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Beginning with New Year's Eve on December 31st, festivities around the coming of each new year* vary widely around the world. For many people, the New Year, celebrated as soon as the clock strikes midnight and December 31st becomes January 1st, represents a time of celebrating the accomplishments of the previous year and looking forward to new beginnings and opportunities to set and pursue goals, both old and new. Because of this, many people make "new year's resolutions" to help them commit to changes they might want to embrace in their lives. 

*This celebration refers to the new year according to the 12 month Gregorian calendar.

Initially proposed just four days after his assassination, the holiday that commemorates the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. falls on the third Monday in January.* While it took many years and the combined efforts of a number of individuals,** Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day is now observed throughout the nation and is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service intended to encourage Americans to volunteer to help within their communities.*** 

* Dr. King's actual birthday was January 15th, 1929.

**It took 15 years (from 1968 - 1983) to establish a day in honor of Dr. King at the federal level and 17 more years (from 1983 - 2000) for the holiday to become universally recognized at the state level. Some of the individuals included in the efforts to signify the holiday in Dr. King's honor were John Conyers (the Michigan Congressman who first proposed the bill in 1968 and helped to found the Congressional Black Caucus), Stevie Wonder (the world famous musician who wrote "Happy Birthday" in Dr. King's honor in 1980 and as a rallying cry for the recognition of his legacy), and Coretta Scott King (civil rights activist and wife of Dr. King).

***Inspired by Dr. King's life of service to his community, congressman John Lewis and former senator Harris Wofford proposed the King Holiday and Service Act which was passed in 1994 and designated the holiday as "a day on, not a day off" to encourage Americans to be proactive in volunteering to better their communities.

Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, takes place each year during the month of February during which time we celebrate and recognize the contributions and legacy of African Americans in shaping the history of the United States. Black History Month began as a week long celebration introduced in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a prominent African American historian.* Woodson designated the second week in February as his week long recognition of black history to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Black History month was officially recognized by the government and expanded into a month in 1976 when President Gerald Ford prompted the American public to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

Click here for more books that celebrate Black and African American experiences and characters!

*Woodson's celebration was called "Negro History Week". By the late 1960s, the week had expanded into a month on many college campuses, thanks in part to the civil rights movement.

Click here for more information about Black History Month.

Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year for people from East and Southeast Asia and is celebrated over multiple days. While the Lunar New Year has sometimes been called "Chinese New Year", the turning of the lunisolar year is celebrated by a number Asian cultures and is by no means exclusive to Chinese culture and heritage where it is called Chūnjié in Mandarin and is known as the Spring Festival. In Korean culture, the new year is known as Seollal and in Vietnamese culture, the celebration of the new year is known as Tết. 

Lunar New Year celebrations are based on the lunar calendar and begin with the second new moon after the winter solstice on December 21st and continues until the full moon arrives.* Each year of the lunar calendar is represented by one of twelve zodiac animals** and a number of special foods are eaten during the lunar new year celebrations to symbolize abundance, prosperity, good luck and community including noodles, dumplings, mandarin oranges, mooncakes, tteokguk, and foods that are red in color.

*The second new moon, which signified the start of the Lunar New Year celebrations, typically falls between January 21st and February 20th on the Gregorian calendar. 

**The animals of the zodiac celebrated each year during Lunar New Year are the rat, ox or buffalo, tiger, rabbit or cat, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Vietnam and China share 10 of the 12 zodiac animals but Vietnam recognizes the year of the cat rather than China's rabbit and the buffalo rather than China's ox.

Originally created to celebrate the George Washington's birthday, February 22nd, the scope of Presidents' Day has been informally expanded in some states to be a reflection on all of the individuals who have held the office of president and an opportunity to reflect on the nature and responsibilities of the presidency.* While Washington is the poster president for the holiday, Abraham Lincoln's birthday also fell on the 12th of February and so, particularly because of his accomplishments as president, he is often pictured alongside Washington in the iconography of the holiday. Presidents' Day is observed annually on the third Monday in February.

*George Washington's birthday is one of eleven federal holidays established by Congress and is still observed today with a traditional reading of Washington's Farewell Address during legislative session. Presidents' Day itself, as opposed to the February 22nd date of Washington's birth, has never been declared a national holiday so it is at the discretion of individual states to declare their own legal holidays. 

Originally celebrated for just one week in 1981, Women's History Month is a time when we celebrate the achievements of women throughout American history. From science and suffrage to art and athletics, during the month of March, we celebrate the resilient, brave, and brilliant women that are still fighting for recognition to this day.

Books About Individual Women

Holi