Other Holidays

Looking for information on popular holidays and events celebrated around the world? Holidays profiled in this section include Mardi Gras, Kwanzaa, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving and even Festivus!

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Grab your BFFs, girls. Galentine's Day is coming and we're celebrating like Leslie Knope!

ByKristen Hall-Geisler

Love bubble wrap? There's a holiday for that. And just about everything else. But who's creating them and why?

ByCarrie Dennis

This centuries-old Pagan holiday isn't necessarily scary. But those who celebrate are honoring the dead, believing their spirits have easy access to the world of the living during Samhain.

ByMark Mancini

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More states are replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. What's prompted the switch and how you do celebrate it?

ByDave Roos

The July 14 holiday celebrated by the French is way more complicated than the term "Bastille Day" might suggest.

ByCarrie Whitney, Ph.D.

梅西感恩节大游行是大之一st and most popular parades in the United States. And this year is no exception. Find out what makes this annual event such a hit.

ByKathleen Seiler Neary

Day of the Dead is not a Mexican version of Halloween. It's a celebration of life — both here and beyond — when the souls of the departed come home for feasting and fun. Here's how it started.

ByDave Roos

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This fall festival is about food, faith, lights and gifts. But please don't call it an Indian Hanukkah.

ByDave Roos

As more states are swapping Columbus Day celebrations for Indigenous Peoples' Day observances, does Columbus Day still have any relevance?

ByDave Roos

Which three presidents died on July 4? What's the Horribles Parade? And, should America be celebrating on July 2 instead?

ByDave Roos

Today Americans mostly celebrate it as the start of summer. But the annual May holiday has a significant history that's worthy of acknowledgment.

ByMichelle Konstantinovsky

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Cinco de Mayo is more than margaritas. Learn how the first Cinco de Mayo celebration in the U.S. was in 1863, as a show of solidarity with Mexico against French rule.

ByJulia Layton&Kathryn Whitbourne

The Easter holiday is on a different date each year. But how is the date determined? Answer: Look to the moon.

ByKathryn Whitbourne

Nope, it's not the police code for marijuana possession. It has a much cooler origin story. Find out about the meaning of 420.

ByNathan Chandler

Why is April 1 a day to play pranks on others? How did this tradition begin? And are you going to prank someone on April Fool's Day?

ByHowStuffWorks.com Contributors

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Mardi Gras turns New Orleans into a hotbed of fun and reveling. This might make the festival's religious ties rather hard to imagine. So did how Mardi Gras get started?

ByKathryn Whitbourne

The annual festival of lights signifies the end of Chinese New Year and the beginning of spring.

ByMichelle Konstantinovsky

This mass migration totally dwarfs Thanksgiving travel in the United States.

ByCarrie Whitney, Ph.D.

This beloved holiday celebrates the poet Robert Burns and is full of whisky, readings and fat juicy haggis.

ByDave Roos

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The price of the average American Thanksgiving increased about 14 percent over last year. Why so much? Blame the supply chain crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, of course.

ByMichelle Konstantinovsky

The Thanksgiving holiday started out very differently from our modern celebration of gluttony. How much do you know about Thanksgiving history myths? Take our quiz and find out!

ByNathan Chandler

How did spring break become a booze-fueled rite of passage for American college students? Can we blame this one on the ancient Greeks?

ByDave Roos

Whether it's the Nativity display in the public square, the store clerk who says "Happy Holidays" or the tacky holiday sweater, there's something to offend everyone in the season of goodwill.

ByMelanie Radzicki McManus

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National Bologna Day is no baloney. This annual October 24 "holiday" offers fans an unapologetic way to pay homage to the most democratic pressed meat of our time.

ByLaurie L. Dove

Though Mother's Day seems to be filled with sweetness and light, it had a rather heavy origin, arising as a post-Civil War plea for peace. So how did the holiday change over the years?

ByLaurie L. Dove