It is not a secret that different parts of the world have different holidays. For example, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving but other countries don’t. It is individual to each country because holidays depend on religion and history. It would be fun if we could observe some of the others country holidays and bring new fun things into our life. Some of the holidays that European county have are fun and joyful. I think it is unfair that some of us don’t know that they exist. In my opinion, the helpful thing to do is to compare our country’s holidays to other counties and see if we can celebrate them too. Specifically, we are going to compare the United States and European holidays. 

Halloween is one of the most famous holidays. The custom has its roots in the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain when people would dress up and build bonfires to fend off ghosts which originated in Ireland. Not everyone celebrates it though. Halloween became popular in the United States around the 1840s due to an increase in Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine. Halloween became a big holiday in the United States, but it didn’t spread to most European countries as not many Irish people immigrated inward. Nowadays, with more and more people outside of America starting to acknowledge this holiday, maybe one day it will become a new holiday in their countries.  

The feast day of Saint Nicholas of Myra, also known as the Feast of Saint Nicholas, is typically celebrated on Tuesday, December 6 in Western Christian nations and on December 19, in Eastern Christian nations using the ancient church calendar. Children typically put their shoes out at the entrance or by the fireplace on St. Nicholas Day hoping that St. Nicholas will leave them a small gift. In the United States, no one celebrates this holiday and someone doesn’t even know about its existence, it would be nice to celebrate this holiday in America too. 

Thanksgiving is a recognized national holiday in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia, which is observed on various days. It started as a day dedicated to expressing gratitude for the blessings of the harvest and the previous year. Germany and Japan both observe festival holidays with similar names. Europen countries do not celebrate it. This holiday is usually for family meetings. Most Americans when hearing that people from Europe do not know about this holiday is very surprised. This holiday is a big thing in the United States but not in other countries. 

Christmas is a yearly celebration honoring the birth of Jesus Christ that is celebrated by billions of people all over the world on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday. Christmas is a worldwide holiday but in European countries, they celebrate Christmas on 6 July. It’s surprising how people celebrate Christmas on different days and have different traditions. They have special dishes only for this event. It is very different in each country. 

New Year’s celebration, is any social, cultural, or religious celebration around the world that marks the beginning of a new year. Such festivals are the oldest and most frequently held. In the United States, people do not celebrate New Year. It is not such a big thing as Christmas. Maybe people in New York have concerts and countdowns, but not everyone is watching. In European countries, people celebrate with a family. They cook a lot of food and stay awake until midnight and then they open presents. In America, people do not seem to do it. 

Essentially, people celebrate a wide variety of different holidays, and although some may be called the same thing, they could be celebrated on different days or in different ways. In my opinion, we need to learn more about other cultures and understand why they celebrate them, maybe even celebrating their holidays to feel what other people feel. Holidays are a great way to connect with people, cultures, and even countries.