Posts Tagged ‘Rome’
History of St. Valentine’s Day
HISTORY OF ST. VALENTINE’S DAY St. Valentine was martyred on February 14. However, Valentine or Valentinus is the name of at least three martyred saints. The most celebrated are the two martyrs whose festivals fall on February 14. One was a Roman priest, the other, bishop of Terni. Context It would appear from legend that both…
Read MoreHistory of New Year’s Resolutions: Where Did They Begin?
HISTORY OF NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS As I mentioned earlier, New Year’s Day celebrations began in pre-Christian times, beginning with the Babylonians in March but later changed to January by the Romans. Where did we get the idea of New Year’s Resolutions and why at the beginning of the year? Roman The month of January gets…
Read MoreHistory of the Feast of St. John: Which St. John?
History of the Feast of St. John. Who was St. John the Apostle and what was his role in history?
Read MoreHistory of Santa Lucia: Luciadagen — St. Lucy’s Day
History of Santa Lucia. Who is St Lucy and how does Sweden’s Luciadagen relate to Sicily? #HistoryOfTheHolidays
Read MoreHistory of Santa Claus: Saint or Elf?
HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS December 6 is “Saint Nicholas Day.” The name Santa Claus is a kind of a contraction for Saint Nicholas, the German name Sankt Nikolaus can be pronounced San’t(a) ni-KLOuse (sounding like house.) Origin He was born in the late 3rd century, perhaps in A.D. 270. Nicholas became a bishop in Greece and gained distinction in…
Read MoreHistory of September
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 remaining months of the year, as I’ve…
Read MoreHistory of August
HISTORY OF AUGUST What’s in a name? The name of this month wasn’t always August, previously it was called Sextilis by the Romans, back in the days of Romulus in 753 BC when there were originally 10 months (Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec.) The Roman Senate, in 8 B.C. decided to honor their first Emperor, Augustus…
Read MoreHistory of July: Where do we get that name?
HISTORY OF JULY The month of July was renamed for Julius Caesar, who was born in that month. Before that, it was called Quintilis in Latin meaning the fifth month in the ancient Roman calendar. This was before January became the first month of the calendar year about the year 450 BC. We currently use…
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…
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