Holiday History

I know what your thinking: 2 posts in 3 days?!?! Is he crazy? To answer both your questions, yes and yes. But with St. Patty's Day coming up I thought I could show you where your favorite holidays come from and stuff you may not know about these respective holidays. I will cover Christmas, Halloween, St. Patricks Day, Valentine's Day, and Thanksgiving. LETS DO IT.....

St. Patricks Day
Celebrated since: 1903
St. Patricks Day is just that: the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. The foundations of the "Irish Catholic" is usually attributed to him. It was a religous holiday until Ireland made it a public holiday in 1903. Believe it or not, all bars in Ireland were closed on this day until the 1970s and the first St. Patricks Day celebration in Ireland didn't happen until 1996. Although most wear green, people used to wear orange and blue to celebrate the day before it became an Irish festival, rather than a Saint's day.

Christmas
Celebrated since: between 220-250 AD
Christmas was immortalized by the Romans who held a celebration for the winter soliciste, or the shortening of days. It almost was put on March 25, the supposed day of Jesus' crucifixtion. However, Christmas didn't even have it's own mass until the 9th century. Christmas in America was looked down upon after the American Revolution, because it was mainly an English holiday. It was Charles Dickens' and Washington Irving's writings on Christmas related themes that sparked new interest and Christmas was finally declared a national holiday in 1870 in the U.S. The commercialization of the holiday started to try and seperate the religous holiday from the secular holiday that is recognized by the government. "X-mas" comes from the Greek for "Christ" as X= C (Chi) in the Greek alphabet.

Halloween
Celebrated since: Around 1850
Halloween comes from the Irish celebration of the Gaelic New Year. Although celebrated since the 4th century as a holiday in Ireland, it didn't become Halloween until the Irish potato famine brought 2 million Irish to the U.S. It was celebrated in Irish communities with a traditional dinner, reading of folklore, and children's activities (bobbing for apples, pranks, etc.). The commercialization of Hallowwen began in 1905 when numerous postcards and catalogs were produced celebrating the holiday. People didn't dress up until the 1930s and didn't trick or treat until the 1950s. 93% of kids go trick-or-treating in the U.S.

St. Valentine's Day
Celebrated since: between 1300-1400 BC (High Middle Ages in Europe)
The day comes from at least 3 Christian martyr's all named Valentine. The holiday didn't become "romanticized" until the 12 century in Europe, when courtship began to become popular over arranged marriages. Chaucer's "Parlement of Foules" was the first recorded association of the holiday with romanticism. It was imported into the U.S. by British settlers and valentine's started being produced in 1847. The oldest "valentine" ever found was a 1415 letter from a French Duke to his wife. Since then, it has become the most recognized "Hallmark Holiday" and costs men around the world millions and millions of dollars.

Thanksgiving
Celebrated since: 1623
The holiday first celebrated by the Pilgrims didn't become an annual event until 1863. It was celebrated in celebration of the end of droughts, war victories, and harvest festivals by the United States. There were usually more than one celebrations of Thanksgiving every year. A speech by Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, led to the annual celebration. FDR set the date for the 4th Thursday of November in 1941. Turkey became associated with the holiday through myths of the Pilgrim celebration, in order to forge a common American identity in the melting pot after the Civil War.


Hope you enjoyed my look at the holidays. I hope to be back in blogging action next week with a topic TBA. Enjoy your break if your on it and keep reading THE blog.