Make Your Own Holiday

Pilgrim Governor William Bradford made the proclamation that a thanksgiving celebration would be held in the fall of 1621. The Abnaki Indians were invited because they taught them how to plant, grow their food and how to survive the harsh winters.

Celebrating and giving thanks for a bountiful harvest season is an old tradition in many countries. The Pilgrims brought this tradition to America. Each year the different colonies celebrated giving thanks for the harvest on different days.

In 1798, President George Washington officially proclaimed Thanksgiving a holiday. He didn't make it an annual holiday, but the colonies continued to have harvest thanksgiving feasts.

It wasn't until 1863 when President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November a national day of thanksgiving. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared in 1939 that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. The celebration of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November was officially passed as law by the US Congress in 1941.

King Henry VIII of England declared Valentine's Day an official holiday in 1537. Valentine's Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, France and Australia on February 14th.

Valentine's Day is celebrated in September in Colombia. In Brazil they celebrate Valentine's Day or the Day of the Enamored on June 12th. Sometime in late summer in Israel, Tu'Av is the holiday of love.

April Fools' Day is observed throughout the Western world. Playing pranks, sending someone on a fool's errand and trying to make people believe silly things are all practiced on April Fools' Day. No one has officially declared April Fools' Day a national holiday. But we observe April Fools' Day on April 1st and go along with the tradition.

Some holidays had their start in ancient times such as, April Fools' Day and others just spring up. Kwanzaa is one holiday that just sprung up and was created by one man, Maulana Karenga in 1966.

Maulana Karenga wanted a holiday to bring African Americans together to celebrate their culture. He decided how the holiday should be celebrated and invited other people to join him in the celebration.

Kwanzaa is a holiday that is now well know and celebrated. This all started with one man and an idea.

From the above examples we can see that some holidays are more official than others and others just spring up.

These are the steps to take to Make Your Own Holiday.
1. Decide what you want to do.
2. Get other people to do it with you.

That's all there is to it. Some of our best know holidays started just this way.

This contest is part of a series of weekly contests presented by the Fresh Squids and Wonder Squids Ning community. Each week a new contest is open.

This weekly contest is for Make Your Own Holiday and there is a prize.

Here are the guidelines.

This is your chance to make the perfect holiday.
1. Make a lens about a holiday you would like to create and celebrate.

2. Your Own Holiday lens can be for and about anything you want. Do you want to honor someone? Do you want to have a fun silly holiday?

3. The contest will run from - November 23th through December 2nd . Add your lenses during this time.

4. The contest is open to everyone.

5. There are two categories one for Fresh Squids and Wonder Squids and one for the Swimming Squid.

Fresh Squids and Fresh Wonder Squids is a Ning Community group created by a_williow. When a new person joins Squidoo they have many questions and don't know what to do. Many times they just dive in the deep waters without knowing how to swim.

Michelle aka a_williow saw that this was a problem and wanted to do something about it. She didn't like seeing Fresh Squids drowning in deep waters, many times unnoticed until they floated to the top.

The Fresh Squid group was formed and soon that became too large to handle. That was when a_williow formed the Fresh Squids and Fresh Wonder Squids.

Are you new to Squidoo and you feel you need a little help swimming the deep waters. Take a look at the lens below, you'll find more information about this group.

image by Michelle Williow

The Swimming Squids are anyone that has been around Squidoo for awhile and feels comfortable swimming the waters. Regardless of the number of lenses these Squid know how to swim. They are Squid we can all learn from.

Calling all Swimming Squid Make Your Own Holiday and place your lens in the comments box below and I will add it to the plexo.

Image by Janusz