Up here in Ottawa, July 1 was Canada Day. And of course, across the border, tomorrow is the Fourth of July. So I guess I’ve had national holidays on the brain this week.

One thing I love about travel is coming across new holidays and celebrations in the places I visit – a few years ago, for example, I spent Hari Raya – the Malaysian name for Eid, the end of Ramadan – in Kuala Lumpur, and was invited to someone’s home for an amazing feast. But I also love introducing my holidays to others. When I lived in England, I was the designated “social coordinator” for the international grad students at my college. So naturally I took the opportunity to throw a few North American-style holiday parties! At Halloween, most of my roommates had never even seen a pumpkin being carved before. A group of us also put together a (sort-of) Thanksgiving dinner – though we had to substitute chicken for turkey, and apple pie for pumpkin.

My favourite one, though, was Canada Day. By then I’d been away for almost a year, and I was getting a little homesick. I wanted to have a party with all-Canadian food and drink, but of course – being in a small town in northern England – I couldn’t find much in the way of imports. So I made it a North American theme instead: Canadian Club whiskey with Canada Dry ginger ale to drink (plus Bud for the beer drinkers), nachos with Canadian cheddar cheese on them, that sort of thing. My roommates all humoured me and wore red and white, and we had a great time.

I guess some travel purists would say I should have been living entirely in the now, in the country where I found myself. But I spent a whole year learning about England, and I don’t regret taking one day to celebrate where I come from and teach my friends a little bit about my home. After all, cultural exchange goes both ways, right?

What about you? Do you celebrate your own national holidays when you travel?