Excerpts

Thanksgiving Day

The images of Thanksgiving Day include pilgrims and native Americans from the 1600s sharing a feast and celebration.  This version of Thanksgiving may be taught in elementary school, but the holiday traditions of our modern Thanksgiving were first described by Ms. Sarah Josepha Hale in her 1827 novel, Northwood: A Tale of New England. 

“…this was a Thanksgiving entertainment, one which was never before, I believe, served up in style to novel epicures, I may venture to mention some of the peculiarities of the festival… The roasted turkey took precedence on this occasion, being placed at the head of the table; and…

Veterans Day

Maybe everyone already knows this, but Veterans Day started as Armistice Day commemorating the end of World War I.  I often wondered what that meant and today I expanded my vocabulary to learn that armistice means ‘truce’ or ‘ceasefire’.  Now we know, but what do we really know? 

The armistice ending WWI was particularly significant because this was the war to end all wars.  The armistice was signed at the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month in 1918.   It is common to observe a moment of silence at 11:00 AM on Veterans Day.

There are so many lessons from WW I, such as:…

Halloween

The passing of summer to winter was a scary time more than 2,000 years ago when the chance of death loomed large over the long cold winters.  The Celts of Ireland, England and northern France celebrated this transition on November 1st believing the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred on this day.  Individual hearth fires were extinguished the night before and sacred community bonfires were built.  People gathered to burn crops and animal sacrifices to the Celtic gods.  The Celts would wear costumes, told fortunes, and left their windows open to welcome the dead back home.  When the celebrations…

Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Columbus Day is moving toward Indigenous Peoples’ Day as we understand the realities of European exploration and conquest with respect to today’s standards of decency.  When Columbus ‘discovered’ America in 1492, he was looking for India, he was in the Bahamas, and people were already there.  

What did he discover?

Under the Doctrine of Discovery, first issued by Pope Urban II in 1095, then by Pope Nicholas V in 1452, and finally by Pope Alexander VI in 1493, Christians were considered the only civilized people in the world and Christians had a God-given right to capture, vanquish, and take possession of…

Labor Day

One of my favorite examples of today’s labor struggles is sports labor.  Baseball has the strongest union and the highest paid athletes from rookies to stars.  Basketball also has a strong union with players and owners sharing the gross revenues.  Football, on the other hand, has a weak union and players can be cut without further pay each year.  The working life span of the average NFL player is only a few years, and the average players make only a fraction of what the star players make.

Currently the Cleveland Browns quarterback is making $50M per year guaranteed, although this year he cannot play…

Fourth of July

Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and John Adams are given credit for writing the Declaration of Independence, but we often forget that Thomas Paine told them how to do it. Mr. Paine took the work of 17th century philosopher John Locke who observed that people were free by nature and that government should exist to promote the public good, and protect life, liberty, and property. Mr. Locke’s 1689 Second Treatise on Government formed the basis of our government today.

Juneteenth

Holidays are about bringing Americans together and Juneteenth celebrates the long progression of integrating freed black persons into the economic, political, and social American life.

It all began with the final announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation to freed slaves on June 19, 1865 in Galveston Bay, Texas. Since then, America has progressed through the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Constitutional Amendments, initial reconstruction, Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, segregation, integration, and civil rights legislation of the 1960s including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Father’s Day

Our traditional Father’s Day began in 1909 when Sonora Smart Dodd thought her dad deserved special recognition.  Mr. Smart was a widower raising six children in Spokane, Washington.  Ms. Dodd visited churches, local establishments, and government officials, and quickly the State of Washington celebrated the first official Father’s Day on June 19, 1910.

It did not take long for national recognition when President Woodrow Wilson acknowledged the day in 1916 by sending a telegraph signal from Washington D.C. that unfurled a flag in Spokane.  The holiday became official in 1972 when President Nixon signed a proclamation making the third Sunday in June Father’s…

Memorial Day

The more you learn about Memorial Day, the more interesting it becomes.  It was started by grieving mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters during and after the Civil War.  Independent gatherings were held in towns throughout America to help with the healing process.  It is interesting that these similar gatherings were occurring without the aid of mass communication or travel.  From this, in 1868 former general John Alexander Logan proclaimed that Memorial Day would be observed on May 30 each year to honor fallen soldiers. The south, however, did not recognize Memorial Day until after WWI when it was changed from honoring those who died…

Mother’s Day

While Mothers have been celebrated in Greek and Roman mythology, it was Ann Reeves Jarvis in the 1850s who held Mother’s Day work clubs to improve sanitary conditions to help lower infant mortality rates. These clubs tended wounded soldiers from both sides during the Civil War, and after the war, in 1870, Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation: “…As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summon of war, let women…take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace…”

Easter, Passover, and Other Spring Observances

Image Source: Image by Rebecca D from Pixabay

Each question has a story that can be explored for a lifetime. The quick answer for the date is that Easter is centered around the Jewish holiday Passover. Passover is celebrated based on a lunar calendar (the Hebrew calendar). From this, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). The other questions have longer stories for their answers, but if you ponder long enough, you may find that these spring holidays tie into the rebirth of the seasons, the eternity of life,…

Washington’s Birthday (President’s Day)

Every year on Washington’s Birthday (February 22nd), a United States Senator will read President Washington’s farewell address to the Senate. Washington warned the 1796 congress of a few things and one of them was the two-party political system, which he thought would divide a nation. Abraham Lincoln had to overcome similar divisiveness. These great presidents recognized what Thomas Paine phrased so well, “in unity our great strength lies”. I wonder what our senators will be thinking this year as they listen to Washington’s farewell address.

Valentine’s Day

Some may consider this to be a Hallmark Holiday, designed to sell greeting cards, chocolate, and flowers. This is not the case because LOVE dates back to the beginning of time, and Valentine’s Day can be tracked back to 500 CE (common era) when the Pope Gelasius I established the Feast of St. Valentine. Valentine’s Day cards originated as love notes in 1415 from Charles, Duke of Orleans while a prisoner in the Tower of London. Even a prisoner can give the perfect Valentine’s Day gift because nothing beats a handwritten love note from that special someone.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Image Source: National Park Service, http://www.nps.gov/malu

Dr. King was an interesting man.  From child genius with advanced collegiate degrees to a person who suffered depression. From going to prison 29 times to giving speeches to 100s of thousands of people, his quotes are as relevant today and they were 60 years ago.  We need to keep celebrating Dr. King for his teachings as well as his accomplishments.   

Without losing sight of his remarkable contributions to America, have you ever wondered why you have not seen or heard more of his full speeches rather than just the quotes?  It seems like the speeches would play…

New Year’s

People have been celebrating the New Year for over 4,000 years, and we have been looking backward and forward on New Year’s Day for over 2,000 years when Julius Caesar updated the calendar to begin on January 1st – January named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings.  Janus has two faces that allowed him to look backward and forward.  How did your troubles and triumphs turn out in 2021?  What excites you about 2022? It’s time to move forward into a new year with promises that it will be the. Best. Year. EVER!!   Happy New Year!!

Christmas

I find it interesting how Christmas can unite people of different faiths while it is a sacred Christian holiday.  In America it is the unifying spirit of giving that allows all religious faiths to celebrate together.  Christmas evolved into an American phenomena through the light of Jesus during the darkest time of the year and through the joy of giving across economic and social differences.  Not to discount Christianity, but it is interesting to consider how a religious holiday transcends religious differences in America.  Everyone is allowed to follow their own spiritual beliefs, while at the same time, everyone is…

Thanksgiving

It may have started with the Pilgrims and Native Americans, but we owe our current traditions to Ms. Sarah Josepha Hale who worked relentlessly to establish the Thanksgiving holiday that President Lincoln declared a national holiday in 1863. Do you ever wonder why we watch football or how we feed 300 million people in America on Thanksgiving?

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is not on a Monday and does not create a three-day weekend because it celebrates the end of World War I. The war to end all wars officially ended on 11/11/1919. What lessons did WW I teach us and what lessons have we learned since 1919?

Halloween

Do you ever wonder why neighborhood block parties are a common part of our Halloween celebrations? The answer lies in the origins of Halloween over 2,000 years ago in Ireland, England, and northern France. While Halloween seems to be as American as apple pie, it is one of the first holidays that owes its growth in popularity to immigration.