Holidays in the USA and Canada

                       Holidays in the USA and Canada

    There are more than 50 historical and religious holidays in the USA. The national holidays are:

* January 1st - the New Year;

* February 22nd - George Washington's birthday;

* July 4th - Independence Day;

* November 11th - Veterans' Day;

* December 25th - Christmas;

* The national holidays are also Labour and Thanksgiving Day.

   
The rest holidays are not national, because they aren't celebrated in all states. Legal holidays - days on which banks, schools or other public institutions and most places of business are closed.

   Memorial Day is a legal holiday, observed annually on the last Monday in May in most of the United States. The holiday, originally called Decoration Day, is traditionally marked by parades, memorial speeches and ceremonies, and all 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.

    Independence Day is an annual holiday commemorating the formal adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia. 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, patriotic speeches and organized firing of guns and cannons and display of fireworks. family picnics and and outing are a feature of private Fourth of July celebrations.

   Thanksgiving Day, a legal holiday in the U.S., was first celebrated in early colonial times in New England. The actual origin is probably the harvest festivals that are traditional in many parts of the world. After the first harvest was completed by the Plymoth colonists in 1621, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving and since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, generally designating the fourth Thursday of November as a holiday.

  New Year's Day is the first day of the year, January 1 in the Gregorian calendar. in the Middle Ages most European countriesused the Julian calendar and observed New Year's Day on March 25, called Annunciation Day and celebrated as the birth to the Son of God. With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, Roman Catholic countries began to celebrate New Ye Day on January 1.

  Christmas is an annual festival, held on December 25, to celebrate the Navity or the birth of Christ.The Christmas tree, an evergreen trimmed with lights and and other decorations, is derided from so-called paradise tree, symbolizing Eden.

  Saint Valentine's Day, a holiday honoring lovers, is celebrated on February 14. There is a custom of sending greeting cards or gifts to express affection. The cards, known as valentines, are often designed with hearts to symbolize love.

  Federal holidays are observed according to the legislation of individual states. the dates of these holidays are decided upon be the each state government, not by the federal national government.