Macau : public and bank holidays, closure of banks, stock exchanges, school vacations

Culture : Called Chap Go Meh, Yuan Xiao Jie, Yuen Siu or Shangyuan. First full moon after the Chinese New Year - also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day.

cards/flowers : Introduced by Pope Gelasus in 498, perhaps in response to a local Roman tradition of lovers writing their names on an urn in February

Buddhism (Vajrayana) :

Catholic or protestant :

Catholic : Paid holiday

Banks only :

Secular holiday : Chicago, Saturday May 1st, 1886: 350,000 workers go on strike to call for an 8-hour working day. Industries are paralyzed nationwide. On Monday, as demonstrations go on, the police open fire. On Tuesday, Chicago is again on strike. Following a bomb launched against them, the police shoot again. 12 dead, of which 7 policemen. 8 anarchists will be condemned and executed. In 1889, the Socialist International Movement met in Paris and declared this day international workers' day . The Soviets will follow suit, just as the Nazis. In France, under the Vichy regime (1940-1944), the celebration is renamed Labour Day .

cards/flowers : Mother’s day has evolved in many countries in different ways. This is because mother’s day has different origins in different countries and therefore occurs on different days in the year. One school of thought claims that this day emerged from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Mother worship which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of gods, and Rhea, the wife of Cronus, was held on March 15 to March 18 around Asia Minor. They insist that this custom spread around the world. Mothering Sunday is the celebration of motherhood in the United Kingdom. It is also known as Mid-lent Sunday, Rose Sunday and Laetare Sunday. It originally comes from the Victorian practice of allowing servants to return home to visit their mothers on this day. In the United States, Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet. Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and quickly became one of the most popular songs for the Union during the American Civil War. After the war she focused her activities on the causes of Pacifism and women’s suffrage. In 1870 she was the first to proclaim Mother’s Day, with her Mother’s Day Proclamation. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson approved Mother’s Day in 1914

Buddhism (Vajrayana) :

cards/flowers :

Secular holiday : 5th day of the 5th lunar month, honoring the patriotic poet Qu Yuan with colorful dragon boat races. Zogzi dumplings (sticky rice with seasoning wrapped in reed leaves).

Tradeshows : Www.g2easia.com/ lasts 2 days 2023 edition confirmed

School holidays :

Culture : Hungry Ghost Festival (中元節 / 中元节) falls in the middle of the Ghost Month, supposed to be a bad time for business. Spirits being in high gear, thet are treated with a sumptuous feast, to please them and to bring luck to the family.