Holidays around the world to celebrate with our children in October.

When September ends, the next month begins. HealthStart loves to celebrate the different holidays around the world in October. In the month of October there are several holidays to highlight- from Yom Kippur in India to Halloween in the United States.

Let’s discover together how people celebrate these holidays!

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 Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is a holiday in the Jewish calendar. It means the Day of Atonement. This is a day when people seek forgiveness from God for their sins. They have two religious books: theTorah and the Bible. In addition to Yom Kippur, there are many celebrations and important dates throughout the year.
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Before Yom Kippur begins, people have two big meals to prepare. If kids ask for honey cakes, they start the year eating sweets. This means they will have a sweet year. 
During Yom Kippur, people ask God to forgive them for things they’ve done wrong; if they have wronged friends, they have to ask them for forgiveness before they ask God for forgiveness. 
They spend close to 26 hours fasting, which means no food and no drink;  They are also not allowed to wear leather things, take a shower, or even have makeup on. They also don’t turn the electricity on or off, which means no phones, no TV, or laptops.  

Many Jewish People go to the synagogue and pray a lot during Yom Kippur. Then, when night falls, a unique trumpet made from a ram’s horn called a shofar is sounded, which marks the end of Yom Kippur. The shofar symbolizes the closing of Yom Kippur. This is when they can finish fasting.
Everyone sings and dances and knows God has blessed them with a good year. The fasting is broken with a big feast. 

 WHEN? 
This year Yom Kippur begins on Tuesday, October 4th, and ends on the evening of  Wednesday, October 5th.   

                                                               Activities to celebrate!

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Día de los Muertos or Day of the dead

Día de los Muertos is a celebration by the people of Mexico and some parts of Latin America, that honors and commemorates the death. It combines indigenous rituals with the Catholic holidays of all Spirits and Saints.
This day is honored by decorating altars with pictures of ancestors with candles, favorite food, and sugar skulls.

The Day of the Dead celebration begins with a traditional Aztec dance.  Feathered headdresses are worn during a dance to call the spirits.Participants of the festival wear masks and dance down the street. In addition, there are great treats, cakes, tacos, and tamales to eat. 

Folk dancers and singers perform at the beautiful festival. Marigolds are believed to guide the spirits to the altar using their vibrant colors and scents.
​Everyone gets their faces painted! Some of the most common images are giant skeletons and statues which honor the dead. The purpose is to bring the spirits to the celebration. 

At the end of the night, people  drink apple cider in a secret garden.

WHEN?

People believed that the spirits of the dead were allowed to visit their families on October 31st and leave on November 2nd. 

                                                         Decoration to celebrate!

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Diwali

Diwali is also known as the festival of life and is India's most significant holiday, celebrated in several South Asian countries.

This event is an important religious festival and it's celebrated mainly by three religions (Hindu, Sikh, and Jain), which describes the Christmas of India. 

This celebration is a perfect time for vibrant colors, bright fireworks, twirling lights, and delicious food. Diwali takes place every year in late October or early November, depending on the moon's cycle, the festival starts two days before the new moon comes up.
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It is a five-day celebration with a tradition of decorating and aluminizing homes and shops. This celebration honors the Hindu goddess of wealth. The lights and lamps guide her way back home and bring prosperity in the coming year.

Diwali is a time to have fun with friends and family. People exchange gifts and sweets, enjoy delicious treats, watch fireworks, and wear new colorful clothes. It is also a time to clean and decorate homes. It is an important celebration for millions of people worldwide, in which people wear their finest clothes.

WHEN?

This year, Diwali falls on Monday, October 24. The celebrations for this auspicious Hindu festival last for five days.                                                     

​                                                          Clothing to celebrate!

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Halloween

Halloween is the second most popular holiday in the United States, just after Christmas. This spooky holiday is a day that takes place every year on October 31st. Halloween is best known as a time of trick-or-treating, dressing up in costume, visiting haunted houses, telling scary stories, and so much more. 
Halloween is said to have originated from the ancient Celtic Festival called Samhain, which ends the harvest season. People believed that the Festival would make their gods happy so that they would protect their families and crops during the long hard winter that was to come. 

A long time ago, people believed that ghosts walked the streets on Halloween night, and people began to wear masks to fool the ghosts into thinking that they were other spirits. Soon after, people started to wear costumes to go with the masks.      

Today, people have fun dressing up in costumes such as their favorite movie monster or TV character. The more creative, the better!
 
Back in the day, people were not just afraid of meeting ghosts on Halloween night, they were also terrified that ghosts would come into their homes. They began leaving bowls of food outside their doors to scare the ghost from entering. 

Over time, people became less fearful of the old ghost stories and started eating the treats themselves. Some people say that was how trick-or-treating began.

Today, children and teenagers dress up in costumes, knock on neighbors' doors and say "trick or treat.”


WHEN? 

This year, Halloween is celebrated on Monday, October 31,2022. 

                                                     Creative Ideas to celebrate!

If you are interested in knowing more about the festivities that HealthStart celebrates every month, do not hesitate to subscribe to our Blog!