By Brenna

A federal holiday can be thought of by anyone. But to become a federal holiday, it must first become a bill and be passed by congress. A member of the congress must write up the bill and propose it to the congress. He or she becomes the bill’s sponsor. The bill can be introduced whenever congress is in session, it is put into the hopper. The bill is given a number and sent to the corresponding committee. The committee debates about it and may make some changes. Then they put it on the calendar and vote to accept or reject it. If the bill is reported, it is put on one of the five house calendars. It is sent to the House floor for being considered. The bill is considered on the House floor and debated. Then they are voted on, yea for approval, nay for disapproval, and present for they are there but don’t want to vote. Then the Senate takes the bill and goes through the same motions. If it passes in both chambers it is sent to the president for approval. The president may sign it if he approves or send it back to the drawing board. If Congress votes to override the veto it can still become a federal holiday.

The federal holiday that I am researching is Memorial Day. Memorial Day is the day we remember those who have died fighting for our Nation. It was established as a federal holiday in 1979. It was originally known as Decoration Day, or the day when people decorated their dead soldiers graves. It is also known as the day that marks the beginning of summer. It started in Waterloo NY, the inhabitants of which started decorating graves after the Civil War. Some southern states have a Confederate Memorial Day for the confederate soldiers who fought in the civil war. The amount of people who went to the first memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery was 5,000. The amount that usually attend today.

Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May, but the actual date of the holiday is may 30th. It’s a Holiday because we want to celebrate all those who died serving our country. It started as a memorial day for the civil war deceased. It then grew into a national holiday for everyone who fought in the armed forces and died in service. We remember them because they have helped our country grow and helped defend it.

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For my created Federal Holiday, I want to make National Heritage Day a federal holiday because people all throughout the United States are uneducated about different heritages. Throughout this day, stores would decorate for many different cultures and have a different station for each one. Restaurants would have a heritage decoration and serve that type of food. They would also play music from that country and invite a person from each culture to speak about the country. There would be no school and on TV there would be a special channel dedicated to heritages. All the radio stations would play different music and the internet would have different websites about cultures that you could click on. In going to the store it wouldn’t be unusual to see people dressed up in the clothes of their heritage.

It’s going to be celebrated on the 1st. Monday in January. I chose this date because on January 1st, 1892, Ellis Island opened for the first time. This was the processing station for immigrants who were leaving their homeland and bringing new cultures to our country. This will celebrate the immigrants coming to America and the “Mixing Pot” of different cultures and heritages.

National heritage Day should be a holiday because the different heritages and cultures of our citizens are overlooked. It would be really nice for people who are ashamed of their culture because of discrimination to feel accepted on at least one day of the year. They would be able to dress up as their native heritage allowed. They could eat their traditional food and help educate people about why it’s great to have an unusual heritage. People would be exposed to different cultures both subliminally and visually. It would be a cool experience and I think everybody would benefit. It would help people to understand what it means to be of chinese,japanese,indian,brazilian,etc. descent. I for one think that the benefits are endless and that this is an important day from which we could all benefit greatly.

The new Religious Holiday that I would like to create is Spread the Good News Day. It would be a holy day of obligation where you would go to church and be reminded to spread the good news. This would be a day when you tell at least one person of Jesus. Then they would spread the word if they believe it or if they don’t, try again. This would be a great holiday because it would be an awesome opportunity to tell others about Jesus.

It will be on December 26 because even though he didn’t start teaching the day after he was born, it symbolizes that he is now here. This holiday would be important because many people haven’t heard about Jesus and it would be an opportunity to expose them to it. Even if you tell another Catholic about Jesus it would be a good time to talk about your views and beliefs as a Catholic.

This should be a holiday because people need to know that Jesus is there. It’s not fair to the people who don’t know about him or have never been taught to believe in him. You would also have the chance to purchase a small bible to give to the person you are going to tell about Jesus. I think that if I was a person who didn’t believe in God, I would want to find out there’s someone who always has my back. I think that they would be very happy to find that out.

January New Years

MLK B-day

February *Groundhog Day

Presidents Day

*Valentine’s Day

April * Easter

Patriots Day

May *Mother’s day

Memorial Day

June *Flag Day

*Fathers Day

July 4th of July

September Labor Day

October *Halloween

Columbus Day

November Thanksgiving

Veterans Day

December Christmas

Valentines Day

Saint Patrick’s Day

Easter

Ash Wednesday

Good Friday

Thanksgiving

All Saints Day

Immaculate Conception

Feast of the Assumption

Christmas

Kwanzaa

All Soul’s Day

Feast of the Annunciation

Hanukah