Let's Get Festive!
Celebrations Around the World
In Let’s Get Festive! Joanna Konczak tells the stories of more than thirty holiday celebrations around the world. Packed with interesting trivia, the book is an engaging roundup of the myriad ways that people celebrate.
The holidays covered are organized by theme, both showing the different ways that global cultures celebrate similar events and illustrating what different holidays have in common. There are celebrations of the new year, nature, religious events, the dead, and carnivals, reflecting the fact that “no matter where, why, or how they are celebrated, holidays are usually about the same thing: community and coming together.”
For example, the new year celebrations covered include the Western New Year’s Eve, Chinese New Year, the Persian Nowruz, Judaism’s Rosh Hashanah, and the Thai Songkran. Before discussing those specific celebrations, the text explains the evolution of the Julian and Georgian calendars and how the new year was commemorated then. The individual holidays are then introduced in brief but thorough chapters that cover their origins, key terminology, and some of the ways they are celebrated. Let’s Get Festive! takes the same approach in its other sections, highlighting connections between traditions before telling the stories of the featured celebrations.
Each chapter includes bright, beautiful illustrations that further vivify traditions like the dragon dance and the blowing of the shofar, complementing the text by showing the joy involved in these diverse celebrations. Even less exuberant holidays, like All Saint’s Day and Passover, are illustrated with scenes in which families spend time together and engage in their traditions.
With informative summaries and charming illustrations, Let’s Get Festive! is a warm introduction to festivals around the world.
Reviewed by
Jeff Fleischer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
