In the northern half of the U.S. at least, the summer vacation season
begins with Memorial Day and ends with Labor Day.
Many colleges and some secondary and elementary schools begin classes
immediately after Labor Day.
State parks, swimming pools, and campgrounds are all quite busy on Labor
Day, as vacationers take one last advantage of the waning hot season.
September is the month that marks the beginning of autumn. And, because of
that, the average daytime maximum temperatures take a plunge during the
month in most of the U.S.
Columbus Day! (October 12)
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS discovered America in 1492. At least that is what all
elementary school children were always taught: "In 1492, Columbus sailed
the ocean blue." Of course, Columbus never did "discover" North America,
and the regions he did explore were already inhabited. He only discovered
them from the viewpoint of the Europeans. Yet his first voyage did prove
one thing for sure, that the earth was not only round, but that it was
bigger than he had thought, Eratosthenes notwithstanding.
One of the first known celebrations marking the discovery of the "New
World" by Christopher Columbus was in 1792, when a ceremony organized by
the Colombian Order was held in New York City honoring Christopher Columbus
and the 300th anniversary of his landing in the Bahamas. Then, on October
12, 1866 the Italian population of New York organized the first celebration
of the discovery of America. Three years later, in 1869 Italians in San
Francisco celebrated October 12 calling it C-Day.
To mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, in 1892, President
Benjamin Harrison made a commemorative proclamation. But it was Colorado,
in 1905, that became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. Since 1920
the day has been celebrated annually, and in 1937 President Franklin
Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. That's where it
remained until 1971 when Congress declared it a federal public holiday on
the second Monday in October.
Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1505)
Columbus, the son of a wool merchant and weaver, was born in Genoa, Italy
and went to sea at the age of 14. Following a shipwreck off the coast of
Portugal in 1470, he swam ashore and settled in that country.
Between 1477 and 1482 Columbus made merchant voyages as far away as Iceland
and Guinea. But in 1484, his "Enterprise of the Indies" idea fell on deaf
ears when he presented it to King John of Portugal. Shortly thereafter, he
moved to Spain, where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella became more
interested in his adventuresome ideas.
To the New World
On August 2, 1492, Columbus set sail in search of the East Indies. The
voyage was financed by Ferdinand and Isabella by making the city of Palos
pay back a debt to the crown by providing two of the ships, and by getting
Italian financial backing for part of the expenses. The crown had to put up
very little money from the treasury.
Columbus and 90 crewmen boarded the three ships that were to make the first
voyage to the New World, the Niсa, Pinta, and the flagship, Santa Maria. On
October 12, 1492, Columbus first saw the islands of the new world, landing
in the Bahamas. Later in the month, he would sail to Cuba, and to
Hispaniola (now Haiti). He thought he had reached the East Indies, the
islands off Southeast Asia.
Contrary to popular belief, most educated individuals in the 15th century,
and especially sailors, already knew that the earth was round. What was not
realized by Columbus, however, was just how big a globe it was. Columbus
seriously underestimated the size of the planet.
Seaworthy Cuisine
The menu for Spanish seamen consisted of water, vinegar, wine, olive oil,
molasses, cheese, honey, raisins, rice, garlic, almonds, sea biscuits, dry
legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, beans, salted and barreled sardines,
anchovies, dry salt cod and pickled or salted meats (beef and pork), salted
flour.
Food, mostly boiled, was served in a large communal wooden bowl. It
consisted of poorly cooked meat with bones in it, the sailors attacking it
with fervor, picking it with their fingers as they had no forks or spoons.
The larger pieces of meat were cut with the knife each sailor carried. Fish
was eaten most often. On calm days, the crew would fish and then cook their
catch.
Return to Spain and Additional Voyages
On Christmas Day, 1492, the Santa Maria sank off Hispaniola. Columbus
departed for Spain on January 16, 1493 on the Niсa, arriving there on March
4.
Columbus made three additional voyages to the New World. The second voyage
set sail in September, 1493, with 17 ships. During his expeditions, he
helped to colonize Hispaniola, and discovered the South American mainland.
He did not, however, see mainland North America during any of his voyages.
He returned to Spain for the last time on November 7, 1504. He died at
Valladolid, Spain on May 20, 1506, at the age of 55.
Controversy
Much controversy exists over Columbus' expeditions and whether or not one
can "discover" an already-inhabited land. The natives of the Bahamas and
other islands on his journey were peaceful and friendly. Yet many of them
were later enslaved by the Spanish. Also, it is known that the Vikings
explored the North American coast 500 years before Columbus.
Nevertheless, Columbus' expedition was unique and important in that it
resulted in the first intertwining of Europe with the Americas, resulting
in the first permanent European colonies in the New World.
Halloween! (October 31)
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a
celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some
claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some
ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic
Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November
1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance
in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer
officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en),
the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who
had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living
bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope
for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were
suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with
the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night
of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make
them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of
ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as
destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for
bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was
not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes
could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was
kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was
thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits.
Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first
century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other
Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor
Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the
apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing
for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more
ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing
up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish
immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the
favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and
unhinging fence gates.
The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the
Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On
November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to
village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with
currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers
they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At
the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after
death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage
to heaven.
The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale
is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster,
tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in
the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the
devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him
down the tree.
According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to
Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell
because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single
ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed
inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the
immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more
plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out
pumpkin, lit with an ember.
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite
"holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out
of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer
rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties
or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only
as evil as one cares to make it.
Veteran’s Day. (Nov. 11)
This is my tribute to my father, and to all veterans. I thank God every day
for him and veterans like him, without whom we wouldn't have the freedoms
we've grown accustomed to. Freedoms that too many Americans take for
granted. War is a horrible thing, and I in no way am attempting to glorify
it. However, in some cases it is necessary.
My father is a World War II veteran. Joining the Navy when he was just 17,
he was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Pensacola (CA-24), where he served
bravely until the war's end in 1945. The Pensacola was a heavy cruiser,
part of the screen of ships protecting the carrier U.S.S. Hornet, and later
the Enterprise. The Pensacola saw much action, and earned 13 Battle Stars
for her part in 13 major battles fought in the Pacific, including Midway,
Iwo Jima, and Guadalcanal.
The Pensacola's armament consisted of 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and
5 inch and 8 inch guns. My father was a gunner on a 5 inch mount. The 5
inch guns were multi-purpose, used for ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore, and
anti-aircraft. My father has related to me that his scariest moments were
during Kamikaze attacks, when the enemy planes had to be literally "blown
from the sky", or centrifigul force would carry them into the ship.
Fortunately, no Kamikaze planes hit the Pensacola, but she was strafed,
bombed, shelled, and torpedoed.
She survived the war, only to be sunk off the coast of Washington State
during nuclear bombardment testing in the late '40s. An unmagnanimouse end
to a grand career. She was a proud ship, and her officers and crew fought
with unwavering courage.
As an aside, I just want to say that I abhor the treatment our Vietnam
Veterans have received by this country. Vietnam was a "dirty" war in my
opinion, created I believe, by miss-guided politicians. The men and women
who fought there were simply doing their duty, answering the call from our
armed forces. In my eyes they are all heroes. I salute you!
Thanksgiving! (4th Thursday in November)
Find Out What You Know About Thanksgiving!
This page is dedicated to the holiday that encourages us to step back and
give thanks for all the blessings we have. On this holiday site, you will
discover some unusual things about the history of Thanksgiving, and you can
take a fun little quiz to find out how much you know.
Take the quiz first, then read about the history of Thanksgiving to find
out about the answers you missed! When you're finished, I would appreciate
it if you would sign the guestbook to let me know what you learned!
Pearl Harbor Day (December 7)
In Memoriam:
At dawn on Sunday, December 7, 1941, naval aviation forces of the Empire of
Japan attacked the United States Pacific Fleet center at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii and other military targets. The goal of this attack was to
sufficiently cripple the US Fleet so that Japan could then attack and
capture the Phillipines and Indo-China and so secure access to the raw
materials needed to maintain its position as a global military and economic
power. This would enable Japan to further extend the empire to include
Australia, New Zealand, and India (the ultimate boundaries planned for the
so-called "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere"). The prevailing belief
within the Japanese military and political establishment was that
eventually, with the then expected German defeat of Great Britain and
Soviet Russia, the United States' non-involvement in the European war, and
Japan's control of the Pacific, that the world power structure would
stabilize into three major spheres of influence:
Christmas (December 25)
At Christmas, people remember when Jesus Christ was born and the
Christian religion started. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, about
two thousands years ago. The people who followed Jesus' teaching were the
first Christians.
Today, Christmas is a very important time in the Christian year, but it is
also very important to those who do not go to church. It is a time for
buying and giving presents, having parties, and being with family.
People start to get ready for Christmas in late October or early November.
Shop - keepers decorate their shops with lights, trees and other
decorations, and shoppers start to look for presents. Shops get very busy
and stay open later. People with family and friends in other countries
often send them cards and presents, and everyone begins to make plans for
the coming holiday.
Many children have parties at school, and many adults have parties at work
in December. Most people have 25 and 26 December off work, and many have a
week off, from 25 December to 1 January. They usually spend this time at
home with their family or visiting family who live far away.
The Christmas holiday begins on 24 December: Christmas Eve. People often
stop work early and have a drink together, or finish their Christmas a
shopping. They cover the presents in special papers, and put them under the
tree.
Many people go to church at midnight on Christmas Eve. They hear the
Christmas story and sing carols.
Christmas Day ( 25 December ) is a holiday. Children usually wake up very
early. They look in their stockings to see what Santa put there for them.
After breakfast they open their other presents around the tree.
Christmas dinner is in the afternoon and is the biggest meal of the day.
Before they start to eat, people pull crackers. The crackers make a loud
noise, and have a small game and paper party hat inside.
Dinner is usually turkey with lots of winter vegetables and then hot mince
pies or a Christmas pudding.
At three o'clock many people in Britain turn their televisions on because
the Queen say
"Happy Christmas " to everyone.
A lot of people go for a walk in the afternoon or play with their new
games.
In the evening, people eat cold meat, and Christmas cake ( a kind of fruit
cake ), fruit and nuts, but they are usually not very hungry because of
t5heir big dinner.
Another British Christmas tradition is the pantomime. A pantomime is a kind
of play with a children's story ( like Cinderella or Aladdin ) and lots of
music and songs. Children like pantomimes because they can join in and make
a lot of noise. They often go with their school or family.
The Christmas season ends on the twelfth day after 25 December, which is 6
January. Most people take down their Christmas trees and decorations by
this date, and some people think it is bad luck not to do that.
