Holidays & Celebrations

100th Day of School - Lots of kids are counting the days they go to school--it's because they want to be sure not to miss the 100th day! Teachers and kids are celebrating the 100th day of school in lots of special ways; read about them at this site and its links. For example, each child might bring in 100 pennies to donate to charity. The school nurse might collect 100 healthy handprints, finger painted on a big sheet of paper outside the office. Kids could try to dance for 100 seconds, or (even harder) be quiet for 100 seconds. Some kids like to draw pictures of what they will look like when they are 100 years old! The possibilities are endless--get started at this site.

April Fool's Day (April 1) - How did the tradition of April Fool's Day begin? According to this page, it was all because of a calendar change decreed by Pope Gregory in 1562. All of a sudden, New Year's Day was celebrated at a new time of year--it took a while for word to get around (there was no such thing as the Internet then). People still celebrating the New Year on April 1 were fools indeed. Find out more at this site.

Billy Bear's Pesach Holiday - Billy Bear has really outdone himself this time. Get ready for lots of print and play mazes: help people cross the Red Sea, help Moses find the Ten Commandments, and more. Then get ready for the Java Chametz game, in which you try to find and remove all the pieces of bread and cake in the house before Passover begins. Note that it works very slowly on Macs running Netscape; see the instructions. There are also links to other Pesach (Hebrew for Passover) sites for kids.

Billy Bear's on Holiday - Billy Bear offers special sites for more than ten fun holidays. Each one has games, activities, and facts about the holiday that may be new to you. If we don't have a separate listing for a holiday in this book, check with Billy Bear. Net-mom loves Billy Bear because he gives such great bear hugs!

CNN - Groundhog Quartet Agrees on Early Spring - Punxsutawney Phil, the granddad of all weather-predicting groundhogs, was the lead rodent in this CNN report on weather-predicting animals. A cult hero of sorts, Phil has been making news with his February 2 shadows for many years. There are others in the field--and you can "read all about them" right here.

Calendar of Jewish Holidays - This resource, offered by B'nai B'rith, gives the dates for all important Jewish holidays through the year 2006. Mark your calendars in advance.

Chinese Holidays & Festivals - June 1 is when China celebrates its Children's Day. Kids are showered with presents, and their schools give them big parties. Sound like fun? Read about this and more Chinese traditions here.

Chinese New Year - This is a really interesting site that describes the Chinese calendar system. The Chinese calendar has 24 solar terms closely related to the changes of Nature--a very useful tool for farmers, providing knowledge on the proper time for planting and harvesting.

Day of the Dead - On November 2, Mexicans celebrate the annual Day of the Dead. It's not a sad occasion. They make special foods and prepare a feast to honor their ancestors. They have picnics on their relatives' graves so the dead can join in the festivities, too. One of the special foods is called "Bread of the Dead" ( pan de muerto ). The baker hides a plastic skeleton in each rounded loaf, and it's good luck to bite into the piece with the skeleton! People also give each other candy skeletons, skulls, and other treats with a death design. The holiday has complex social, religious, and cultural meanings. Learn more about this celebration here.

Day of the Dead--Dia de los Muertos - Learn many of the traditions and rituals surrounding this Mexican holiday, when the dead pay a visit to their old homes and are welcomed with special foods and festivities. There is a rich section with links to explore, but parents should note that we didn't get to look at all of them.

Earth Day `99 - Brought to You by the Wilderness Society - The Wilderness Society's Earth Day page includes a time line of Earth-friendly occurrences. For example, in 1872, Yellowstone became the world's first national park. In 1964 the Wilderness Act was signed into law, designating 9.1 million acres as wilderness. There are plenty more of these blossoming along the years through 1997. There's a teacher's lounge section with suggested material for lesson plans. The founder of Earth Day, Gaylord Nelson, offers both an audio and text message to encourage you to celebrate.

Earth Day, 1999 - It's the only planet most of us will ever have--why not celebrate it and keep it green? This site suggests individual and classroom activities for both younger and older kids. You'll also be intrigued by a large number of appropriate links to other resources, including a site about the history of Earth Day.

Easter Fun - Easter is a very egg-citing occasion! This site gives terrific ideas for making Easter crafts, including lots of ways to dye eggs and make your own candy. We made our own duck mask and some no-bake clay and planted an Easter basket with wheat seeds to make our own Easter grass. We can hardly wait to try the other Easter links here.

Ecclesiastical Calendar: Enter a Year - Easter is a movable feast. That means it's on a different day each year, based on a special formula explained in the listing A Holy Easter, below. This site lists the dates for both the Western Easter and the Orthodox Easter, through the year 2024. It also calculates the dates of many Christian holy days for any year you please.

Festivals Home Page - Somewhere at this site is a European, Chinese, or New Zealand holiday or festival for every occasion. In Austria during February, they prepare for a carnival. All people dress up as "some thing" (ghosts, clowns, witches). There's also a carnival parade. In Sweden, crayfish parties are very popular in August. You can celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand on February 6, and in China, Spring Festival is on the lunar new year. On the eve of the Spring Festival, everyone leaves their lights on all night long in order to drive away ghosts. It is said that ghosts are scared of the light. You can see at least one red lantern hanging from every family's roof.

Festivals.com - Parental advisory: Please preview this site. Festivals.com offers a fascinating look at more than 26,000 seasonal celebrations around the world. Click on any area of the Big Map and search for festivals there. You can even add information on festivals in your area. You'll find lots of features and fun, but we haven't looked at everything on the site, so browse with care.

German Holidays - This cultural gem originates at the Patch American School, on a U.S. military base in Germany. Because a lot of American kids, who live there with their military families, find some of the local customs unusual, this site attempts to explain them. For example, this site explains the differences between a German Christmas and an American one. You'll also learn all about St. Martin's Day, the witches of May, and the beautiful, candlelit traditions of the Advent season.

Hanukkah and Kwanzaa: Embracing All Traditions - This holiday season, parents have an excellent opportunity to expose children to holidays and customs different from the ones celebrated in their own homes. Besides Christmas, two other important holidays celebrated in December are Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

Happy Chinese New Year - The Chinese calendar is based both on the Gregorian and a lunar-solar system. It divides a year into 12 months, each with 39 1/2 days. Twenty-four poetic solar terms describe seasonal changes, including the Beginning of Spring, the Waking of Insects, Grain in Ear, Frost's Descent, and Great Cold. There is also a system that names the years in a 12-year cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Find out how the Chinese New Year is celebrated.

Heather's Happy Holidaze for Kids Only - Heather is only nine, and she came up with the concept and design of this neat home page all by herself! With a little help from her dad and mom, it's been up and running since September 1995. Pictures go with each of her favorite holidays, so children of all ages can enjoy this site. You'll find scary Halloween links and a search for Tom Turkey for Thanksgiving, but jump around and visit all of the holidays for additional fun.

History of the White House Easter Egg Roll - Sometime during the presidency of Andrew Johnson the beloved Washington tradition of the Easter Egg Roll was initiated. Its original site was the U.S. Capitol grounds. By 1877, some members of Congress got tired of complaining about the leftover hard-boiled eggs (they kept slipping on ones the kids hadn't found), debris, and general disorder of the whole event. Policemen shooed that year's Easter crowds away. Tearful children converged on the White House lawn to petition President Hayes to hold an impromptu egg roll there. He did. The idea caught on. In 1878, President Hayes and his wife, Lucy, officiallyd the White House grounds to the children. It's been held there ever since, except for brief breaks during the war years. Visit this site to learn a basketful of facts and trivia about this colorful event, which includes games as well as an egg hunt. The most precious eggs are those with the signatures of famous sports players and other celebrities, who are asked to sign the wooden eggs when they visit the White House throughout the year. You can buy a souvenir egg from the White House link you will find at this site.

Holidays Around the World - From Christmas and Hanukkah to Our Lady of Guadelupe Day in Mexico, Guy Fawkes Day in the United Kingdom, and New Year's Eve, November and December are full of revelry, celebration, and solemn religious occasions.

Hong Kong Terminal - Chinese Festivals - Arranged by moon, or lunar, month, you can learn about everything from Chinese New Year to the Day the Kitchen God Visits Heaven. In between you'll find the Dragon Boat Festival, the Hungry Ghosts Festival, and a lot more in this fascinating peek into the culture of both traditional and modern China.

Illustrated Tour of the Holy Days - Here is a great site to learn about art, history, and the Jewish holidays, all rolled into one. The Ben Uri Art Gallery holds a collection of over 800 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by Jewish artists--selections from which are shown regularly in the gallery in London, England. The first two art selections show the Shabbat, the Hebrew word for Sabbath, which begins at sundown each Friday. Because the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar calendar (cycles of the moon), the new "day" begins at this time. Rosh Hashanah, the Hebrew phrase for the "Head of the Year," is the Jewish New Year celebration, and so our illustrated tour begins with this holiday in September. Continue through the gallery and the months of the year, to learn more about the other Jewish holy days and festivals and the food, songs, and dances that are part of these traditional celebrations.

International Day of Peace at the United Nations - As part of the United Nations International Day of Peace (September 16), kids from all over the world have collaborated on a "Peace Poem." Over 400 schools in 38 countries participated in the project. Each grade in each school could submit only one poem. Parts of the poem are in French and Spanish as well as English. If you could write just two lines describing your feelings about peace, what would they be?

John Muir Day Exhibit and Study Guide (Sierra Club) - Every April 21, students in California celebrate the life of John Muir and his contribution to conservation and appreciation of the environment. He founded the Sierra Club and pushed the U.S. government to establish the national parks system. Yosemite, designated a national park in 1890, is located in California. There is also a biography of Muir and accounts of his travels around the world.

Juneteenth: Freedom Revisited - Celebrate freedom! African Americans recall June 19, 1865, as the date when many slaves in the state of Texas learned that they had been freed, over two years earlier, by President Abraham Lincoln. This celebration is known as Juneteenth, and it is usually marked by historical displays, feasts, songs, and dancing. Learn about the origins of Juneteenth at the Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C.

KIDPROJ'S Multi-Cultural Calendar - Around the world, every day is a holiday somewhere, and kids just like you are celebrating something. Now kids have a place to tell the rest of the world about their holiday foods, decorations, parades, songs, and other ways they make this day special from all the others. You can look at the holidays by month, by country, or by name. Do you have a special holiday you want to talk about? Add it here!

LHJ Online - Gift Wrapping 101 - Make your gifts extra-special with tips from LHJ's contributing stylist Michael Foster. Michael will show you on video his favorite gift-wrapping tricks and techniques, including how to make the perfect bow and several simple and timesaving suggestions, ideal for that last-minute gift rush.

Rosie's Easter Basket - Rosie offers some yummy Easter recipes, activities, and hints for coloring eggs using natural materials. Did you know that if you want red eggs, you boil them with red onion skins? Grape juice gives you lavender eggs, while turmeric will dye eggs yellow. There is a whole rainbow of ideas here! And the jokes--here's a sample: Why does the Easter bunny have a shiny nose? Answer: Because its powder puff is at the other end!

The Earth Day Challenge - Enjoy playing an environmental scavenger hunt that challenges students in grades K-6 to learn more about the environment and how to help take care of it. Go to this site for details and to register. This is a free activity--registration is required only if you want to win prizes.

The Great American Egg Hunt - If it's around Easter when you're reading this, Net-mom's friend, Hazel Jobe, is no doubt running another virtual egg hunt. It's aimed at K-3 students, but anyone can play. Students have designed colorful eggs that have been hidden on school sites around the World Wide Web. Hazel says, "Participants will visit the school sites to hunt for the egg and then follow the link to answer the questions. It will give these young students practice navigating the Web for a purpose. Participants will receive a certificate when they have found all the eggs and answered all the questions." You can also win great prizes!

The Official Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Site! - Long before we had weather satellites, Doppler radar, and the Weather Channel, we got our winter weather forecasts from a rodent. Yes, it's part of what has made America great, and the tradition continues in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Now you can get up close and personal with Punxsutawney Phil, groundhog extraordinaire. Some may call him a woodchuck, and some may call him a gopher. We call him a great publicity stunt, but we always pay attention to his predictions for an early or late spring. As the legend goes, if Phil comes up out of his hole on February 2 and sees his shadow, he'll be frightened back for six more weeks of winter; if, on the other hand, it's cloudy, we'll get an early spring. Will he see his shadow? Film at 11!

The Ridiculously Enhanced Pi Page - Every March 14, at 1:59 P.M., the Exploratorium museum celebrates Pi Day. Get it? The value of pi to a few decimal places is 3.14159. This irrational celebration happens to coincide with Albert Einstein's birthday. Read about the ceremonial addition of a pi bead to the strand (they are up to 1,600 decimal places) and other events that make San Francisco a unique place to live. There are also plenty of links to places where pi is elevated to new heights of acclaim by its many fans around the world.

The Worldwide Holiday & Festival Site - The United States celebrates its birthday on July 4. There are parades, picnics, and at night--fireworks. Most countries celebrate national holidays that are their equivalents of the American Independence Day. You'll find a searchable list of many national and religious holidays here.

Today in History - Want to know who shares your birthday or what famous events throughout history happened the day you were born? Just visit this site and type in the month and year you want. For example, famous people born on February 8 include author Jules Verne, actor James Dean, and actress Audrey Meadows, who played Alice in The Honeymooners . Find out when and where these folks were born, too; Meadows, for example, was born in China. You can also find out who died on this day (Mary, Queen of Scots) and what important historical events took place. On February 8, the Boy Scouts organization was incorporated (1910), radio first came to the White House (1922), and Walt Disney Studios was formed (1926). Know anyone with a brand-new baby? Give the proud parents a printout of their baby's birth date!

Uncle Eli's Special-for-Kids Most Fun Ever Under-the-Table Passover Haggadah - During the Passover meal, everyone reads a special story, called a Haggadah. Uncle Eli and Dr. Seuss have a lot in common; Haggadah was never like this! A sample from this site: "We were slaves to King Pharaoh, that terrible king, and he made us do all kinds of difficult things. Like building a pyramid of chocolate ice cream when the sun was so hot that the Nile turned to steam, and digging a ditch with a spade of soft cotton. That Pharaoh was wicked and nasty and rotten!"

Virtual Seder Plate - The Passover Seder meal is very symbolic. This site features a special Seder plate; click on it to learn about the various foods eaten during this ritual meal. For example, bitter herbs (usually horseradish) symbolize the bitterness of slavery. This plate has room for six foods; others have five--the page explains why this is so.

Wiarton Willie Home Page - Lest you think Canadians don't have a weather rodent (en Francais, m t o marmotte) of their own, meet Wee Willie, an albino marmot. Son of the lately departed Wiarton Willie, Wee Willie stands poised to pick up the weather forecasting duties where his dad left off: "Born on the 45th parallel, exactly midway between the Equator and the North Pole, this white groundhog has the uncanny ability to signal the end of winter. Weather watchers around the world look to Willie's shadow and its 90 percent accuracy rate to see just how long winter is going to continue!" You can even send him e-mail (he must have a modem in his burrow). Come join the fun in southwestern Ontario on Lake Huron.

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