What are the important holidays and traditions of the Catholic faith?
140182
Easter and Holy Week that leads up to it starting with Palm Sunday, then Holy Thusday (The Last Supper), then Good Friday (The Cruxifiction).  Plus Ash Wednesday, which is 40 days before Easter.  Followed by Christmas.
1122236
Italian Marriages and Weddings are predominately based on Catholicism. They Celebrate Catholic and Christan holidays.
97813
There are a great deal of religious traditions in eastern europe.  Roman Catholicism, Orthodox, Islam and Judaism amoung them,
405411
Easier to follow than the truth.  As you stated, Christmas is one that is a pagan holiday that has come in through tradition.  The Catholic church has adopted many traditions that the rest of the churches as a whole has also adopted as well.  One is the first day as being the day of worship.  I have seen the writings of all the major religious leaders of all the churches that state the Sabbath of the Bible is the seventh day, not the first, and that they know the Catholic church is the one that did the change and yet they follow the sunday worship anyway, the first day of the week, a pagan holiday.  The venerable day of the Sun, when the pagans worshipped the sun god and the whole world follows the pagan tradition.  Those that say they are Christians and do not follow traditions best do some studying into what they are believing.  I would offer $50,000 cash to anyone that can show me from the bible alone that Sunday, the first day of the week is sanctioned by God to be observed as His worship day.  Look it up on the net and you will find there is no command like that, it is only the tradition from the Catholic church.  Easier to follow the crowd than to lead the crowd.
26268
The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany  (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th but the following day is considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th).\n\nThe origin of the Twelve Days is complicated, and is related to differences in calendars, church traditions, and ways to observe this holy day in various cultures (see Christmas).  In the Western church, Epiphany is traditionally celebrated as the time the three Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12). In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings (Span: la Fiesta de Reyes, el Dia de los Tres Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag).  Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.\n\nBy the 16th century, some European and Scandinavian cultures had combined the Twelve Days of Christmas with (sometimes pagan) festivals celebrating the changing of the year. These were usually associated with driving away evil spirits for the start of the new year. \n\nThe Twelfth Night is January 5th, the last day of the Christmas Season before Epiphany (January 6th). In some church traditions, January 5th is considered the eleventh Day of Christmas, while the evening of January 5th is still counted as the Twelfth Night, the beginning of the Twelfth day of Christmas the following day.  Twelfth Night often included feasting along with the removal of Christmas decorations. French and English celebrations of Twelfth Night included a King's Cake, remembering the visit of the Three Magi, and ale or wine (a King's Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA).  In some cultures, the King's Cake was part of the celebration of the day of Epiphany.
680485
Medieval celebrations revolved around feast days that had pagan origins and were based on ancient agricultural celebrations that marked when certain crops should be planted or harvested. \n\nWheat and rye were sown from Michaelmas (September 29) to Christmas. Spring crops would be planted from the end of Christmas through Easter. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost (or Whitsunday) would be celebrated with a feast of the Church, and would be followed by a week of vacation. Lesser celebrations such as:\nCandlemas (February 2), \nHocktide (end of the Easter week), \nMayday, the Rogation Days, Ascension (all in May), \nMidsummer, or St. John's Day (June 24), \nand the Lammas, or Feast of St. Peter, \n-would all be marked with feasts. Michaelmas marked the beginning of winter and the start of the fiscal year for tradesmen. \n\nBy November, feed was often too scarce to keep animals through the winter, and became known as the "blood month" when meat was smoked, salted and cured for consumption during the long winter ahead. The month began with All Hallows (later, All Saints) Day, followed by St. Martin's Day (November 11). \n\nMedieval society celebrated the grandest feast during the dreariest time of year. The two-week period from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Day (January 6) transformed into the longest vacation for workers. The Lord of the manor or castle often gave bonuses of food, clothing, drink and firewood to servants. Houses were decked with holly and ivy, and giant Yule logs were brought in and burned throughout the two-week celebration. New Year's took place during this time and added to the festivities, and "First Gifts" were often exchanged on this day. \n\n"Plow Monday" took place the day after Epiphany, and freemen of the village would participate in a plow race, to begin cultivation of the town's common plot of land. Each man would try and furrow as many lines as possible, as he would be able to sow those lines during the coming year. Children would play the role of "Fool Plow" and go from house to house asking for pennies. Those who refuse would find the ground in front of their door plowed up. \n\nEaster, as Christmas, was a day for exchanging gifts. The castle lord would receive eggs from the villagers and in return, provide servants with dinner. May saw celebrations of love, especially on the 1st. Villagers would venture into the woods to cut wildflowers and other greenery for their homes to usher in May and hope for a fertile season.
423887
Holidays are celebrations of past events.  They give us a chance to do all the traditional things passed down year after year after that special past event.\n\nExamples: Christmas is a celebration of Christ's birth, Easter is a celebration of Christ's resurrection, Thanksgiving is a celebration of the Pilgrims' and Native Americans' first thanksgiving meal, President's day is a celebration of the lives of great presidents, Independence day is the celebration of American independence, etc.
194569
I have done searches on the internet for various topics like this and others.  All you have to do is type "origins of -----".  You can type in origins of any holiday, or even religious customs, etc.  You can even type in the trinity, the cross, etc.  There is a lot of good information to be found by doing this, but read a lot of different versions.
536859
dont forget prayer to saints
567263
Wedding traditions in France\nhttp://www.worldweddingtraditions.com/locations/west_europe_traditions/french_traditions.html\n\nChristmas Traditions in France\nhttp://french.about.com/cs/culture/a/christmas.htm\n\nHope this info helps
533321
Here is a website that tells about how different wedding traditions of various cultures:\n\nhttp://www.vfwpost1503.org/different_cultures.htm\n\nHere are Valentine's Day traditions from different countries:\n\nhttp://www.stvalentines.net/traditions.htm\nhttp://www.romanceclass.com/miscr/vday/traditions.asp\nhttp://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/2_melissa.html\nhttp://www.romanceeverafter.com/valentine's_day_around_the_world.htm\nhttp://www.everythingvalentinesday.com/valentine-day-traditions/valentine-in-others.html\n\nSince most countries observe Valentine's Day~this was the best place to look for celebrations of love in other cultures.  I hope this was helpful in your research!
833272
Good question.\n\n+ Halloween +\n\nHalloween is actually like Christmas Eve. The night before a Christian holy day.\n\nIt is the eve of All Saint's Day or All Hallows Eve or Halloween. Just like "hallowed be Thy name."\n\nBut just like Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday), Halloween has taken on a life of its own.\n\nChristians including Catholics do not fear death, evil, or satan. In Christ, we can laugh in the face of death.\n\nFrom an email I received: Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside, and scoops out all the yucky stuff--including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.\n\nWith love in Christ.\n\n+ Prayer in Public School + \n\nAny structured prayer in public schools will favor one religion over all others.\n\nThe Catholic Church agrees with the U.S. Constitution as currently interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court and does not support "structured" prayer in public schools.\n\nIn the Vatican II document, DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, DIGNITATIS HUMANAE (Human Dignity), the Church states: \n\nThe human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.\n\nChildren will continue to privately pray before tests just like they always have.\n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html\n\n+ With love in Christ.
151883
Most of the holidays celebrated today have a pagan origin, which means that they aroused from false religions.  These false religions used these celebrations to do bad things, like the worship of false gods and idols.  Many of the holidays today are an excuse for people to eat and drink in excess and commit acts of immorality, which, obviously, are things God condemns.
931501
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks (traditionally to God) at the close of the harvest season. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. In Canada, it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In the United Kingdom, Thanksgiving is another name for the Harvest festival, held in churches across the land on a relevant Sunday to mark the end of the local harvest. This tradition was taken to North America by early settlers.
431866
Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and others
83028
the roman catholics started it! it is SAINT valentine's day. believe it or not, back in mideval times, almost every day celebrated the life of some saint. now, pretty much only saint patrick's day and saint valentine's day live on, since hallmark has found ways to make money off of them. \nanyways, st. valentine's day is just a day to celebrate the life of st. valentine, the patron saint of love.
90757
Almost all of the Christian Holidays are on top of Pagan Holidays. Easter is on top of Ostera. Bunnies and eggs are pagan symbols of spring and fertility. \n\nHallowe'en is a Pagan holiday, but most people don't know where the holiday origins are from. Pagans call the day Samhain. The old God dies on this day, and the Goddess mourns him until his rebirth at Yule (Christmas - Winter Solstice). The Catholic Church created All Saint's Day (November 1) as a holy day to recognize all the Catholic saints. But it wasn't a powerful enough idea to wipe out the traditional Hallowe'en celebrattions. Ironically, many Christians don't approve of the celebration of Halloween because of its Pagan origins, not realizing that almost all of the holidays they observe had Pagan beginnings.\n\nChristmas is on the Winter Solstice. Even non-Pagans use the term "Yule" around the Christmas holidays. Yule is celebrated on the Winter Solstice (December 22nd), on the shortest day of the year. Since the days get longer from this point in the year, Yule is a celebration of the returning sun and the rebirth of the Pagan God who died at Hallowe'en. As with Easter, the Christian story of the birth of Jesus fits nicely with the Pagan mythology of a "God" reborn. Traditions such as wreaths and Yule logs are remnants of the original beliefs. Gifts were exchanged at Yule long before the Wise Men offered their gifts to the baby Jesus.\n\nGroundhogs Day, although not specifically a Christian holiday, is on the day of the Pagan Holiday called Candlemas (or Imbolc) that is celebrated on February 2nd. Because spring is just starting to show itself at this time of year, there were various superstitions about predicting the weather, and how long it would be until the end of winter. The original idea was to watch for a hedgehog, but as people immigrated to North America, the tradition changed to a ground hog, since we didn't have hedgehogs here.\n\nThe reasons Christian holidays are celebrated on the Pagan holidays is because in the early era of the Christian Church in Europe they were having trouble getting the peasants and simple folk to accept the Christian faith, so they placed the Christian Holidays at the same time as the Pagan Celebrations for that everyone would be happy. By blending the two together it was easier to convert the people to Christianity.