Dia De Gracias

Thanksgiving Day.
In the United States, the modern tradition of Thanksgiving Day has its origins in 1621, at a celebration in Plymouth, in the present state of Massachusetts. There is also evidence that Spanish explorers in Texas held celebrations on the continent earlier in 1598, and celebrations of thanksgiving in the colony of Virginia. The festival was held in 1621 in gratitude for a goodharvest. In later years, the tradition continued with civil leaders such as Governor William Bradford, who planned to celebrate the day and fast in 1623. Since the beginning the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native tribe helped the Pilgrims giving seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of conducting a harvest festival like this didnot become a regular tradition New England until the late 1660s.
According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been inspired by the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, when they lived in Leiden.
Traditions
Family Dinner
Most people in the United States celebrate this holiday with familygatherings in their homes where they prepare a feast. It is common in many homes offer a prayer of thanks. The traditional main course for dinner is a big roast turkey or baked. This turkey is traditionally served with a filling made cornbread and sage. It is traditionally served with jelly or cranberry sauce. Besides vegetable dishes are usually served as green beans (green beans, green beans),sweet potatoes (yams, sweet potato) and mashed potatoes with gravy, a gravy made from turkey, also often served a variety of desserts , pumpkin pie being the most popular. It is also common to prepare the pecan pie and apple.
Parade in Manhattan
Annually the department store chain Macy's made ​​a big parade through the streets of Manhattan, New York, which attracts millions of people to theBroadway to see the huge giant balloons and witness the guest performances.
Start shopping season
Most businesses and offices are closed on this day. Some stores, malls, restaurants and bars are open. The Friday following the party's traditional opening of the holiday shopping season. This day is known as Black Friday. Stores and shops all offer bargain prices and many people come from the earlymorning to the malls.

Halloween.
History
Celtic influencesThough the origin of the word Halloween is Christian, the holiday is commonly thought to have pagan roots. Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of thedead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to theCeltic festival of Samhain", which comes from the Old Irish for "summer's end". Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic (Irish, Scottish and Manx) calendar. It was held on or about October 31 – November 1 and kindred festivals were held at the same time of year in other Celticlands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall) and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany). Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. This was a time for stock-taking and preparing forthe cold winter ahead; cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and livestock were slaughtered. In much of the Gaelic world, bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them.[16] Some of these rituals hint that they may once have involved human sacrifice. Divination games or rituals were also done at Samhain.
Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a time when the 'door' to...