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History

On This Day – November 25

On This Day – November 25

  • 1973 Military coup in Greece

    President George Papadopoulos was ousted by the army, just a week after student-led protests at the Athens Polytechnic were violently put down by the government.

  • 1960 Assassination of the Mirabal Sisters

    The 3 Dominican sisters, Patria, Minerva, Antonia Mirabal, were activists that were opposed to the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. On this day, they were brutally killed and their deaths staged to look like accidents. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

  • 1952 Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opens at London’s West End

    The longest running show in history, the play began as a radio play called Three Blind Mice. It is based on the death of Dennis O’Neill, who died while in foster care.

  • 1950 “Storm of the century” hits eastern US

    Also known as the Appalachian Storm, the storm reached blizzard conditions and dumped nearly 60 inches of snow in the Appalachian area. It brought unseasonal temperatures to the region and caused widespread damage to property. About 150 people were thought to have been killed as a result of it.

  • 1936 Nazi Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact

    The treaty was directed towards the Soviet Union and stipulated that in case of Soviet aggression towards either country, the other would consider it as an act of aggression towards it as well. The pact was later signed by other countries including Italy, Romania, Spain, and Turkey.

christmas

Astronauts broadcast “Jingle Bells” from space

jingle bells sheet music with a pair of red bells and holly leaves

Astronauts broadcast “Jingle Bells” from space

   Nine days before Christmas in 1965, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford aboard the Gemini 6 told Mission Control that they saw an “unidentified flying object” about to enter Earth’s atmosphere, traveling in the polar orbit from north to south. Just as things got tense, they interrupted the broadcast with “Jingle Bells,” as Wally played a small harmonica accompanied by Tom shaking a handful of small sleigh bells.

History

On This Day – November 23

On This Day – November 23

  • 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines

    Considered to be the worst attack on journalists in recorded history, the massacre occurred in the southern Philippines, when 57 citizens and journalists en route to register voters in Esmael Mangudadatu for the upcoming gubernatorial elections, were killed by gunmen and buried. 34 journalists were killed on the day.

  • 2005 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected as President of Liberia

    The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner is also the first woman to be elected as head of state in an African country.

  • 1976 First person to dive 100 meters in the sea without breathing equipment

    Frenchman Jacques Mayol, who is also sometimes known as Dolphin Man, was 49 years old at the time. He broke his own record 7 years later by diving 105 meters.

  • 1963 Doctor Who debuts on TV

    The longest running science fiction TV show first aired with an episode called An Unearthly Child on the British Broadcasting Channel. The show that has had 11 different actors play the lead role, follows the time-traveling adventures of Doctor Who, who uses the Time and Relative Dimension in Space or TARDIS to jump around in time and space.

  • 1910 Last person to be executed in Sweden

    Johan Alfred Ander was convicted of murdering Victoria Hellsten during a robbery of a currency exchange. He was the only person in Swedish history to be executed using a guillotine. Capital punishment in the country was abolished for all peacetime crimes in 1921 and for all crimes in 1973.

christmas

A brief history of the Christmas holiday

A brief history of the Christmas holiday

  The first time the birth of Jesus Christ was attributed to the date December 25 was in the 4th century, according to early Roman history. Early celebrations of Christmas are thought to have derived from Roman and other European festivals that marked the end of the harvest, and the winter solstice.

   Some customs from those celebrations that have endured include decorating homes with greenery, giving gifts, singing songs, and eating special foods.

   The holiday developed further with the legend of St. Nicholas. Although much of his history is unconfirmed, the man who became St. Nicholas lived in the 4th century and is believed to have been a bishop in Asia Minor.

Miracles attributed to him are dubious at best. Nevertheless, some countries named him their patron saint. He also is considered the patron saint of, among others, children (for protecting them), sailors (whom he reputedly saved at sea), and the poor (to whom he generously gave gifts).

   In his honor, the Feast of St. Nicholas was marked on December 6 and gifts given the night before. The tradition was well established in many European countries by the 12th century. Eventually, because St. Nicholas’ Day and Christmas Day are so close together, their traditions generally were combined.

     St. Nicholas took on different personas in different countries. For example, The Netherlands have Sinter Klaas; Father Christmas gives gifts in Great Britain; Père Noël does the same in France; and in Germany St. Nicholas has had many names including Klaasbuur, Burklaas, Rauklas, Bullerklaas, and Sunnercla, although Father Christmas is becoming more popular. In the United States, the Dutch settlers’ Sinter Klaas evolved into Santa Claus.

Other Christmas facts:

  • The story of Jesus Christ’s birth is told in New Testament’s gospel of Saint Luke and Saint Matthew.
  • Some Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s coming on January 6, the Epiphany, when they believe he was baptized.
  • The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” refers to the 12 days between Christmas and the Epiphany.
  • The word Christmas comes from the Old English Cristes maesse, which means Christ’s mass.
  • The word Xmas is sometimes used instead of Christmas. In Greek, Xis the first letter of Christ’s name.
  • In 1969, the Roman Catholic church dropped St. Nicholas’ Feast Day from its calendar because his life is so unreliably documented.
  • The German word Christkindl, which means Christ child, eventually turned into Kriss Kringle.
  • Santa Claus generally was depicted as an elf until 1931, when Coca-Cola ads portrayed him as human-sized.
  • Rudolph didn’t become Santa’s ninth reindeer until 1939 when an advertising writer for the department store Montgomery Ward created him.

Sources: Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, World Book, Encyclopedia Brittanica