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Holidays

From religious and patriotic observances to celebrations of ethnic pride, explore the history of Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day and more.

Veterans Day parade

Veterans Day 2023

HISTORY: Presidents Day

Presidents' Day 2022

Mardi Gras mask hanging on balcony's railing in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Mardi Gras 2023

New Year's Eve celebration in Time Square, New York City.

New Year’s

A partially lit Hanukkah menorah.

Hanukkah

us-armed-serviceman-waves-american-flag-during-veterans-day-parade-in-new-york

Veterans Day Facts

A Samhain festival in Glastonbury.

Samhain

ca. 1914-1918, Manhattan, New York, New York, USA — Mrs. Herbert Carpenter, bearing an American flag, marches in a parade for women’s suffrage on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Women’s History Month 2023

A lit-up dragon lantern at a Chinese New Year Spring Festival celebration in Xi'an, China.

Lunar New Year 2023

Rabbi blowing a Shofar, usually made from a Rams horn and one of the earliest wind instruments known to man.

Yom Kippur

Performers take part in the biennial Imbolc Celtic fire festival, to celebrate the end of Winter and the coming of Spring, in Marsden, northern England on February 6, 2016.

Imbolc

HISTORY: Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah

Labor Day

Labor Day 2022

A boy holds the front legs of a goat at a livestock market in Yemen's capital Sanaa on July 14, 2021, as people buy provisions in preparation for the Eid al-Adha holiday celebrations. - Known as the "big" festival, Eid Al-Adha is celebrated each year by Muslims sacrificing various animals according to religious traditions, including cows, camels, goats and sheep.

Eid al-Adha

HISTORY: The Fourth of July

Fourth of July – Independence Day

fathers-day-tie

Father’s Day 2022

HISTORY: Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Close-up of woman receiving greeting card from her daughter on Mother's day.

Mother’s Day 2022

cinco-de-mayo-dancers

Cinco de Mayo

Videos

10 Thing You Learned in History Class That Were TOTALLY WRONG
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10 Thing You Learned in History Class That Were TOTALLY WRONG

The White House Easter Egg Roll

Daylight Savings Time
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Daylight Saving Time

St. Patrick’s Day and the American Revolution
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St. Patrick’s Day and the American Revolution

Mardi Gras in New Orleans Came from a Secret Society
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Mardi Gras in New Orleans Came from a Secret Society

The Invention of Christmas Lights
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The Invention of Christmas Lights