SPECIAL DAYS FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY
In different cultures, there are special days for celebrating your friends
and family. Read about some of them below, then why not surprise someone with a
home-made cake or muffin?
Many cultures celebrate the anniversary of the day they were born – their
birthday. In some cultures, birthdays are an individual and annual
celebration. Other cultures only celebrate particular birthdays. In the western
world, important birthday years are 18, 21 and 40; in Japan the years 3, 5 and 7
are particularly important.
In some countries, such as Italy, people celebrate Saint’s Day
or
Name Day. Children are often named after a saint, who becomes
their lifetime guardian. The child honours the saint by celebrating their sacred
day.
Many faiths celebrate the birthday of their religion’s leader or founder.
Buddhists celebrate
Wesak which marks the birth, enlightenment and passing into
nirvana of the Buddha and takes place in May. Christians celebrate
Christmas, marking the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. Sikhs
celebrate the birth of some of their Gurus – this celebration is known as
Gupurb. Hindus celebrate the birthday of their gods and their
many incarnations, such as Krishna, Hanuman and Ganesh. Americans celebrate the
birthdays of important citizens such as Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln
and George Washington.
Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries throughout the
world, but not always on the same day. Motherhood has been celebrated since
ancient times. The ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped the mother of their Gods
and celebrated with a dawn festival with honey-cakes and flower tributes – much
like the UK tradition of giving mothers breakfast in bed with flowers in a vase!
In the UK, Mothering Sunday falls on the middle Sunday of Lent and is determined
by the cycle of the moon. Mothering Sunday was officially recognised in the
1600s when domestic servants would be granted the day off work to go home and
visit their mother.
Fathers' Day is celebrated in the UK in June.
