When? October the 31 Why? It has its origins in the Catholic Church. One story from the fifth century BC, says that this night all the people who had died during the year, came back to Earth to find a living body to posses for the new year. This was their only hope for \"the afterlife\". At this time the 31 of October was the New Years Eve. Naturally the living didn\'t want to be possessed, so on this night they extinguished the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They dressed up and paraded around the neighborhood in order to scare the ghosts away. The custom of Halloween in the 1840\'s by Irish immigrants. The favorite custom of Halloween, the \"trick or treating\", is probably taken from the 9:th century\'s Europeans, who had a thing \"all souls day\". They went from house to house begging for \"soul cakes\", made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would say for the dead relatives of the donors. Today Halloween is a very popular tradition and it\'s often very good time for the salesmen. How? The kids dress up and go trick or treating, which means that they go from house to house and ask \"trick or treat\". Then people are supposed to give them candy, but if they don\'t the kids will do a little trick, like throw eggs on their house. Halloween is mostly a kids holiday. The colors of Halloween is orange and black. The pumpkin is a very important thing, people eat it in pies, in cakes, in candy, just as it is and they carve in scary faces and puts a light in it to make it look really scary! Halloween is famous for being a really scary night and there are lots of horror movies that are based on the theme. When? December 25:th. Why? The Americans celebrate Christmas for the same reason as we do, the birth of our lord, Jesus Christ. How? People eat \"Christmas dinner\" on the night before Christmas, the 24:th of December. One important thing on the table that night is the turkey. They open their presents in the morning of the 25:th. They put them in socks that hang by the fireplace, so that Santa Claus will see them when he comes down the chimney. Since the socks aren\'t that big, they put the rest of the presents under the Christmas tree. Some important symbols of Christmas is the mistletoe, a special flower called poinsettias (\"julstjärna\"), the Christmas tree, the candy cane and of course mister Santa Claus! A little about Santa Claus. From the beginning Santa Claus was a real person, his name was St Nicholas. He was one of the most popular Christian saints. Very little is known about him, he lived during the 4:th century in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor. The transformation from St Nicholas into Santa Claus began in Germany, they started to call him \"Kriss Kringle\", which means Christ child. People started to associate him with Christmas and gift giving. From Germany it spread to France, where he\'s called \"Père Noël\". In the Dutch colony of new Amsterdam (now New York City) he was called \"Sinter Klaes\", which became Santa Claus. On the night between the 24:th and 25:th he flies, drawn by his nine reindeers. They are called: Rudolph (the leader), Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donner, Blitzen, Cupid and Comet. He also has about 200 elves to help him. There often is a Santa Claus in every mall in USA, here can the kids sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. When? Easter must always be celebrated on a Sunday somewhere between March 22 and April 25, its date is tied to the lunarcycle. Why? As with almost all holidays that has its roots in Christianity, Easter has become secularized and commercialized. The meaning of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication. Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had it\'s non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival. The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a festival called Eastre. When the Christian missionaries converted the tribes of the north they learned some of their traditions and holidays. The name Easter was adopted, the holiday, though, is celebrated to honor the memory of Jesus\' crucifixion and return from the dead. How? They celebrate Easter almost as we do, with Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday as holy days. They have dinner and think of Jesus who sacrificed himself for mankind. The symbols of Easter are the colored eggs, which is a symbol of re-birth, the Easter bunny, who was a goddess that the Anglo-Saxons worshipped, her symbol was a rabbit and of course the cross, which is symbol of the Crucifixion. One of the children\'s favorite tradition is when they go \"egg-hunting\", it\'s when they look for hidden eggs filled with candy. When? The fourth Thursday in November. Why? After summer people were grateful for the food God had given them during the summer. They thanked him with a special day in the autumn, called Thanksgiving, cause that\'s just what they do, give their thanks to God. It\'s a very old tradition, George Washington proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1789. How? They eat, eat and EAT! That\'s what Thanksgiving is all about; eating! \"No Thanksgiving dinner without turkey with herb stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie\"! (an American man about his Thanksgiving) It\'s only celebrated in Canada and USA. And it\'s also a big family holiday and people from all over the country travels to get together with their families. They pray a lot and thank God for the food and the family.