Christmas

• Christmas, perhaps the most pervasive holiday of them all in the United States, marks the observance of the birth of Jesus Christ. In colonial New England in the 17th century, the Puritans tried to squelch the celebration of Christmas, but the event caught on in the middle of the subsequent century.
  
  

Valentine's Day

• According the History.com, the origin of Valentine's Day is not clear. However, one of the most popular stories is that Valentine was a Roman priest in the third century who performed marriages in secret for soldiers in the emperor's army. The emperor had forbidden his soldiers to marry for fear it would lessen their fighting spirit.
  
  

Thanksgiving

• Thanksgiving, a U.S. holiday, has its origins in a meal eaten by pilgrims and Indians near Plymouth Rock in the early 17th century.
  
  

Fourth of July

• July Fourth, another U.S. holiday, derives from the day in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
  
  

Easter

• Easter is a widely known Christian holiday, although it has become quite the commercial holiday for young children. The holiday is a celebration of the purported resurrection of Jesus Christ.