We all need something to celebrate in life. We thrive on rituals, in fact. It is an important way to navigate the important events of our lives, give recognition to people we value and admire, and just give us an excuse to have a good time, generally!
Some Holidays are Familiar Traditions
Mother's Day and Thanksgiving may be more familiar in one country than another, Christmas is probably known throughout much of the globe, even if not celebrated equally in all nations. But you may find many of that celebration category on calendars. What about Cow Appreciation Day, or Flower Day? Or when is Read to Your Kid Day ?
Those might be some of the Oddball Holidays to find out more about.
Holidays Through the Year
Unusual, Cultural, and Wacky Holidays
Some Holidays are Weird and Obscure
Many of these belong in the "wacky holiday" category, the "I bet you didn't know about this one" category. You might want to add one of these to your own list of favorite days and make it a tradition to mark it each year... or you just might want to find out about it for a laugh!
For Curiosity Sake
Why Should We Celebrate?
A few quotable reminders
"Celebrate the little things in life, appreciate tomorrow, love your neighbor or don't, but never condemn yourself to a life without cause to celebrate and be thankful for what you have. Never forget the people you love and love them when you have an occasion to do so. Celebrate their life and celebrate yours. "
"Can I celebrate the things like a 4th of July Parade, Fireworks in the sky and a home town celebration on Independence Day? You bet I can, as long as there is freedom in America, there is freedom to celebrate."
"There are always flowers for those who want to see them" -Henri Matisse
There are holidays, entertaining, customs, poetry, art, and music all involved. All in an effort to bring beauty and ascribe meaning to aspects of what it is to be human.
One of the main focal points of Ilona's Reflecting Pool has always involved pages given to the understanding and celebration of these times of connection. In that spirit, there are collections of poems with appropriate art, inclusion of jokes to lighten the heart, and whatever else will give us inspiration to better celebrate life.
Celebrations I Love
Christmas is the top of my list. In fact, I made an entire site dedicated to its traditions and how I and people around the world observe the joy and peace of this time of year.
Loving ChristmasFor many years I wrote daily devotionals for the Advent season in the Advent Blog
Here at the Reflecting Pool, I had snippets of this and that to honor the season:
- The Season Of The Ugly Christmas Sweater
- Some Christmas Quotes
- Christmas Season
- Christmas Time
- Christmas Hush
- Points of Light Lights Up Christmas
- Christmas within
Traditional Holidays
Some of the traditional Holidays garnered a mention, and while writing at Squidoo (which became Hubpages) I was inspired to look at some odd, perhaps weird types of National and International celebrations.
- Cherry Pie Day
- Not to be outdone, there is also National Cherry Dessert Day and Sour Cherries
- Learn About Oddball Holidays
- Holidays: Thanksgiving Coloring Pages
- Hungarian Traditions, Finding Happiness
- Do You Celebrate The Sweetest Day In The Year?
- All About Valentine’s Day
Making It Memorable
Let Your Parade Shine On
Creating good memories is an important part of life and one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. Holidays are a crucial way to do that, and a way to pass on your family values, and history.
Every people group has its holidays, every nation and religion has theirs. They mark our seasons, and underline our heritage. Celebrations spice up our lives.
And I like lots of spice.
How to make a special day memorable? Just as many of the pages illustrate: with crafts, special foods, decorations, and rituals.
Recommended Way to Record the Holidays
Take lots of pictures of all those fun times
