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"As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate lovingly, our own." Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978)

The US Culture

The Scrapbook on Holidays

Introduction Introduction
T

he USA is varied in culture and this variety is vividly displayed through American literature, music, visual arts, fashion, cuisine, sports.

Holidays are a significant part of American culture as well. They provide a sense of bond among the family members, community and nation as a whole. Performances both professional and amateurish, sales, parties, trips to resort places are usual "treats" on the celebrated days.

The unusual thing about the holidays is that there are no federal or national holidays in the United States. Instead, the fifty states have their own authority over them. However, most states observe the federal ("legal or public") holidays, even though the President and Congress can legally designate holidays only for federal government employees.

Source:
Celebrate! Holidays in the USA:
http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays/celebrate/intro.html
(By English Language Program Division, US Information Agency)

Question / Task Question / Task

The links below provide a list of resources collected for your personal research. They can be used in slide presentations, bulletin boards, collages, web pages. You might want to find more resources if you'd like.

Here is the question:

To answer this question you are to work on your own. Each of you is to choose a holiday and carry out a research on it and come up with a presentation. Make sure you use pictures, audio or video files to make your presentation multimedia and use texts for your oral comments.

Process and Resources Process and Resources

A red asterisk symbol (*) indicates there is an image, photo. A blue asterisk (*) indicates there is an audio or video file.

  1. HOLIDAYS GENERAL
  2. NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
  3. OTHER CELEBRATIONS AND FUN DAYS
Conclusion Conclusion
A

lthough the word "holiday" literally means "holy day," most US holidays are not religious but commemorative in nature and origin. Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July are good examples of that.

There are other days which are observed in the country like Valentine's Day and Halloween. Valentine's Day has become the day when people can express their love to anyone they care for: wives and husbands, partners, family members and even pets.

Various ethnic groups in America celebrate their holidays too. Jews, for example, observe their high holy days in September, and most employers show consideration by allowing them to take these days off. Irish Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day on March 17. Another big celebration with huge parades is Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"). It is held in New Orleans on the day before the Christian season of Lent begins in late winter.

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© 2006-2009 Developed by Erdem Dugarov.
Department of English Language for Intercultural Communication (DELIC ESSTU).


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