Holidays are times when family members and friends get together to express their love for each other. Many find the holiday seasons joyful because they bring a lot of cheer to people’s lives. There are many kinds of holidays so that even the dictionary has several definitions for the word, ‘holiday’. Some holidays like Christmas are holidays held to commemorate holy events that happened in the past. Also there are other holidays that show our ancestors’ way of thought and their customs.

To take a deeper look in the diversity of holidays, we must look back at the time when people did not acknowledge other people’s celebrations. Only a few decades ago, many religious groups have deemed it unnecessary to celebrate holidays that had no relation with their religion. When tensions were the most high, people showed their disapproval of religious holidays by strong actions. It was difficult to celebrate a religious event without the opposing sides’ disapprovals getting in the way. For instance, people who believed in Christian actually went to a temple on Buddha’s Birthdays and sang Christmas carols there. This event became quite an issue and caused more conflict between various religions.

However nowadays, people have started to embrace other religions and the holidays related to them. Thanks to the changes in these peoples’ behavior, the numbers and kinds of holidays have expanded over the past few decades. In fact, the holidays that the public is aware of, are actually only a minority of the huge number. An example of one unknown holiday is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. It is on May 21th and the United Nations set the day aside as an opportunity to deepen people’s understanding of the values of cultural diversity.

Also schools and public areas are now able to enjoy religious celebrations freely. It is now a common sight to see students who are not Christian, making Christmas cards for their relatives. Also leaders of different leaders are now taking part in each other’s holy celebrations with open hearts. Religious leaders and the public must keep their minds and hearts open to understand religious differences and celebrate the each others’ holidays with smiles.