Family Celebrations

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A birthday celebrates the date a person was born. On birthdays, family and friends celebrate by giving cards and gifts.

Sometimes, a party is held to celebrate. A party for children may include games such as 'musical chairs' and 'pass the parcel'.

  The birthday cake is decorated with candles and everyone sings 'happy birthday'. The birthday person blows out the candles and makes a birthday wish.

Party food is eaten, which may include:     

A wedding is celebrated when two people are married. Family and friends are present when the bride (woman) and groom (man) make a promise to each other. Sometimes they may exchange wedding rings as a symbol that they are will now spend their lives together.

Weddings can take place almost anywhere the couple feels is special to them. Some couples may marry in a church in front of a priest or minister, others may marry in a park, on the beach or in a government office called a Registry Office.

A special meal is enjoyed by all the guests - this is called the 'wedding breakfast'.

Speeches are made praising the couple and everyone takes home a piece of the wedding cake.

The bride may wear " something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue".

After the couple are married, rice or confetti ( coloured bits of paper) are thrown over the couple for good luck!

In European countries, the bride may wear a white dress, but in some Asian countries, she may wear a red dress as this is thought to be lucky.

At Greek weddings, everyone dances the 'kalamantiano'. Plates are smashed for good luck!

The couple may have a holiday after the wedding and this is called a "honeymoon". This term may have come from the honeyed wine that was drunk for the first month of a couple's married life.

Mother's Day

Celebrated on the second Sunday in May, Mother's Day was first celebrated in Britain in the 1600's and was called "Mothering Sunday". It began as a day that allowed servants the day off to visit their mothers. By the 1800's it was largely forgotten, but began again after 1945.

Both Mother's and Father's Day are times when children may thank their parents by making a card or doing something special for them. The may make breakfast, do some housework, clean the car or give them a gift.

Father's Day

An idea came to Sonora Dodd in Washington, USA in 1909 as she was listening to a sermon on Mother's Day. She wanted to do something special for her father who raised six children on his own. So in 1910 on June 19 ( her father's birthday month), she held the first Father's Day celebration.

Although this date (  the third Sunday in June) is celebrated in many countries, it is held on the first Sunday in September in Australia, and in March in Italy and Spain.

Bibliograhy

"Mother's Day" Wikipedia:the free encyclopedia http://www.en.wikipedia.ord/ 1/10/06

Hilvert-Bruce, Zita Family Celebrations Macmillan Library, Sth Yarra, 2006