Category: Holidays

Veterans Day

Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a federal holiday beginning in 1938. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day as a way to honor those who served in all American wars. The day honors living military veterans with parades and speeches across the nation. A national ceremony takes place at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

From 1971 to 1978 Veterans Day was celebrated on the fourth Monday in October.

I really liked last year’s poster.

Columbus Day line of the day

“I asked seven anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians if they would rather have been a typical Indian or a typical European in 1491. None was delighted by the question, because it required judging the past by the standards of today—a fallacy disparaged as ‘presentism’ by social scientists. But every one chose to be an Indian.”

Charles Mann, “1491” — The Atlantic (March 2002)

Bastille Day

July 14th is Bastille Day in France, a national holiday. Even Google gets in on the act (google.fr, that is).

The people of Paris rose up and decided to march on the Bastille, a state prison that symbolized the absolutism and arbitrariness of the Ancien Regime.

The storming of the Bastille, on July 14, 1789, immediately became a symbol of historical dimensions; it was proof that power no longer resided in the King or in God, but in the people, in accordance with the theories developed by the Philosophes of the 18th century.

On July 16, the King recognized the tricolor cockade: the Revolution had succeeded.

For all citizens of France, the storming of the Bastille symbolizes, liberty, democracy and the struggle against all forms of oppression.

Embassy of France

Independence Day

Jefferson's draft Declaration of Independence
Jefferson's draft Declaration of Independence with Franklin's and Adams's edits

The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Second Continental Congress on this date in 1776.

The Name of the holiday today is Independence Day. July 4th is a date.

I’d like to draw your attention to

. . . two excellent comments regarding Memorial Day and the flag. So I’ve brought them to this post:

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Emmett wrote:

As a former, now recognized (certificate suitable for framing, no medal, no ribbon) Cold Warrior, I never asked or expected to be thanked or recognized. Spitting and cursing had passed before I entered service.

But I left the Navy with a compulsive need to clean and hostility to improper display of the flag; both of which I have had to get over. The flag as attire I coped with as an expression of free speech, but teeth still grate over misuse of the flag in misguided patriotic display.

Worn, shabby antenna versions are a particular peeve.

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Tom Johnson wrote:

First, for most of us, raising the flag quickly to the top of the pole and then down to half staff is not a possibility. My flag options are 1) the 3-by-5 hang-at-a-tilt flag we bought from our son’s Cub Scout troop or 2) the enormous ceremonial flag that draped my father-in-law’s casket, which we hang across the front of our garage on Veteran’s Day. So, in my own defense, let me plead “it’s the thought that counts,” and say that my symbolically incorrect displays, like those of most people, are a side effect of an admirable urge.

Second, let me bitch a little about what Memorial Day has become. Senator Daniel Inouye introduces legislation every year to return Memorial day to May 30, whether that date falls midweek or not. The legislation goes nowhere. His logic, which I share, is that the recognition of war dead should be an interruption, and that turning it into just another three-day weekend diminishes its impact. When we should be gathering as communities to recognize the sacrifice that makes this country possible, we are instead waterskiing and drinking beer. This is a significant civic loss.

Finally, I note a shift in recent years to using Memorial Day as a generic, all-purpose recognition of the military. The motivation for this, I think, is that patriotism has become a cudgel to beat political adversaries with, rather than a feeling of common purpose. Turning Memorial Day from a holiday during which we reflect on sacrifices past to an occasion that demands support of military adventures current is divisive in a way that isn’t productive. It’s like the “I Support Our Troops and President Bush” yard signs that became a patriotic necessity at the start of the Iraq War. This is a very confused understanding of what Memorial Day is for and about, a symptom of the perpetual militarism that the Founders certainly did not support or envision, and a partisan exercise that cheapens a profound American moment.

Sorry I went on so long, but this really gets under my skin.

Say Thanks

Jill thanked her grandfather for his service in the U.S. Navy when we visited the World War II Memorial five years ago. He said it was the first time anyone had ever thanked him — in 60 years.

Remember those who serve.

The Flag Today

“Protocol for flying the American flag on Memorial Day includes raising it quickly to the top of the pole at sunrise, immediately lowering it to half-staff until noon, and displaying it at full staff from noon until sunset.”

Library of Congress

Flying the flag but doing it improperly is, to my mind, worse than not flying it at all. It is about symbolism, after all, and that implies ritual.

May 30th

May 30th was Memorial Day (or Decoration Day) for over 100 years. According to the Library of Congress:

In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.”

The first national celebration of the holiday took place May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery … Originally known as Decoration Day, at the turn of the century it was designated as Memorial Day. In many American towns, the day is celebrated with a parade. …

In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended it to honor all soldiers who died in American wars. A few states continue to celebrate Memorial Day on May 30.

Jeanne d’Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431. She was 19.

Keir Dullea is 75. Michael J. Pollard is 72. Pollard was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for his performance in Bonnie and Clyde.

Gayle Sayers is 68, Wynonna Judd is 47 and Manny Ramirez is 39.

Cee-Lo Green is 37 today.

Mel Blanc (1908) and Benny Goodman (1909) were born on May 30th.

The first Indianapolis 500 was 100 years ago today (1911). Such a big deal when I was young; such just another day at the car races today.

The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on May 30th in 1922.

Fat Tuesday, Laissez les bons temps rouler

Mardi Gras, literally “Fat Tuesday,” has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the “last hurrah” before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That’s why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.

Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning “farewell to the flesh.” Like many Catholic holidays and seasonal celebrations, it likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons. Some believe the festival represented the few days added to the lunar calendar to make it coincide with the solar calendar; since these days were outside the calendar, rules and customs were not obeyed. Others see it as a late-winter celebration designed to welcome the coming spring. As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a Fast of 40 Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.

There are well-known season-long Carnival celebrations in Europe and Latin America, including Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The best-known celebration in the U.S. is in New Orleans and the French-Catholic communities of the Gulf Coast. Mardi Gras came to the New World in 1699, when a French explorer arrived at the Mississippi River, about 60 miles south of present day New Orleans. He named the spot Point du Mardi Gras because he knew the holiday was being celebrated in his native country that day.

Mardi Gras literally means “Fat Tuesday” in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from “to shrive,” or hear confessions), Pancake Tuesday and fetter Dienstag. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.

Above all from Catholic Roots of Mardi Gras.

It’s Washington’s Birthday

No matter what the stores call their sales, the federal holiday today is Washington’s Birthday.

Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on February 22 from its Congressional approval in 1879* until legislation in 1968 designated the third Monday of February as the official day to celebrate Washington’s birthday.

The states are not obliged to adopt federal holidays, which only affect federal offices and agencies. While most states have adopted Washington’s Birthday, a dozen of them officially celebrate Presidents’ Day. A number of the states that celebrate Washington’s Birthday also recognize Lincoln’s Birthday as a separate legal holiday.

14 weeks until the next holiday.
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* Washington’s Birthday was the fifth federal legal holiday. Only New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day preceded it. There are 10 now, but Labor Day will be eliminated soon.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Though advertisers and merchants would have us believe that the Christmas season begins at Thanksgiving (or possibly Halloween, or Labor Day), liturgically it begins on Christmas Eve and extends until Twelfth Night, the eve of the Epiphany.

The Twelve Days of Christmas are Christmas through January 5th. Tonight is Twelfth night.

New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day was first celebrated on January 1 in 45 B.C.E. when Julius Caesar reformatted the Roman calendar. It has been the first day of the year in most countries since the 17th century (1752 in Britain and its colonies).

January is derived from the Latin Ianuarius, which itself is derived from the Latin word ianua, which means door, and Janus the Roman god of gates, doorways and beginnings.