Archive for November 2019
History of Black Friday: One Day Only?
What is the origin of Black Friday, and the modern practice around it.
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving Indian: Why Squanto already knew English
HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING: FRIENDLY INDIAN SQUANTO We’ve all heard the story of how the Pilgrims, landing in Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620, were ill-equipped to survive the harsh winters of the New World. We’ve also heard how they met a Native American Indian of the Pawtuxet tribe named Squanto who befriended them. He taught them…
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving: the Secular and the Sacred
HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING The origin of Thanksgiving Day in America has been attributed to a harvest feast held by the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. 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…
Read MoreVeterans Day: How it Differs from Memorial Day
What is the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day?
Read MoreHistory of Veterans Day: Lest We Forget
HISTORY OF VETERANS DAY A professor once commented, “We write things down so we can forget them.” Now, of course, this is true 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 are…
Read MoreHistory of Guy Fawkes Night: How gunpowder mixed with Parliament
HISTORY OF GUY FAWKES NIGHT For our friends across the Pond November 5th is known as “Bonfire Night” or “Guy Fawkes Night,” and all over Britain people fire off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. Guido Fawkes was an Englishman who, in popular legend, tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament…
Read MoreHistory of Election Day: Why we vote on a Tuesday in November
Why do we vote on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November?
Read MoreHistory of Daylight Saving Time – Fall Back
HISTORY OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME – ENDING Daylight Saving Time, or DST, is a brilliant campaign to convince us that we’re getting more daylight each day when in reality we’ve simply changed our clocks and then forgotten about it within two weeks. DST begins each year at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March…
Read MoreHistory of November: That In-between Month
HISTORY OF NOVEMBER November is the penultimate month of the year, meaning next to the last. It used to be the ninth month (Latin: novem) until January and February were shoehorned in by the ancient Romans. November enjoys the distinction of being situated between the two biggest holidays in the American calendar… at least revenue-wise.…
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