National holidays in USA

PRÉCIS

Holidays are days set apart for religious observance or for the commemoration of some extraordinary event or distinguished person, or for some other public occasion. Holidays are important for most people, because they are occasions for them to get together with their families and to celebrate, of all their daily problems forgetting for a couple of moments.

People in every culture celebrate holidays. Although the word "holiday" literally means "holy day," most American holidays are not religious, but commemorative in nature and origin. Because the nation is blessed with a rich ethnic heritage it is possible to trace some of the American holidays to diverse cultural sources and traditions, but all holidays have taken on a distinctively American flavour. In the United States, the word "holiday" is synonymous with "celebration”

In the strict sense, there are no federal (national) holidays in the United States and each of the 50 states has jurisdiction over its holidays. In practice, however, most states observe the federal ("legal or public ") holidays, even though the President and Congress can legally designate holidays only for federal government employees.

I have chosen this theme because I am impressed by the fact that a country, so developed and so strong at all points like the USA, is keeping its customs. I firmly believe that all the civilizations in the world should take example, because the Americans are a model of people that know how to value their culture. Although there are many holidays in the USA, among the most representative are Memorial Day (which is observed on the last Monday of May and it commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country), Independence Day (or the Fourth of July ; it commemorates the formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Labor Day (which takes place on the first Monday in September, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man"), Halloween (which is observed on October 31 and the holiday is symbolically associated with death and the supernatural) and Thanksgiving (observed on the fourth Thursday of November).

On the whole, we should all think about the behaviour and mentality the Americans have and we should pay more attention to our culture and traditions because they represent our identity and make us unique among the rest of the civilizations.

INTRODUCTION

HOLIDAY = day set apart for religious observance or for the commemoration of some extraordinary event or distinguished person, or for some other public occasion.

Originally, in ancient times, holidays were predominantly religious in character and linked to natural events such as the annual course of the sun or the phases of the moon. The word holiday, in fact, is derived from “holy day.” Subsequently, secular holidays commemorating historical occasions or distinguished persons outnumbered holy days, although many ancient religious rituals and customs have been carried over into modern times and incorporated into both secular and religious observations. Today, the outstanding holiday is one of religious observance and abstention from normal work routines, taking place on Sunday for Christians, Friday for Muslims, and Saturday for Jews In the U.S., Sunday is not only a religious holiday but is also the only common-law holiday.

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS = days set aside by official government proclamation to celebrate such occasions as the achievement of independence, the founding of the nation, the adoption of a constitution, the birthday of the ruler, or the national patron saint's day

The U.S. has no national holidays as such. Legal holidays—days on which banks, schools, or other public institutions and most places of business are closed—are designated by legislative enactment or by executive proclamation. Congress and the president designate the legal holidays for the District of Columbia and the federal territories but are without power to declare national holidays. Independence Day and other holidays are observed on a national scale as a result of action by the states. In the case of Thanksgiving Day the president proclaims the calendar date and requests national observance, and the states then usually enact the necessary legislation. Federal statutes often specify certain days as holidays for purposes related to the legislation.