Even though we associate the winter months with being the holiday season, the spring time is chalked full of its own holidays and special events. Take time to welcome spring, and enjoy the holidays that this time of year as to offer.

St. Patrick’s Day

Ireland’s most popular holiday for the springtime is St. Patrick’s Day. The history of the holiday revolves around the removal of snakes from Ireland by St. Patrick. It is a time to wear green and look for the lucky leprechaun that will lead you to that pot of gold. St Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide with parades and parties.

Easter

Easter is the time that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many different Easter customs that surround this holiday. People usually get brand new clothes and shoes to celebrate the Easter holiday. Other traditions consist of activities from decorating and hiding of eggs, to the Easter Bunny who brings children basket of sweet treats, to the decorating of Easter trees.

Passover

Passover is the Jewish spring holiday that is celebrated by the Seder. This is a time when Jewish families honor their ancestors and celebrate the importance of being freed from slavery.

Holi

Holi is the Hindu spring festival. Hindu’s celebrate the colors are associated with spring. People usually wear green while the children get to fill water guns with red and yellow colored liquids to squirt at each other. They also fill bamboo straws with colored powder to blow.

May Day

May Day is celebrated all over the world but has its roots in England. Children get to dance around large poles called maypoles. These large poles are decorated with strands ribbon. Children will grab a ribbon and dance around the pole. Once they are finished with their dance, the pole will be wrapped in the ribbon.

Basanth

Muslims greet the first day of spring with a kite-fighting contest. Boys create fighter kites in hopes that their kite will be the last kite flying. They cover the strings of their kites with glass powder to help defeat their opponents.

Songkran

Songkran is the New Year’s festival celebrated in mid-April in Thailand. This festival is surrounded by the theme of water. The festival consists of parades where large Buddha statues squirt the crowd with water. Children in the villages celebrate by throwing water on one another.