Festivals, traditions, customs and habits in the USA

1. USA
Habits in the USA came from the UK so they are similar, but most people in the USA celebrate all festivals in private in their homes. In America, each of the holidays is an opportunity to invite a lot of friends and also strangers to your house, which undergoes[i] a thorough cleaning and is decorated before the party. At the party, people leave their feelings of loneliness behind and forget about the usual worries, however boring the party may be.
Here is the list of holidays, that are celebrated differently in USA than in the UK and some holidays, which are originally American.
1.1 New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
· almost the same, but no swimming in fountains on Trafalgar square
1.2 Lent
· is not usually held
1.3 Remembrance Sunday
· in the USA it is called Veterans Day
1.4 Christmas
· in America, Christmas are more commercial than in any other part of the world
· Santa Claus is modern – so he can use a helicopter and land in front of a supermarket
· small children can carry cans[ii] of food to the zoo, for a change, which is a part of the project “Christmas Also for Animals”
· the fairy-tale atmosphere which all Americans, irrespective of age, love so much is created by thousands of electric lights – people use them to decorate houses on the outside. They make glittering coloured gables[iii], paths and streets
1.5 Special American holidays
In the USA there are some holidays, which are only “American”
1.5.1 Independence Day
· celebrated since the Declaration of Independence on the 4th July 1776
· marks the birth of the free and independent United States of America
· each city organises its own ceremony – parades and festivals of all kinds – outdoor stage shows, boat races, various funny competitions (three-legged races – a race between pairs in which each contestant has 1 leg tied to 1 of his/her partner’s leg, water-melon eating contests, etc.), folk dancing and lively music everywhere
· in the evening, there are fireworks to illuminate the skies
1.5.2 Thanksgiving Day
· first celebrated in 1621 by Pilgrim Fathers (English colonists who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620), who survived the hard winter of 1620-1621 and wanted to thank God
· until 1863 celebrated irregularly and on regional basis, but President Lincoln’s National Thanksgiving Proclamation made it a part of American tradition
· today it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November
· on this day a big family dinner is held, which consists of a roast turkey with dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, milk and coffee
1.5.3 Other American holidays
· Martin Luther King Day
· President’s Day
· Memorial Day
· Labour Day – the first Monday in September observed as a public holiday
· Columbus Day
[i] podstoupit
[ii] konzerva
[iii] štít