In yesterday’s November-dates-to-remember-post, I mentioned the two holidays that we celebrate this month – Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. What I did not mention is how both of them started out a little differently than how we celebrate them today.
For instance, Veterans Day began as Armistice Day. It was a tribute to US Armed Forces who fought in World War I which officially ended when an Armistice With Germany went into effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Some years later, Congress, at the urging of Veterans groups, changed the name to Veterans Day. Later when Congress established Mondays as the day to celebrate many of our National holidays, those same Veterans groups lobbied and succeeded in keeping the 11th of November as the official holiday. (The other holidays that remain on a set date are New Year’s, the 4th of July and Christmas.)
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November but it too had a bit of winding road to get where it is today. This explanation is from Wiki:
There was also some debate over whether or not Thanksgiving was a religious holiday and should we celebrate it at all. Before Congress and Abe weighed in, Thanksgiving was celebrated differently depending on where one lived.
Regardless of their backgrounds, on the 11th and 24th of this month we will celebrate both holidays. On that note, I couldn’t resist passing this along, but do wonder if anyone would get get it without the title?
Taylor Swift’s new album Midnights currently has all top 10 songs on Billboard’s listing of top songs for a single week. Nobody else, including Elvis, the Beatles nor Eminem (ok I just thru him in there to see if you were paying close enough attention) has done that.