December 26th is... Kwanzaa begins, Boxing Day, National Thank-you Note Day, National Whiner's Day, Recyclable Packaging Day, Awful Tie Day, National Candy Cane Day, National Coffee Percolator Day, Kitty Dukakis Day, Mummer's Day (UK), Proclamation Day (Australia), Day of Goodwill (South Africa), Day of the Wren (Ireland), Junkanoo (Bahamas), Saint Stephen's Day
PLUS - interesting books to read and free printables, paper crafts, kid crafts, activities, and coloring pages.
Want more Holidays to celebrate? Click for our Index of Holiday Freebies
Kwanzaa begins-- Kwanzaa is a pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 and celebrated from December 26th to January 1st. Source
Read: Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Kwanzaa
-- Over the course of seven days, African Americans, families, and friends, come together to light the candles symbolizing their past and future — and their unity. They gather as a community to make music and to dance; to feast on harvest foods and the good things of the earth; and to exchange simple, often homemade, gifts. Readers are introduced to the symbols of the holiday, such as the mkeka (a special placemat), kinara (candleholder), and kikombe cha umoja (unity cup). Important concepts, like the seven principles, are explained. In addition, a note from the book's consultant, aimed at parents and teachers, puts the holiday in its full cultural and historical perspective.
• Kwanzaa Pyramid Candleholder and Celebration Set -- All the key ingredients to celebrate Kwanzaa in style. Set includes Candleholder, Cup, Set of seven candles, mat and information sheet. Handmade in Ghana.• My First Kwanzaa!! Baby Bodysuit -- 100% pre-shrunk cotton front print. Authentic BigBoyMusic Baby One Piece Bodysuit. This shirt comes in Baby sizes: Newborn (0-6M), Small (6-12M), Medium (12-18M), and Large (18-24M). Officially Licensed.
• Kwanzaa Coloring and Activity Books
Kevin's Kwanzaa
Amazon Freebies:• Read Kwanzaa ebooks for free with a Free Trial of Kindle Unlimited
• Free Kwanzaa apps
• Listen to Kwanzaa LPs with a Free Trial of Amazon Music Unlimited
• Watch Kwanzaa Videos for Free with a Free Trial of Amazon Prime
• Listen to Kwanzaa Audible books with Amazon Audible, and Get Two Free Audiobooks
• Free Alexa Skills | Kwanzaa
Free Printables, Coloring Pages, Activities and Crafts:
• The Official Kwanzaa Website
• Kwanzaa Worksheets and Printables
• Kwanzaa | Free Coloring Pages | Crayola.com
• Free Kwanzaa cards - printable or ecard
• Kwanzaa Theme Printables
• My Kwanzaa Book - TLSBooks.com
• Free Printable Kwanzaa Activity Book - Printable Learning - Carrot Ink
• 430+ Customizable Design Templates for Kwanzaa
• Free Kids Kwanzaa Games, Colouring, clip art and more
• Free Kwanzaa posters, picture frames and coloring sheets
Boxing Day
- Boxing Day is celebrated in England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and other former British Commonwealth countries. It is a traditional celebration dating back to the Middle Ages, of which the primary practice is the giving of gifts to employees or to people in a lower social class. On 26th December, after all the Christmas parties, the lord of the manor would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would receive a box full of such goods, hence
Boxing Day.According to this tradition, the lord of the manor did not volunteer but was obliged to supply these gifts.
National Thank-you Note Day
- The presents have been unwrapped and put away. It is official: the holidays are winding down. Now it is time to write those thank you notes. National Thank You Note Day recognizes the importance of showing gratitude toward loved ones.
National Whiner's Day
- A day dedicated to whiners, especially those who return Christmas gifts and need lots of attention. People are encouraged to be happy about what they do have, rather than unhappy about what they don't have.
Recyclable Packaging Day
- I couldn't find any info on this holiday, but perhaps it's to remind us to gather up the gift bags, cloth bags, ribbons, and tissue paper and either save them to use them again next year - or make sure to put them into the recycling bin instead of the garbage.
Awful Tie Day
- Today is the date to wear the ties your children give you before they suffer unfortunate accidents in the washing machine.
Saint Stephen's Day
- One of the seven deacons named by the apostles to distribute alms. Died during the first century. Feast Day is December 26the and is observed as a public holiday in Austria and the Republic of Ireland.
National Candy Cane Day
- The candy cane was originally a straight, hard, and all-white candy stick invented by French priests in the early 1400s. The cane shape is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight sugar sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's staff, and gave them to children at church services. Another theory is, as people decorated their Yule trees with food, the bent candy cane was invented as a functional solution. Candy with red stripes first appeared in the early 1900s.
National Coffee Percolator Day
- A coffee percolator (caffettiera in Italian) it is a type of pot used to brew coffee. The name stems from the word
percolatewhich means to cause (a solvent) to pass through a permeable substance especially for extracting a soluble constituent. It's not used much anymore but this day celebrates the percolator used for making coffee. Do you have an old one tucked away in your kitchen cabinet?
