Tag: Holiday

President’s Day – A brief history on this U.S. holiday

Posted on by Karac Avalron

February is a great month for holidays in the U.S. the most underrated holiday on the calendar ground hog’s day (my birthday!) Valentine’s day and now President’s day. It’s important before we begin to give a little modern historical reference. Until recently, the office of the president was revered in U.S. society. There was always a degree of decorum around it, regardless of where you fell politically you respected the president. That’s changed a lot in my life time, it really started with Bill Clinton and has continued to where we are today. Both parties are responsible for this BTW it’s not exclusive to one ideology.

So that out of the way the genesis of president’s day started in the 1880’s as a celebration of Washington’s birthday. Later it began to encompass Lincoln as well as both were Feb birthdays (Washington 22nd, Lincoln 12th). In U.S. politics these two are arguably the most revered presidents we have. Without delving into the life and times of both, if you know even a little U.S. history you know these two were giants into the forming and evolution of this country.

In 1968 congress decided to change how federal holidays were celebrated. Several were moved to the nearest Monday on the calendar so workers could have a long weekend. Prior, both birthdays were celebrated but only Washington’s was a federal holiday, the state of IL and other states did celebrate Lincolns. So “Presidents Day” was born. Now there were always sales, parades etc. but the consolidation of these two state and federal holidays created a great marketing opportunity for many companies. Presidents day now is associated a lot with deep discounted sales as retailers try and move X-Mas surpluses.

Here is a link to a snap shot of Presidents day https://www.britannica.com/topic/Presidents-Day

I have today off as do banks, post offices etc. Retail is mostly open but that varies by state. This isn’t a highly celebrated holiday in the U.S. Meaning we do not get family together parades are uncommon, etc. It’s really a day off in the middle of winter which is nice. Because it is federal though its nuanced in the sense several ceremonies in DC take place. They are small of course but when federal offices are closed that impacts everyone in the country who wants to use them.

Anyway thanks for coming by and supporting my blog I really appreciate it! Want to see another post like this one? Click here.

You might call it Halloween, someone else might call it Alfablot

Posted on by Karac Avalron

It is the Friday before Halloween, and where I live that’s a big deal. Its a fun holiday and it should be better this year as covid restrictions are relaxed (at least where I am). We get a lot of kids at our house nearly 100 every year. We live in one of those developments where people drop their kids off, its safe lot of houses, one way in and surrounded by deep woods. The town I live in also has a curfew on Halloween, 8PM. It’s not a militant curfew, I mean the cops aren’t out in riot gear… but at 8PM they ask you turn your light off and not hand out any candy.

But, how did all this start?

“Today’s religion is tomorrows myth” a wise man. Many celebrations, holidays and religious observances are overlap, borrowed or redundant. When we as a species were in our formidable years around 2000 years ago, religions competed with one another for followers. This isn’t meant to be cynical it’s just how it was. That doesn’t detract from the piety of those at the time, but religion was different then, faith was an absolute. Meaning, there was no internet, cell phone, most people couldn’t read.

Here we are on the cusp of the western worlds holiday season. Halloween ushers in the season, we get veterans day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s Day all within 70 days ( a touch over 2 months). Where do these holidays come from? You likely know some of the stories, you likely know, as an example, that the “12 days of Christmas” run nearly concurrently with Chanukah.

So, what are some of the other holidays that coincide or more accurately, preceded our current festivals? For Halloween there is Alfablot. Here is a link that describes it in more detail

What did your ancestors think?

In short, Aflablot is the sacrifice of the elves. Elves in the Viking world mostly represented dead spirits. So, this was a celebration of the dead, for lack of a more eloquent, and lengthy discussion. Sound familiar? Your Norse ancestors would have celebrated this blot toward the end of October. It was after harvest when the world was becoming bleak and barren.

In antiquity, in the Norse world, this was the time of the dead. You prepared most of the year to survive the winter and this was a time when people died to the elements and illness. The Alfablot was a singular ceremony, meaning each house conducted their own, in an effort to reach ancestors and elves in the hopes of communal discourse.

The hope was you would be able to convince the spirits to protect your house and family. There were no trick or treats but, indeed it was similar to Halloweens origins in spirit. Its symbolic of the end of the harvest, a preparation for winter. This Halloween, have fun, enjoy the celebration where you are as winter is coming (Is that you John Snow?).

Happy Halloween and Happy Alfablot !

Thank you for stopping by and supporting my blog! Want to see more posts like this? Click here.

President’s Day – A brief history on this U.S. holiday

Posted on by Karac Avalron

February is a great month for holidays in the U.S. the most underrated holiday on the calendar ground hog’s day (my birthday!) Valentine’s day and now President’s day. It’s important before we begin to give a little modern historical reference. Until recently, the office of the president was revered in U.S. society. There was always a degree of decorum around it, regardless of where you fell politically you respected the president. That’s changed a lot in my life time, it really started with Bill Clinton and has continued to where we are today. Both parties are responsible for this BTW it’s not exclusive to one ideology.

So that out of the way the genesis of president’s day started in the 1880’s as a celebration of Washington’s birthday. Later it began to encompass Lincoln as well as both were Feb birthdays (Washington 22nd, Lincoln 12th). In U.S. politics these two are arguably the most revered presidents we have. Without delving into the life and times of both, if you know even a little U.S. history you know these two were giants into the forming and evolution of this country.

In 1968 congress decided to change how federal holidays were celebrated. Several were moved to the nearest Monday on the calendar so workers could have a long weekend. Prior, both birthdays were celebrated but only Washington’s was a federal holiday, the state of IL and other states did celebrate Lincolns. So “Presidents Day” was born. Now there were always sales, parades etc. but the consolidation of these two state and federal holidays created a great marketing opportunity for many companies. Presidents day now is associated a lot with deep discounted sales as retailers try and move X-Mas surpluses.

Here is a link to a snap shot of Presidents day https://www.britannica.com/topic/Presidents-Day

I have today off as do banks, post offices etc. Retail is mostly open but that varies by state. This isn’t a highly celebrated holiday in the U.S. Meaning we do not get family together parades are uncommon, etc. It’s really a day off in the middle of winter which is nice. Because it is federal though its nuanced in the sense several ceremonies in DC take place. They are small of course but when federal offices are closed that impacts everyone in the country who wants to use them.

Anyway thanks for coming by and supporting my blog I really appreciate it! Want to see another post like this one? Click here.

Here we go again, another holiday….

Posted on by Karac Avalron

              

I know you’re thinking “Huh?” Ground hogs day ! Sure if we were to accumulate a list of the best holidays on the calendar it might not be on the top of the list, but like its black sheep brother Flag Day it’s on the calendar. Now I am bias, Feb 2 is my birthday. My whole life when age/birthday comes up I always tell people I was born on a holiday. So of course they try and guess, I tell them it’s in February and its immediately Valentine’s day or Presidents day.

They then get stumped and I tell them it’s Ground Hogs day. I normally get a smile, once in a while I get the obligatory “that’s not a real holiday” which I indignantly reply “it’s on the calendar every year” which normally ends the conversation LOL. So why IS it on the calendar? Why is this lesser holiday on the calendar every year? Well we know In the states every year in Punxsutawney PA the pull this poor animal out of its hole and determine if they can see its shadow or not. So if it sees its shadow we have 6 more weeks of winter, if not winter is supposed to end sooner.

The history is interesting, it goes back to German settlers that brought the tradition with them to America. It’s part of a Christian tradition Candlemas (Link) which was always celebrated on 2/2. In Germany they began selecting animals to help them predict the remaining length of the winter. The “shadow” of the animal was to represent the light of the candle from the Candlemas tradition.

“In 1887, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared that Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America’s only true weather-forecasting groundhog. The line of groundhogs that have since been known as Phil might be America’s most famous groundhogs, but other towns across North America now have their own weather-predicting rodents, from Birmingham Bill to Staten Island Chuck to Shubenacadie Sam in Canada.”

It’s now become a national event with tens of thousands of people showing up for the event. We all know the movie “ground hogs day” with Bill Murray, but back in 1887 it was still a local tradition only shared among the German population. It grew as a novelty story over time as local and national papers picked up the story which helped them grow the tradition.

Brief History

You might call it Halloween, someone else might call it Alfablot

Posted on by Karac Avalron

It is the Friday before Halloween, and where I live that’s a big deal. Its a fun holiday and it should be better this year as covid restrictions are relaxed (at least where I am). We get a lot of kids at our house nearly 100 every year. We live in one of those developments where people drop their kids off, its safe lot of houses, one way in and surrounded by deep woods. The town I live in also has a curfew on Halloween, 8PM. It’s not a militant curfew, I mean the cops aren’t out in riot gear… but at 8PM they ask you turn your light off and not hand out any candy.

But, how did all this start?

“Today’s religion is tomorrows myth” a wise man. Many celebrations, holidays and religious observances are overlap, borrowed or redundant. When we as a species were in our formidable years around 2000 years ago, religions competed with one another for followers. This isn’t meant to be cynical it’s just how it was. That doesn’t detract from the piety of those at the time, but religion was different then, faith was an absolute. Meaning, there was no internet, cell phone, most people couldn’t read.

Here we are on the cusp of the western worlds holiday season. Halloween ushers in the season, we get veterans day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s Day all within 70 days ( a touch over 2 months). Where do these holidays come from? You likely know some of the stories, you likely know, as an example, that the “12 days of Christmas” run nearly concurrently with Chanukah.

So, what are some of the other holidays that coincide or more accurately, preceded our current festivals? For Halloween there is Alfablot. Here is a link that describes it in more detail

What did your ancestors think?

In short, Aflablot is the sacrifice of the elves. Elves in the Viking world mostly represented dead spirits. So, this was a celebration of the dead, for lack of a more eloquent, and lengthy discussion. Sound familiar? Your Norse ancestors would have celebrated this blot toward the end of October. It was after harvest when the world was becoming bleak and barren.

In antiquity, in the Norse world, this was the time of the dead. You prepared most of the year to survive the winter and this was a time when people died to the elements and illness. The Alfablot was a singular ceremony, meaning each house conducted their own, in an effort to reach ancestors and elves in the hopes of communal discourse.

The hope was you would be able to convince the spirits to protect your house and family. There were no trick or treats but, indeed it was similar to Halloweens origins in spirit. Its symbolic of the end of the harvest, a preparation for winter. This Halloween, have fun, enjoy the celebration where you are as winter is coming (Is that you John Snow?).

Happy Halloween and Happy Alfablot !

Thank you for stopping by and supporting my blog! Want to see more posts like this? Click here.

You might call it Halloween, someone else might call it Alfablot

Posted on by Karac Avalron

“Today’s religion is tomorrows myth” a wise man. Many celebrations, holidays and religious observances are overlap, borrowed or redundant. When we as a species were in our formidable years around 2000 years ago, religions competed with one another for followers. This isn’t meant to be cynical it’s just how it was. That doesn’t detract from the piety of those at the time, but religion was different then, faith was an absolute. Meaning, there was no internet, cell phone, most people couldn’t read.

Here we are on the cusp of the western worlds holiday season. Halloween ushers in the season, we get veterans day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s Day all within 70 days ( a touch over 2 months). Where do these holidays come from? You likely know some of the stories, you likely know, as an example, that the “12 days of Christmas” run nearly concurrently with Chanukah.

So, what are some of the other holidays that coincide or more accurately, preceded our current festivals? For Halloween there is Alfablot. Here is a link that describes it in more detail

What did your ancestors think?

In short, Aflablot is the sacrifice of the elves. Elves in the Viking world mostly represented dead spirits. So, this was a celebration of the dead, for lack of a more eloquent, and lengthy discussion. Sound familiar? Your Norse ancestors would have celebrated this blot toward the end of October. It was after harvest when the world was becoming bleak and barren.

In antiquity, in the Norse world, this was the time of the dead. You prepared most of the year to survive the winter and this was a time when people died to the elements and illness. The Alfablot was a singular ceremony, meaning each house conducted their own, in an effort to reach ancestors and elves in the hopes of communal discourse.

The hope was you would be able to convince the spirits to protect your house and family. There were no trick or treats but, indeed it was similar to Halloweens origins in spirit. Its symbolic of the end of the harvest, a preparation for winter. This Halloween, have fun, enjoy the celebration where you are as winter is coming (Is that you John Snow?).

Happy Halloween and Happy Alfablot !

Thank you for stopping by and supporting my blog! Want to see more posts like this? Click here.

You might call it Halloween, someone else might call it Alfablot

Posted on by Karac Avalron

“Today’s religion is tomorrows myth” a wise man. Many celebrations, holidays and religious observances are overlap, borrowed or redundant. When we as a species were in our formidable years around 2000 years ago, religions competed with one another for followers. This isn’t meant to be cynical it’s just how it was. That doesn’t detract from the piety of those at the time, but religion was different then, faith was an absolute. Meaning, there was no internet, cell phone, most people couldn’t read.

Here we are on the cusp of the western worlds holiday season. Halloween ushers in the season, we get veterans day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah and New Year’s Day all within 70 days ( a touch over 2 months). Where do these holidays come from? You likely know some of the stories, you likely know, as an example, that the “12 days of Christmas” run nearly concurrently with Chanukah.

So, what are some of the other holidays that coincide or more accurately, preceded our current festivals? For Halloween there is Alfablot. Here is a link that describes it in more detail

In short, Aflablot is the sacrifice of the elves. Elves in the Viking world mostly represented dead spirits. So, this was a celebration of the dead, for lack of a more eloquent, and lengthy discussion. Sound familiar? Your Norse ancestors would have celebrated this blot toward the end of October. It was after harvest when the world was becoming bleak and barren.

In antiquity, in the Norse world, this was the time of the dead. You prepared most of the year to survive the winter and this was a time when people died to the elements and illness. The Alfablot was a singular ceremony, meaning each house conducted their own, in an effort to reach ancestors and elves in the hopes of communal discourse.

The hope was you would be able to convince the spirits to protect your house and family. There were no trick or treats but, indeed it was similar to Halloweens origins in spirit. Its symbolic of the end of the harvest, a preparation for winter. This Halloween, have fun, enjoy the celebration where you are as winter is coming (Is that you John Snow?).

Happy Halloween and Happy Alfablot !

Here we go again, another holiday….

Posted on by Karac Avalron

              

I know you’re thinking “Huh?” Ground hogs day ! Sure if we were to accumulate a list of the best holidays on the calendar it might not be on the top of the list, but like its black sheep brother Flag Day it’s on the calendar. Now I am bias, Feb 2 is my birthday. My whole life when age/birthday comes up I always tell people I was born on a holiday. So of course they try and guess, I tell them it’s in February and its immediately Valentine’s day or Presidents day.

They then get stumped and I tell them it’s Ground Hogs day. I normally get a smile, once in a while I get the obligatory “that’s not a real holiday” which I indignantly reply “it’s on the calendar every year” which normally ends the conversation LOL. So why IS it on the calendar? Why is this lesser holiday on the calendar every year? Well we know In the states every year in Punxsutawney PA the pull this poor animal out of its hole and determine if they can see its shadow or not. So if it sees its shadow we have 6 more weeks of winter, if not winter is supposed to end sooner.

The history is interesting, it goes back to German settlers that brought the tradition with them to America. It’s part of a Christian tradition Candlemas (Link) which was always celebrated on 2/2. In Germany they began selecting animals to help them predict the remaining length of the winter. The “shadow” of the animal was to represent the light of the candle from the Candlemas tradition.

“In 1887, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared that Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America’s only true weather-forecasting groundhog. The line of groundhogs that have since been known as Phil might be America’s most famous groundhogs, but other towns across North America now have their own weather-predicting rodents, from Birmingham Bill to Staten Island Chuck to Shubenacadie Sam in Canada.”

It’s now become a national event with tens of thousands of people showing up for the event. We all know the movie “ground hogs day” with Bill Murray, but back in 1887 it was still a local tradition only shared among the German population. It grew as a novelty story over time as local and national papers picked up the story which helped them grow the tradition.

Brief History