World Holidays Featured This Month

Mexico - Constitution Day - February 5
Celebrates Mexico's 1917 Constitution. Also marks the beginning of Carnaval, the period of parties and parades before Lent.

New Zealand - Waitangi Day - February 6
Commemorates the day in 1840 when the Maori and British signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which allowed kawanatanga (governance) by the British monarch but granted the Maori legal protection and rights to perpetual ownership of their lands and resources. This event is considered the founding of New Zealand. The holiday is marked by cultural and sporting events, plus a demonstration by Maori activists at the township of Waitangi.

Barbados - Holetown Festival - Mid-February
A three-day event that celebrates the arrival of the first settlers to the island, in 1627.

North Korea - Kim Jong Il's Birthday - February 16
Honors the country's ruler, who succeeded his father Kim Il Sung in 1994.

Various countries - Carnaval - February (before Ash Wednesday)
A festival observed in many countries, primarily those with a Roman Catholic tradition. It combines dancing, parades, and papier-mache masks in several days of frenzied activity. The festival concludes the day before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which in 2010 falls on February 17.

Guyana - Republic Day - February 23
Marks the date Guyana became the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in 1970. The holiday is also known as Mashramani, a word used by indigenous people for the celebration at the end of a cooperative project.