Posts Tagged ‘History’
History of D-Day: 75 Years Ago
HISTORY OF D-DAY Why has D-Day captured the imagination of American consciousness for three-quarters of a century? #DDAY75 Seventy-five years ago, on June 6, 1944, the Allies launched an offensive on the Normandy coast of France to liberate continental Europe from the Nazi German occupation. D-Day was the largest invasion by sea in all of history,…
Read MoreHistory of Mother’s Day
HISTORY OF MOTHER’S DAY The person most active initially in opposing the celebration of Mother’s Day is the very person who started this holiday in the US. How did that happen? Anna Jarvis’ mother died in 1905 and in her honor, Anna held a memorial in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia. She continued to campaign…
Read MoreHistory of May Day
MAY DAY May Day is many things to many people. Etymologically, it is a homophone (same sounding word) for the international call for help. It is a corruption of the French imperative “M’aidez” meaning “Help me!” It is a holiday claimed by many. Pagan Holiday It is known in the pagan world as Beltane, a…
Read MoreHistory of Earth Day
HISTORY OF EARTH DAY April 22 is called Earth Day because it both commemorates and celebrates the observance of the anniversary of our discovery of planet Earth. At this time by all accounts, there is general agreement that Earth is far superior to the planet from which we came, as we shall recount below. Meanwhile,…
Read MoreHistory of Easter: The Players: Where are they Now?
HISTORY OF EASTER: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLAYERS AFTERWARD You may be asking yourself, “Self,” you ask, “where are they now?” And well you might ask. What happened to our players AFTER the events in the Easter story? HEROD ANTIPAS You may remember that I had said Antipas‘ taking as his own wife his brother’s…
Read MoreHistory of Easter: Why Bunnies and Eggs?
HISTORY OF EASTER The most joyous of Christian festivals and one of the first celebrated by Christians commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is set on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. The English word “Easter” corresponding to the German “Oster,” reveals the association of many Easter customs with…
Read MoreHistory of Passover
HISTORY OF PASSOVER This year, the sunset on the evening of April 19 marks the beginning of Passover. Exodus 12 in the Bible tells the story of Passover from the life of Moses. Ten plagues were visited upon the Egyptian pharaoh (starring Yul Brenner in The Ten Commandments, but he was much better in “The…
Read MoreHistory of April 19: Why It’s Significant
HISTORY OF APRIL 19 Many of my Facebook friends have asked me to write an article on the History of April 19th. Why? Of course, this date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to…
Read MoreHistory of Good Friday
HISTORY OF GOOD FRIDAY For centuries pilgrims have walked the Via Dolorosa, “the way of sorrow” in Jerusalem, following the path Jesus took on Good Friday. Starting at the judgment seat of Pilate at the Antonia in the eastern part of the city immediately north of the Temple the path follows several “Stations of the…
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