Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! As we finish the year off by celebrating the holidays, I would like to share with you some information about the holidays in the Eastern Coast. Like the rest of the states, we celebrate Christmas. There are many traditions and events we practice before the end of the year. One of the more popular ones is the Elf on the Shelf. The Elf is supposed to watch over the kids in the house while mysteriously being displaced to different locations during the night. Before Christmas, the Elf reports back to Santa to state whether the children they watched were good or not. Children act on their best behavior to avoid being caught by the Elf that may put them on the naughty list. There is a fun attire people wear during the holidays. In American culture, a common form of clothing worn on special Christmas occasions is the ugly sweater. The ugly sweater references the popular joke that people receive undesirable clothing from their relatives on Christmas. Often times an ugly sweater is the color red or green to follow the Christmas theme and has some kind of catchy phrase or saying.
The U.S. has many other Holidays like Thanksgiving and Independence Day celebrating events important to the nation’s history. Among those are other federal holidays celebrating important people. President’s Day celebrates the first president, George Washington, on his birthday. He is well known for his major role in the American Revolution and his relinquishment of power when he resigned after only two terms in office. Another famous federal holiday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Martin Luther King was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement and his encouragement of non-violence among protesters allowed for the end of segregation in the United States. The United States is well known for its strong military, and it honors those who have served in the protection of the nation on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
- Antonin Ducroux - USA (East Coast)