Category: European
The Easter Egg
Easter celebrations are filled with many traditions, but nothing has come to symbolize the Easter holiday as much as the colored or painted Easter egg. Many children spend their Easter Sunday hunting for Easter eggs, rolling them, or running races while carrying their eggs in spoons.
Across Eastern and Western cultures, eggs have long symbolized [...] Read More »
The Tooth Fairy is a Mouse in France and a Magpie in Korea
In American culture, the tooth fairy visits whenever a child looses a baby tooth. Children put the tooth under their pillow when they go to bed at night, and wake up in the morning to find that the tooth has been replaced by some money! Sometimes the tooth is put in a decorated [...] Read More »
The Yule Log and La Bûche de Noël
At Christmas time, people all over France and Belgium serve the “Bûche de Noël” – a cake shaped and decorated to look like a tree trunk. In Anglo-Saxon cultures, many people still burn a “yule log” in their fireplace at Christmas. There is even a television station in New York that shows a [...] Read More »
A Meeting of World Cultures: Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque
Few places can rival Istanbul as the cross-roads of multiple cultures and traditions. Geographically, the city literally spans Europe and Asia, with the Bosphorous Bridge and numerous ferries connecting the Asian and European sides. Its architecture, history, craftsmen and artists, churches and museums weave an intricate mosaic of ancient and modern cultures.
Aya Sofya, also [...] Read More »
Los Dias de los Muertos
On November 1st and 2nd, many countries celebrate All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween), All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. In some Latin American countries, the day is known as Los Dias de los Muertos (“The Days of the Dead”). In Mexico, these days have become a spectacular national holiday. Unlike many [...] Read More »
All Souls’ Day (Defuncts’ Day)
All Souls’ Day is a Roman Catholic holiday celebrated on November 2nd. (If that day falls on a Sunday, then All Souls’ Day is moved to November 3rd, since it is not permitted to wear black clothing on Sundays.) Like All Saints’ Day (November 1st), it is celebrated in many countries, including Belgium, [...] Read More »
St. Martin’s Day
On November 11, German children celebrate St. Martin's Day, which marks the beginning of the German carnival season, known as "Fassnacht" or "Fasching." Children make lanterns, lit by candles and attached to long sticks with wire, and parade after dark, singing songs. Often, there is a bonfire after the parade. Then the [...] Read More »
How Do You Celebrate Dia de la Raza?
We have had a lot of traffic from people searching for information on how to celebrate Dia de la Raza. We've talked to several people from countries where October 12th is a holiday, but have not been able to get a lot of information about the traditions around this holiday , perhaps because it [...] Read More »
Columbus Day and Dia de la Raza
On the second Monday in October, Americans celebrate Columbus Day to commemorate Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492.
Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Uruguay celebrate Día de la Raza (day of the race) on October 12, to commemorate the first encounters between Europeans and Native Americans. Dia de [...] Read More »
