Purple Heart Day, on August 7th, commemorates the creation of the oldest American military decoration for military merit. The Purple Heart honors the men and women who are of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. During the American Revolutionary War, the Badge for Military Merit decorated six known soldiers.
General George Washington created the Badge of Merit in 1782. Washington intended the honor to be presented to soldiers for “any singularly meritorious action.” Its design included a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk bound with a thin edge of silver. Across the face, the word Merit was embroidered in silver. While the badge symbolized the courage and devotion of an American Patriot, no one knows who designed the award.
Until Washington’s 200th birthday, the Purple Heart persisted as a Revolutionary War footnote. Through the efforts of General Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. War Department created the Order of the Purple Heart. Today the medal bears a bust of George Washington and his coat of arms.
While an accurate and complete list of names no longer exists, National Geographic recently estimated that nearly 1.9 million service members have earned Purple Hearts since its creation. It is the oldest U.S. military honor still bestowed upon service members today. Until 1944, the Purple Heart recognized service members’ commendable actions as well. Then in 1944, the requirements limited the award to only those wounded or killed in combat.
Purple Heart Firsts
William Brown and Elijah Churchill received the Badge of Military Merit during the Revolutionary War when the award first replaced the Fidelity Medallion.
Army General Douglas MacArthur received the first modern-day Purple Heart.
Army Lt. Annie G. Fox received the Purple Heart during World War II for her actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
PURPLE HEART DAY HISTORY
Since 1932, Americans have celebrated Purple Heart Day on both Washington’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. Some states and cities observed the day in their own way at different times throughout the year. Each declaration encouraged citizens to support wounded veterans with the purchase of a purple viola.
No matter when the observance occurred, it recognized the men and women killed and wounded in combat and their heroic actions. As the day evolved, it more commonly was observed on the day of the Purple Heart’s creation, August 7, 1782.
Pop some popcorn, grab a blanket and your favorite buddy, put away the cell phones and tablets, and then queue up a string of movies for a fun night of entertainment. National Movie Night on the second Friday in June encourages us to start (or restart) a tradition of movie nights with friends and family.
Movies have been bringing people together for over 100 years. The stars, the stories entertain us, connect us and help us create memories. As technology evolves, so does how we enjoy our movie nights. From the theater to reel-to-reel home movies, the VCR, DVD, and streaming, we’ve been enjoying movies on big and small screens. Drive-in movies invited us to enjoy films from the comfort of our cars. Today, our video library is as large as we want it to be thanks to streaming services. We can even enjoy movies in our own backyards projected onto screens under the stars.
Can you smell the popcorn popping? Start your tradition with friends and family on National Movie Night with new and classic movies at the theatre or in your homes.
Jennifer and Jayda Borget, a mother-daughter duo fluent in movie quotes and authors of the Family Movie Night Journal, founded National Movie Night to create an opportunity to bring new and old movie night traditions to life. Be prepared to laugh, cry or cringe, but most importantly, to make memories! Need a list of suggestions for National Movie Night? This list at movienightjournal.com will get you started.
What movie will you watch and who will you invite for National Movie Night? There are so many ways to start a movie tradition:
Make a movie night bucket list.
Share your favorite movie quotes.
Create a group with people who love movies. Plan to celebrate with a night out at the movie theatre.
Host a movie night in with the family. Pick a film the whole family will enjoy.
Invite friends and family for a movie night BBQ. Hang a sheet or screen to project the movie onto. Wait for it to get dark and then let the entertainment begin.
Load up the car and head to the nearest drive-in movie theatre.
Create a buffet of your favorite movie snacks and beverages for everyone to enjoy.
Ask everyone to write a review and deliver it in their best critic voice.
Invite everyone to dress in their red-carpet best for movie premieres and go to the movies in style.
Don’t forget to share your movie night traditions. Use #NationalMovieNight to share your celebration on social media and follow @movienightjournal. Sit back, hit play, and enjoy the show!
Easter is observed on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox. Considered Christianity’s most important holy day, it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Depending on which calendar a church follows, some will celebrate the holiday earlier than others.
Leading up to Easter Sunday is an entire season of observances beginning with Ash Wednesday, Lent’s official beginning. Lent is a time of fasting and reflection, which represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness for 40 days. Many know this as a time when Christians give something up for Lent.
Then during Holy Week, the Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday. It commemorates Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem on a donkey just five days before the Romans crucified Him. Maundy Thursday remembers Jesus’s last supper; Good Friday is the day of the crucifixion; Holy Saturday is the period between the crucifixion and the resurrection; and Easter Sunday.
Before Easter (Pascha), Passover was the primary holy day celebrated; however, Christianity closely links the two holidays. Jesus’s last supper was a Passover meal. By the 2nd century, Orthodox Christians also celebrated Pascha alongside Passover as well as pagan spring festivals.
The Easter Bunny tradition comes from medieval Germany, where the Osterhase or Easter Hare would lay its colorful eggs in nests prepared by children. In the 18th-century, settling in the Dutch Pennsylvania countryside, immigrants brought this fable and tradition to the United States.
Dying eggs is a tradition that dates back thousands of years across many cultures. Eggs symbolize rebirth, fertility, and life springing forth. Today Easter egg hunts take place across the country. It is not unusual to see children in their Sunday best surrounding a giant Bunny. Many will also get their picture taken too!
The palm leaves are usually burned to create ash for the following year’s Ash Wednesday traditions. Easter comes with many symbols. Some of them include:
Eggs – Symbolizes new life and rebirth
Lambs – Represents Jesus
Easter Lilies – Symbolizes innocence, purity and peace
Hot Cross Buns and Easter Breads – Represents Jesus, the bread of life
HOW TO OBSERVE EASTER
Participate in any number of church services.
Some churches conduct sunrise services.
Dye eggs with children and have an Easter egg hunt.
Local communities also hold annual egg hunts, so check your local social media, newspapers, and community listings for dates and times.
Every year on December 25th, over 2 billion people around the world celebrate Christmas Day. Traditionally, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Nonreligious people and those of different faiths celebrate the day as a cultural event.
Also known as Christmas Day, this holiday is derived from the Old English Crīstesmæsse which means Christ’s Mass. Today, Christmas is a public holiday in most countries. Only about a dozen countries do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday. Christmas traditions vary around the world and have evolved over time. They borrow from other traditions and cultures, too. Over time, beliefs and customs blended as peoples migrated and attitudes changed.
One of the most popular Christmas customs is gift-giving. This custom has its roots in the Magi who brought gifts to Jesus shortly after his birth. Unfortunately, the gift-giving aspect of Christmas has led to its commercialization. On average, Americans spend $700 on Christmas gifts and goodies. Altogether, this equals $465 billion. In recent years, there has been a call to simplify the holiday and to get back to the “reason for the season.”
Christmas Traditions
3/Candy canesWhile plain, unflavored candy sticks and canes existed as early as the 1600s, it wasn’t until 1920 that the hooked version became exceptionally popular. Bob McCormack of Albany, Georgia took the peppermint candy, gave it a red and white striped twist. His handmade candies were given a manufacturing boost when his brother-in-law and priest, Gregory Keller, invented the machine that launched Bob’s Candies into mass production. However, Keller’s invention wasn’t the first of its kind.
PoinsettiaAnother tradition that blossomed in the United States during the 1920s, the poinsettia’s legend takes place in Mexico. According to the legend, a girl wanted desperately to celebrate Jesus’s birthday. Worried, the girl feared she would have no gift to offer because she was so poor. An angel tells her to give any gift with love. After gathering weeds from alongside the road, the young girl placed them in the manger. Miraculously the weeds bloomed into beautiful red stars.
Christmas treesEvergreens, fir trees, and other plants have been a part of the winter festivals and traditions since ancient times. The first person to place a tree in a house for the purposes of Christmas may have been the German preacher Martin Luther in the 16th century.
St. NicholasLegendary stories about the third century St. Nicholas later become part of the inspiration for the modern-day Santa Claus.
Mailing cards In Victorian England, sending Penny Post was inexpensive and frequent. Not responding to it was equally inexcusable. Being popular and busy led Sir Henry Cole to invent a holiday card nearly out of necessity. In 1843, he asked his friend, J.C. Horsley to illustrate a design he had in mind. Soon, Cole was off to the printer and the first Christmas card mailed in the Penny Post.
CarolingWassailing and caroling history go hand in hand. Originally, wassail referred to a mulled, sweet drink. It came to be known as going from house to house during the winter months and eventually as caroling. The carolers are often given hot beverages to drink to keep them warm as they travel.
A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published on December 19, 1843, and tells the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. So popular was the novella, the first theatre production took place within weeks of its publication. Since then, films, stage, and novels have presented a variety of adaptations much to the audiences’ delight.
FruitcakeThe American tradition of eating – or giving – fruitcake at Christmas is somehow connected to the Victorian tradition of serving Christmas pudding. Both are molded, but that’s about where the similarities end.
CHRISTMAS HISTORY
It is debatable whether Jesus was born on December 25th. Nowhere does the Bible provide the exact date of his birth. If this is the case, why does the world celebrate Christmas on this day? The first Christmas ever celebrated happened in 336. It was during the time the Roman Empire was ruled by Constantine. He was the first Christian Roman Emperor. Under Constantine, Christianity spread into Northern and Western Europe.
One of the earliest references to celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is in a homily by John Chrysostom, a 4th-century archbishop. Christmas is a relatively new celebration when considering church holy days. Passover, Lent, and Easter were celebrated long before Christmas.
Winter Solstice
These regions celebrated the Winter Solstice. Christmas adopted many of the customs associated with the Winter Solstice. These customs included decorating with evergreen trees and their boughs. It also included large feasts and a bearded man delivering gifts. In medieval times, Christmas was a solemn observance of the birth of Jesus Christ, and very little feasting, singing, and carousing was going on. The first record of the word “Cristes Maesse” being used was in a book from 1038 from Saxon England.
As Christianity spread into northern and western Europe, Christmas adopted many of the customs associated with the winter solstice. Decorating with evergreen trees and their boughs, holly, and mistletoe, a bearded man delivering gifts and even the large feasts all hearken back to these celebrations.
Caroling, Nativity scenes, and gift-giving (primarily to nobility with hopes of favors in return) began taking hold around the Renaissance period. Royalty and nobility had a considerable influence on this era. The Renaissance period covered a broad expanse of time (1300-1700) and was filled with an influx of inspiration, invention, and art. All of it influenced Christmas. Some Christians, like the Puritans didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. This was largely due to the holiday’s pagan background. Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts between1659 and 1681.
Christmas in The United States
One hundred years after the founding of the United States, Christmas became a federal holiday.
By the mid to late 1800s, communication and transportation were changing rapidly. Time and distance isolated people causing customs and traditions to be diverse from place to place. Celebrations occurring in Georgia were completely unique from those celebrated in New York. Nearly overnight that began to change. Telegraphs and railroads made the passage of information and people, if not instant, significantly faster than ever before. Longing for the old days, for times when the family was a central theme in American’s lives, Christmas brought those nostalgic feelings under one significant day.
Louis Prang, a German immigrant and printer by trade, introduced the American Christmas card in 1875. The Christmas card gradually replaced customs of personal visits or written Christmas letters.
As the population grew, so did commerce and an increase in both charitable and personal gift giving followed. However, many givers and recipients still valued handmade gifts over store-bought.
Most Christmas traditions are celebrated in the days leading up to Christmas. In the morning, see what Santa has delivered. Gather with family and open presents around a decorated tree or have a meal together.
No wonder many people call this the most wonderful time of the year! On Christmas Day, many families open their gifts in the morning. A special Christmas dinner follows complete with lots of goodies for dessert. The best thing about Christmas is that you can choose which traditions you want to keep. You can also have fun coming up with new traditions. Share your favorite Christmas Day traditions on social media with #Christmas.
Christmas Eve on December 24 kicks off a series of holiday traditions. Some are ancient practices with a modern spin, while others date back hundreds of years.
Christmas Eve is filled with both religious and nonreligious traditions. Religious traditions center around the birth of Jesus. Different denominations have their own traditions. On Christmas Eve Roman Catholics and Anglicans hold Midnight Mass. Lutherans celebrate with candlelight services and Christmas carols. Many evangelical churches hold evening services where families celebrate Holy Communion.
This one is to good to not share. I don’t own it but I love it!
Around the world, Christmas Eve is celebrated with a variety of foods. In Italy, they celebrate the Feast of Seven Fishes. Russians traditionally serve a 12-dish Christmas Eve Supper before opening gifts. Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, the Christmas Eve meal consists of an odd number of meatless dishes.
Besides food and religious services, the holiday is when Santa Clause takes to the sky in his sleigh to deliver Christmas gifts around the world. Other names for the white-bearded man in a red suit include Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and Saint Nicholas. No matter what he is called, the legend of Santa is based on a real-life man named Saint Nicholas of Myra. The early Christian bishop was known for secret gift-giving, as well as many miracles. Through the years, the legend of Santa grew to include the North Pole, a sleigh driven by reindeer, a naughty or nice list, and his jolly laugh, “ho, ho, ho.”
Hearkening back to the 16th century when Christian traditions were first influenced by winter solstice celebrations, decorating and preparing for Christmas Day took place the evening before. This included putting up the tree, decorating with mistletoe and holly, bringing in the Yule log and making dishes for the Christmas meal.
HOW TO OBSERVE #ChristmasEve
What are some of your holiday traditions? How did they begin?
Jewish traditions have historically influenced Christian practices, too. One such practice is that the church day traditionally begins in the evening. Christian churches have celebrated Christmas Eve in part because it is believed that Jesus was born at midnight. Many churches today hold Christmas Eve services or Midnight Masses. They may also hold candlelight vigils, Nativity productions or sing carols.
There are many ways to observe Christmas Eve. For many families, the most important thing is to make lasting memories with their loved ones. Here are some ways to celebrate:
Attend church for a candlelight service or Midnight Mass
Read the account of Jesus’ birth from the book of Luke
Put out milk and cookies for Santa
Pass out Christmas cookies and other goodies to your neighbors
Host an ugly Christmas sweater party
Gather around the tree with your family and cups of cocoa and share favorite holiday memories
Go caroling in your neighborhood or at a senior center
Make a gingerbread house
Hang up Christmas stockings
Read Christmas classics like The Night Before Christmas and A Christmas Carol
Watch a fun Christmas movie like Elf, Home Alone, or The Grinch
Rent a limo and look at Christmas lights
As you can see, there are many wonderful ways to celebrate Christmas Eve. Share how you’ll be celebrating this special day by posting on social media with #ChristmasEve.
