President's Day Thought

Presidents Day, officially known as Washington's Birthday, is a federal holiday in the United States and is celebrated on the third Monday of February. In 2009, Presidents Day falls on February 16.

Although it has become known as a great weekend for sales, especially on cars, there's a lot more to the holiday. Presidents Day is a good chance to learn more about American History, civic responsibility and even U.S. Geography.

I'm not saying that you a going to be happy with what you are going to find when you start digging deep into America's History but it will give you a better insight of this countries guidelines and what they were based on and gives use an ideal about how to make changes for the better of us all.

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Don't Forget About Daddy This Year

Father's Day is just as important as Mother's Day. This is the day that is dedcated to the men who has or had the testicular fortitude to stand up and be The Man. If you don't have a clue what to get him, you still have time to find out what he like and either get a gift card for him or even go online and search sites like 1800Flowers.com or other flower delivery sites and get him something that will make his heart smile.

Take for instance the picture of "Beer Mug of Blooms" with is features as a great gift item for dear ol' Dad on Father's Day. Sundy, June 17th 2007.

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Father's Day Is Just As Important

Don't just give dear old dad that akward out of style tie or a lame Father's Day card. Get him one of the very many memorable Fathers Day Baskets.

If you don't have an ideal of which one to get for him then I will let you know some on of the most popular Father's Day gift baskests availible. Let's think about Daddies taste... well here are a few options, The Garden Master "a great favorite" Father’s Day Gardening Gift Basket, Father's Day Golf Gift Basket with a Hole in ONE Golf Bag "now you can see the picture of this one at the top of this post", Father's Day Breakfast Gift Basket and this one has the Gourmet Breakfast for Dad and these are just a few to choose from.

Give your father his bragging right of being the best Dad and having the best Father's Day gift that an appreciative child can give out of love.

A click away and a savings for the day.

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History of Mother's Day

Motherhood has always been celebrated. In prehistoric tribes the mother Goddess was worshiped as the creator of life. Female goddess figures are found in many archeological digs. In Egypt, Isis was the Queen of Heaven who ruled over all matters concerning mothering. In ancient Greece Rhea was revered as the mother goddess and in ancient Rome it was Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, and another mother goddess known as Cybele. Most mothering festivals in early history were in the springtime to celebrate the rebirth of the land and the beginning of the most fertile time of the year. These festivities honored the goddess in all women.

The modern version of Mother's Day with families bringing flowers and gifts to their moms can be traced back to seventeenth century England. Mothering Sunday was the fourth Sunday in Lent...a special day when all the strict rules about fasting and penance were put aside. Older children who were away from home learning a trade or working as servants were allowed to return home for Mothering Sunday. The family gathered for a mid-Lenten feast with Mother as the special guest. Along with a rare visit from her children, mothers were given treats of cakes and wildflower bouquets. While ‘Mothering Sunday’ is still celebrated, most now know it as Mother’s Day.

The history of Mother's Day in the rest of the world is a bit different. In the USA, the early English settlers often disapproved of the more secular holidays and the Mothering Sunday tradition never really took hold. Early attempts to have a day to honor mother's were mixed with woman's suffrage and peace movements and were not very popular.

Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, suggested the idea of an International Mother's day to celebrate peace and motherhood in 1872. There were many other women who were active with local groups holding annual Mother's Day remembrances, but most were more religious gatherings and not the holiday that we know today.

One of the women, who was working on establishing Mother's Day as a national celebration was the mother of Anna Jarvis. Mrs. Jarvis held an annual gathering, Mother’s Friendship Day, to heal the pain of the Civil War. After she died in 1905, Anna campaigned for the establishment of an official Mother’s Day to commemorate her mother.

"Miss Anna Jarvis was as good as her word. She devoted her entire life to the struggle to have Mother's Day declared a national holiday. In the spring of 1908, Anna wrote to the Superintendent of Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where her mother had taught Sunday School classes for over 20 years. She requested that a Mother's Day service be held in honor of her mother. Thus, the first official Mother's Day celebration was held at Andrew's Methodist Church on May 10, 1908, with 407 persons in attendance. Anna Jarvis sent 500 white carnations to the church in Grafton. One was to be worn by each son and daughter and two by each mother in attendance. Another service was held in Philadelphia later that afternoon where Anna resided with her brother. Anna had requested that the first official service be held in Grafton, where the Jarvis family had lived so much of their lives and where her mother had served for so long as a teacher and public servant." ( Mother's Day Shrine.org)

Anna Jarvis' campaign is the reason we have a formal holiday. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared that Mother’s Day should be celebrated as a national holiday on the second Sunday in May.

It didn't take very long for Mother's Day to change from a semi-religious occasion of prayers for peace and appreciation of the work and love of mothers around the world to a gifts, flowers, candy and dining out extravaganza. Anna Jarvis was actually arrested at a Mother’s Day festival while trying to stop women from selling flowers. Jarvis said “I wanted it to be a day of sentiment not profit.”

Mother's Day may not have turned out to be the holiday that Julia Ward Howe, Anna Jarvis and countless other women around the world imagined, but it is a celebration of mothers...dedicated to honoring the women who give so much to their families without asking for anything in return. Perhaps every day should be Mother's Day, but most families are too busy with everyday business to say thank you for every meal or every good night kiss.

Once every year, the world stops being busy and says thank you. Flowers, cards and gifts are just the outward signs. What mothers love most is the fact that their families really do notice all that they do and for one day every mom is queen for a day...

Happy Mother's Day!

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The Origins of Easter,Can We Handle The Truth?

As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

The Date of Easter:

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

The Lenten Season:

Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten Season.

The Cross:

The Cross is the symbol of the Crucifixion, as opposed to the Resurrection. However, at the Council of Nicaea, in A.D. 325, Constantine decreed that the Cross was the official symbol of Christianity. The Cross is not only a symbol of Easter, but it is more widely used, especially by the Catholic Church, as a year-round symbol of their faith.

The Easter Bunny:

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

The Easter Egg:

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

http://www.theholidayspot.com/easter

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Ash Wednesday Continued...

I now my post are lengthy but hay... this one is short and sweet. Just a reminder to let you know that it's Ash Wednesday. If you are not familar with this occasion there please refer back to my earlier posting of Ash Wednesday.

I am very aware that the world has different religions and believes but to every belief there is some similarity.

What I am saying is for you to do is just read over the earlier posting of "Ash Wednesday?" and think of a religious holiday "within your religion" and post a comment of the similarirty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday

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The Users

Friends, family, countryman... lend me a dollar. That's all I heard over the holiday, as if I'm not on borderline broke myself. Everyone has that particular family member or "friend" that thinks you have the bank to give them or other resources that you have that may help them in some endevore that they a hatching up inside the norrow alleyway that they call the mind. Needless to say the rest of the holiday was cool. I had to work the rest of the holiday but I'm not the only one who had to do so. But that little encounter can be a small let down because they are not on the same level of thinking that you may be on such as showing up for the holidays for your family in best wishes for them and yourself to prosper and other family members that are there to so called prosper on thier behalh and your pocket book. The point is not to get so upset about it. When holidays come around and you know that this particular family member will arrive at the yearly functions (and they will), just make a game of it... pay attention to them and count how many people they asked throughout the function. See how many fall for it and see how many of your family members don't and when next your comes around see if the same people fall for it again or if they learned their listen at last years gathering. Believe me... this will become a game favorite at your next family get together. Happy holidays.

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