CHAPTER 1 - How Do You Celebrate?

Before You Read - Unique Festivals

A. Which countries celebrate these festivals? Match the country to the festival.

1. Day of the Dead: People pray for the dead, and decorate graves with food, candles, and flowers. They also dress up as skeletons and bake bread in the shape of skulls.
2. La Tomatina: People gather to throw thousands of tomatoes at each other in the town square.
3. Holi: Participants sing and dance, and throw colored powders and water at each other.
4. Songkran: People try to soak each other using containers of water or water guns. They might also hide with garden hoses to splash people.
5. Cheese Rolling Festival: Each year, an official throws blocks of cheese down a very steep hill, and participants chase and try to-catch them.

B. Discuss your answers with a partner. What other unique festivals do you know?

How Do You Celebrate?

New Year's Day

For many Asian countries like China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, the New Year is based on a lunar calendar.1 The date changes from year to year, but usually falls between January 21 and February 21. It is traditionally seen as a time for family reunions, with people traveling across the country and from overseas. Many people wear red clothes, as it is thought to be a lucky color. They also give "lucky money" in red envelopes to friends and family, and set off firecrackers2 to scare away bad luck.

What's common among these celebrations is the meaning of the new year; it is a time to say goodbye to the past and to think about new beginnings. For example, in Japan, people organize bonenkai parties ("year forgetting parties"), which are dedicated to leaving the old year's worries and troubles behind. In many countries, people make New Year's resolutions-promises to themselves to make changes in their lives over the coming year, such as to lose weight, stop smoking, or learn a new skill.

Carnival

In late February or early March, some countries celebrate a special festival called carnival. Carnival is thought to have originated in Italy or Greece, and was held just before Lent, the 40-day period before Easter3. People dressed in costumes, wore colorful masks, ate, drank, and danced all night. This tradition spread to France, Spain, Portugal, and later to Brazil and the United States.

Now, two of the biggest Carnival celebrations take place in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and New Orleans 1n the United States. There are grand parades where people wear flashy costumes and dance and sing in the streets. In New Orleans, Carnival is known as Mardi Gras. Many roads and shops are shut down for the celebrations which can last for up to three weeks. Millions of visitors travel from around the world to join the party, and many more watch the event on television.