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| By Diva Cally |
| February
means Valentine's Day for most people, especially lovers. Whether you
go
whole hog with flowers, presents, and candy or whether you just
let the day pass quietly, remember that everyday ought to be
Valentine's
Day. Send a card or a hug to a friend in need or send a virtual bouquet
to a loved one or even to yourself! |
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| Why do
we celebrate Valentine's Day? |
|
"We
celebrate Valentine's Day, because until 1969, it was one of the many
Saint's Days observed by the Catholic Church. It was dedicated to the
patron saint of romantic causes, St. Valentine. Although it was removed
from the Church's calendar in 1969, the religious meaning coupled with
Valentine's Day's roots in Roman paganism have allowed it to continue
as a holiday for everyone. Early Christians saw Valentine's Day as a
way to honour St. Valentine, of whom there were actually three. The
Catholic Church recognizes three saints by that name, all who were
martyred on February 14. The St. Valentine the day is named for was,
most likely, a priest in the 3rd century who performed secret marriages
when the Roman Emperor Claudius II thought single soldiers were more
likely to enlist in the army. That St. Valentine was imprisoned and
executed on February 4, 270. It is believed he sent the jailer's
daughter a note saying, "From your Valentine." The phrase is still
widely used on Valentine's Day today. In 496 A.D. February 14, was
declared in the name of St. Valentine by Pope Gelasius. It remained a
Church holiday until 1969, when Pope Paul VI took it off the calendar.
On February 14, the ancient Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia
in honour of Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. Juno was
also the goddess of women and marriage so honouring her was thought to
be a fertility rite. At the feast held the next day, the women would
write love letters and stick them in a large urn. The men would pick a
letter from the urn and for the next year, pursue the woman who wrote
the chosen letter. This custom lasted until the 1700s when people
decided their beloved's should be chosen by sight, not luck."
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Ferbruary
Feature Holiday: Black History Month
This is
quoted from this very comprehensive web site on Black History
Month: http://www.dal.ca/~acswww/grfibhm.html
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A
full appreciation of the celebration of Black History Month requires a
review and a reassessment of the social and academic climate that
prevailed in the Western world, and especially in North America before
1926 when Black History Month was established.
It
is important to recall that between 1619 and 1926, African Americans
and other peoples of African descent were classified as a race that had
not made any contribution to human civilization. Within the public and
private sector, African Americans and other peoples of African descent
were continually dehumanized and relegated to the position of
non-citizens and often defined as fractions of humans. It is estimated
that between 1890 and 1925, an African American was lynched every two
and a half days.
The
academic and intellectual community was no different from the bulk of
mainstream America. Peoples of African descent were visibly absent in
any scholarship or intellectual discourse that dealt with human
civilization.
African
Americans were so dehumanized and their history so distorted in
academia that "slavery, peonage, segregation and lynching" were
considered justifiable conditions. In fact, Professor John Burgess, the
founder of Columbia University graduate school of Political Science and
an important figure in American scholarship defined the African race as
"a race of men which has never created any civilization of any kind..."
It
was this kind of climate and the sensational, racist scholarship that
inspired the talented and brilliant African American scholar, Dr.
Carter Godwin Woodson to lead the struggle and search for the truth and
institutionalize what was then referred to as "Negro History Week". A
Harvard trained Ph.D., Dr. Woodson dropped out of mainstream academia
to devote his life to the scientific study of the African experience in
America, Africa and throughout the world.
Under
Woodson's direction and contributions from other African American and
white scholars, the "Negro History Week" was launched on a serious
platform in 1926 to neutralize the apparent ignorance and deliberate
distortion of Black History. Meetings, exhibitions, lectures and
symposia were organized to climax the scientific study of the African
experience throughout the year in order to give a more objective and
scholarly balance in American and World history.
Today,
this national and international observance has been expanded to
encompass the entire month of February. The expansion, of course, has
increased the number of days for celebration, but its strength and
importance lie in the new meaning that has emerged. As Ralph L. Crowder
points out in an article in the December 1977 issue of the Western
Journal of Black Studies, "it is no longer sufficient to devote the
entire month to the celebration of great Negro contributions to the
American mainstream." |
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| February
Is: |
African
American History Month (Black History Month)
AMD/Low
Vision Awareness Month
American
Hearth Month
American
History Month
Bake For
Family Fun Month
Bird
Feeding Month (US National)
Black
History Month (African American History Month)
Candy
Month
Canned
Foods Month
Cat
Health Month (US National)
Cherry
Month
Children's
Dental Health Month (National)
Chocolate
Month
Condom
Month (National US)
Creative
Romance Month
Dental
Month (US National) 2002
Embroidery
Month (International)
Friendship
Month
Grapefruit
Month (National)
Hearth
Month (American)
Library
Lovers Month
Pet Oral
Health Care Month (US National)
Potato
Lovers Month
Responsible
Pet Owner Month
Sinus
Pain Awareness Month
Snack
Food Month (US National)
Umbrella
Month
Weddings
Month (US National)
Wise
Health Consumer Month |
| |
| Famous
Historical Moments in February: |
3 Rock
singers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a plane
crash (1959)
6 The
board game Monopoly first went on sale (1935)
6
Astronaut Alan Shepard hits three golf balls on the moon (1971)
7 The
Beatles come to the U.S. for the first time (1964)
8 The
Boy Scouts were founded by Lord Baden-Powell in England. (1910)
9 The
Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan show (1964)
9 An act
of Congress is passed authorizing the US Weather Bureau
10
Glenn Miller receives the first ever gold record for selling a million
copies of a song. And the song....."The Chattanooga Choo Choo"
10
France cedes Canada to England, ending the French and Indian War (1763)
11
Robert Fulton patents the steamboat (1809)
11 The
Yalta agreement is signed by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin(1945)
12 Women
in the Utah Territory win the right to vote (1870)
14 The
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre occurred. Mobsters, dressed as
policemen, gunned down seven members of a rival gang (1929)
15 The
Post Office uses adhesive postage stamps for the first time. (1842)
16 Nylon
is patented. But it won't become popular for a few more decades. (1937)
16 NBC
TV begins it's first nightly newscast. (1948)
18 Mark
Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.(1885)
18 A
ninth planet is discovered in the solar system and is named Pluto. The
discover is Clyde Tombaugh. (1930)
19 A
prize is inserted into a Crackerjacks box for the first time (1913)
20 John
Glenn become the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth (1962)
21
Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. President not visit China (1972)
22 Frank
Woolworth opens the first "Five Cent Store in Utica, N.Y(1879)
23 The
Tootsie Roll rolls into stores in America
23 U.S.
marines raise the America flag in Iwo Jima (1945)
25
Samuel Colt patents the revolver
26 A
bomb explodes at the World Trade Center killing 6 people (1993)
28 The
Salem Witch Hunts begin (1692)
28 The
final episode of M.A.S.H. is aired (1983)
29
Yellowstone becomes the first National Park (1872 |
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| Here are
the holidays Divas all over the world are celebrating in February: |
1
Black History Month in United States
2 Candlemas in Liechtenstein and many other countries
2 Groundhog Day in Canada
2 Groundhog Day in United States
3 Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party
in Vietnam
3 Heroes Day in Mozambique
3 Martyrs Day in Sao Tome & Principe
3 San Blas in Paraguay
4 Inicio de Luta Armada in Angola
4 National Day in Sri Lanka
5 Chama Cha Mapinduzi Day in Tanzania
5 Constitution Day in Mexico
5 Sant Agata in San Marino
6 Waitangi Day in New Zealand
7 Independence Day in Grenada
7 Independence Day in Grenada
8 Boy Scout Day/Girl Scout Day (Thinking Day)
8 Culture Day in Slovenia
8 Revolution Day in Iraq
9 Feast of St. Maroon/St. Maroon's Day in Lebanon
10 Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck in Malta
11 Armed Forces Day in Liberia
11 National Foundation Day in Japan
11 Thomas Alva Edison's Birthday in United States
11 Youth Day in Cameroon Republic
12 Lincoln's Birthday in United States
12 National Mourning Day in Bangladesh
14 St. Valentine's Day
14 Trifon Zarezan in Bulgaria
15 Revolution Day in Iran
16 Heritage Day in Canada (Yukon)
16 Independence Day in Lithuania
19 Alberta Family Day in Canada (Alberta)
19 Flag Day in Turkmenistan
19 President's Birthday in Puerto Rico
19 Presidents Day in United States
21 Makha Bucha Day in Thailand
21 Shaheed Day in Bangladesh
22 Anniversary of the Amir's Succession in Qatar
22 Independence Day in Saint Lucia
22 Union Day in Egypt
22 Unity Day in Syria
22 Washington's Birthday in United States
23 Army Day in Tajikistan
23 Defenders of the Motherland Day in Russia
23 National Day in Brunei
23 Republic Day (Mashramani) in Guyana
24 Estonia Independence Day in Lithuania
24 Flag Day in Mexico
24 Independence Day in Estonia
25 National Day in Kuwait
25 Norriture rituelle des sources tet dl'o in Haiti
25 People Power Day in Philippines
25 Revolution Day in Suriname
26 Liberation Day in Kuwait
26 Sainte-Devote, Patron Saint of the Principality in
Monaco
27 Carnival in Dominican Republic
27 Independence Day in Dominican Republic
28 Day of Andalucia in Spain |
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Is your
Birthday in February?
One of
these famous or infamous people may share your day. Also, here are your
astrological signs, birthstone and flower.
|
Astrological
Signs:
Aquarius:
January 20 - February 18
Pisces:
February 19 - March 20
February's
Birthstone:
February's
Birthstone is: Amethyst
February's
Flower:
February's
Flower: Violet
Famous
February Birthdays:
1
Sherman Hemsley, 1938
Lisa
Marie Presley, 1968
Princess
Stephanie of Monoco, 1965
2
Christie Brinkley, 1954
Farrah
Fawcett, 1947 (Actress)
James
Joyce, 1882
Tom
Smothers, 1937
3 Morgan
Fairchild, 1950
Frank
Tarkenton, 1940
4 Alice
Cooper, 1948
5 Hank
Aaron, 1934
Bobby
Brown, 1969
Red
Buttons, 1919
Barbara
Hershey, 1948
Roger
Staubach, 1942
6 Zsa
Zsa Gabor, 1917
Ronald
Regan, 1911
Babe
Ruth, 1895
7
Charles Dickens, 1812
8 James
Dean, 1931
Jules
Verne, 1828
Ted
Koppel, 1940
9 Mia
Farrow, 1945
William
H. Harrison, 1773
10
Roberta Flack, 1939
Mark
Spitz, 1950
Robert
Wagner, 1930
11
Thomas Edison, 1847
Burt
Reynolds, 1936
12
Abraham Lincoln, 1809
13 Kim
Novak, 1933
14
Hugh Downs, 1921
George
Ferris, 1859
Jimmy
Hoffa, 1939
Rosa
Parks, 1913
15 Roger
Chaffe, 1935
Galileo
Galilei, 1564
16 Edgar
Bergen, 1903
John
McEnroe, 1959
17 Hal
Holbrook, 1925 (Actor)
Michael
Jordan, 1963
Denise
Richards, 1971
18
Helen Gurley Brown, 1922
Matt
Dillon, 1964
Cybil
Shepherd, 1950
John
Travolta, 1954 (Actor)
19
Prince Andrew of England, 1960
Jeff
Daniels, 1955
Smoky
Robinson
20
Charles Barkley, 1963
Cindy
Crawford, 1966
Sidney
Poitier, 1927
Gloria
Vanderbilt, 1924
21
Erma Bombeck, 1927
Tyne
Daly, 1946
Kelsey
Grammer, 1955
Jennifer
Love Hewitt, 1979
22 Drew
Barrymore, 1975
Julius
Erving, 1950
Edward
M. Kennedy, 1932
George
Washington, 1732
23 Peter
Fonda, 1939
24
Barry Bostwick, 1945
Paula
Zahn, 1956
25 Sean
Austin, 1971
Tea
Leoni, 1966
Renoir
26
Michael Bolton, 1953
Robert
Taft, 1917
27
Chelsea Clinton, 1980
Ralph
Nadar, 1934
John
Steinbeck, 1902
Elizabeth
Taylor, 1932
28 Mario
Andretti, 1940
Bernadette
Peters, 1948
29 Jimmy
Dorsey, 1904
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