History of the Holidays: Table of Contents

History of the Holidays
articles are written and curated by
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian.
If you’d like to receive these articles on each holiday by email, simply click here to join the mailing list.
Bill Petro earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History at the University of California, Berkeley. He studied Ancient history as well as a comprehensive study of Christian history and early Jewish history.
His history thesis was on 19th Century American Evangelicalism. He has done post-graduate work in history and historical theology, contributing content to several books.
He began writing articles on the History of the Holidays and distributing them by email and the Internet on USENET in 1984, a decade before the World Wide Web.
A Bibliography of some of the sources appears here.
Most recently published articles:
History Articles by Month
April | May | June |
---|---|---|
April Fools Day. Apr 1 | May Day, May 1 | June |
April 19 | Cinco de Mayo, May 5 | D-Day, Jun 6 |
Earth Day | Memorial Day | Pentecost |
Marathon | Memorial Day: Why We Fight | Flag Day, Jun 14 |
World Tai Chi Day | Father’s Day | |
Easter series | Juneteenth, Jun 19 | |
Summer Solstice | ||
All You Need Is Love | ||
John the Baptist Day, Jun 24 |
July | August | September |
---|---|---|
July | August | History of the Holidays |
Canada Day, Jul 1 | Infinity Day, Aug 8 | Labor Day |
Independence Day, July 4 | Woodstock, Aug 15 | Patriot Day, 9-11 |
John Adams | California Gold Rush, Aug 19 | Ethiopian New Year |
Thomas Jefferson | Talk Like a Pirate Day | |
John Madison | Aspens | |
John Calvin | Autumnal Equinox | |
French Fries | ||
Bastille Day, Jun 14 | ||
Moon Landing, Jun 20 | ||
Reek Sunday, parts 1, 2, 3 |
Series:
History of Coronavirus & Pandemics series:
History of Pre-Easter (Lent) series:
History of Easter series:
Easter | Herod Antipas | Good Friday |
Historical Climate | The Sanhedrin | The Players |
Palm Sunday | Maundy Thursday | fifty days later… |
Pontius Pilate | The Trial | Pentecost |
History of Thanksgiving series:
Thanksgiving | 1st Thanksgiving Proclamation – 1676 | Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation – 1863 |
Squanto: Friendly Indian | George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation – 1789 | Black Friday |
History of Christmas series:
Advent | Herod the Great | Santa Tracker |
Nativity Season | Poinsettia, Dec 12 | Battle of the Bulge |
Year | Santa Lucia, Dec 13 | Polish Wafer, Dec 24 |
Traditions | Star | WWI Christmas Truce, Dec 25 |
Sacred Oratorio | Mistletoe | Boxing Day/St. Stephen’s Day, Dec 26 |
Music | Magi | Feast of St. John, Dec 27 |
Creche: Manger scene | Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? | Fruitcake, Dec 27 |
Santa Claus, Dec 6 | Christmas Carol, Dec 19 | Childermas, Dec 28 |
12 Days of Christmas | 5 Christmas Myths | Auld Lang Syne |
Tree, Dec 8 | Winter Solstice, Dec 21 | Epiphany, Jan 6 |
A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dec 9 | Caesar Augustus |
History of Jewish Holidays series:
Pop Culture Reviews:
Special Topics series:
Geek Holidays | Life of Martin Luther | Touching on Star Trek |
Founding Fathers | Travel Articles | Mentions of The Beatles |
Politics | Liberation of Dachau |