History of Mother’s Day: Ancient and Modern Sources

Mothers Day

HISTORY OF MOTHER’S DAY The person who initially was most active in opposing the celebration of Mother’s Day is the very person who started this holiday in the U.S. 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…

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History of May Day

May Day

HISTORY OF 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.   May Day as a Pagan Holiday It is known…

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History of the Liberation of Dachau, Part 2: April 30, 1945

Dachau gate

HISTORY OF THE LIBERATION OF DACHAU, Part 2: APRIL 30, 1945 In Part 1, I discussed the Nazi Concentration Camps and the initial movement of US Army divisions into Dachau.   Dachau: The Camp As my father and the 42nd “Rainbow” Division moved into the Dachau Concentration Camp, of the 32,000 survivors still alive in…

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History of the Liberation of Dachau: April 29, 1945

History of the Liberation of Dachau

HISTORY OF THE LIBERATION OF DACHAU: APRIL 29, 1945 My father told me of his involvement in the liberation of Dachau shortly before he died in 1976. Some of his war buddies discovered the tribute site I later created for him and called or emailed me to recount stories I’d not known previously, or only…

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History of Earth Day

Earth Day

HISTORY OF EARTH DAY April 22 is called Earth Day because it commemorates and celebrates the observance of the anniversary of our discovery of planet Earth. By all accounts, there is general agreement that Earth is far superior to the planet from which we came, as I shall recount below. Meanwhile, several companies on Earth…

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History of April 19: Three Reasons Why It’s Significant

April 19

HISTORY OF APRIL 19 Many of my Facebook friends have asked me to write an article on the History of April 19th. Why? 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 somewhat less likely to occur on…

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History of the Marathon

Marathon

HISTORY OF THE MARATHON Today in Boston, Massachusetts, is the running of the Boston Marathon, beginning at the start line in Hopkinton at 10:00 AM and following the race route into Boston. This is the oldest and longest-running (no pun intended) annual marathon event, at least in the Western World. It began in 1897, the year…

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History of Tax Day: Still April 15?

Tax Day

HISTORY OF TAX DAY This year, in an unprecedented action not seen since 2021’s unprecedented action, or the unprecedented action of the year before, the Internal Revenue Service has extended the deadline for Federal Income Tax filing for individual tax filers. This year, instead of being due today, April 15, the new deadline for individual…

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History of the Civil War: When was the First Shot?

Civil War

HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR: FIRST SHOT? On April 12, 1861, the first formal hostilities of the American Civil War occurred when Confederate troops attacked the military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Fort, located in Charleston harbor, was a coastal fortification built after the War of 1812 as part of the U.S.…

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History of Easter: The Players: Where are They Now?

Question_Mark_Cloud

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 his brother’s wife Herodias as…

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History of Easter: Why Bunnies and Eggs?

Vintage bunny

HISTORY OF EASTER The most joyous of Christian festivals and one of the first celebrated by Christians across the Roman Empire commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is set on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox.   Meaning of the word Easter There are several theories about where we…

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History 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 Fortress in the eastern part of the city immediately north of the Temple, the path follows 14 “Stations of…

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