History Articles
HISTORY OF YOM KIPPUR
The Jewish High Holy Days begin with Rosh HaShanah and continue until Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown tonight. It is the holiest day of the year and marks the end of these 10 Days of Repentance, which begin with the Jewish New Year — as I described in my article on Rosh HaShanah.
Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement,” or more correctly, Yom ha-Kippurim (Leviticus 16), goes back in Jewish antiquity almost 4,000 years to the time of Moses. This most solemn occasion of the Jewish Festival cycle was the season for annual cleansing from sin. In time, its significance was deepened so that it acquired personal meaning and filled an individual need. It is observed on the 10th day of Tishri, the seventh month, and is the climax of the whole penitential season.
This time of year represented New Year’s Day, according to the French Republican Calendar. However, since that calendar was only in use from 1793 to 1805, following the fall of the French monarchy in 1792, very few still celebrate this day.
Date of Autumn
Instead, either September 22 or 23 marks the beginning of Fall or Autumn associated with the Equinox. This word is made up of two Latin root words, aequus, and nox, meaning “equal night,” referring to the fact that daylight and nighttime are equal in duration.
(more…)
#/media/File:EarthWindAndFireSeptember7InchSingleCover.jpg)
September single
History of September 21: Earth, Wind & Fire
When the band Earth, Wind & Fire released the feel-good song September in 1978, it broke into the Top 10 and has been one of their biggest commercial successes. However, it was originally released on November 18 of that year as a new song on the album “The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1.”
The International Talk Like A Pirate Day began not back in the “Golden Age of Pirates” in days of yore but in 2002. It is celebrated each year on September 19; though it started in the United States, it is now celebrated internationally across the Seven Seas.
(more…)
HISTORY OF ROSH HASHANAH
Rosh HaShanah designates the beginning of the Jewish new year, starting tonight – which, according to the Jewish calendar, begins at sundown tonight.
“Rosh” is Hebrew for “head,” and Rosh HaShanah, or Rosh HaShana, refers to the head of the year on the 1st day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar. It marks the beginning of the civil year. Judaism has a solar/lunar calendar system in which the lunar reckoning predominates. The first in the cycle of months is Nissan (which has nothing to do with the automobile manufacturer), the month in which Passover occurs. However, solar years are reckoned to begin at Rosh HaShanah.
HISTORY OF OKTOBERFEST
Why is the famous German beer festival held in September if it’s called Oktoberfest? Officially, the beer festival starts on the third Saturday in September and lasts 16 to 18 days through early October.
Oktoberfest 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s back again this year, starting tomorrow.
Let’s look back at the origin of what is now the world’s largest folk festival.
HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was created. Though it would take until
- June 21, 1788, to be ratified and until
- March 4, 1789, to be effective
In a very real sense, it was the founding document of the federal governmental system of the United States of America. Even to a greater extent than the Declaration of Independence, which was more of a “bill of divorcement” from England, the Constitution described how the United States would operate as a nation.
On 9/11, twenty-two 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 highjacking attacks occurred in New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon… and the world changed. As the events of December 7, 1941, led to war, so too did the events of September 11, 2001.
Star Trek premiered on NBC TV on September 8, 1966… 57 years ago. It is my favorite show; I was glued to the TV for the first episode and for every one after that. It significantly influenced my life and my choice of a career in technology.
On September 4, 476 AD, Odoacer captured the city of Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus, marking the Fall of the Roman Empire. What do we mean by the Fall of the Roman Empire?
HISTORY OF SEPTEMBER
You may have noticed that September sounds like the Latin word for Seven. And you’d be perceptive — septem is the Latin word for seven, and this month used to be the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar.
This Latin numbering follows with the year’s remaining months, as highlighted below: eight/oct, nine/nov, ten/dec.
HISTORY OF LABOR DAY
Labor Day is when we celebrate the process our mothers went through to deliver us at birth. Sorry, wrong holiday.
Labor Day in the U.S. is the day we celebrate the achievements of the American labor movement.
While it is still disputed whether Peter J. McGuire first proposed the holiday, the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters, or Matthew Maguire, a machinist, and secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York — observances of the holiday go back over a century in the U.S.
