Posts by Bill Petro
History of Shrove Monday: Ahead of Mardi Gras
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhat is the history of Shrove Monday?
Read MoreHistory of Black Friday: One Day Only?
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF BLACK FRIDAY While it is difficult to connect the term “Black Friday” to the start of the Christmas shopping sales season before its use in the mid-1960s in Philadelphia, the concept appears to go back to the 19th century, when Christmas sales followed Thanksgiving Day parades. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the…
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving Native American: Why Squanto already knew English
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF THANKSGIVING: FRIENDLY NATIVE AMERICAN? Podcast version 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 of the Pawtuxet tribe named Squanto, who befriended them, taught…
Read MoreHistory of 9/11, Twenty-four Years Ago: Patriot Day
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF PATRIOT DAY: 9/11 Twenty-four Years Ago Podcast On 9/11 September 11, 2001, twenty-four years ago, more Americans were killed on American soil in one day than in any attack since Pearl Harbor in 1941. A series of terrorist airplane hijacking attacks occurred in New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon… and the world…
Read MoreAbraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation – 1863
Reading Time: 2 minutesABRAHAM LINCOLN’S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION – 1863 Following the initial Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations of George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison, there were no further Presidential proclamations for this day until Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day during the Civil War, but it was not initially in November.…
Read MoreGeorge Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation – 1789
Reading Time: 2 minutesGEORGE WASHINGTON’S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION – 1789 The first President of the United States began a Presidential tradition of making a Thanksgiving proclamation, following those issued previously by the Continental Congress between 1777 and 1784. At the request of the House and Senate, and in celebration of the new U.S. Constitution, Washington on October 3, 1789,…
Read MoreHistory of Election Day: What is the history behind why we vote on a Tuesday in November in the US?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF ELECTION DAY Why does the U.S. vote on a Tuesday in November? Historically, the United States was an agrarian society, where much of the calendar revolved around farming. In 1840, Congress set voting day on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. This time provided a convenient month for farmers, who…
Read MoreHistory of the 12 Days of Christmas: they follow Christmas?
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE HISTORY OF THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS The Twelve Days of Christmas are the dozen days in the liturgical calendar of the Western Church between the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child (Christmas, December 25) and the coming of the Magi to visit at his house in Bethlehem (Epiphany, January 6). The…
Read MoreHistory of the Christmas Creche: the Manger scene
Reading Time: < 1 minuteHISTORY OF THE CHRISTMAS CRECHE One of the most beautiful Christmas traditions is setting up a creche during the Advent season. A creche is a model of the scene at the manger on the first Christmas in the stable at Bethlehem. A creche can be a small model, set up in the home or a…
Read MoreHistory of King Herod: Why was he called Great?
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF HEROD THE KING When the wise men asked Herod the King “Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” their question was not really spoken in a vacuum, for even the Roman author Suetonius wrote, “There had spread all over the East an old and established belief that it was fated…
Read MoreHistory of the Christmas Star: Natural or supernatural?
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF THE CHRISTMAS STAR The Star of Bethlehem has puzzled scholars for centuries. Some have skeptically dismissed the phenomenon as a myth, a mere literary device to call attention to the importance of the Nativity. Others have argued that the star was miraculously placed there to guide the Magi and is therefore beyond all…
Read MoreHistory of the Magi: The Wise Men
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF THE WISE MEN You’re familiar with the song that begins “We Three Kings of Orient Are…” but it is inaccurate in at least three ways. We don’t know how many there were, but we know they weren’t kings. They did not originate in the Orient, meaning the Far East. How could they have…
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