Outline

• History and Legend or Legends of the festival

• Traditions, preparations, and adaptations for the festival

• Significance of Dragon Boat Racing to culture, diversity, and history.

• Reasons for why people persist in maintaining holidays/traditions of which they  may  only be marginally knowledgeable/passionate about.

Research

• http://www.asianweek.com/2008/10/02/dragon-boating-not-just-for-asians/

(Dragon Boat racing and it’s significance to society and culture)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GQpyw41M-k

(History and Legend of festival along with making Zong zi. Video also depicts different tastes people living in the north and south parts of China have for zong zi)

• http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/events/festival-dragon-boat-racing.html

(Unique way of celebrating the festival in West Lantau, China)

• http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/08/content_8326884.htm

(Festival becomes a National Holiday for the 1^st time)

• http://www.chinainfoonline.com/Chinese_Festivals/Dragon_Boat_Festival.htm

(Another legend to the festival)

Questions

Can I use Youtube videos like the one above for my project, if given permission by the creator of the video?

Got any recommendations, suggestions, tips, and/or advice for me?

Comment

Let me know what you think! =)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/nyregion/01muslim.html

I found this article while I was researching for Muslim holidays.

I thought this could be a great resource for Gayoung’s proposal (and also for me too!)

• CRS (Congressional Research Service) Report for Congress – 1999: http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/Federal_Holidays.pdf
• Jewish Review: http://www.jewishreview.org/node/11966
• Religious Holidays in Public Schools: http://www.freedomforum.org/publications/first/findingcommonground/B08.Holidays.pdf
• Easy Reader News: http://www.easyreadernews.com/1166/jewish-holidays-added-to-school-calendar/
• Daily News, Bloomberg’s Refusal: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-07-01/local/17928149_1_muslim-holidays-mayor-bloomberg-eid-al-adha
• About.com: http://atheism.about.com/od/religioussymbolsholidays/a/schoolholidays_2.htm
• CV Times – School closings related to numbers: http://www.chagrinvalleytimes.com/NC/0/220.html
• Staten Island Tech HS Newspaper, Op Ed: http://www.thetechhorizon.com/?p=25
• Boston News – Schools closing for Muslim holidays, reasons why: http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/10/10/school_system_to_get_muslim_holiday/?page=2

I had a random thought that maybe we should organize our final website by month? I thought maybe instead of having 17 or so different tabs with everyone’s specific topic, maybe we could do it by month. I don’t know exactly when each person’s holiday falls, but maybe we could create like an interactive calendar on the homepage that links to our specific holidays on their date. Obviously, if all of our holidays occur in only a handful of months, then it won’t be as nice looking but if our holidays are fairly spread out throughout the year, I think it could be a cool way of organizing the site.

I would like to concentrate my project on the Swedish holiday of Midsummer’s Eve. This is one of my favorite holidays, because it is so fun and unique. I think it would be interesting to explore just because it is so different from other well-known and widely celebrated holidays. Midsummer’s Eve takes place on the Friday that occurs between June 19^th and June 26^th. This is the longest day of the year and in some parts of northern Sweden it stays light out the whole night. One of the main components of Midsummer’s Eve is the maypole. It is usually set up in the middle of a bare grassy space in the shape of a cross and then decorated with leaves and flowers. The people celebrating are supposed to make wreaths with native Swedish leaves and wildflowers for their hair. They then partake in traditional singing and dancing around the maypole for a good portion of the night. One of the most well known songs is “Små Grodorna,” which translates as “Little Frogs.” This song consists of dancing around the maypole with the sounds and movements of a frog. Many of the songs are extremely silly, but several of them date back hundreds of years and have great meaning behind them. I think one reason that Midsummer’s Eve is such a popular holiday is that it celebrates the start of summer in Sweden, which is why it is such a cheerful event. Summers are short in Scandinavia and it is cause for great celebration when the long, dark winter finally ends.

There is a Swedish Midsummer Festival in Battery Park every year and it is now the third largest midsummer celebration in the world. The celebration has been growing larger each year and is attended by many non-Swedes, showing the growing popularity of this holiday. This holiday is celebrated in several other countries, such as England and Spain, and I would like to explore how it has transferred over to New York from these cultures. I would also like to investigate why midsummer is so much more popular in Sweden than it is in other countries that celebrate it. Though the Sweden-born population in New York is not very large, there are many Scandinavian Americans who live here and who hold onto the Swedish traditions, though they have been in the United States for several generations. Midsummer’s Eve is such an interesting and special holiday and deserves to be discussed in our NYC Holidays project.

Below is a link to a video of people dancing to the song “Små Grodorna:”

For the class project, I would like to explore the holiday of Easter. I chose this topic specifically because it is a big to-do in my family and because it will be occurring soon. From coloring Easter eggs, to not eating meat on fridays, to going to church, to having the family over, my Catholic upbringing has given me a very specific view of Easter. However, many different families of different cultures, religions, and backgrounds have their own unique way of celebrating this holiday. The choice of the main course by different nationalities, for example is an interesting specificity.

Associated with the holiday are public and governmental issues such as school closings for both Easter and Passover depending on when either holiday falls.

Due to its timely occurrence and vast observance by many different cultures, I think this will make for an extensive research opportunity and greatly add to our classes website.

Picture From: http://www.graphicsdb.com/img68071.htm