Today we celebrate Epiphany, commemorating the moment when the three kings/wise men/magi knelt before the manger to pay homage to baby Jesus. The message of the story is tremendously important, even if most of the historical details are questionable. Were There Three...
The Romans were the first people on record to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Why? After all, many scholars believe that the incidents around the nativity indicate that Jesus was most likely born during spring or late fall, rather than the darkest days of winter....
Halloween originated with the Celtic pagan rituals of Samhain, so it is not a Roman holiday. However, Romans celebrated two days in honor of the dead, and when the Catholic Church started imposing their own holidays on top of existing pagan holidays, they ended up...
When I first started working at the local chamber of commerce, my boss told me the most common question I’d get from people is “What day is the 4th of July?” It wasn’t that people couldn’t count, but they wanted to know whether the parade and fireworks were being held...
February 14 is a day associated with disappointed expectations and heart-shaped boxes of candy. I don’t think the disappointment needs any sort of explanation. Or, frankly, the chocolate (although you can check out my blogs about growing chocolate and the history of...
I intended to write about why we sing the song “Jingle Bells” at Christmas, but after doing some research, I now wonder why we sing the song at all. If people knew the origin of Jingle Bells, it would disappear faster than you can say “cancel culture.” Jingle...
