Unit 7:                                                                                   Celebratons

Vocabulary                                                                           Celebrations around the world

I.            What is a celebration?

It is a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event.

What is the difference between holiday, festival and vacation?

The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents, but will usually refer to one of the following activities or events:

• A general leave of absence from a regular occupation for rest or recreation
• A specific trip or journey for the purposes of recreation / tourism
• Official or unofficial observances of religious/national/cultural/other significance, often accompanied by celebrations or festivities (public/religious holiday)

So what is the difference between holiday, vacation and festival?

1.      Holiday: Holiday is a contraction of holy and day, holidays originally represented special religious days. This word has evolved in general usage to mean any extra special day of rest (as opposed to regular days of rest such as the weekend).

2.      Festival: A festival is an event, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some unique aspect of that community. There are numerous types of festivals in the world. Though many have religious origins, others involve seasonal change or have some cultural significance.

3.      Vacation: In the United Kingdom the word "vacation" referred specifically to the long summer break. The French term is similar to the American English: "Les Vacances." The term derives from the fact that, in the past, upper-class families would literally move to a summer home for part of the year, leaving their usual family home vacant for countrywide holidays.

II.            Types of holidays:

Holidays are either religious or secular:

• Most holidays are linked to faiths and religious. They are religious holidays.
• Secular or non religious holidays can be national (Independence Day) or international (Mother Day)

III.            Celebrations around the world:

1.      New Year's day

New Year's Day is the first day of the new year. It is celebrated on January 1, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts.

January 1 marks the end of a period of remembrance of a particular passing year, especially on radio, television, and in newspapers, which usually starts right after Christmas Day.

This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has become an occasion for celebration the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve. There are often fireworks at midnight.

2.      International Women's Day

The international women's day is celebrated on 8th of March.
Women's Day or Working Women's Day is a day of international solidarity, and a day for reviewing the strength and organization of proletarian women.
It was decided to have a Woman's Day in every country as a form of struggle in getting working women to vote. This day was to be a day of international solidarity in the fight for common objectives and a day for reviewing the organized strength of working women under the banner of socialism.

3.      Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14. In the Americas and Europe, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

4.      Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضح) "Festival of Sacrifice" is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God. However, God provided a ram in place once Ibrahim demonstrated his willingness to follow God's commands.

Eid al-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar. The festivities last for three days or more depending on the country.

Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing to perform Eid prayer in any mosque. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice their best domestic animals (usually sheep, but also camels, cows and goats) as a symbol of Ibrahim's sacrifice. The sacrificed animals, called uDHiyyah (Arabic: أضحية‎, also known as "al-qurbān"), have to meet certain age and quality standards or else the animal is considered an unacceptable sacrifice. Generally, these must be at least a year old.

5.      Eid ul-Fitr or Id-ul-Fit

Eid ul-Fitr or Id-ul-Fitr (Arabic:عيد الفطر‎), often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while FiTr means "to break the fast" (and can also mean "nature", from the word "fitrah"); and so the holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. It is celebrated starting on the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal.

Eid ul-Fitr is a three day celebration and is sometimes also known as the "Smaller Eid" (Arabic:العيد الصغير‎) as compared to the Eid ul-Adha that is called the "Greater Eid" (Arabic:العيد الكبير)