Posts Tagged ‘History’
History of September: The Start of Fall
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,…
Read MoreHistory of Labor Day: What’s Work Got To Do With It?
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…
Read MoreHistory of Infinity Day: Why is it on August 8
HISTORY OF INFINITY DAY: AUGUST 8 Infinity Day is also known as Universal & International Infinity Day. It is a commemoration held on the 8th day of the 8th month of each year to celebrate and promote Philosophy and Philosophizing for the ordinary person. Why 8 is significant, apart from Infinity Day 8 planets…
Read MoreHistory of August: Who Is It Named After?
HISTORY OF AUGUST What’s in a name? The name of this month wasn’t always August; previously, the Romans called it Sextilis. This was back in 753 B.C., in the days of the founding of Rome by its first king Romulus in 753 BC, when there were originally ten months (… Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec.) In…
Read MoreHistory of D-Day: 79 Years Ago
HISTORY OF D-DAY Why has D-Day captured the imagination of American consciousness for over three-quarters of a century? Seventy-nine 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. On Twitter, the hashtag is #DDay79 D-Day was the…
Read MoreHistory of Mother’s Day: Ancient and Modern Sources
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…
Read MoreHistory of 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…
Read MoreHistory of the Liberation of Dachau, Part 2: April 30, 1945
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…
Read MoreHistory of the Liberation of Dachau: April 29, 1945
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…
Read MoreHistory of 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…
Read MoreHistory of April 19: Three Reasons 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? 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…
Read MoreHistory of the 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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