Unfortunately for me, it’s almost summer, which is my absolute least favorite time of the year…but instead of counting down the days until Christmas (and the start of my favorite time of year, aka winter), I thought I’d share a bit about all the other holidays we tend to celebrate in our diversified household. Having lived in so many places, we seem to have collected quite a few holidays over the years, and honestly, once you start celebrating them, it’s really hard to stop! So here are a few of our favorite international holidays/traditions that we’ve picked up along the way:
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day / Fête Nationale
Since it’s coming up on June 23rd /24th, and it’s a major holiday in our current home, I think it’s only right to start with Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day also known as La Fête Nationale! This holiday is celebrated in the province of Quebec and in other Francophone communities around Canada. Originally, it was a religious feast day honoring John the Baptist, but over the years it has morphed into a celebration of all things Québécois and Francophone. Here in Québec City, there is a huge concert every year in the park and lots of free workshops and activities around the city showcasing the region’s traditional music, the French language, and other cultural cornerstones. It’s also the unofficial start of summer, so pretty much everyone will be outside in one way or another, enjoying the festivities, a freshly grilled meal, and/or a cold boisson or two out on a patio. Any way you look at it, c’est une bonne fête!
Día de la Independencia
As Americans, we often celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which irritates a lot of Mexicans because the 5th of May is NOT Mexican Independence Day! It’s actually not much of a holiday there at all, so stopping tagging your Mexican friends when you’re eating tacos on what is basically just another US holiday. Instead, you should tag them on September 15th/16th, which is Mexico’s actual Día de la Independencia. Okay, so I know this is the second holiday in a row where I’ve included two dates of celebration, and that’s actually more common than you might think. In Mexico’s case, it’s because the celebrations actually start at night with the Grito de Dolores, which commemorates the historic call to arms that began the Mexican War of Independence. Of course, after the historic speech, patriotic chants, and some bell ringing, modern celebrations generally conclude with a fireworks show and a big fiesta! ¡Viva México!
(Canadian) Thanksgiving
Okay, back to Canada for the next one because the second Monday of October is Thanksgiving here. Did you know Canada celebrated Thanksgiving? And that it takes place over a month earlier than in the US? Well, this was news to us when we first moved here, but since this is one of my favorite holidays, we happily celebrate both every year! Feasts associated with giving thanks were quite common in both Europe and the New World, and because different groups were thankful for different things that happened on different days, the continent actually ended up with a few such holidays. In Canada, Thanksgiving was officially declared a national holiday in 1879, but the fixed date we have now wasn’t actually standardized until 1957. These days, Canadian Thanksgiving tends to lean heavily into the harvest festival vibes. For example, this is when we start seeing a lot more pumpkins, both for decoration and for the big meal that usually takes place the weekend before the day off. But to me, the best thing about celebrating Thanksgiving in October is the fact that there’s absolutely no interference with Christmas decorations!
Día de Muertos
Easily one of the most unique holidays we get to celebrate every year, Día de Muertos is so much more than the brief glimpse you get in the movie Coco. It’s celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, but much like Christmas, there’s a long period of preparation and decoration beforehand. In short, these festive days are a celebration of the spirits of people who have passed away (the first is specifically for children, and the second for adults). As part of the celebration, you’ll see millions of cempasúchil (marigolds), papel picado (colorful banners), and ofrendas (altars) all meant to guide, welcome, and celebrate those not with us anymore. Unlike most remembrance holidays though, Día de Muertos isn’t a somber event at all – it’s another fiesta! It’s a time for family and friends to come together and celebrate life with all the classics: music, games, and plenty of food and drink!
Double 11
Going in a wildly different direction, on November 11th each year, we also get to take part in Double 11. Sometimes referred to as Singles Day, Double 11 is a holiday (of sorts) that’s celebrated in China and now, beyond. It originated as a sort of anti-Valentine’s Day, a day in which you treated yourself to something special regardless of your relationship status. A common, funny treat would often be Pocky as they resemble the date: 11/11, but eventually, other companies caught on to the trend, and now Double 11 is the largest online shopping “holiday” in the world. You can find deals on just about every major online retailer, and much like on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Boxing Day, every year, companies try to outdo themselves, essentially creating an entire month of shopping frenzy!
Andrzejki Day
Andrzejki Day (or Saint Andrew’s Day) is a curious little holiday that we first celebrated in Poland. It takes place on the evening of November 29th, and is one of the witchiest holidays I’ve ever celebrated, which makes sense because its origins date back to medieval Europe when fortune telling was all the rage. Essentially, Andrzejki Day is a time for young people to conduct a series of activities meant to give them a glimpse into their future. One of the most common methods is pouring hot wax through an old key into cold water and interpreting the shapes that form, but my favorite is peeling an apple, throwing the peel over your shoulder, and deciphering the letter it most resembles (which is naturally going to be the first letter of your future spouse’s name). These days, it’s not taken very seriously, but what a great excuse to gather and do something fun and unique! Even though it’s been more than a decade since my first Andrzejki Day, I still like to peel an apple every once and a while because somehow, I have yet to get a W or a T!
Chinese New Year
Skipping over all the holidays that take place in December (since I’ve already written about Christmastime in Poland, China, and Mexico), we’ll jump right into Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year, which is China’s celebration of the Lunar New Year, starts on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar (generally in late January/early February). When people say this is the biggest and most important holiday in China, they absolutely mean it because the celebrations are multi-faceted, and they last for weeks! There’s the annual cleaning to start the year off right; the colorful decorations (like the fu symbols, couplets, lanterns, etc.) which bring good luck and fortune; the televised gala that everyone watches; the red packets full of money that you get and give all week long; the acrobatic lion dances that seem impossible but also so fun, and, of course, tons of incredible holiday food. The more I write here, the more I want to write an entire post about Chinese New Year! Maybe next year, which is the Year of the Sheep by the way.
Pączki Day
I promise Poland has a lot of serious holidays too, but those are not the ones I chose for this particular list lol! The last holiday I want to shed some light on here is one that I think we can all get behind, and that is Pączki Day. Pączki are Polish donuts, and they enjoy a special day on what a lot of people call Fat Tuesday (of course, in Poland they actually celebrate it on the Thursday, but if you want to eat donuts all week, I won’t judge). Like Fat Tuesday (or Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday or whatever you want to call it), Pączki Day falls before the traditional fasting season of Lent; therefore, historically, this was the day to eat all sorts of fatty, sugary treats before being good for the next forty days. Of course, there’s no rule that says you have to fast in order to enjoy a pączek on this day, and thanks to Poland’s wide diaspora, you might even be able to find pączki in your city. We’ve found them in Chicago, Orlando, and Ottawa, but in the spirit of international holiday celebration, I think any donut will do!
So happy holidays everyone!
The second New Year (also known as the Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year) has come and gone, and with it, possibly our last long winter break off together. Just like last year, the Chinese university semester break coincides with the holiday giving us several weeks off, which, of course, we put to good use! My program had its mid-year meeting and conference in the Philippines this year, and somehow, Tucker and I managed to squeeze in three (and a half) other destinations on our island hopping itinerary. You might have seen the hundreds of photos on Facebook, but I’d also like to share a few words about our time traveling in South Asia. To be honest, it’s a little surreal to be writing this as I watch the snow fall outside, but here we go!
Our first stop was Macau, a “special administrative region” of China. It gets this rather long name due to it being somewhere in between a province and another country entirely. It’s a part of China, but it’s also not China, which is actually one of the reasons we wanted to visit. We wanted to see if there were any noticeable differences. We also wanted to visit because we were eager for another taste of Portugal. Macau used to be a Portuguese colony and has retained quite a bit of the Portuguese flair in architecture, food, and language.
After a few days of strolling around Macau’s narrow alleyways, we took a massive speed boat (TurboJet) to our next destination just across the water: Hong Kong. This was actually our second trip to Hong Kong, but last time we didn’t quite get to everything on our list – this short stopover on the way to Midyear was our second chance. We had less than 24 hours in the city, but we managed to make it out to Lantou Island to see the incredible Buddha and cableway there, we took the bus to the top of Victoria Peak to watch the sunset over the city, and we went to Tim Ho Wan for the world’s cheapest Michelin Star eats. While I definitely preferred Macau’s laid back, European vibes, it’s hard to not like Hong Kong as well. Macau and Hong Kong are a couple of tiny islands (and respective peninsulas) that I highly recommend everyone to visit! No visas needed for US citizens! :)
All too soon it was time to fly to the Philippines and get to work. When we first landed in the Philippines it was chaos! Passengers getting up and grabbing their bags before the plane had stopped moving; people sitting on seemingly every inch of the floor in the airport; signs for flight changes being moved by hand from gate to gate; loud cover songs of 2000’s hits playing in every corner of the terminal, etc. All I could think was “Well, we’re definitely not in China anymore.” As we sat waiting for our flight though, the newness wore off, and it was easy to see that the Philippines are just plain fun! In fact, their national slogan is “It’s more fun in the Philippines”, and I totally got it. Smiles were everywhere! The flight attendants wore bright yellow polos and hummed songs as we boarded. Fellow passengers sang along with the music they heard on the plane. The joy was contagious!
The first week we were in the Philippines I had to “work”. I attended meetings with the other Fellows, we planned and executed various group activities, and generally bonded and reconnected after our last five months apart in our various host cities/countries. For this part of Midyear, we were put up in a resort on Mactan Island, which was incredibly fancy and not the sort of place Tucker and I usually go for (I’ve never heard so many “yes ma’ams” and “hello sirs” in my life). It was beyond beautiful though, and luckily Tucker was able to take full advantage of the beach, the snorkeling, the infinity pool, etc. However, after a few days completely devoid of local culture, I was definitely ready to get to our next location: Cebu City. It was here that we attended and presented at a local teacher training conference held at the University San Jose Recoletos. Easily my favorite part of Midyear, I was able to meet and interact with many local Filipina/o teachers and get a much better feel for what life in the Philippines is really like.
Once the conference and Midyear were officially over, Tucker and I hadn’t quite had our fill of the Philippines, so we headed to Manila for some good old-fashioned touristing. Manila is an incredible city with some of the best food I’ve had in a long while. Their specialty seemed to be fusion restaurants. We had super interesting and delicious food at Loco Manuk (Filipino, Peruvian, and Chinese) and El Chupacabra (Filipino and Mexican), and saw a Japanese-French Cafe that looked amazing as well! In addition to the incredible food, we also had a great time walking around Manila Bay, grabbing a drink in Intramuros (the Old Town), and watching the Super Bowl at a local expat bar. The Philippines boasts an amazing mix of languages and cultures, and it was so fun for us to be able to use English (commonly spoken there) to ask about a million questions of our taxi drivers, servers, and any other local we could find. We learned about the strong influence of Catholicism in the Philippines, the new-ish movement towards environmental clean up, and most of all, we learned how welcoming and friendly the people are.
At this point we were over the halfway mark of our trip, and my body had had enough. I left Manila with a fever and several other ailments (not so fun to describe), but I was still super excited to see Singapore! We watched Crazy Rich Asians on another leg of this trip in preparation, but the movie doesn’t do the city justice. It is by far the cleanest city I’ve ever seen, and has represented its multicultural population incredibly well! Singapore is made up of large groups of ethnic Chinese, Malays, and Indians, and each has a dedicated area of the city where you can find their respective religious buildings, restaurants, and specialized grocery stores. Even with the diverse neighborhoods in place, the city as a whole really seems to cater to each group in so many ways. Colorful, artistic, and clearly very well-off, there are so many lovely parks and public spaces in this city, where we saw families wearing everything from tank tops and sundresses to saris and hijabs. I often talk about places where there is a mix of cultures, but its usually a watered down mix, where clearly one culture has dominated, but in Singapore they were all there loud and proud. It was amazing!
It turns out KL was full of surprises for us. The majority of people living in Malaysia are Muslim, so it was much more conservative than I was expecting. Most everyone wore long sleeves and pants despite the high temperatures, and the presence of beautiful and delicious “mocktails” was at an all time high for me. KL is actually not on an island, and to us, it seemed like we lost that friendly, carefree island-vibe as soon as we arrived. Interactions were a bit more abrupt and businesslike – like they usually are, I suppose. Another surprise was the color we saw all around us – both the Philippines and Singapore were incredibly colorful cities, but I think any city would be hard pressed to match the vibrancy of KL. Brightly colored murals everywhere, some of the lushest, greenest trees I’ve ever seen against the bluest of skies, and the insanely colorful Batu Caves just outside the city made for some incredible scenes (and photos).
Dani Francuz Rose 