Foreign festivals: Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving Day, Easter, Valentine’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Ramadan, Day of the Dead (from Mexico), Bon Odori Festival/ Ghost Festival (from Japan) (盂兰盆节), Mardi Gras, Kwanzaa…
2. Read the following introductions of some famous foreign festivals.
Mardi Gras The America's most favorite celebration, and famous Mardi Gras takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana. Carnival has religious roots associated with Judeo-Christian tradition. Mardi Gras is set to occur 46 days (the 40 days of Lent plus six Sundays) before Easter and can come as early as February 3 or as late as March 9. Known as the "biggest free show on earth", people there dress up in costumes for these events and enjoy this celebration by going to public parades where they catch "beads, doubloons, cups, and trinkets" that are all thrown from floats. They also have private celebrations, masquerade balls, held by clubs called krewes. The official colors of Carnival are purple, green and gold, chosen in 1872 by that year's Rex. The colors have meaning: purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power. King Cakes are eaten during this holiday.
Valentine’s Day February 14th, Valentine’s Day, is sweethearts’ day, on which people in love with each other express their tender emotions. People sometimes put their love message in a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or a bunch of flowers tied with red ribbons. Words or letters ma
www.89xue.com y be written on the flower covered card, or something else. Whatever the form may be, the message is almost the same —“ Will you be my valentine?” The symbol of valentine is a picture with a Heart and Cupid armed with bow and arrow. Many universities, high or elementary schools hold a sweethearts’ Ball for the young students to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Bon Odori Festival (Ghost Festival) Japanese has been looking upon Ghost Day Ceremony originating in Buddhist Ullambana. These two festivals were not only public holidays with enthusiastic festivities but also times when people gave presents to each other and enhance amity between them. The custom of giving presents might root in the transfer from the kind-heartedness of giving alms to the concern for the living families and friends. The Japanese also hang lanterns on July 15 to lead the spirits back to the earthly world and have them enjoy grand banquet. It is like our custom of releasing water lanterns and firing lanterns. Besides, they hold a “pot” ceremony, called “pot-reciting”, which praises Buddhist sutras, singing and dancing, receiving the departed spirits and sending away the solitary ghosts. Today, there are various scales of “pot ceremony” all over Japan, which is kind of an amusement gathering. However, current Ghost Day Ceremony is not full of gloomy atmosphere in its form, remaining only enjoyable sentiment in spite of the existing original meaning.
Halloween 1,000 years ago, the Celts living in the Great Britain believed that human is mastered by gods. They also believe that Samhain, the death god, would come back to the earthly world with the dead at the night on October 31. The Celts built bonfires and fired animals as sacrificial offerings to the death god. Some Celts were dressed in costumes made from animal heads or furs, which was the origin of contemporary Halloween masquerade. The night of the death god was a horrifying time that signified the coming of winter and was the beginning of Halloween eve. Today, the religious meaning of Halloween has been weakened; instead, the holiday expresses man’s cherishing memory of Halloween via innovative, ever-changing modern masquerade.
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