Carival. Brazil’s most popular and festive holiday is Carnival. In fact, many people consider Carnival one of the world’s biggest celebrations. Each spring, on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the streets of Brazil’s largest city, Rio de Janeiro, come alive with wild parties, festivals and glamorous balls.

Chinese New Year. At Chinese New Year celebrations, people wear red clothes, give children “lucky money” in red envelopes and set off firecrackers. Red symbolizes fire, which the Chinese believe drives away bad luck. Family members gather at each other's homes for extravagant meals. Chinese New Year ends with a lantern festival. People hang decorated lanterns in temples and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon. The highlight of the lantern festival is often the dragon dance. The dragon-which can stretch a hundred feet long- is typically made of silk, paper and bamboo.

Çocuk Bayrami Each April 23, Turkey celebrates Çocuk Bayrami, or Children’s Day. Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk declared the holiday in 1920, as Turkey was becoming an independent nation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, to illustrate that children were the future of the new nation. Children all over Turkey dress up in special outfits or the national costume for Çocuk Bayrami. Boys who dress in the national costume typically wear baggy silk pants, a colorful vest, a white shirt and a sequined hat, called a tepelik. Girls wear a long colorful gown called a kaftan and an ornate veil.

Diwali. Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is the best known of Hindu celebrations and certainly the brightest. Amid the darkest skies of autumn, lights brighten homes throughout India—a sign of welcome to the gods Rama and Lakshmi. Families get together and celebrate with gifts and feasts. Many families decorate their homes with flowers and draw a colorful rangoli, an intricate pattern made in rice flour, at the entrance of the home.

Esala Perahera. Every July or August, thousands of Sri Lankans travel to the hill city of Kandy to watch dancers, acrobats, drummers, whip crackers, flame throwers and more than 100 elegantly decorated elephants parade through the streets during Esala Perahera. This is a 10-day festival in honor of to the country’s most prized possession, the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha.

Each year, Japanese girls eagerly await the third of March, called Hina Matsuri, or Doll's Festival. In Japanese, “hina” means “small doll.” Girls display their most precious dolls on a seven-tiered platform in their home. Families visit shrines and pray for the health and happiness of their girls. Japan also celebrates a special day for boys, called Kodomono-hi. On May 5th, families that have boys fly spectacular kites shaped like carp and decorate their homes with figures of traditional warriors to inspire the boys to be strong and brave. The carp is known for its strength and determination. The boys dress up in a kimono and often take baths with iris leaves, which are believed to keep boys healthy and strong.

Holi. Holi is literally one of the most colorful festivals in the world. Hindus celebrate the festival in early March, when wheat is harvested. Holi commemorates spring and the mythological stories of the god Krishna and the king Prahlad. In Hindu legend, during Holi Krishna covered Radha and her friends with colored water and stole off with their clothes as they bathed. In the other story, Prahlad, the son of the king, refused his father’s demand that he worship him rather than God. God saved Prahlad from death twice, first when the king ordered him killed, and again, when the king’s evil sister, Holika, led Prahlad into a huge bonfire.

Purim. The holiday of Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews from the wicked Haman. Through the leadership of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai, a decree against the Jews in the Persian Empire was suddenly overturned.