Remember

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I would say Happy Memorial Day, but that's really an oxymoron. Today, although often a day for family celebrations, is a day for serious remembrance. Memorial Day is a day to remember the dead. Originally called Decoration Day, it was day declared to decorate our soldier's graves, and to remember their service to our fair country. Unlike Veteran's Day, today we honor only the dead. So, if you have a family grave to decorate -- go decorate. If not, go learn Taps. And be sure to raise your flag.



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Why is Easter So Early?

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My college roommate Nancy sent me an email about this year's date for Easter that I verified through Snopes.com and I thought I'd share.

It's fairly worthless information, as information goes, but fascinating nonetheless. I suppose I like fascinating, worthless bits of information.

The date for Easter each year is something of a mystery to the average person. Unlike most other significant dates on the western calendar, which fall either on fixed dates (e.g., Christmas is always December 25) or on easily-reckoned relative calendar days (e.g., Thanksgiving in the U.S. is the fourth Thursday in November), Easter moves around from year to year in order to preserve its relationship to the astronomical phenomena (i.e., the season of the year and the phase of the moon) that would have occurred at the time of the resurrection (traditionally reckoned as having taken place in 30 A.D.).

In the modern era, Easter Sunday generally falls on the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (i.e., the first full moon of Spring in the northern hemisphere, or the first full moon occurring after the date of the vernal equinox). However, since astronomical observations are variable (e.g., the date of the full moon can vary depending upon the location of the observer), the date of Easter is typically calculated from tables. We'll dispense with an explanation of how to perform these calculations (for the curious, such an explanation can be found here) in favor of addressing the main points of the example quoted above.

The earliest calendar date on which Easter can fall is March 22, and the latest date is April 25. Easter therefore takes place unusually early this year, as its 2008 date of occurrence is March 23. The last time Easter fell on so early a date was 1913, and the next time it will do so will be in the year 2160 (not 2228, as claimed in the example cited above — although Easter will also fall on March 23 that year, it will not be the next such occurrence).

Seeing Easter fall on the earliest possible date, March 22, is an experience that has not been, and (barring some remarkable breakthroughs in longevity) will not be, witnessed by anyone alive today: It last occurred in the year 1818, and it will not happen again until 2285.

The odds are considerably better for witnessing a late Easter. Many people are still around from the last time Easter fell on April 25, an event which took place in 1943, and a good many people here today will likely still be around when Easter next falls on April 25, which will occur in 2038.

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For History Buffs

Doug discovered this web resource that's chock full of great stuff that looks entertaining and educational for resident history buffs, either adults or older students. The Daily Quiz (you just have to register for to take it) is challenging, the History Quizzes look promising and Today in History is always fun. Scroll all the way down the page to read about historical figures, conflicts and discoveries. And they have a great online store. Historynet.com

On Church and State

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Last year, I taught eighth grade history in my school at home. It was a super course -- American History to be exact -- using Seton's American History 8 for Young Catholics. This is a wonderful book, probably my favorite text that we've used, which is saying something because I've never been a big fan of history. This book gives us the history of America from a Catholic perspective -- something I never had, not even in Catholic school.

And one thing that I found most fascinating was the study of the separation of church and state. Now, as an average American with an average understanding of politics I thought that the separation of church and state was good for the state, but not for the church. After all, the separation of church and state is what is keeping God out of school.

However, in our 8th grade course of American History, I learned how much the Church depends upon this separation in order to stay the Church that she is.

In my blog-reading today, I see that Suzanne's brother Michael has a letter published to our church leaders in Connecticut regarding the use of the Plan B pill in Catholic hospitals. If you've been following this issue, which I have, you will find this letter very interesting. Thank you, Michael, for saying what needs to be said. I will say a prayer that God opens their ears and our clergy will hear your words.
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Happy Columbus Day

Whether or not Christopher Columbus was actually the first discoverer of America may be debated by some, but we give him a lot of credit for being a brave, Catholic explorer, especially today, Columbus Day.

I've compiled some activities we'll use today, in addition to re-reading part of American History for Young Catholics, which has a nice section on Columbus:

A page full of information, suggested reading, poems, printable coloring pages and even a skit here.

The story of Christopher Columbus and some printable puzzles here.

The story of Christopher Columbus and the details of the foods available to his crew here.

The first voyage and maps here.

A whole page of crafts including how to make a paper boat, newspaper sailor hats and a spyglass. Fun! Here.

And how about some sailboat eggs for snack?
Hard boil some eggs. Peel the eggs and rinse. Cut it in half. Place a toothpick into each half egg. Place raisins, marshmallows, etc. on the toothpick.
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The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere...

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...rediscovered for my Michael and any other student of the Revolutionary War -- a self-contained history lesson.

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 Written April 19, 1860; first published in 1863 as part of "Tales of a Wayside Inn"
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,--
A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,---
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;=
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

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September 11

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Noah flipped the TV on at lunch today and turned to the National Geographic channel. He caught the beginning of a program called "Seconds from Disaster" about the high jacking and crash of Flight 77 at The Pentagon on September 11 -- I'm sure just the beginning of the 9/11 television line-up.

While my first instinct was to turn it off, I quickly noticed that the program was really about how the structure of the Pentagon prevented it from being damaged more than it was. It actually was a very educational program and we ended up watching it together.

One thing I learned, that I'm almost certain I had not heard before, was that the ground-breaking ceremony, beginning the construction of The Pentagon, was held on September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years prior to the terror attack. Does it seem at all possible that these dates could be coincidental? I have heard a few theories on why the terrorists chose the date 9/11, but I've never heard this one. It certainly seems the most logical. I certainly hope that the Homeland Security guys in DC are looking at our country's time lines for some other important anniversaries!

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