Reading Time: 2 minutesScience of the Buck Moon onight’s full moon is called the Buck Moon. This full moon is so called for the antlers that grow annually from the forehead of a buck (male deer), around this time of year. Alternate names include Hay Moon, Wyrt Moon, and Thunder Moon. I’ve written previously about the Sturgeon Supermoon, Strawberry Moon, Blue Moon, and Harvest, or Blood Supermoon. What makes the Buck Moon different?
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE ne hundred ninety-three years ago today, on July 26, 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act passed its third reading in the House of Commons, ensuring the end of slavery in the British Empire. William Wilberforce had championed the cause for nearly half a century. This article, published on the anniversary of the Act’s passage, also looks ahead to Wilberforce’s birthday on August 24. William Wilberforce, British statesman and England’s greatest abolitionist, was well known to the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution and became not just a politician, philanthropist, and abolitionist but also a writer of such…
Reading Time: 2 minutesHistory of Christmas in July erry Christmas in July, or Christmas in Summer, is celebrated primarily on July 25! It is not to be confused with LEON Day, celebrated on June 25, which falls exactly six months before Christmas Day. Christmas in July also has a practical dimension in the Southern Hemisphere, where it has the benefit of occurring during winter, when it’s called Midwinter Christmas, with wintry snow-like conditions that can be enjoyed, especially at colder, higher elevations. What is this holiday, when did it begin, and will you get presents?
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF ST. JAMES DAY: AND EL CAMINO DE SANTIAGO uly 25 is the Feast Day of St. James, and Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and some Protestants accordingly celebrate St. James Day. For Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar, it’s on April 30. Each summer, pilgrims walk the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, which finds its way to the traditional grave of Saint James in Spain. Who was St. James, and what is his relation to the pilgrimage of El Camino de Santiago?
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE 1ST MOON LANDING: APOLLO 11 ifty-seven years ago today, at 4:17 Eastern Time, July 20, 1969, the American lunar module touched down on the Moon, and about seven hours later, at 10:56:15 pm EDT, the first human stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module onto the Moon. With the immortal words of the 38-year-old Neil Armstrong: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” …the first man in history began an excursion on the moon that lasted over two and a half hours. Five hundred thirty million people watched it on television.…
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF BASTILLE DAY ach year on July 14, Bastille Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789, an important date in the French Revolution. Also known as French National Day, it features feasting, fireworks, public dancing, and an address by the French President. However, the center of this celebration is the largest and oldest European military parade along the Avenue of the Champs-Élysées. This wide boulevard runs through Paris and is called la plus belle avenue du monde. Lined by high-end shops and eateries, as well as the Arch of Triumph (l’Arc de Triomphe) near the…
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF FRENCH FRIES: NATIONAL FRENCH FRY DAY uly 13th is National French Fry Day. While no one knows who began this celebration, placing it on July 13 is significant in that the important French holiday is the next day, July 14, Bastille Day. Did they originate in France, why are they called that, who else enjoys them, and what is their history?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF JOHN CALVIN 🎙️Podcast version n July 10, 1509, in Noyon, France, Jehan Cauvin, known to us as John Calvin, was born. Of all the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, none was more significant in forming biblical theology or ecclesiastic thought than this one man. Calvin’s teaching and tradition penetrated more of the world than any other Protestant tradition. He most influenced the worldview of Western Europe, the UK, and the Americas until the 20th century. His organization of the church government in Geneva influenced the church polity of Presbyterianism. His theology influenced the Congregational (Puritan) and German and…
Reading Time: 9 minutesIS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY? n response to a recent article I published, one of my readers asked me this question: “Is America a Christian country?” My students have asked me this question often over the years. It usually takes me several lessons to lay the historical foundation to address the question. The answer is complex, and in today’s partisan-charged political climate, it may seem provocative, but it deserves a better answer than a simple “yes and no.” Much of the answer depends on one’s definitions – because the different meanings yield different answers. To begin: What is meant by America? (and…
