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Hispanic Heritage Month takes place every year from September 15th to October 15th. During this time, we celebrate the culture, history, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.*

The period from September 15th - October 15th is significant for a number of countries as several dates that mark their independence from colonial rule fall within this 30 day period. September 15th is a significant date as it is the anniversary of independence for the Latin American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and 18th, respectively. Moreover, October 12 commemorates or Día de la Raza which recognizes and honors the countries that were conquered by Spain and other European powers.

Click here for more books that celebrate Hispanic & LatinX experiences and characters!

*Formalized celebrations of Hispanic Heritage in the United States began in 1968 as a week under President Johnson and was expanded to a 30 day period under President Reagan in 1988.

Click here for more information about Hispanic Heritage Month.

Rosh Hashanah is known as the Jewish New Year and begins on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, which usually falls during September or October on the Gregorian calendar. The holiday commemorates the creation of the world in the Jewish faith and begins a 10 day period of introspection, repentance, fasting, and prayer which culminates in Yom Kippur. 

Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is considered the most important holiday in the Jewish faith

Click here for more information about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Celebrated on October 31st, Halloween is best known for pumpkin carving, spooky decorations, putting on costumes, and going door-to-door (or even neighbor-to-neighborhood) trick-or-treating for lots and lots of candy.

Halloween actually originated from an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "SAH-win"*) during which people would light bonfires and put on costumes to ward off ghosts. Certain traditions from this holiday got wrapped into the eve of All Saint's Day** which became known as "All Hallow's Eve" and, eventually, Halloween!

*The word "Samhain" ("SAH-win") comes from the Gaelic language. The Gaelic language is notorious for pronunciations that are unintuitive to modern English speakers.

**All Saint's Day is celebrated on November 1st (hence All Hallow's Eve, also known as Halloween, being observed on October 31st).

Native American Heritage Month is a national holiday celebrated in November each year. Originally proposed by Dr. Arthur C. Parker (of Seneca heritage) to the Boy Scouts of America as a day honoring the "First Americans", 1990 marked the first year that November was designated as Native American Heritage Month.* During this month, we recognize and celebrate the contributions of Native Americans, also known as American Indians or Indigenous Peoples, to the establishment, history, culture, and growth of the United States of America. 

There is also an Indigenous Peoples' Day, which is celebrated, instead of Columbus day, on the second monday of October in some states.

Click here for more comprehensive books that celebrate Native American experiences and characters of Indigenous heritage!

*Before the joint resolution under George H. W. Bush that established the celebration as a month, Parker's idea of the day was formally suggested in 1915 by the annual Congress of the American Indian Association and brought to President Coolidge. In the same year, Coolidge declared the second Saturday of each May, American Indian Day (which also coincided with the first formal appeal for recognition of Indigenous peoples as citizens of the United States. 

Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a celebrated from October 31st through November 2nd every year. While the holiday originated in Mexico*, people celebrated it in other Latin American countries and the United States. Families build ofrendas, decorate with papel picados & marigold flowers, eat pan de muerto and calaveras de azucar as they welcome back the souls of deceased relatives and loved ones. Some people create toys and food or put on costumes or make-up to resemble skulls or skeletons in celebration of the gathering of the living and the dead.

*Día de los Muertos celebrations are a mix of indigenous beliefs and traditions and Christian religion which was brought to South America by Spanish colonists who decimated the native populations through direct warfare and the inadvertent spread of disease and forced conversion on the indigenous population of the valley of Mexico. The native population notably included the Aztecs whose goddess Mictecacihuatl, known as "Lady of the Dead", still lends her iconography to some festivities during el Día de los Muertos. Many of the traditions of Día de los Muertos were also informed or inspired by All Saints' Day and other Christian traditions originating in Spain.

Diwali, also known as Divali or Deepavali, is a Hindu festival that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. Taking place over the course of five days, Diwali festivities takes many different forms often including families gathering together to light diyas (and sometimes fireworks), decorate homes with rangoli, and eat special foods like mithai.

While Diwali is celebrated in the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism**, it is also celebrated as a national holiday in India, Singapore, and a several other South Asian countries where people of all religions celebrate Diwali. The word Diwali comes from the Sanskrit term "deepavali" meaning "rows of lighted lamps". The festival occurs during Hindu month of Kartik, which usually falls from mid-October to mid-November on the Gregorian calendar, specifically during the new moon, the darkest period of the lunar calendar. 

*Diyas are decorative oil lamps made specifically for Diwali celebrations. Rangoli are colorful works of art made from colored rice, sand, or flowers and are made to welcome Lakshmi (a Hindu goddess associated with wealth and prosperity) into peoples homes. Mithai, meaning "sweet" in Hindi, refers to a range of delicious desserts that are often made for special occasions (like Diwali) and life milestones.

**Though Diwali is originally a Hindu festival, different religious traditions connect it to different stories. In Hinduism it celebrates the return of Prince Rama, his wife Sita, and brother Lakshman from 14 years of exile after their defeat of the evil king Ravana. In Jainism, it signifies the day when Lord Mahavira, last of the Jain Tirthankaras, achieved nirvana. In the Sihki religion (also known as Sikhism), it commemorates the freeing of the sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, from Emperor Jahangir, and in Buddhism, it is celebrated as the day Emperor Ashoka the Great embraced and began to promote Buddhism, also known as Ashok Vijayadashami. 

Thanksgiving Day is a sort of informal harvest festival that is usually celebrated through a large meal shared with family and friends during which people might share certain aspects of their lives for which they are thankful. Some foods traditionally included in the Thanksgiving holiday include (but are not at all limited to) turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is also notable for Macy's world famous Thanksgiving Day parade which has been taking place in New York City since 1924.

The origins of the Thanksgiving holiday go back to 1621, when a Wampanoag Indigenous community and European colonists shared in an autumn harvest feast.* Presidents of the United States beginning with George Washington himself designated days of thanks throughout the year until Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday taking place on the last Thursday in November. 

*Despite this rosy picture of peaceful coexistence, many Americans believe that Thanksgiving celebrations misrepresent the history of dehumanization, oppression, and bloodshed that characterized interactions between European colonists and the Indigenous populations of the Americas. 

Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah, meaning "dedication" in Hebrew) is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the courage and heroism of the rededication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem and the miracle of a one-day supply of oil lasting eight days.* During the eight days of Hanukkah, sometimes called the festival of lights, people celebrate by giving gifts, saying prayers, lighting the candles in a menorah, playing with dreidels, giving gelt and eating fried foods like sufganiyot and latkes.**

The central ritual of Hanukkah is the lighting of the menorah. On each of the eight night, the shamash ("attendant") candle in the center of the menorah is used to light another successive candle (from left to right) until all of the candles are lit with blessings said and songs sung, respectively, before and after the nightly candle lighting. 

*This event took place in 139 B.C.E. in Jerusalem. The jar of oil was the last of a supply that was used to light the menorah in the temple, and the only oil that had not been contaminated by the attacking Seleucid Greek forces who had been trying to force the Jewish people to accept Greek culture and beliefs and to forsake their faith. The Jewish people, led by Judah the Maccabee, though outnumbered and poorly armed were able to drive the Seleucids out of the Holy Land and reclaim the Holy Temple itself at which point the oil was needed to light the menorah.

**Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar which falls in November of December on the Gregorian calendar.

Suganiyot (singular sufganya) and latkes are the traditional foods of Hanukkah because they are fried (cooked in oil) which references the miracle of the oil at the center of the holiday. Sufganiyot are doughnuts that are often filled with jelly and latkes are pancakes made primarily with shredded potato that are often eaten either with sour cream or applesauce. 

It is customary to play with dreidels during Hanukkah celebrations. A spinning top with four sides, each side of the dreidel bears a Hebrew letter: nun, gimmel, hei, and shin which form an acronym for the Hebrew phrase "nes gadol hayah sham" - "a great miracle happened here" which references the miraculous longevity of the oil. 

Giving gelt, or gifts of money, to children is another aspect of the Hanukkah celebration. Giving children the opportunity to participate in tzedakah ("charity") gelt can also be given to reward diligence in Torah study. The tradition of giving gelt has also given rise to "chocolate gelt", chocolate discs made to look like coins and wrapped in gold-colored foil.

Celebrated on December 25th (and its eve on the 24th) each year, Christmas is a Christian religious holiday that has become a huge commercial enterprise worldwide involving a great deal of shopping for presents. For Christians, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ, whose teachings and sacrifice as a spiritual leader form the cornerstone of Christian beliefs.* 

Some Christmas traditions include attending church more regularly, gathering to sing Christmas carols, baking cookies, drinking egg nog, hanging stockings, putting up string lights (inside and outside alike) and decorating a Christmas tree. Decorating the tree often involves the following process: bringing a pine tree home to be placed in a stand and decorated with lights, tinsel, paper chains, ornaments, and any number of other objects (sometimes including food). Gifts given during the holiday, delivered by Santa Claus and otherwise, are traditionally placed under the tree to be opened on Christmas Day.**

*While Christianity celebrate the birth of Jesus during Christmas and have made Christmas a widely known holiday, many cultures and peoples around the world have traditions that celebrate light and birth during the long days of winter, particularly at times related to the winter solstice. In Scandinavia, the Norse peoples celebrated Yule in recognition of the "return" of the sun (as days grew longer) and would mark the occasion by bringing home large logs and setting fire to them. As the log burned, which could take as long as twelve days starting at the solstice, the people feasted, seeing in the sparks of the fire new life and fertility returning to their world. This practice likely gave rise to the burning of the "yule log" during the Christmas season.

**Today, Santa Claus is pictured and imagined as a jolly, fat man with a long white beard and a red suit trimmed with white fur who checks his list (twice) and travels around the world in a flying sleigh pulled by 8 (or 9 if you include Rudolph) reindeer, delivering presents to good children (and coal to the bad) via chimneys. Cookies and milk are sometimes included to sweeten the deal for Santa as he goes on his merry way. The story that gave rise to the modern Santa began in the third century B.C.E when Saint Nicholas–known for his piety, kindness, and generosity–became the patron saint of children in Catholicism. 

Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday that celebrates family, history, community, and culture and is based on seven principles called the Nguzo Saba, each of which reflects a particular value or concept important to cultures throughout the African continent.*

During the Kwanzaa holiday, families decorate a table with special items including a kinara, an mkeka, muhindi, mazao, and zawadi and each night for seven days, a new candle is lit in the kinara.** After the candle is lit, celebrants discuss a new principle among the Nguzo Saba before engaging in various creative activities such as storytelling, singing, dancing, poetry reading, and a large traditional meal.*** Kwanzaa begins on December 26th and concludes on January 1st. 

*The name Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits". "Nguzo saba" means "seven principles" in Swahili. The seven Nguzo Saba and their corresponding candles are as follows (according to their order during the days of Kwanzaa):

1. Umoja ("oo-MO-jah"): unity - represented by the black candle
2. Kujichagulia ("koo-jee-cha-goo-LEE-yah"): self-determination - represented by a red candle
3. Ujima ("oo-JEE-mah"): collective work and responsibility - represented by a green candle
4. Ujamaa ("oo-JAH-mah"): cooperative economics - red candle
5. Nia ("nee-YAH"): purpose - green candle
6. Kuumba ("koo-OOM-bah"): creativity -  red candle
7. Imani ("ee-MAH-nee"): faith - green candle

Of the seven Kwanzaa candles that fill the kinara, three are green, three are red, and one is black. These three colors (which also appear in the Pan-African flag) each have a symbolic meaning important to the holiday. Red symbolizes the struggle of African Americans throughout history, green symbolizes hope for the future, and black symbolizes the African American people as a whole.

When lighting the kinara, red candles go on the left, the black candle in the center, and the green candles on the right. The black candle is lit first on the day representing umoja (unity), followed by the red candle to the left of it (representing kujichagulia), then the green candle to the immediate right of the black candle (representing ujima) and so on outward from the center. 

**A kinara is the traditional Kwanzaa candleholder and contains seven holes. An mkeka is a mat made out of reeds, while muhindi refers an ear of corn. The mazao on the Kwanzaa table is fruit to represent the harvest, and zawadi are gifts.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University. Kwanzaa was created as a means of helping united the African American community in the wake of the Watts Rebellion (also known as the Watts Riots) and was the product of research in to the "first fruits" celebrations of a number of African cultural groups including the Ashanti and the Zulu.