Just as I wrote about official paid holidays in America, I will now go over some other unofficial “big days” in America.
Chinese New Year, changes depending on the moon but between January 20-February 20. This year, the year of the dragon, it is February 10, 2024. The Chinese calendar is a 12-year cycle. Chinese New Year is also celebrated by the Koreans, Vietnamese, and other Asians. In the United States, it involves lion dances, fireworks, parades, boat races, giving of red envelopes, and lanterns. It is a religious festival celebrating the beginning of spring. It is a 15-day festival in China. In the United States, the first Chinese immigrants arrived in San Francisco in the 19th century. In 2022, California made the Chinese lunar new year an official state holiday. The largest chinatowns in the US are in New York City but the first Chinese New Year celebrated in the United States was in San Francisco in 1851. For tourists to the USA, it is fun to enjoy Chinese American culture during this time.
Super Bowl, February 11, 2024 (second Sunday in February). This is season LVIII in Roman/Latin numerals (58 in Arabic numbers). Held on the second Sunday in February from now on (in the past it was on a Sunday in January-February). The Super Bowl is the final game of the American National Football League (NFL). It has been called the Super Bowl since 1969. It is the most watched television event in the United States. The cost of the commercials is a eye popping million or more per minute/30 seconds. The food consumption on Super Bowl Sunday, or Super Sunday, is second only to Thanksgiving. Barbecue wings, chips, dips, snack foods, and food decorated to look like a football are popular foods for the event. It is a day to join a viewing party.
Mardi Gras (almost only in New Orleans) is the carnival celebration leading up to Lent in the Christian calendar. This year it falls on February 13, 2024. Carnival starts after Three Kings (which is the 12th day after Christmas) and culminates in festivities including “fat food” on Shrove Tuesday or in French “mardi gras” (fat Tuesday). This is the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins and Catholics start 40 days of fasting. This event is biggest in the United States in New Orleans, Louisiana, where it has been celebrated since 1833. The celebrations involve floats, costumes, and baring of chests in exchange for beads. And of course, lots of drinking.
Valentine’s Day, February 14 every year. Saint Valentine is a Catholic saint who was martyred in 273 CE (AD). During the middle ages, the notion of “courtly love” arose and the British may have continued this tradition through the centuries. There is a book from 1797 assisting young men with writing their “Valentine.” The British were the first to celebrate romantic Valentine’s cards in the 18th century. The reduction in postal rates and the ease of printing due to the industrial revolution may have contributed to this. In the United States, first mass-produced Valentines were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland of Massachusetts. According to the American Greeting Card association, 190 million Valentine’s cards are sent each year, half of them to romantic partners. For the tourist in America, this day means that it may be hard to find a dinner reservation that day.
Saint Patrick’s, March 17 every year. March 17 is the death day in 461 CE (AD) of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick is the national saint of Ireland. The large Irish diaspora in the United States made this day a celebration. In the United States, it is associated with wearing green and shamrocks (three leaf clover), festivals, singing, dancing, parades, and celebrating being Irish. This was a bigger celebration in America than in Ireland until the end of the 20th century. Now, Saint Paddy’s day is associated with drinking heavily, wearing green, and gathering in bars or pubs. Saint Patrick’s day is now celebration of being Irish, and it has been since 1600, long before there was a United States. The first official celebration was in 1771. Today, many buildings are lit green for the day and famously the Chicago river is dyed green for the day. The White House fountain has been dyed green every year since 2009. As a tourist, it can be fun to join in the fun. Wear green so you do not get pinched.
Cinco de Mayo, May 5 every year. This is a bigger celebration in the United States than in Mexico. May 5, 1862 is the date of the Battle of Pueblo in Mexico’s war with France. In the United States Cinco de Mayo began as a celebration of Mexican-American heritage. It began in 1862 in Columbia, California. The day became popular as a marketing idea in the 1980s and the Cinco de Mayo beer sales equal the beer sales on Super Bowl Sunday. As a tourist in America, this is just another reason to enjoy chips and salsa. America loves their own version of Mexican, Tex-Mex, and this day is just another day when lots of burritos and tacos are consumed.
Mother’s Day in the United States is the second Sunday in May. It was started by Anna Jarvis in 1907 after her mother died in 1905. She tried to have it made into an official holiday which it is in some places, such as her native West Virginia. Anna Jarvis did not want the holiday to become commercialized and she had started it as a day to hold special prayers for mothers. The official Mother’s Day Shrine is in West Virginia. In England, Mothering Sunday is in March. In England, the idea is that you celebrate the church who mothered you. But that is lost in the commercialization of current times. In other countries, International Women’s Day is celebrated rather than mother’s day. Today, mother’s day means that one cannot get a brunch reservation on that weekend. Also, many children will make and serve their mother’s breakfast in bed.
Father’s Day, third Sunday of June. Founded in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd when she learned that Mother’s Day had been established. Sonora Smart helped her father raise her younger siblings after her mother died giving birth to her sixth child. For tourists, this means that it can be hard to find a lunch reservation on that weekend or that children may be making breakfast for their fathers. It is less of a celebration than Mother’s Day.
Halloween, October 31 every year. Traditionally it was a religious holiday marking the beginning of the celebration of the dead and spirits. November 1 is “all saints” and has been for 1,200 years. Wearing masks and costumes grew out of disguising oneself against vengeful spirits. The famous pumpkin was originally a turnip/swede/rutabaga. The Halloween tradition was brought to the American South by Anglicans colonists. The Puritans of New England opposed it. With the mass migration of Scottish and Irish peoples in the 19th century, Halloween became an American tradition. The tradition of trick or treating came from the British isles where children would take a scooped out turnip and ask for candy or food. The adults would sing away the evil spirits. Once this traditional got to America, the pumpkin which grows larger than a turnip became the new symbol. The Halloween tradition has now been exported back out to the rest of the world. Americans spend $12 billion on Halloween or which $3 billion is on house decorations alone.
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now it seems to have spread to other commercial days, like Cyber Monday. America is about shopping, shopping, and more shopping.
Halloween, in the U.S. style, with pumpkins and costumes, is becoming more popular here in Lima. In contrast, November 1, Day of the Dead, is an old tradition, and a holiday. Unlike in Mexico, Day of the Dead is not a massive face-painted celebration, but rather, a more reflective time to visit family in the cemetery (although, still with food, drink, and music, I’m told). The idea of trick or treating is also a new idea and is beginning to happen in some places. Certainly, the stores would like it to take hold. They have already started selling Christmas items.
