On 15 January, people in the USA celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day. This is a national (federal) holiday, first celebrated nationally in 1986 – though some places first celebrated it earlier (Atlanta, Georgia in 1971). January 19 is the birthday of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, and this event is celebrated in Mississippi and Arkansas, and is an official state holiday in Florida. Other Confederate notables, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson, also had their birthdays celebrated and, for a while, these were combined into a Confederates Memorial Day, first celebrated in 1877, but this has largely disappeared. Not an official state or federal holiday, but celebrated widely in January, is Super Bowl Sunday. Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is celebrated in many places the day before Ash Wednesday sometime between early February and early March. On March 17, many Americans celebrate St Patrick's Day. And so on; throughout the year there are celebrations and festivals in the USA, right through to Kwanzaa, a Black Power alternative to Christmas, and, of course, New Year's Eve.
This smartly produced two‐volume encyclopedia features 29 US festivals and national days. As indicated above, some days are official holidays (others are Independence Day, American Indian Day, Thanksgiving Day, Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day), and Washington's Birthday); some are national or federal festivals, while others are purely local such as Cinco de Mayo (Mexican communities), Powwow (Indigenous Indians) and even various Emancipation and African Slave Festivals (originally Freedom Day) which are still celebrated in a few places. As well as St Patrick's and Easter, other religious festivals featured are Passover, Hanukkah and Christmas. Halloween, Arbor Day (to encourage the planting of trees), Mother's Day, Labor Day, Gay Pride Day and Earth Day (an official UN, but not US, day) have also developed into popular festivals. Some celebratory days featured here have fallen into disuse or are barely celebrated at all. Examples of the latter are May Day, VE and VJ Day, Guy Fawkes/Pope's Day (or rather, anti‐Pope's Day), Forefathers Day and Columbus Day (regarded as pro‐White).
Essay‐length articles up to 30 pages give history and background, the nature of the festivals with pictures, and comments on their significance. What these various festivals and celebration reveal is the stumbling way in which community, regional and national identities become established. The fact that some celebrations fail is often as revealing as the appearance of others despite the antipathy of the federal government – Gay Pride Day and Martin Luther King Jr Day, for example. The prose is never dull and the book is an enjoyable canter through many aspects of US history. The Introduction gives a good sociological underpinning to the phenomenon of special days. A useful panel highlighting the important points prefaces each essay.
Interspersed throughout the volume are a number of smaller entries covering such topics relating to special “days” such as the Monday Holidays Act of 1968 which regularised the days and dates of many such events; St Valentines Day; the celebration of the national flag; Father's Day; and the various President's Days. The final “mini” entry charts the pressure building for an Election Day. There is an extensive bibliography and the work has a good index. I would have welcomed a summary of these special days in calendar order, perhaps in a better designed contents page, and in places the writing was a touch prolix, but these are very minor quibbles in what is otherwise a well‐produced and entertaining work.
This volume would be popular in US public and college libraries giving, as it does, good background for general interest.
