanalia of [...]
Extravagant Afghan weddings
Sure, American weddings can be extravagant and pricey. But would you pay the equivalent of two-to-seven years’ salary for a wedding celebration? Many families in Afghanistan do just that, according to this NY Times article, which notes that guest lists often run from 600 to 2,000 people and that poor laborers who make $350 a year can [...]
New Year’s traditions
Here we go. The first day of 2008. A good time, perhaps, to look at some of the many New Year’s traditions around the world, courtesy of Alyson Chapman of the Daily Times of Texas. *Baby New Year. The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year began in Greece in approximately 600 BC, [...]
Thanksgiving in Mexico
Happy U.S. Thanksgiving! Familes across the U.S. are sitting down today for a traditional holiday meal. Boris Fishman, though, recently had a different sort of Thanksgiving meal – in Xalapa, Mexico – which he wrote about for the NY Times. You’re going to be part of an experiment tonight,” Justo Fernández Garibay said. “We couldn’t [...]
Lively Ramadan in Egypt
Islamic countries are currently in the midst of celebrating Ramadan, the month-long religious observance that is marked by daytime fasting. Interestingly, each country tends to bring its own style and traditions to the month. The Egyptians, for example, are known for having lively Ramadan celebrations, as the Christian Science Monitor reports. If Egyptians are known for one [...]
Third millennium in Ethiopia
Most of the world celebrated the dawn of the third millennium on New Year’s Day, 2000. In Ethiopia, however, which uses a different calendar, that celebration is taking place tonight. The Christian Science Monitor reports: After anticipating the event for more than a year, Ethiopians are getting ready to throw their biggest party ever. The [...]
Bolivians love fiestas
There is a short but entertaining article in the Christian Science Monitor about how fiestas are ingrained into the Bolivian way of life. Our cab turned a corner in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, on a rather drab, wet, Sunday afternoon, onto a spectacle of twirling skirts and top hats, as women danced down the street. [...]
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