Posts Tagged Holidays

This 1879 picture details a parade by Rex, an all-male krewe (semi-mythological creature) whose leader is known as the "King of Carnival." The Krewe of Rex established the official Mardi Gras colors of green, gold, and purple.

The earliest date given to the beginning of the Mardi Gras celebration in the United States is 1703. However, New Orleans was not its birth place, it was in fact Mobile, Alabama and was originally called Boef Gras (Fat Beef). [Zim's Side Note: New Orleans was not founded until 1718, fifteen years after the first Mardi Gras celebration.]

Joe Cain dressed as the make-believe Chickasaw chief Slacabamarinico

One of the earliest, well-known celebration occurred in 1830 on New Year’s Eve. It was begun by Michael Krafft and his friends who did not want to end a dinner party. After raiding a nearby hardware store, the group proceeded down the town streets with their stolen rakes, hoes and cowbells and woke the town up. Afterwards, the group formed Moblie’s first modern mystic organization called the Cowbellion de Rakin Society. Ten years later the Cowbellions presented their first parade with floats and a carnival theme.

During the Civil War, Mobile was under Union occupation and city soon became discouraged. The stress of the war had halted the Mardi Gras celebration until 1866 when Joseph Stillwell Cain dressed as “Chief Slacabamorinico” in full Chickasaw Indian regalia. Unbeknown to the Union army as well as the United States Government, Cain was making a political statement with his attire. It was meant to be a reminder that the Chickasaw never surrendered during the war and by suit, the people of Mobile should never surrender as well. Cain revived the celebration for future generations and while donning feathers and a skirt he rode the streets while encouraging the city. He was not punished because the government did not understand the meaning behind his costume. Because of his efforts in reviving Mardi Gras, the Sunday before Mardi Gras Day is called “Joe Cain Day,” where the city dresses in costume and celebrates him.

The date of Easter determines the date of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras Day also known as “Fat Tuesday,” takes place on the Tuesday before the Ash Wednesday.

Mobile Mardi Gras website.
Carpenter, Allan and Carl Provorse, compl. Facts About the Cities. 2nd ed. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1996, 5.
Photos via TIME and Alabama Heritage.

A Valentine's illustration in Harper's Weekly, 1864

As a Holiday
From as early as the 4^th century B.C. to the 5^th century A.D. in Rome, young men partook in a popular pagan rite of passage to the god Lupercus. This tradition became known as Lupercalia and was held every year around February 15. Noel Lenski, a classics professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, discussed this pagan ritual in National Geographic. Lenski states that Lupercalia was a “raucous annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility.”

This rite of passage was still popular through the initial rise of Christianity. Early church leaders, however, sought to end this pagan tradition by popularizing a saint that would represent lovers. They looked to Valentine, a bishop, who had been martyred two hundred years earlier. Through St. Valentine, the church hoped to curb the festival. Not only did St. Valentine’s Day curb the pagan tradition, it lasted through centuries of religious, social and economic upheaval to become ingrained in popular culture today.

The Legend of St. Valentine

"Saint Valentine receives a rosary from the Virgin" by David Teniers III.

The legend of Valentine is that in 270 A.D. the emperor Claudius II issued a law against marriage. He wanted to expand the Roman Empire as far as he could but in order to do so, he needed a well-trained and focused army. Claudius believed that marriage clouded soldier’s judgment and emotions. If the man got married and made a home, he would be less likely to leave it for battle. Since Claudius wanted soldiers for the empire, he abolished marriage. This is where Valentine steps in. One of the legends has it that Valentine was the bishop of Interamna and invited young lovers to come to him and he would marry them in secret. When Claudius heard of Valentine, he tried to get Valentine to renounce Christianity. Valentine would not and on February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.

According to the legend, before Valentine’s death he fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer. Because he did not waver in his faith and refused to renounce it, he was given the power to restore her sight. Before he met his fate, he penned a farewell message to her and signed it “From Your Valentine.”

Valentine’s Day Cards
The giving and receiving of valentines is as old of a tradition as the holiday itself. Mid-February was traditional the time Roman men courted prospective mates. During courting, it was popular to give handwritten notes of affection on February 14. After the introduction of St. Valentine, the cards acquired that same name.

A lace valentine created by Esther Howland

The oldest existing valentines card is housed in the British Museum. In 1415, Charles, duke of Orléans, gave his wife a valentine while being held prisoner in the Tower of London.  The French nobleman was wounded and captured at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Year’s War. [Zim’s Side Note: The Battle of Agincourt was the centerpiece of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. Charles, duke of Orléans appears in the classic play as well.] The valentine that Charles writes to his wife while in prison was not the typical happy-go-lucky valentine that we may be use to. Instead, the note was of somber yearning.

Je suis desja d’amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée…

I am already sick of love
My very gentle Valentine…

In America, the idea of Valentine’s Day was brought over with the new settlers. During the Revolutionary War and Civil War, valentines consisted of mostly handwritten notes and it was common for the soldiers to keep their loved one’s notes of affection close. Esther Howland, a printer and artist, was the first American publisher of valentines. In the 1870s, her elaborate handmade lace cards would cost between five to ten dollars. Some of her more intricate cards could sell for as much as thirty-five dollars. She became known as the “Mother of the Valentine.” The advancements in printing technology allowed for the mass production of valentines started in the early 1900s.

Next to Christmas, Americans buy more cards for Valentine’s Day than any other holiday. In a survey by the National Retail Federation, fifty-two percent of American buyers plan to send at least one card for Valentine’s Day. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 150 million greeting cards will be purchased this year (2012) alone in the U.S. While Valentine’s Day found its origins in rituals and legends, it has now become a staple in consumer culture and American culture.

Information
“Valentine’s Day,” history.com.
David Stewart White, “Historical Valentines in Europe,” examiner.com, January 19, 2011.
John Roach, “Valentine’s Day: Why Do We Celebrate It?” National Geographic, February 13, 2012.
Greeting Card Association, “Valentine’s Day Card Sales Hold Steady for 2012,” January 24, 2012.
Charles Panati, Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, New York: Harper, 1989, 50-52.

Photos
Harper’s Weekly illustration
“Saint Valentine” by David Teniers III
Esther Howland’s lace valentine

It’s no secret that “the most wonderful time of the year” can sometimes feel like the most manic, anxiety-inducing few weeks of our lives. But strip away the glitz, stress, and turbocharged consumerism that have come to characterize Christmas, and the essence of the holiday can, occasionally, still be found. To help in that search for the true meaning of Christmas, LIFE asked Bob Sullivan — author of the recently reissued classic, Flight of the Reindeer, and longtime LIFE editor — to choose pictures that, for him, capture the spirit of the season. For example, of the photo above Sullivan says: “This is my all-time favorite Christmas image: the first-ever Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, as raised by construction workers in 1931. In the depths of the Depression, this very modest flora meant as much — in fact, probably more — to those who huddled in its meager glow as today’s gargantuan, glittering marvel does to a million tourists.”

With the Thanksgiving day holiday fast approaching, TODAY compiled a slide show of pictures through the years of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades. Beginning in 1924, this Thanksgiving tradition has seen many changes in the characters of the balloons but one thing has stayed consistent, Santa Claus concludes the parade.  Here are a few pictures from the gallery.

Captain Nemo

A large outdoor float of Captain Nemo makes its way down the street during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City on Nov. 28, 1929. Early balloons like this one were filled with air and carried by string. Starting in 1929 the balloons were released at the parade’s end and rewards were offered for their return, but the practice was discontinued after 1932, when a pilot nearly crashed his plane trying to retrieve one.

Teddy Bear

This was the scene in Times Square in New York during the parade on Nov. 23, 1945. It was the first parade since the festivities were suspended in 1941 due to World War II. Here, the Teddy Bear passes a reproduction of the Statue of Liberty.

Popeye

This shot of the Macy’s Parade from the early 1960s spotlights Popeye, still in his heyday. The spinach-chomping sailor man had made his parade debut a few years earlier, in 1957.

Bullwinkle

Bullwinkle the moose floats above the Macy’s parade in the early 1960s, when he costarred in TV cartoons with Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

Garfield

The pizza-gobbling cartoon cat floats above a marching band on Broadway on Nov. 27, 1986. The Choctawhatchee High School band of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., march behind him.

Rex the Tyrannosaurus

The Nov. 25, 1993 Macy’s Parade was plagued by freezing temperatures and blustery winds that burst several of the balloons. One casualty was Rex, the tyrannosaurus hero of the children’s book “We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story.”

Millennum Snoopy

The Nov. 25, 1999 parade brought the debut of Millennium Snoopy, the fifth version of Charlie Brown’s beagle to star in the festivities. In front of Snoopy is Cloe the Clown, a historic Macy’s float regarded as the patron spirit of clowns.

Uncle Sam

The Uncle Sam balloon leads off the parade on Nov. 28, 2002. The balloon is a re-creation of a patriotic one that first appeared in 1938 and continued through the 1940s.

The web-spinning superhero debuted as a giant helium balloon in 1987, then returned in 2009 and, as shown here, the following year. In 2011, he will also be represented by the cast of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”

Source: TODAY

Labor Day parade, ca. 1900

The Library of Congress describes the first Labor Day and the history behind it in the following way,

On September 5, 1882, some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City to participate in America’s first Labor Day parade. After marching from City Hall, past reviewing stands in Union Square, and then uptown to 42nd Street, the workers and their families gathered in Wendel’s Elm Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches. This first Labor Day celebration was eagerly organized and executed by New York’s Central Labor Union, an umbrella group made up of representatives from many local unions.  Debate continues to this day as to who originated the idea of a workers’ holiday, but it definitely emerged from the ranks of organized labor at a time when they wanted to demonstrate the strength of their burgeoning movement and inspire improvements in their working conditions.

 Source: Library of Congress