Random Thursday

Now I am really happy and excited to write up this post each week! With Holidays as our chapter for the month I am thrilled to learn new little tidbits about things I actually know about! Lol! So let's dive back into The Little Book of Answers by Doug Lennox!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

The shamrock became a symbol of St. Patrick back in the 5th century when he was transitioning the country to be Christian and leave behind their Pagan roots. When trying to explain the Holy Trinity and how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost grew from a single stem and symbolized that one God sustained the trinity, he spotted a clover that worked as a perfect visual aid.

That's interesting! I always felt like that's what the clover represented. I guess it was a good thing he didn't pick up a flour leaf clover that day! Lol!

(image borrowed from The Children's Clinic)

New Year's was initially celebrated in France between March 25 and April 1 up until 1564, after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. The festival was then moved to January 1. Those who resisted the change became the victims of pranks, including invitations to New Year's parties on April 1 that didn't exist. It wasn't long before the pranks played on April 1 took on a life and holiday of their own.

(image borrowed from Peterpilt)

The legend of the Easter bunny bringing eggs to children comes from German folklore. The story goes that during the famine, a poor woman dyed some eggs and then hid them in a chicken nest as a surprise for the children on Easter morning. When the children discovered the eggs, a big rabbit leaped away from it. Soon the story of the rabbit bringing the eggs came to life.

That's interesting! I honestly never knew where we got the Easter bunny legend!

(image borrowed from Eastern Floral)

We came to celebrate Mother's Day in a most tragic way, according to the book! In 1907 Miss Anna Jarvis asked guests to wear a white carnation to church service on the anniversary of her mother's death. Soon Mother's Day became commercialized and Miss Jarvis would spend the rest of her life trying to bring it back to its simplistic roots. The strain of her efforts to stop Mother's Day and what it turned into led her to be put into an insane asylum where she would die alone in 1948.

Most tragic history of a holiday indeed!

(image borrowed from The Indian Express)

In the year 1910, in Spokane, Washington during a Mother's Day service, Mrs. Sonora Dodd thought it would be nice to have a day to honor fathers as well. She and her five brothers had been raised by their father alone. The idea for a Father's Day celebration went well locally, but became a political hot potato and wouldn't receive permanent recognition until President Richard Nixon in 1972. Father's Day is now the fifth-largest card-sending holiday in North America.

Wow. For whatever reason I would've thought Father's Day came to be a holiday first! Very interesting!