Holidays

Columbus Day is a great holiday in America. It is celebrated on the second Monday of October. On Columbus Day you can see the American flag everywhere to honor the man who was the discoverer of their country.

The last Thursday in November the American celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It is, perhaps, the most important day in the American year. People go to churches, families gather together for the day. They decorated their houses with the fruits and flowers of autumn and prepare traditional American food: roast turkey and pumpkin pie. But why do people celebrate this holiday? What does it mean? In 1620 the first colonists came to America and began a new life there. It was a very hard life. The colonists started to farm the land. The work was difficult and full of danger. In the autumn of 1621 the colonists had their first harvest. It was rather good. The colonists decided to have a special dinner. They wanted to thank God.

Memorial Day isa legal national holiday, observed annually on the last Monday in May in most of the United States. It honours the nation’s armed services killed in wartime. This holiday, originally called Decoration Day, is traditionally marked by parades, memorial speeches and ceremonies, and the decoration of graves with flowers and flags. Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, on the order of General John Alexander Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of the American Civil War dead. It was observed on May 30 until 1971, when most states changed to a newly established federal schedule of holiday observance.

Independence Dayis an annual national holiday commemorating the formal adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson composed the original draft of the document. Although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the Fourth of July holiday has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence and is celebrated in all states and territories of the U.S. The Fourth of July is traditionally celebrated publicly with parades and pageants, patriotic speeches, and organised firing of guns and cannons and displays of fireworks. Family picnics and outings are a feature of private Fourth of July celebrations.

Presidents' Day, celebrated each year on the third Monday in February, still legally known as Washington's Birthday, Presidents' Day has become a day to honor not only Washington, but Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president who was born on February 12, and the lives and accomplishments of all U.S. presidents.