12/19 - Look for an Evergreen Day

Look for an Evergreen Day isn't supposed to be a "Where's Waldo" reprise, but that does seem to depend upon where one lives. Per checkiday.com,

Look for an Evergreen Day can be about one of two things. On one hand, it can be a day for going out into nature and finding evergreen trees to admire. It raises awareness about their beauty and is for learning about different types, like spruces, firs, and pines. On the other hand, it can be a day to look for and cut down evergreens to be used as Christmas trees. Many people have already cut theirs down, but for those who haven't who still plan to, they have just six days left until Christmas.

This is based on the misapprehension that "evergreen" means "coniferous tree", while it really means nothing of the kind. An evergreen is simply any plant that has green foliage all year long. My orange tree, lemon tree and Italian bay tree are non-coniferous evergreen trees as are live oaks, California Bay Laurels, and many others. My Camillas, salvias, ceanothus, coffeeberry, and flowering currents are all nonconiferous evergreens that aren't even trees.

That brings us to Holly Day, per checkiday.com

Today celebrates holly, the evergreen plant long associated with Christmas, and used in wreaths, boughs, and other trimmings. Before being connected to Christmas, it had many other associations, and has been used as a winter decoration since ancient times. Holly was identified with winter solstice festivals, which celebrated the lengthening of days. In Norse mythology it was associated with Thor, and was grown around the home as a way to prevent lightning strikes. It was used in the Roman festival of Saturnalia, dedicated to the planet Saturn, and the god of agriculture, creation, and time. The festival celebrated the darkest time of the year, but also the movement towards a time of sunshine and Spring. In ancient Gaul, Celtic people wore holly sprigs and wreaths as a way to ward off evil spirits.

Ahem, note: "Evergreen". The inventor of Holly Day wanted it to represent "all things Holly", for example women named Holly and a town by that name in Michigan.

It is also National Emo Day. Why we even have such a thing is beyond me, and I originally put it on the list because I thought it was a typo for Emu. I have never heard it used non pejoratively and am simply going to let this drop.

Lastly In 2022 this is the First Day of Hannukah. This is a mobile holiday, so it probably won't fall on this date next year.

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On this day in history:

1562 – The very bloody Battle of Dreux took place (French Wars of Religion).

1606 -- Settlers sailed from England to start colonizing the New World at Jamestown, Virginia.

1675 -- Colonists slaughtered great numbers of Narragansett in the The Great Swamp Massacre

1777 -- The Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge

1900 – French parliament voted amnesty for all involved in the Dreyfus affair.

1929 – The Indian National Congress promulgated the Purna Swaraj

1932 – BBC World Service began broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1941 -- Hitler became Supreme Commander-in-chief of the German Army.

1946 -- Official start of the Anti-French resistance in Viet Nam, though the Viet Min had been fighting since 1945.

1961 -- India annexed Goa, Daman and Diu, after freeing them from Portuguese rule.

1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration restoring Hong Kong to China was signed

1986 -- Gorbachev released Andrei Sakharov from exile in Gorky

1998 -- Clinton was impeached by the House

2012 -- Park Geun-hye was elected president of South Korea, the first female so elected

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Some people who were born on this day:

The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man... not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.

~~ Jean Genet

1820 -- Mary Livermore, abolitionist, suffragette, and journalist 1852 -- Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist, chemist, and Nobel winner (think Michelson-Morley) 1875 -- Carter G. Woodson, historian and author, founded Black History Month 1875 – Grace Marie Bareis, mathematician 1899 -- Martin Luther King, Sr., largely forgotten pastor, missionary, and activist 1901 -- Rudolf Hell, engineer, invented the Hellschreiber 1901 – Oliver La Farge, anthropologist and author

1910 -- Jean Genet, 1910 - Jean Genet, novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist 1915 -- Edith Piaf, singer, songwriter, and actress. The Little Sparrow 1918 -- Professor Longhair, singer, songwriter and pianist 1920 -- Little Jimmy Dickens, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1929 -- Bob Brookmeyer, trombonist, pianist, and composer (Played with Gerry Mulligan) 1928 – Nathan Oliveira, painter and sculptor 1929 -- Gregory Carroll, singer, songwriter and producer (one of the Orioles and other doo wop groups) 1932 – Lola Hendricks, civil rights activist 1935 -- Bobby Timmons, pianist and composer 1940 -- Phil Ochs, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1941 -- Maurice White, singer, songwriter and producer, Co-founder of Earth, Wind & FIre 1942 -- Cornell Dupree, guitarist 1944 – Mitchell Feigenbaum, physicist and mathematician ( 4.6692...) 1944 -- Richard Leakey, paleontologist, conservationist, and politician 1944 -- Alvin Lee, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1944 -- Zal Yanovsky, singer, songwriter and guitarist, co-founder of the Lovin' Spoonful 1945 -- John McEuen, singer, songwriter and guitarist, a Nitty, Gritty, Dirty guitarist 1961 – Eric Allin Cornell, physicist and academic

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Some people who died on this day:

Fullness of knowledge always means some understanding of the depths of our ignorance; and that is always conducive to humility and reverence.

~~ Robert Andrews Millikan

1111 – Al-Ghazali, polymath 1741 – Vitus Bering, explorer 1819 -- Thomas Fremantle, admiral and politician 1848 -- Emily Bronte, novelist and poet 1851 -- Joseph Mallord William Turner, painter 1915 – Alois Alzheimer, psychiatrist and neuropathologist 1932 – Yun Bong-gil, activist 1946 – Paul Langevin, French physicist, anti-fascist, and academic 1953 -- Robert Andrews Millikan, experimental physicist 1993 -- Michael Clarke, drummer 1996 -- Marcello Mastroianni, actor and singer 1997 -- Jimmy Rogers, singer, songwriter and guitarist 2000 -- Rob Buck, guitarist and songwriter 2000 – Milt Hinton, bassist and photographer 2012 -- Robert Bork, lawyer, judge, and putative scholar; inspiration for the word borked

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Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: National Emo Day National Hard Candy Day First Day of Hannukah Look for an Evergreen Day Holly Day

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Holly Day

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