World Citizen Wednesdays #31: Patriotic Holidays Around the World

Welcome to World Citizen Wednesday!

Each week we pose a question to members of the fabulous Multicultural Kid Blogs group and share their answers here.

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This week we ask…

What patriotic holidays did you grow up celebrating?  Are they the same ones you celebrate with your kids?

Olga of The European Mama: Polish Independence Day is November 11th, but we didn’t celebrate it other than we didn’t have to go to school. May 1till May 3rd are also free days (Labor day and Polish Constitution Day), and then there are Polish flags anywhere, and many people go on holidays in May. On August 1st, we celebrate the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and at noon, all cars stop and beep for a minute to make us remember. In the Netherlands we don’t really celebrate any of these days…

Stephen of The Head of the Heard: The only thing we have in the UK is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes’ Day on November 5th, which celebrates the failure of the Catholic Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up parliament and the king in 1605. We have bonfires and fireworks which are either in people’s gardens or, more commonly nowadays, in big parks.

Varya of Creative World of Varya: Victory Day, May 9th. Dedicated to the Victory of Soviet Union in WW2.  November 7th – The Day of Great October Socialist Revolution. Russia used to use Julian Calendar and in Julian Calendar the revolution happened on October 25th. After the revolution Soviet Union accepted Gregorian Calendar and in this calendar the date is November 7th.

Frances of Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes: Puerto Rico: November 19: Día del Descubrimiento de Puerto Rico (Discovery of Puerto Rico Day) It’s a big celebration in schools throughout the country focusing mainly on celebrating the culture and identity of Puerto Ricans; also called Semana de la Puertorriqueñidad. June 21: La Noche de San Juan. People flock to beaches to celebrate the patron of the capital San Juan, and the arrival of the summer solstice. One of the traditions is to fall on your back in the beach, and dunk yourself seven times at midnight to ward off evil spirits. This is a day of festivities music, dance, and food. Most of the people spend their day in the beach with families, and friends waiting until 12 midnight to celebrate.

Leanna of All Done Monkey: For 4th of July, it was always fireworks! If the local baseball team had a home game, we would go and watch the firework show there. On Memorial Day, we would usually do something as a family, like a day trip to a national park. We haven’t been very consistent about doing anything as a family yet with the boys, though maybe we’ll go see fireworks this year, not sure yet.  My husband grew up celebrating Independence Day in Costa Rica (Sept. 15). School kids usually make lanterns (a reference to the history of the day, when someone arrived carrying a lantern to announce that they were independent from Spain), and they participate in parades.

Thanks to all the bloggers who shared their answers here! You can read answers to earlier questions in our previous installments of World Citizen Wednesday, including tips for traveling with kids!

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