About this puzzle
This is a puzzle about holidays in general, not just one season. Easy starts with celebrations most kids already know, like Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa, plus family days like Mothers Day. The harder levels travel further around the world and the calendar, adding Lunar New Year, Nowruz, Holi, Vesak, Chuseok, Songkran, and Hogmanay. Eid moves through every season, since its date shifts earlier each year.
It fits classrooms that study how different families celebrate, and it makes a good December choice for groups that want to include everyone. Each note explains, in a sentence or two, who celebrates the holiday and one tradition that goes with it. Several of these holidays follow lunar calendars, so their dates move from year to year on a standard calendar, which is a fun fact to explore with students.
The 31 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Christmas
- Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. Most Christians mark it on December 25, while many Orthodox churches celebrate on January 7.
- Diwali
- Diwali, the festival of lights, is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhists in October or November. Families light small oil lamps called diyas and make colorful rangoli designs.
- Earth Day
- Earth Day, on April 22, began in the United States in 1970 to raise awareness about pollution and caring for nature. Today people in many countries plant trees and clean up parks.
- Easter
- Easter is the Christian celebration of Jesus rising from the dead. It falls on a Sunday in spring, with a date tied to the first full moon after the spring equinox.
- Fathers Day
- Father's Day is the third Sunday in June in the United States. Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, helped start it in 1910 to honor her father, who raised six children.
- Halloween
- Halloween on October 31 grew partly from Samhain, an old Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest. Today it is known for costumes and trick-or-treating.
- Hanukkah
- Hanukkah is an eight-night Jewish festival of lights. Each night another candle is lit on the menorah, and families play dreidel and eat foods fried in oil, like latkes.
- Juneteenth
- Juneteenth, on June 19, celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. On that day in 1865, freedom was announced to enslaved people in Galveston, Texas.
- Kwanzaa
- Kwanzaa, from December 26 to January 1, was created in 1966 to celebrate African American culture. Each night a candle is lit on the kinara for one of seven principles.
- Mothers Day
- In the United States, Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday in May. Anna Jarvis campaigned for the holiday, and President Woodrow Wilson made it official in 1914.
- Passover
- Passover is a Jewish holiday remembering the Israelites' freedom from slavery in Egypt. Families hold a special meal called a seder and eat flat bread called matzah.
- Valentine
- Valentine's Day on February 14 is named for Saint Valentine. Kids in many countries trade cards, and in the United States it is a classroom favorite.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Cinco de Mayo
- Cinco de Mayo, on May 5, remembers Mexico's victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is not Mexico's Independence Day, which is September 16.
- Day of the Dead
- Day of the Dead, or Dia de Muertos, is celebrated in Mexico on November 1 and 2. Families lovingly remember relatives with altars called ofrendas, marigolds, and sugar skulls.
- Eid
- Muslims celebrate two Eids. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha comes during the time of the pilgrimage to Mecca.
- Holi
- Holi is a Hindu spring festival known as the festival of colors. People throw bright colored powder and water at each other to celebrate spring and new beginnings.
- Labor Day
- Labor Day, on the first Monday of September in the United States, honors working people. It became a national holiday in 1894 and is often seen as summer's last hurrah.
- Lunar New Year
- Lunar New Year is celebrated in China, Korea, Vietnam, and many other places. Families gather for big meals, and children often receive money in red envelopes for good luck.
- Mardi Gras
- Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, the last day of feasting before the Christian season of Lent. New Orleans is famous for its Mardi Gras parades, beads, and king cake.
- Thanksgiving
- Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and the second Monday of October in Canada. Both are days for giving thanks with family meals.
Added in Hard (11)
- Boxing Day
- Boxing Day, on December 26, is a holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other countries. Its name likely comes from boxes of gifts once given to workers and people in need.
- Chuseok
- Chuseok is a Korean harvest festival held on the full moon of the eighth lunar month. Families visit their hometowns, honor their ancestors, and make half-moon rice cakes called songpyeon.
- Hogmanay
- Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of New Year's Eve. In a custom called first footing, the first visitor of the new year brings small gifts, such as shortbread, for good luck.
- Las Posadas
- Las Posadas is celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American communities on nine nights from December 16 to 24, acting out Mary and Joseph's search for a place to stay.
- Mid Autumn
- The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in China and other parts of East Asia under the full harvest moon. Families share round mooncakes and carry lanterns.
- Nowruz
- Nowruz, meaning new day, is the Persian New Year, celebrated on the spring equinox. Families set a table called the haft sin with seven items whose names start with the letter s in Persian.
- Purim
- Purim is a joyful Jewish holiday remembering how Queen Esther saved the Jewish people of ancient Persia. Kids wear costumes and eat triangle-shaped cookies called hamantaschen.
- Rosh Hashanah
- Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, usually in September or October. People hear the blowing of a ram's horn called a shofar and eat apples dipped in honey for a sweet year.
- Songkran
- Songkran is the Thai New Year, celebrated in mid-April. It is famous for friendly water fights in the streets, a playful way of washing away bad luck for the year ahead.
- Vesak
- Vesak is an important Buddhist holiday, usually held at the full moon in May. It marks the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha.
- Yom Kippur
- Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, closes the Ten Days of Awe that begin with Rosh Hashanah. It is the holiest day of the Jewish year, spent fasting, praying, and asking forgiveness.
A few facts to share while you solve
- The date of Eid moves about 11 days earlier each year on a standard calendar, because the Islamic calendar follows the moon and its year is shorter than a solar year.
- Kwanzaa takes its name from a Swahili phrase meaning first fruits of the harvest.
- Lunar New Year celebrations traditionally last 15 days and end with the Lantern Festival on the first full moon of the new year.
Four versions of this puzzle
Pick a version with the buttons above the grid. Each one has its own grid and answer key, and your progress on each is saved separately in this browser.
| Version | Words | Grid | Directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 12 | 13 × 13 | The 12 most familiar words, reading forward across and down. |
| Medium | 20 | 15 × 15 | Twenty words across, down and diagonally. No backwards words. |
| Hard | 31 | 18 × 18 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 12 × 12 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard holiday word search: all 31 words on a 18 × 18 grid, hidden forward, backward, up, down and along both diagonals, with filler letters borrowed from the word list. Print it without the word list for an extra challenge. Play the hard version, or see all hard word searches.
Large print holiday word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 12 × 12 grid, printed with big letters and a big word list, and no backwards words. Play the large print version, or see all large print word searches.
Printing this word search
Press Print / PDF above the puzzle. You get a clean one-page sheet with the title, the grid, a word list with tick boxes, and optional name and date lines. The answer key prints on a second page. Prefer a file? Download it as a PDF or an image to print later or drop into a worksheet. Whatever version is showing on screen is the one that prints, and the large print version prints with bigger letters.
How to play online
- Find a word from the list in the grid. Scanning for its first letter is the quickest way.
- Drag across the word from its first letter to its last. On a phone, you can also tap the first letter, then the last.
- Found words get highlighted and crossed off. Stuck? Hint circles the first letter of a word you haven’t found.
Read the full guide to solving word searches, with tips that make big grids much faster.
Questions and answers
Is this a Christmas word search?
No. This holiday word search covers celebrations from all through the year and from many cultures and faiths, including Diwali, Eid, Lunar New Year, Passover, Vesak, and Kwanzaa. Christmas is one of the words, but it shares the list with many others. For a puzzle about just one holiday, see the related puzzles.
How can teachers use this puzzle in a classroom?
It works well for a unit on world cultures or for a December activity that includes all students. After solving, kids can choose one holiday, read its note, and share a tradition with the class. Students who celebrate a holiday on the list may want to tell the class how their family marks it.
Why do some holidays change dates every year?
Holidays like Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah, Passover, and Lunar New Year follow lunar or lunisolar calendars, which are based on the phases of the moon. Their dates shift on the standard calendar most schools use, so they can land in a different week or month from one year to the next.
Is there an answer key for this holiday word search?
Yes. Choose Print / PDF above the puzzle and keep “Add an answer key page” ticked. The key prints on its own page, with every word highlighted. While playing online, Show answers outlines any words you haven’t found yet.
Can I print copies for my class or group?
Yes. Every puzzle on BetterWordSearch is free to print for personal, classroom, library and homeschool use. Print as many copies as you need. To change the words or make several different versions of the grid, use the word search maker.
What changes between Easy, Medium, Hard and Large print?
Easy hides the 12 most familiar words, reading left to right and top to bottom. Medium uses 20 words and adds diagonals. Hard hides all 31 words in every direction, including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. Large print uses the same words as Easy on a small grid and prints with big letters.
