What Would Jimmy Do?

Well, here we go — new month, new year. 
January was named after the Roman god Janus — and as appropriate, Janus represented new beginnings. Interestingly, Janus was known as the protector of gates and doorways as well as symbolizing beginnings and endings. I’m sure you’ve seen him depicted with two faces —one looking into the past, the other with the ability to see into the future. So I guess he’s a good symbol for the first month of the new year — January is our door into the new year. 

This month’s full Moon will reach peak illumination on Thursday, January 25, at 12:54 p.m. EST, and it’s called the Wolf Moon.

As for 2024, it’s a leap year and starts today, Monday, on the Gregorian calendar and is the 2024th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations. It’s the 24th year of the 3rd millennium, the 24th year of the 21st century and the 5th year of the 2020s decade.

Major events this year will include the Summer Olympics held in Paris and the United States presidential election. 
And be sure and save the calendar for this year — it can be used again in 2052.
Happy New Year!!
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The new year is approaching — it’s a time when millions of people will celebrate. There’s lots of  New Year’s Eve traditions like the kiss at midnight, the champagne toast and the making of resolutions. Of course celebrating the arrival of the new year isn’t a recent thing — the first New Year’s celebration dates back 4,000 years. Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, was the first to declare January 1 a national holiday. He named the month after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates. Around forty-five percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions — and about 25 percent of them give up on their resolutions by the second week of January.

But there are a lot of traditions and other things centered around the new year that are interesting….
Kissing someone at midnight is said to come from the idea that doing so will prevent loneliness during the coming year and ward off evil spirits. Ancient Romans are credited with the kissing tradition because of their Saturnalia festival — a celebration honoring Saturn, the god of time.

The island nation of Kiribati in the Central Pacific is the first location to ring in the new year each year.
American Samoa is the second to last place to celebrate the new year (behind Baker and Howland Islands, which are both uninhabited.)

In the Philippines, roundness is thought to signify prosperity, so on New Year’s Eve locals surround themselves with round shapes, by wearing polka dots, filling their pockets with coins, or by eating circular fruits. The French consume a stack of pancakes every new year. In Scotland and Greece, they believe that the first person who enters your home in the new year will either bring good or bad luck. Make sure you’re careful about who it is and that they walk in using their right foot. In Denmark, the Danes throw unused plates that have been saved up throughout the year at the front doors of family and friends for good luck.

Every year a giant ball droops in Times Square in New York in a countdown to the new year. The ball has been lowered every year since 1907, with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943, when the ceremony was suspended due to the wartime dim-out of lights in New York City.
The idea of a ball “dropping” to signal the passage of time dates back to 1883 when a ball was installed on the top of England’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich, allowing the captains of nearby ships to precisely set their navigational instruments.
But not everyone counts down to the new year by dropping a ball — at the Hershey Press Building in Pennsylvania, a 300-pound, 7-foot tall Hershey Kiss is lowered. And in Mobile, Alabama, a 12-foot, 600-pound electric Moon Pie drops at midnight (that seems a bit strange, because Moon Pies are made in Tennessee.)
So however you celebrate the arrival of the coming year, have a happy, healthy new year.
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Well, here we are nearing the end of 2023…. I guess, to be honest, 2023 has just worn me down. It’s been a trying year — personally as well as on the world scene. Ongoing wars continued and new ones erupted. Meetings between heads of state seemed to generate only headlines — and little, or no, progress. All years are good years, but it sure seems like this year good news has been in short supply.   

I’m not into numerology, but I wonder if 2023 means anything….. I know that if you’d like to write the year 2023 in roman numerals, it’d be MMXXIII. And although I haven’t thought about it for a while, I used to be a little proficient in binary numbers — if you’re interested, in binary it’s 11111100111. And while we’re at it, 2023 is a Harshad number. A Harshad number is a number that can be evenly divided by the sum of its digits. If you add the four digits of 2023 it equals 7. Now if 2023 can be divided evenly by 7, it’s a Harshad number. Turns out it can 2023 ÷ 7 = 289.

Of course according to the Chinese calendar, 2023 was the Year of the Rabbit. And because the Chinese calendar works from the lunar cycle, Chinese New Year for 2023 didn’t start on January 1 — it started on January 22nd and won’t end until February 9, 2024.

So this year was full of ups and downs — seems like there were more downs than ups this time, but now that we’re closing out the year, we should try to put the past years mistakes and regrets in the past.
Let’s welcome 2024 with optimism, goodwill and high hopes for the year and try to not let the current gloom dampen our enthusiasm for the future.
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Since it’s still the Christmas season, I thought I’d share something kind of interesting that I ran across while looking for football playoff information. So the fact that I ran across this when looking for football information must be fate, or maybe a Google mistake….

When I was a kid, I never heard much about a Yule log, but since I left home I’ve noticed it’s a fairly common tradition in a lot of places. Shepherdstown has a Yule log during some of their Christmas celebrations. 

Today, the Yule log is about the only thing that remains from past Yuletide celebrations….
Yule is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world — originally celebrated on the winter solstice. Today, Yule and Yuletide are usually associated with Christmas, but the meaning behind them is different than our Christmas celebrations. 

The original Yule celebrations were centered around the winter solstice, which traditionally marked the halfway point of the winter season. After the solstice, the days again begin to get longer, so it’s thought that the Yule was a celebration of the re-appearance of the Sun and the fertile land’s rebirth. 
Ancient people were mostly hunters and spent most of their time outdoors, so the seasons and weather played a major role in their lives. These early celebrations typically consisted of a hearty feast and generally noisy activities, including caroling, drinking and dancing. 
Much later, after Christianity came to the British Isles, Christians adopted some parts of the pagan festival into a celebration of the birth of Christ. 

As I mentioned, burning a log in celebration of Yule started as part of the winter solstice festivities. Some people believe that the candles and lights associated with Christmas — meant to symbolize guiding beacons for the Christ child, may have evolved from the Yule log — which was lit to entice the Sun to return as part of the Yule celebration.

The Yule log was originally an entire tree — families would bring the trunk of the Yule tree inside and stick the big end of it into the fireplace. The log would feed the fire  from Christmas Day through the 5th of January — known as Twelfth Night. The Yule log is still a Christmas tradition in some cultures — often the Yule log is burned in the fireplace on Christmas Eve. 

So the whole season, called “Yule-tide,” was among the most important holidays in pagan Europe. It’s transformed into one of our most important holidays too, and after all, it’s the sprit of the season that’s important — may your fire burn warm and bright, and may the Yule Spirits bless you this very night.
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If you’ve read this blog over the past few years, you know that today, December 28, is considered to be the unluckiest day of the year on the Christian calendar. If you’re interested in more details, you can check the archives of this blog for the entries on December 28 — but briefly….

At one time, the day, known as the Feast of the Holy Innocents, or alternatively, as Childermass, was considered cursed. The past is littered with warnings about Childermass — like, “no important affair is taken in hand on Childermass Day, and the sailors are heedful not to leave their port in the way of beginning a voyage under consideration.” Or, “it is very unlucky to begin any work whatever on this day.” And, “this day is of most unlucky omen. None ever marries on a childermass day.” 
But children had the most to fear on the 28th of December — up until the seventeenth century, it was believed that ritually beating a child with a stick on Childermass brought the beater good luck and reminded the child of both King Herod’s viciousness and Jesus’s suffering.
Catholics still observe December 28 with prayers and readings referencing King Herod’s slaughter of babies as recorded in Matthew. 

So — folklore, superstition, and traditions have all contributed to today being an unlucky day. 
But — I think an argument can be made that my birthday — August 6 — just might be the unluckiest day. Take a look at some events that have occurred on August 6.
1890 — The first ever execution by electric chair occurred at Auburn Prison in New York.
1914 — Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, pitting two of the major powers of World War I against one another.
1945 — The Enola Gay dropped the first-ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan — instantly killing 80,000 people. 
1951 — 4,800 people died when a massive typhoon hit the coast of Manchuria in northeast Asia.
1964 — The world’s oldest tree, known as “Prometheus,” was cut down by a graduate student conducting climate research. The tree, located in Great Basin National Park, was around 4,900 years old.
1997 — a Korean Air flight crashed on the island of Guam. Of the 254 people aboard, only 26 survived.
2013 — Twenty-five people were killed and 60 others injured when a series of car bombs detonated in Baghdad.
2019 — The Department of Health in Manila, Philippines, declared a national epidemic after the dengue outbreak.

I’ll let you decide if maybe my birthday is unluckier than December 28, but superstition aside, today is a good day to remember that not a whole lot has changed in our world —  it’s not a safe place for many people. Unfortunately, innocent people are still put death — I guess Childermass is a good day to remember that.
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Yesterday was Boxing Day — it lands on December 26 every year. It’s a day for giving, especially to the less fortunate. It’s the day after Christmas — of course it’s not as widely celebrated as Christmas here in the U.S., but Boxing Day is celebrated all over the world — Australia, Austria, canada, Germany, Greenland, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Norway Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and others celebrate it as a special day.

In South Africa, Boxing Day is known as the “Day of Goodwill” — In Ireland, it is known as “Saint Stevens Day,” but it’s also sometimes referred to as Wren Day, a nod to an old tradition in which poor children would kill a wren, then sell the feathers to neighbors for good luck. When it is celebrated today, the wren is fake. 
And in some European countries, it is known as “Christmas II” or “Second Christmas Day.”
In Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK, Boxing Day is the heaviest shopping day of the year. 

No one really knows where the name “Boxing Day” got its name. Many historians think Boxing Day’s name is derived from the church practice of opening alms boxes the day after Christmas and distributing money to the poor. Historically, British employers followed the church’s lead by giving workers and servants gifts or cash on December 26. Another thought is that the “box” refers to the boxes of gifts employers gave to their servants on the day after Christmas — in wealthy households, servants were often required to work on Christmas Day, but give the day after off to celebrate the holiday on their own. All good stories…. but no one knows for sure.
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Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. There wasn’t a “Kwanzaa” when I was growing up — in fact, Kwanzaa didn’t exist until 1966. Kwanzaa is a week-long holiday celebrating African-American culture that was created by American professor Dr. Maulana Karenga, following the Watts Riots of 1965.

Kwanzaa is a cultural celebration — not a religious one. It is a seven-day ritual to welcome the first harvest to the home for the New Year. The observance celebrates community rather than reliance on a higher power, and is observed annually from December 26 to January 1. Kwanzaa is a Swahili word for “first.”

Professor Karenga designed seven principles of Kwanzaa — to connect Black Americans to their African roots by uplifting the community by recognizing and honoring traditional African family values. These seven principles are known as Nguza Saba in Swahili and are the foundation Kwanzaa is built on — here are the concepts, in English and Swahili:

Unity (Umoja)
Self-determination (Kujichagulia)
Collective work and responsibility (Ujima)
Cooperative economics (Ujamaa)
Purpose (Nia)
Creativity (Kuumba)
Faith (lmani)

Traditionally, Kwanzaa has been celebrated in family homes, schools, and larger venues with  African musicians and dancers, food, poetry, and performances by children are showcased. At home, families gather to discuss the seven principles and light a candle each day — each candle represents a different principle of the seven principles

The seven principles are observed by millions of African people throughout the world — from Unity to Faith, these concepts call on celebrants to practice the best of what it means to be African and human in the world.
Everyone is encouraged to practice the principles of Kwanzaa that stress quality human relationships, strong ties within the family and community, and putting the collective community ahead of the individual. That sounds like a holiday that should be celebrated by everyone — not just the Black community…..
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As far as the Moon is concerned, this Christmas is kind of special. This December’s full Moon will rise around sunset for several nights in a row — December 25, 26 and 27. So this will kind of be a full Moon Christmas. 

Technically, a full Moon happens on Christmas only every 19 years or so. However this year the Moon will “appear” full to our eyes on December 25. The last, technically, full Moon to appear on Christmas was in 2015 and the next one will be in 2034. But this year — it’s close enough. 

This month’s full Moon is the first after the winter solstice. You may notice that this full Moon is nearly at the top of the sky — the winter solstice Moon takes the highest path along the sky and is above the horizon longer than any Moon.

December’s full Moon is most commonly known as the Cold Moon — a Mohawk name that conveys the cold conditions that usually begin this time of year. The December full Moon is also sometimes called the Long Night Moon (from the Mohicans) because it rises during the longest nights of the year. Other names that have been given to the full Moon in December include….
Drift Clearing Moon (Cree)
Frost Exploding Trees Moon (Cree)
Moon of the Popping Trees (Oglala)
Hoar Frost Moon (Cree)
Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee) 
Moon when the Deer Shed Their Antlers (Dakota)
And in Europe, ancient pagans called the December full Moon the Moon Before Yule in honor of the Yuletide festival celebrating the return of the Sun heralded by the winter solstice.

One of our kids favorite books was “The Night Before Christmas.” In the book, the narrator looks out his bedroom window for St. Nick and proclaims, “The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.” If we had snow on the ground this year, this would be an accurate description of the night.
Merry Christmas.
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In keeping with the Christmas theme, I thought a good topic for today would be the Star of Bethlehem — was the star a real star, or was it some kind of a miraculous vision? 

This is one of those stories that will never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction. This falls into the category that I put everything about religion in — It’s almost impossible to scientifically prove (or disprove) religions and their beliefs. Pretty much nothing about religion makes logical sense — you either have faith, or you don’t.

As far as the Star of Bethlehem, every backyard astronomer, or anyone that has looked at the sky for a while knows that you can’t get to a destination by following something in the sky. Because the Earth rotates, the position of the stars and planets change positions pretty quickly. From the Earth, everything in the sky rises from the east — and “sets” in the west. So no astronomical body can come to rest in one spot — over Bethlehem, or anywhere else. 

So — what was that Star that, according to Matthew, “Went before them, and stood above where the Christ child lay.” Something I discovered during my extensive research for this subject is that Luke, who is apparently regarded as the most historically accurate of the gospels, never mentions there being any star. 

Everything we know about astronomy and science points us in the direction of there being no actual star. But as I said, this isn’t an argument you can win with scientific facts — it’s back to faith again. If you believe the Magi were led by an actual star — why not a star only the Wise Men could see?

Of course nothing on science is ever closed. Maybe someday we’ll know what the Star of Bethlehem really was…. maybe it was entirely a matter faith… or maybe it was simply a miracle.
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We’re approaching Christmas — why do we celebrate Christmas every year on December 25? The short answer is that no one really knows. Like just about everything, lots of people have ideas and theories, but no one really does know for sure.

Almost all Western Christian churches celebrate Christmas on December 25, although some observe the main celebration on the night before — Christmas Eve. 
For the Christian community, the meaning of Christmas is the remembrance and celebration of God’s presence in our world through Jesus — God-made flesh. 

The actual date of Christ’s birth is unknown, but Christmas has been celebrated on the 25th of December since the 4th century. Scholars and experts don’t agree on exactly when Christ was born — or — the specific circumstances of the beginning of Christmas as we know it. The most popular belief is that sometime around the winter solstice, was the most likely day of Christ’s birth, but many think other dates are more probable, including several in the spring and fall. 

Somewhere around 350 A.D., Pope Julius I set December 25 as the date the Church would commemorate when Jesus was born. A fairly popular belief by many historians is that the Church stirred up interest in a festival at that time of year to counter pagan festivals surrounding the solstice — but no historical document or evidence unequivocally explains the reasons for setting the date as December 25. 
But no matter the reason, it is the season — Merry Christmas to everyone.
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