National Holidays

Holiday is recently celebrated not only for the purpose of religious events, but also in pagan and historical celebration. For the historical purposes, every country has its own holidays to celebrate. Most of the countries in this world celebrate their greatest leaders’ birthday as an appreciation to those who has brought the victory to the country. For instance, Americans celebrate the birthday of President George Washington on the third Monday in February. Another example comes from Pakistan, which has an annual holiday on 25 December. It commemorates the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was the founder and the first Governor of Pakistan. In India, people also have Gandhi Jayanti as a national holiday in which to pay tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. South Africa, one more example, has a national celebration on 18 July to commemorate its amazing leader, Nelson Mandela. All of the examples are in line with what Picoult (2013) stated that history is not about dates and places and wars, yet it is about the people who fill the spaces between them. By establishing some greatest leaders’ birthday as national holidays, the nation of a country will have the opportunity to honor the history and the men behind it. In short, having these national holidays will help the nation to plan their future by learning from the past (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC); taking all the positive values in order to create a better future.

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Thanksgiving Day; Yesterday and Nowadays

Thanksgiving is an American holiday which came up to its history in 16^th century. The modern Thanksgiving has things in common with the first one, which took place almost four hundred years ago in the English colony of Massachusetts. In 1620, the Pilgrims, who were a religious group from England, arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims came to the New World because their religion was different from the main religion in England. In the first winter, the Pilgrims’ lives was very hard. It caused almost half of the group died. They died of hunger, cold and disease. Yet this situation did not long last because the Indians of Massachusetts helped them during the next year. The Indians taught the newcomers how to hunt, grow corn and survive in the New World. When the next winter came, the Pilgrims had enough food. They were grateful and had a feast to give thanks. They invited the Indians, whom they shared food and friendship with, to the feast. In the feast, the Pilgrims and Indians probably ate deer while today Americans eat turkey. Although the food is probably different, the modern Thanksgiving and the first one have a similar spirit to celebrate.

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