Besides Christmas, do you know that Canadian have much more holidays to celebrate? Let’s read our post on the top 8 biggest multicultural holiday celebrations in Canada to discover more interesting activities.
Diwali – Multicultural Celebrations In Canada
This is a Hindu five-day holiday that takes place in autumn. Its purpose is to honor the triumph of light over darkness, or in another way, the victory of good over evil.
Hindus make use of this event to dispel and reflect on the darkness of insensibility as well. They exhibit diyas – candle holders or small clay oil lamps or as a metaphorical gesture
Bodhi Day
This day is to honor the awakening moment of Buddha when he was under the peepal tree – Bodhi.
It is an honoring of enlightenment as well as for remembrance, chanting, and meditation. At the beginning of Bodhi day, residents use colorful lights hanging with beads to decorate the ficus trees. This represents the various ways to their ultimate state or goal – Nirvana, as well as means that everything is united.
New Year’s – Multicultural Celebrations In Canada
The 31st of December is the last day of the year on the calendar of Gregorian. This is the night when people set off fireworks and throw a party.
They also hold some ceremonies that are believed to bring good luck as well as help them get a promising year. For example, eating a certain food that creates wealth, making loud noise with fireworks to chase away bad spirits, and putting on polka-dots.
Hanukkah
This Jewish festival is also well-known as the Feast of Lights. It takes place from the 28th of November to th 6 of December. Its purpose is to honor the purification and rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees.
Menorah is the best famous symbol of this carnival. Menorah is a kind of candelabra. People will light one candle a day during this Hanukkah occasion.
To Jewish people, the menorah is a mean of a miracle. It is because of a tale during the war in the past. According to the tale, the candelabrum of the Temple burned for eight days and nights with just an amount of oil that was only enough for a single day.
Winter Solstice – Multicultural Celebrations In Canada
In fact, many cultures all around the globe honored the winter solstice before Christmas came to be. They now still continue to mark this as well.
Other winter solstice celebrations such as Saturnalia for the ancient Roman, the Dong Zhi for Chinese, St. Thomas Day of Guatemala, St. Lucia’s Day for Scandinavian, Gody of Poland, etc.
Three King’s Day
This Christian day is also understood as Epiphany. This is to mark the day when the Three Wise Men came to visit the Christ child and brought him presents. They praise this on the 1st Sunday after the 1st of January. This is a day to give gifts and join in festivities in Hispanic cultures.
Orthodox Christmas – Multicultural Celebrations In Canada
In fact, members of the Orthodox Church honor Jesus’ birth a week after the 25th of December as well as after our normal celebrations have ended. Specifically, they praise Christmas on the 7th of January or some day close to this date.
The cause of this difference is all about the calendars. People who mark Christmas on the 25th of December are using the calendar of the Gregorian. They created it in 1582. And those who follow the calendar of Julian will celebrate Christmas 13 days later.
In Ukraine, people even have an interesting activity to honor these days. They throw a spoon full of Kutia up in the air to guess what the next year will have in store for them. For your information, Kutia is a classic dish made of poppy seeds, wheat, and honey. They suppose that the more Kutia is clung to the ceiling, the more thriving the next year would be.
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is usually between the 21st of January 21 and the 20th of February due to the lunar calendar. It marks the beginning of beautiful spring and the end of cold winter.
On the first day of the celebration, people join in many feasts activities, such as going on parades, lighting fireworks, watching lion and dragon dances, and giving luck money in red envelopes to youngsters.
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