Red Letter Days

Here are selected

red letter days in partner countries

21 MARCH

NEVRUZ FESTIVAL

April 23 National Sovereignty and Childrens Festival celebrated each year in Turkey is a unique festival gathering the children

from all over the world under the motto of "Love,

Friendship and Peace".The 23rd April Childrens Festival which was gifted to Turkish children by

Mustafa Kemal Atatrk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, to emphasize that they are the future of the

new nation.

The festival has been celebrated internationally since 1979 ,

when UNESCO proclaimed as the International Year of the

Child. The Childrens Festival was first celebrated in Turkey

on 23 April 1920, when the Turkish Grand National Assembly

was opened. The Festival intends to contribute creation of a

world where children can live peacefully by developing

sentiments of fraternity, love and friendship

We celebrate 21 March , Nevruz festival with a big party,

performances including from poems, dances,games, songs ,

jumping over a fire, to painting the eggs, which are considered

symbols of renewal and fertility of the soil.

March 21 NEVRUZ FESTIVAL; One of the oldest traditional spring festivals in Turkish world is Nevruz ; This

festival which has been celebrated for ancient time in

different names and in different rituals coincidences with

the date March, 21 in which the day-time and the night is

equal, according to the Turkish Calendar with 12 Animals.

According to Turkish mythology, Nevruz is the date when

Turks left from Ergenekon Valley and gained their

independence. Ergenekon is the name of a legendary valley

where the Turks were trapped for four centuries- until a

blacksmith created a passage by melting rock, allowing

them to leave from the valley.

We celebrate 23 April National Sovereignty and

Childrens day every year with a big party, performances including poems, dances,games, songs .

PEACE AT HOME PEACE IN THE WORLD ATATURK

We celebrate 21 March as a spring festival in

Turkey . Nevruz is the good news of a new day

and spring, of nature blossoming with all its

beauty and majesty, and for our people it is the

expression of a plentiful day. It symbolizes the

bountiful, fertile and lively characteristics of the

awakening nature as well as the values of love,

fraternity, sharing, peace and friendship. Nevruz

is the day Mother Nature starts breathing again

and turns green in an act of resurrection

6

The is a religious festivity to celebrate the Wise Men that brought gifts of Jesus . It is also traditional festival for children : an ugly woman brings presents to children. Our proverb says: The Epiphany sweeps away all the festival

25

to celebrate the end of World War II and the LIBERATION of Italy from Nazi-fascism

1

Its the oldest non-religious holiday. In Italy it was celebrated the first time in 1891. The Italian Constitution says : The republic is based on work. So this is a workers day

2

The Italian Republic was founded on 2nd June 1946. The Italians chose the Republic instead of the Monarchy in a referendum

15

Religious festival :The Assumption of Virgin Mary in heaven This festivity has its roots in the Roman Empire for the birthday of imperator Augustus

1 NOVEMBER

We commemorate all the Saint of the world . This day is also called Memorial day

1st January - NEW YEAR DAY EASTER EASTER MONDAY Angel Monday

8th December IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

25th December CRHISTMAS

26th December SANTO STEFANO The first martyr of Christianity

Some of our holidays and festivals are:

It is celebrated the week leading up to Lent. People dress up

and go out to the street to participate in parades. There are

also groups of people that sing satirical songs cheerfully

mocking politicians, celebrities

These events culminate in the traditional Burial of the

Sardine. This marks the beginning of Lent when formally

dressed mourners carry a cardboard sardine and it is

buried in its coffin.

Holy Week is the annual commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods and fraternities that perform penance processions on the streets of almost every city and town during the last week of Lent, the week immediately before Easter. In the processions, many marchers wear clothes meant to depict the Nazarenos, people from Nazareth. The people who carry floats bearing sculptures and models of biblical scenes, called costaleros.

12th October is a national holiday in Spain. The Hispanity Day is celebrated commemorating the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America that day in 1492. That was the beginning of the "meeting of two worlds", which led to an exchange of cultures, food, resources, etc. between Europe and America. It is celebrated with military processions held in Madrid. It is also Saint Day for anyone called Pilar.

Holidays and festivals in Germany

Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit) 1st May

German Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) 3rd October

Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) Monday before Ash Wednesday

This holiday was

established in 1933 as an

official state holiday. Today,

Berlin witnesses yearly

demonstrations and

celebrations on May Day,

the largest organized by

labour unions, political

parties and others.

National holiday since

1990, commemorating

German reunification on

that date.

On this day schools are closed and

people celebrate ending of the

carnival. Celebrations usually

include dressing up in fancy

costumes, dancing, parades and

general public displays with floats.

Usually sweets and tulips are

thrown into the crowd.

Red letter days celebrated in Wales

Dydd Santes Dwynwen - 25th January Dydd Santes Dwynwen is considered to be the Welsh equivalent to Valentine's Day and is celebrated on 25th January every year. It celebrates Dwynwen: she is the Welsh saint of love.

Valentine's Day - 14th February Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a holiday observed on February 14th each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a holiday in most of them.

Saint David's Day - 1st March Saint David's Day, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March each year. The first day of March was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David. Tradition holds that he died on that day in 569.The date was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century.

Halloween- 31st October Halloween] is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It initiates the triduum of Hallowmas, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.

Guy Fawkes Night- 5th November Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member o the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords.

Greek Red Letters Days

January 1st: Feast of St Basil. This is associated with a good

start for the New Year.

January 6th:Epiphany,the baptism of Jesus, is

celebrated throughout Greece when the Blessing

of the Waters takes place.

January 30th: The Three Holy Hierarchs. Commemoration of the

patron saints of education .

Clean Monday or Kathari Deftera 40 days before Easter,

marks the first day of lent and it is customary to go out

in the country and fly paper kites.

March 25th: Independence Day, is the Greek National

Anniversary and a major religious holiday. This

celebrates Greece's victory in the war of Independence

against the Ottomans who had occupied the country for

400 years.

Easter Sunday is the biggest church holiday in Greece.

May 1st or Protomagia, is Labor day and the Feast

of the Flowers.

August 15th: The day of the Panagia (Virgin Mary). This is

one of the biggest religious holidays and

especially on the island of Tinos this day is

celebrated like no other.

The 28th October is Ochi Day, celebrating the

Greek refusal to let Italy occupy the country during

WWII.

The 17th of November Polytechneio Day, is the anniversary

of the student uprising at the Polytechnic University in

Athens in 1973. The demonstrations against the military

dictatorship gained momentum and was crushed when tanks

broke down the gates of the university killing many

students.

Christmas celebration on the 25th of December is the second

most important religious holiday in Greece, after Easter.

Red letter days /Austria

New years day: On this day we celebrate the beginning oft he new year. At midnight we have mostly a big party

with champagne and a buffet. We share a collection of good luck charm. We say Prosit new year and

continue the party. The day itself is not so important- we are tired because of the party,but well have

sometimes a lunch together with the family and friends.

Twelfth day (6.1.): On this day children walk around looking like the three holy kings from bethlehem

Kaspar,Melchior and Balthazar and collect money for poor regions or por people. Thats the end of our

christmas time.

Easter Sunday/ Monday : On that day we celebrate the end of Easter-Easter begins on Holy Thursday with the

tradition to eat spinach, then Good Friday-we dont eat meat on that day and dont drink alcohol, it was a day

without cinema or theatre and on television without advertisment and comedies, now it isnt any more like

that.We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Labour Day (1.5.): It is a free day with a big military show in Vienna and a march of the Social Democratic Party

of Austria.

Ascension (29.5.2014): This is a religious holy day and we celebrate it always on Thursday- when depends on

the moon.

Pentecost: A holy day celebrated on Sunday and Monday is celebrated because oft he spirit oft he pneuma.

Corpus Christi: It is celebrated with a procession carrying the Corpus Christi throught the street.

Ascension Day (15.8.)

National Day (26.10.): We celebrate the treaty after the Second World War.

All Hallows (1.11.) It is a day for the deceased: We go to the Cemetery to light candles.

( 8.12.) Conception Marias