From the BBC, brief looks at Christmas in four European countries (about 250 million people combined):
Joyeux Noël ! Bonne Année ! — Christmas – France
¡Feliz Navidad! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! — Christmas – Spain
Frohe Weihnachten! Frohes Neues Jahr! — Christmas – Germany
Buon Natale! Felice Anno Nuovo! — Christmas – Italy
… was published 165 years ago today.
Scrooge. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.
When I was a child, I tell my offspring, my brother and I often would receive just one present at Christmastime, typically an individual crayon. It wouldn’t even be a full crayon, but merely a stub. Still, we’d be grateful and would pretend that “brown” was our favorite of the 64 Crayola colors. We would talk about how great this crayon would be if only we could afford paper.
Joel Achenbach
[First posted here three years ago.]
It’s time to bundle up all the kids, put some Christmas music on, and make our annual pilgrimage through the neighborhood of Ugly Christmas Lights.
There’s a sample on the right. You know what to do, click to enlarge.
But you really need to make the trip.
The Antique Christmas Lights Museum has lots of information about the evolution of Christmas lights, but hidden among its goodies is a page of Vintage Christmas Recordings. The 18 recordings were made 1908-1914 and reproduced on a 1908 Edison Home cylinder player for conversion to mp3 files.
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.
From the only contemporary account of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving, a letter by Edward Winslow dated December 11, 1621.
Conclusion from a thoughtful and thorough article in The Christian Science Monitor (November 27, 2002).
There are many myths surrounding Thanksgiving. Here are nine things we do know are true about the holiday.
1. The first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration in 1621 that lasted for three days.
2. The feast most likely occurred between Sept. 21 and Nov. 11.
3. Approximately 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 colonists – the latter mostly women and children – participated.
4. The Wampanoag, led by Chief Massasoit, contributed at least five deer to the feast.
5. Cranberry sauce, potatoes – white or sweet – and pies were not on the menu.
6. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag communicated through Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, who knew English because he had associated with earlier explorers. [In fact, Squanto (or Tisquantum), had spent several years in Europe and England.]
7. Besides meals, the event included recreation and entertainment.
8. There are only two surviving descriptions of the first Thanksgiving. One is in a letter by colonist Edward Winslow. He mentions some of the food and activities. The second description was in a book written by William Bradford 20 years afterward. His account was lost for almost 100 years.
9. Abraham Lincoln named Thanksgiving an annual holiday in 1863.
And this, The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings.
On April 30th four centuries ago, our ancestors, led by Don Juan de Oñate, reached the banks of El Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). The first recorded act of thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred on that April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles south of what is now El Paso, Texas. After having begun their northward trek in March of that same year, the entire caravan was gathered at this point. The 400 person expedition included soldiers, families, servants, personal belongings, and livestock . . . virtually a living village. Two thirds of the colonizers were from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands). There was even one Greek and a man from Flanders! The rest were Mexican Indians and mestizos (mixed bloods).
The starting point for the colonists had been in Zacatecas, Nueva España (now Mexico) and by being part of the colonizing expedition they had been promised the title of Hidalgo, men with rights and privileges equal to Spain’s nobility. Juan de Oñate was a man of wealth and prominence, the son of Cristobal Oñate, silver mine owner whose family had come to the New World from the Basque region of Spain. Titles granted to him by Viceroy Luis de Velasco were Governor and Adelantado of New Mexico. The colonists suffered hardships and deprivations as they headed north, but they were also headed toward posterity: they would participate in the first recorded act of Thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent—22 years before the English colonists similarly gave thanks on the Atlantic coast. The expedition is well recorded by Gaspar Perez de Villagrá, the Spanish poet who traveled with the group. He wrote, “We were sadly lacking in all knowledge of the stars, the winds, and other knowledge by which to guide our steps.”
On April 30, 1598, the scouts made camp along the Rio Grande and prepared to drink and eat their fill, for there they found fishes and waterfowl. Villagrá wrote,
We built a great bonfire and roasted meat and fish, and then sat down to a repast the like of which we had never enjoyed before.” Before this bountiful meal, Don Juan de Oñate personally nailed a cross to a living tree and prayed, “Open the door to these heathens, establish the church altars where the body and blood of the Son of God may be offered, open to us the way to security and peace for their preservation and ours, and give to our king and to me in his royal name, peaceful possession of these kingdoms and provinces for His blessed glory. Amen.”Excerpted from The New Mexico Genealogical Society
Thanksgiving Day brings us a rare moment of coming together. A tradition that crosses boundaries. No, it’s not eating supper with family or even watching football. For radio fans and programmers alike, today’s holiday is best celebrated by the playing of one song, Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant.” That song, which was originally released as the 18-minute “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” will be heard today ….
The song, which is usually broadcast in either the original album track form or the even longer 30th anniversary live version, relates a Thanksgiving story. In it, Guthrie talks about enjoying a Thanksgiving feast with friends in Stockbridge at the title restaurant. After that, things get weird. The singer relates taking out the trash and, having no place to legally drop it because of the holiday, dumping it illegally. This leads to a long, shaggy-dog tale of being arrested for littering that turns into both an anti-Vietnam War protest and a statement of human rights. Somehow, by the end, he has turned the song into a statement that in union there is strength. And the best way to demonstrate that communal strength? Everyone, as listeners know, must sing along with the familiar refrain: “You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.” As the singer points out, if we can pull ourselves together to do that, we can change the world.
Downloadable versions from the Alice’s Restaurant Massacree Concert / Radio Show.
Alice Brock — the actual Alice.
The morons on the local news had someone at the empty airport last night reporting on how busy it’s going to be, so it must be the official start of the holiday season. Three years ago I was tagged with a holiday meme by Elise. Here’s what I wrote then (with a few edits).
Name 3 people you absolutely miss right this moment that you haven’t seen in some time.
1) Two that matter most at Christmas are Mom and G’ma. Long departed; missed every day, especially this time of the year. (Add Dad since I first wrote this.)
2) No one else. I’d go see them.
Name 3 things you miss about home during the holidays (be it people, smells, foods, whatever).
1) I don’t do a Christmas tree and I miss having one, though not enough to buy and decorate the damn thing. I hate buying and decorating Christmas trees.
2) A real fire in the fireplace, not just fake logs and gas. This year I will have a real fire.
3) For some years I have visited my kids at Christmas and it’s terrific, especially with the spouses and kids. But it would be nice to have them all at my house one year. I’d get a Christmas tree.
Name 1 holiday memory that you have from childhood that you will never forget.
I can’t remember.
Name at least 1 favorite book or movie that always reminds you of the holidays.
O.Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, which I post on NewMexiKen each year in full. Elf is good. Bad Santa is a fun film, but not as a “Christmas” movie. Don’t make that mistake.
Name your top 3 4 favorite holiday songs that get you in the mood to celebrate.
1) “Jingle Bell Rock” performed by my granddaughter Kiley.
2) The Charlie Brown version of “O Tannebaum.”
3) The Drifters “White Christmas.”
4) The Stevie Nicks version of “Silent Night,” but that’s a whole different mood to celebrate.
If you could go anywhere other than home for the holidays, where would you choose to go and who would you want to bring along?
Bethlehem. I mean, why not? At least once. I’d take my children and their spouses and my grandchildren. And a few friends. London and Rome, too, on the way.
Or Kauai.
The Grinch or Rudolph?
Rudolph. He showed the other reindeer, the bastards.
Formal holiday dinner or casual get-together food?
Probably dinner on Thanksgiving (that is what Thanksgiving has become all about). With cranberries. Casual food on Christmas and New Year’s Day. As long as one of those meals includes the traditional lasagna.
And jelly doughnuts on Hanukkah, of course.
Name the best holiday gift you ever received and why.
What, and piss everyone else off. No way.
Describe the funniest holiday moment you’ve ever had.
I guess when Ken, the oldest, was about 19 months old. He got up earlier than his parents and undecorated the Christmas tree, taking every ornament off that he could reach and lining them all up in a nice row on the sofa.
Another one was when the kids were little and my mother visited just before Christmas to buy presents. When we suggested clothes and underwear and things, she said, “OK, but I’ll have to get them toys, too. I’m not going to be remembered as the underwear grandma.”
Name a holiday memory that truly warmed your heart.
I made my children a puppet theater one year. Nothing elaborate, but kind of cool. Their mom made them a passle of puppets, including ones that looked like each of the four of them.
Thinking about being Santa for all those years warms my heart pretty good.
Name your top 3 favorite TV specials that frequent the airwaves during the holiday season.
1) The Christmas Story. The kid will shoot his eye out.
2) A Charlie Brown Christmas.
3) A Christmas Carol. I prefer the George C. Scott version.
I own DVDs of all three.
Sledding, snowball fight, snow angels or building a snowman?
It’s been a long time; I’d like to build a snowman.
Eggnog, hot chocolate, or hot cider?
Hot cider.
Candy canes or fruit cake?
Fruit cake. I like fruit cake.
Favorite holiday cookie: frosted sugar cutout, gingerbread, date-nut, or other?
Frosted sugar cutout.
NewMexiKen believes it is much better to receive than to give, so I won’t pass this meme along to anyone. Everyone is welcome to give it a try and let us know how you do. Happy Holidays.
[I say Happy Holidays because there are in fact several holidays during the next few weeks.]
Today, the commemoration of Nov. 11 varies greatly across Europe. For Poles, the holiday is not a day of mourning but rather of celebration, commemorating the rebirth of their nation in 1918 after more than a century of occupation by Austria-Hungary, Prussia and Russia. In Italy, the war dead are remembered on Nov. 4, “the feast of the fallen,” the day in 1918 that fighting came to an end on its battlefront. Across Central Europe though, the greater horrors of the Second World War have subsumed those of its predecessor within popular memory; in Germany, for example, commemoration of the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities now takes precedence over the losses of the last century’s first conflagration.
Yet in France, where the death toll of 1914 to 1918 exceeded that of 1939 to 1945, the dead of World War I retain a strong grip on the national conscience. Across the country today, local mayors will lead remembrance services, the names of long-buried soldiers will be read out, military bands will play and citizens will sing “La Marseillaise.”
In Britain, where an estimated three-quarters of the population paused during the two-minute silence on the armistice’s 80th anniversary and where, in 2002, a BBC poll rated the Unknown Warrior as the country’s 76th greatest citizen, public memory of the war is even stronger. Visit the country (or its former dominions including Canada and New Zealand) in November and you will still see paper poppies being widely worn — a reference to the blood-red flowers which grew on the shell-torn battlefields and to John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields.”
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 national 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 has evolved into also honoring 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.
23.6 million
The number of military veterans in the United States in 2007.
Source: Table 502, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009Female Veterans
1.8 million
The number of female veterans in 2007.
Source: Source: Table 502, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 200916%
Percentage of Gulf War veterans in 2007 who were women.
Source: Table 503, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009Race and Hispanic Origin
2.4 million
The number of black veterans in 2007. Additionally, 1.1 million veterans were Hispanic; 278,000 were Asian; 165,000 were American Indian or Alaska Native; 27,000 were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and 18.7 million were non-Hispanic white. (The numbers for blacks, Asians, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, and non-Hispanic whites cover only those reporting a single race.)
Source: 2007 American Community SurveyWhen They Served
9.3 million
The number of veterans 65 and older in 2007. At the other end of the age spectrum, 1.9 million were younger than 35.
Source: Table 503, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 20097.9 million
Number of Vietnam-era veterans in 2007. Thirty-three percent of all living veterans served during this time (1964-1975). In addition, 5 million served during the Gulf War (representing service from Aug. 2, 1990, to present); 2.9 million in World War II (1941-1945); 3 million in the Korean War (1950-1953); and 6.1 million in peacetime.
Source: Table 503, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009
This will be my tenth year at Casa NewMexiKen and the total number of trick-or-treaters that have come to my door in that time is zero. I kind of miss seeing the little extortionists.
(I was in Virginia at Halloween a couple of the years. Plenty of young ‘uns there.)
NewMexiKen could probably still identify the house that gave away packages of Krun-Chee potato chips when I was a seven or eight year old. And that someone in that same block gave out full size candy bars. Now granted, a full size candy bar in those days cost just a nickel, but “a dollar’s worth” was a common gasoline purchase then, too.
Before I lived in my present kid-less neighborhood, back when the kids would come up to the door and say “trick or treat,” I’d say “OK, I’ll take the trick” and just look at them for a few seconds before dishing out the candy. The little brats would just stare back, dumbfounded and totally clueless about dealing with an unpredictable situation.
I’m lucky I wasn’t arrested.
Oh, and these other perennials.
From Today’s Inspiration, a Saturday Evening Post Halloween cover illustration from 1958.
And via Annette’s Notebook, the Lunch Box of the DAMNED.
Here’s the ultimate (ultimate poor taste, that is) Halloween Decoration. I can’t wait to see what they do for Christmas the holidays.
From 1868 to 1975, The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency (FVZA) was responsible for controlling the nation’s vampire and zombie populations while overseeing scientific research into the undead. This site is a tribute to the men and women who served in the FVZA, especially the over 4000 Agents who lost their lives fighting to keep our country safe. In addition to paying tribute to the FVZA, this site hopes to call attention to dangerous research being done at the Santa Rosa Institute in New Mexico: research that runs the risk of bringing back a scourge of vampires worse than any before.
Today is Grandparents Day. Cash, checks and fine wines accepted.
Grandparents Day was the brainchild of Marian McQuade of Fayette County, W.Va., who hoped that such an observance might persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage of their grandparents. President Jimmy Carter signed the first presidential proclamation in 1978 — and one has been issued each year since — designating the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. The first official observance was Sept. 9, 1979.
Wisdom and heritage R us.
The first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of 10,000 workers on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half the states were observing a “Labor Day” on one day or another, and Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon afterward, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
Who Are We Celebrating?
154.5 million
Number of people 16 and older in the nation’s labor force in May 2008, including 82.6 million men and 71.9 million women.
Our Jobs
Americans work in a variety of occupations. Here is a sampling:
employees28%
Percentage of workers 16 and older who work more than 40 hours a week. Eight percent work 60 or more hours a week.
4
Median number of years workers have been with their current employer. About 9 percent of those employed have been with their current employer for 20 or more years.
$42,261 and $32,515
The 2006 annual median earnings for male and female full-time, year-round workers, respectively.
Not only is it Friday, but in Britain it’s also National Slackers Day.
Yes folks, Friday 22nd August is National Slackers Day, and for the sake of your health, you’re strongly advised to do whatever it takes to avoid any work whatsoever – whether it’s going into the office, doing the hoovering, going to the supermarket or even feeding the kids. It may sound harsh, but if it makes you happier and less stressed, we think you’ll agree it’ll benefit everyone in the long run.
July 14th is Bastille Day in France, a national holiday. Even Google gets in on the act (google.fr, that is).
The Bastille was a Paris prison, by 1789 more symbolic than significant. It had a sinister reputation as the place where people were held on the sole and arbitrary power of the king. More importantly in 1789, it was a storehouse of gunpowder and arms.
On July 14, Parisian crowds overwhelmed the prison and it was surrendered. The event is seen as a significant early step in the French Revolution.
Fête Nationale became a holiday in 1880.
NewMexiKen had a great Fourth, but Karen Fayeth I have to admit topped it by several thousand feet.
It was the Declaration of Independence that was approved by the Second Continental Congress on this date in 1776.
Independence itself was voted two days earlier. We celebrate the anniversary of the birth certificate, not the birth.
Although the section of the Lee Resolution dealing with independence was not adopted until July 2, Congress appointed on June 10 a committee of five to draft a statement of independence for the colonies. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with the actual writing delegated to Jefferson.
Jefferson drafted the statement between June 11 and 28, submitted drafts to Adams and Franklin who made some changes, and then presented the draft to the Congress following the July 2nd adoption of the independence section of the Lee Resolution. The congressional revision process took all of July 3rd and most of July 4th. Finally, in the afternoon of July 4th, the Declaration was adopted.
The signing of the embossed copy we recognize as THE Declaration of Independence began on August 2nd.
Information and quote from The National Archives.
NewMexiKen is the father of four — and their four terrific spouses too — and grandfather of six. I think I’ll take the rest of the day off. Watch some golf, watch some basketball, water my flowers.
That’s Dad with Reid, the youngest of the six Sweeties two years ago. Miss you Dad.
On this date in 1777 the Continental Congress approved a national flag:
In 1916 President Wilson issued a proclamation declaring June 14 Flag Day. The present design of the flag was established in 1818 — thirteen stripes to represent the original states and a star for each state. Until 1912 the arrangement of the stars was left to the discretion of the flag-maker. The current flag with 50 stars was established on July 4, 1960, when Hawaii was admitted to the Union. The Star-Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 had 15 stars and 15 stripes. |
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“Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance by Act of Congress on this date in 1954.