Archive for November 2009
History of Christmas: Why do we celebrate it on December 25?
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: ADVENT Here begins our series of articles on the History of Christmas. The Advent Season — Advent means the “coming” of the Christ Child — is marked by the four Sundays before Christmas and is celebrated in the church calendar as one the most festive seasons of the year. As we…
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving: the secular and the sacred
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF THANKSGIVING The origin of Thanksgiving Day has been attributed to a harvest feast held by the Plymouth Colony. In 1621, Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony proclaimed a day of “thanksgiving” and prayer to celebrate the Pilgrims’ first harvest in America the year after their arrival on the merchant ship Mayflower. The…
Read MoreHistory of Veterans Day: Lest we forget
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF VETERANS DAY A professor once commented, "We write things down so we can forget them." Now, of course this is wrong, except in the limited sense of writing down appointments so we don’t have to worry about missing meetings. But that’s just it, we do forget things. As individuals we forget things that…
Read MoreHistory of General Winn: the Passing of a Hero
Reading Time: 2 minutesHistory of General Winn: The Passing of a Hero At the Air Force Academy Chapel, I attended the memorial service for Brigadier General David W. Winn, whose family I have known for a decade and more. It was a moving experience to participate in a service with full military honors, befitting an officer of such…
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