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Sports day is a holiday celebrated on the second Monday in October. It was formerly known as Health and Sports day. This holiday commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo and it exists to this day as a way to promote health and fitness.

Many Japanese businesses and schools close on this day. On Sports day, students are encouraged to play a number of fun games or do activities to keep them active.  The games are centered around movement but also on building team spirit and unity.

 

Like many places in the world Japan celebrates a National Foundation day or Founders day. This is the day the first Emperor of Japan was crowned and it is believed that it was the day that started Japan and Japanese society. This Holiday was later removed after World War II but after some petitioning by Japanese people the holiday was reinstated.

The holiday takes place on February 11th and is a national holiday for the Japanese people to remind themselves of the nation's founding and to show love for their great nation.

Heritage day is the 24th of September and is used to celebrate and acknowledge all the different cultures and groups in South Africa. The day was previously know as Shaka day as a way to remember one of South Africa`s great Zulu kings. But has since been changed to include all cultures and not just the isiZulu people. Heritage day is celebrated in many different ways, workplaces and churches host heritage day events where you are allowed to dress up in your specific cultures clothing. This is very bright and colorful as many cultures have unique traditional and cultural clothing. In Schools, children are taught about the day and given assignments to research their own heritage. This so special because many children have different family heritages and one child could show case a heritage from two or more different cultures in their family.

Lastly heritage day is a public holiday and many companies and school close on that day, South Africans take this opportunity to braai (barbeque) and spend the day with their families.

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights. This holiday is associate with the goddess, Lakshmi who is the goddess of prosperity and Ganesha who is the god of wisdom and the remover of obstacles. This holiday is linked to a lot of different religious practices but at its core it is to celebrate the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. It is a festival of enLIGHTenment.

Diwali is celebrated by lighting candles/ lamps outside ones home and fireworks displays, it is a bright and colorful festival. Families usually go to temple together to pray and then eat an assortment of Indian foods and sweets such as Barfi and Gulsb jamun.

The Chinese  Moon festival is mid- autumn festival to celebrate the harvest period. It takes place between September and October, this year it will be celebrated on October 6th . It is believed that during this day the moon is the brightest and fullest. This is often referred to as the Harvest moon.

The celebration is bright and festive. Chinese lanterns are lit and families share a pastry filled with salted egg and lotus paste, mooncakes! The lanterns have a special meaning and are said to symbolize beacons lighting the path to good fortune in future and prosperity.

This festival also involves some religious symbols. The moon Goddess in Chinese myth is known as Chang'e. Offerings are made to ensure that she blesses households with good fortune and prosperous harvests during this season. It also sets the intention for the next years harvest.

In South Africa Autumn season is during the months April to May.  In Autumn South Africa experiences a bit of  a wet season. Morning are usually foggy and cold because of the drop in temperature over night but the days are usually very warm. South Africa harvests crops such as sugar cane, cotton and corn in this time.

The Autumn Equinox falls on either the 20th of March or the 21st. Around the world there is many events that take place in Autumn but South Africa does not have any major Autumn celebrations or festivals. There is little cultural significance to the Autumn season in South Africa but some people take walks to see how the trees have changed color and also to enjoy the drop in temperature.

Greek mythology always has a fun and unique way of explaining how the world works. In Greek mythology, autumn was the time where Persephone, the goddess of nature and harvest was kidnapped  by Hades, the god of the underworld. This was a very happy time for Hades but it is said that Persephone was so heart broken that she caused all the crops to wilt and die. When Persephone was let out of the underworld life began to creep back in, this is around Spring.

Interesting way to give life to the explanation of Autumn.

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Trick or treat is such a fun way for children to enjoy Halloween. In Halloween lore trick or treat was a way to protect oneself from spirits on Halloween night. You could either to a trick to appease the spirits or give up some kind of treat. This has since changed into the Halloween tradition of gifting children with treats in hopes that they will not play a trick on you.  What an adorable tradition!