oct 11 20201 - And After Thanksgiving, Is there Rest? No

 

After our Canadian dinner of Canadian leftovers last night, the "Day of Distinguishing Canadian vs US Thanksgiving" comes to a close.   It brought to mind things that might or might not be celebrated based on country and religion.  We joke about Canadian vs American Thanksgiving.  However, we fail to take into account being Indigenous in either country and how overwhelming the colonial nature of the holiday tradition has been.  What about our next holiday?  It's Halloween.  What do we find?  It is labelled a secular holiday - like Valentine's and Thanksgiving. It comes from some ancient tradition - Celtic - so that might be ok.  But wait, the Roman Catholics took it over as an All Saints Day.  That's what makes it political to all sorts of religious groups. I am quite amazed by how many holidays the Jehovah Witnesses reject - they claim that Jesus didn't ask for anyone to celebrate his birthday.  So Christmas is off. And after that? It is Remembrance Day on November 11 at 11:00am.  Give up the singing of Onward Christian Soldiers and the British National Anthem in Ireland.  These items are the subject of protest.  Ireland is particularly troubled by the day of commemorations.  And then there are religious groups such as Quakers. Then we're on to American Thanksgiving with the predominant views alternating between the Pilgrims 'sharing' their harvest with the 'natives' and the harmoniously sharing the 'first Thanksgiving meal'. We round out the year with Christmas and celebrating the New Year.  We know Christmas is political.  Are New Year's celebrations a political issue?  The Jehovah Witnesses pop up again - they "refuse participation in ecumenical and interfaith activities."  Keep going and you will find 4 reasons why Muslims should not celebrate the New Year.  Mostly, though, it is complete cultures who don't celebrate January 1st as the New Year - think of Chinese New Year. We can continue through the entire year, and this trend will apply to every celebration holiday.  It seems to me this is an instance where being a Global Village has its dilemmas. Our picture today was taken a year ago.  It is the Cherry Ave intersection from yesterday's picture of the bicycle driver in the flower field.  It is on the left side past the intersection.

Feb 6 2020 - Chocolate Day x 365

How many chocolate days are there in the year?  World Chocolate Day is July 7th. Or maybe October 28th, or December 28th.  And there's International Chocolate Day on September 13th.  Variants such as National Milk Chocolate Day, National White Chocolate Day and National Cocoa Day join the days.   EuroChocolate is an annual chocolate festival in Perugia, the capital of Umbria in Italy. It is such a good idea, that Rome and Turin also have chocolate festivals.  But Perugia's is huge: it starts on October 16th and ends of October 25th this year and has over one million visitors.  I guess chocolate is popular in Italy. I decided to find out if there are chocolate days all year long. If it is this popular in Italy, it is popular everywhere.  So the situation is that you can celebrate chocolate pretty well every week.  The list of chocolate holidays is HERE - there are celebrations every month - think things like National chocolate cupcake day or bittersweet chocolate with almonds day.  Don't forget Office Chocolate Day - that's the suggested day to give your colleague a vegan chocolate present.   What kind of candy is never on time? ChocoLATE What is a French cat's favorite dessert? Chocolate mousse! Why did the Oreo go to the dentist? Because it lost its filling  Today's Valentine was found in a back alley of Queen Street West.

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How Many Christmas Greetings?

How many "Christmas Greetings" are there?  A lot of Christmases have occurred for us to create many ways of expressing the "Season."  I found an extensive list at scrappyhug.com. We're looking at the sayings from A to C: A Season with a Precious Reason A Special Gift  A Visit with Santa  A-Caroling We Go  All Hearts Come Home for Christmas  All I want for Christmas  All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth  All Through the House  Be Naughty, Save Santa a Trip  Believe in the magic of Christmas  Berry Kissmas (with holly)  Candy Cane Kid(s) or Kandy Kane  Candy Cane Kid(s) or Kandy Kane Kids  Celebrate  Christmas Blessings  Christmas cookies and Holiday hearts?That's the way the holiday starts  Christmas Glows with Love  Christmas is a Clause for Celebration  Christmas is family near, words of good cheer, memories dear. Christmas is in the Air  Christmas is Sharing and Caring  Christmas Joy  Christmas Makes Memories  Christmas Memories  Christmas Shimmer  Christmas Time  Christmas Time is Family Time  Come & see the Christmas Tree!  Country Christmas  We have two greeting cards today - the second one is more of a weather wish.   There are freezing rain warnings for Grimsby today and the satellite storm tracking is red then green then red then green - snow then rain then snow then rain.