Tag: holidays
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It’s Purim!
Purim – the Jewish celebration of courage, deliverance, and the Book of Esther (about which Martin Luther was despicably clueless) – starts tonight! Time to Read the book of Esther; Send gifts of food; Send gifts of money; Party like it’s Purim! ok, not that, and also, alas, no hamantaschen allowed this year, but fortunately […]
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Bread and Roses!
It’s International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day has taken on the character of a “women’s rights” holiday, but the history of the day is deeply embedded in the international labor movement. In that spirit, today is a good day to remember that The Catholic Worker is a contemporary as well as historic organization. And here’s […]
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There a Great Miracle Occurred
Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev. 1 Maccabees 4:59 Last night was the first night of […]
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Happy Hastings Day
Today is Hastings Day. The Battle of Hastings, arguably the most decisive battle in world history, was fought 955 years ago today, on October 14, 1066. Here’s the annual celebratory post: I promised my brother, the historian, that I would celebrate it appropriately. According to him, and he knows these things, it was long the […]
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It’s Purim!
Purim – the Jewish celebration of courage, deliverance, and the Book of Esther (about which Martin Luther was despicably clueless) – starts tonight! What to do on Purim: Read the book of Esther; Send gifts of food; Send gifts of money; Party like it’s Purim! I do not actually party, but I am making hamantaschen. […]
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First Night of Passover
The first night of Passover will never again coincide with the Thursday evening before the Sabbath before Christian Easter, or to put it another way, with Christians’ Maundy Thursday as narrated in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is for historical and calendrical reasons, explained here. This year, however, the second night […]
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It’s Purim!
Time to celebrate courage, deliverance, and the Book of Esther (take that, Martin Luther). Also, hamantaschen. What they are, how to make them yourself (not that easy), and why it matters: Go, Team Hamantaschen!