Holidays Your Neighbors Celebrate

e [Music] the 4th of July is a holiday we all celebrate in America when on July 4th of course during the 12 months of the year there are many holidays that we all celebrate but because there are many different kinds of people in our country sometimes your neighbors May celebrate holidays that are different from the ones you celebrate the year begins with a holiday January 1st is New Year's Day but some Americans also have New Year celebrations at another time Americans who families came from China celebrate the new year later sometime in January or February there's always a dragon or lion in a Chinese New Year's [Music] parade firecrackers are part of the celebration too the Chinese invented them long before the United States became a country the Chinese New Year is celebrated at about the same time as the new year most of us celebrate but many Americans who are Jewish also celebrate a new year holiday around September the Jewish New Year in temples and synagogues the holiday begins with the blowing of a Ram's Horn the holiday lasts 10 days at the beginning and at the end of the holiday Jewish children go to their temples or synagogues with their [Music] parents there they celebrate the coming of the Jewish New Year they think about what they did during the past year and what they'd like to do better the next year so we celebrate the new year year in different ways in America some holidays that we celebrate honor special people in February you know whose birthday we celebrate Washington's [Music] birthday in March many Americans also honor someone who wasn't American [Music] this is a St Patrick's Day Parade St Patrick is Ireland's beloved Saint and St Patrick's Day is Ireland's greatest holiday people whose families came from Ireland were the first ones to celebrate this holiday in America today St Patrick's Day is celebrated by by Americans whose families came from all parts of the [Music] world people wear green on St Patrick's Day Green in Ireland's flag stands for the southern part of Ireland the Little Shamrock with three leaves is Ireland's emblem St Patrick used it to teach about the three parts of the trinity people in different parts of our country honor other important men during the year people honor Abraham Lincoln and Robert E Lee and Martin Luther King so there are holidays that honor important people during the year some holidays come near the beginning of certain seasons one holiday comes on a Sunday soon after the first day of [Music] spring Easter is celebrated by Christians everywhere Christians whose families came from Greece May celebrate Easter one or a few weeks later than other [Music] Christians a special part of the Greek Church's Easter celebration takes place at night candles are lit inside the church then carried outside and around the church in a special ceremony [Music] another season of the year when there are holidays is winter in December one of the favorite holidays of children is celebrated it's Christmas of course some Americans have special ways of celebrating Christmas [Music] for some Americans whose families came from Mexico or other Latin American countries a part of Christmas fun is the pinata a Pata can have any shape this one looks like a little donkey a Piata is made of paper mâché and filled with candies and cookies and presents for the children the children take turns being blindfolded and try to break the pinata with a stick and when the pinata gets hit and breaks then the fun really [Music] starts about a week after Christmas Americans from in Puerto Rico Celebrate Three King's [Music] day this is a celebration of the day the three wise men brought presents to the Infant Jesus the children fill a box with straw and put it beside their bed the straw is for the camels the three kings rode [Music] on and the next [Music] morning the next morning the straw is gone and there are presents for the [Music] children [Music] but not everyone in America celebrates Christmas at the same time of the year when Christmas is celebrated Jewish children are celebrating Hanukkah on each one of the eight days of Hanukkah the children get a gift [Music] they also light candles at sundown each day of the holiday Hanukkah celebrates a time very long ago when Jews W back the freedom to worship in their own way we celebrate many holidays in many different ways in America that's because Americans have come from all parts of the world and brought their holidays with them so sometimes your neighbors celebrate holidays that are different from yours when you understand these holidays it helps you know more about your neighbors and how they live [Music] la