Thanksgiving in Canada is celebrated on the second Monday of October each year and it’s an official statutory holiday — 【小题1】 in PEI, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — however federally regulated institutions do observe Thanksgiving in those 【小题2】 (province ) too. In the US thanksgiving is 【小题3】 fourth Thursday in November.

The 【小题4】 (origin) idea is to give thanks for the past harvest season but for many Canadian families the tradition 【小题5】 (change) over time and the focus is now to get together with family and eat a large turkey dinner. Apple cider is a must for any traditional thanksgiving 【小题6】 (celebrate) as well as turkey stuffing and pumpkin pie.

The first Thanksgiving holiday was 【小题7】 (actual) held in Canada in 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a serious illness. After 1879 celebrations were held every year but not always in October — it used to be observed around Armistice Day in November.

At the Crawford Lake conservation area (Milton, ON) a path around the lake has pictures and short stories of native people and their celebrations. One of the stories 【小题8】 (be) about thanksgiving; it starts with this sentence, 【小题9】 reads “Thanksgiving to native Indians was a way of everyday life rather than a one-day celebration.” Take a few minutes 【小题10】 (think) about this quote.

Holi is the festival of colors. It is 【小题1】 (usual) celebrated during February or March. The festival is observed 【小题2】 a full moon day. It celebrates the victory of good over evil, 【小题3】 (mark) the beginning of the spring season.

Holi is a social 【小题4】 (celebrate). The entire community comes together to celebrate the festival of colors. In the evening, Holika is burnt. A great pile of wood, 【小题5】 (branch) and dried grass is made to represent Holika, which is set on fire afterwards.

On the day of Holi, people splash (泼) each other with a colored powder (粉末) 【小题6】 ( call) “gulal”. Then all dance excitedly. A common sight on the festival day is 【小题7】 people through the streets and roads are carrying a pot with colored water. It is time for revelry (狂欢). Though in the past only 【小题8】 (nature) colors made from flowers and products were used, 【小题9】 case is different today. Now, man-made colors are used. Balloons filled with colored water 【小题10】 (throw) at anybody. No one questions this act as it is a part and parcel of the festivity.

Each year, the women of Olney, England, and Liberal, Kansas, compete in 【小题1】 unusual footrace. Dressed in 【小题2】 (apron) and headscarves, they wait at both towns’ starting lines. Each woman holds a frying pan 【小题3】 one pancake inside. At the signal, the women flip their pancakes and they are off.

This “pancake racing” tradition is said to have started on Shrove Tuesday, 1445, in Olney, 【小题4】 is the day before the Christian season of Lent(大斋期) begins. During Lent, many people decide to give up sugary or fatty foods.

Legend says that in 1445, an Olney woman 【小题5】 (make) pancakes to use up some of her sugar and cooking fats before Lent. She lost track of time and 【小题6】 (sudden) heard the church bells ring, signaling the 【小题7】 (begin) of the Shrove Tuesday service. 【小题8】 (realize) that she was going to be late for church, she 【小题9】 (race) out, still wearing her apron and headscarf and holding her frying pan with a pancake in it.

In the following years, the woman’s neighbors imitated her dash to church, 【小题10】 pancake racing was born. Olney women continue this Shrove Tuesday tradition more than five hundred years later.