Month: January 2017

Martin Luther King Jr.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on this day in 1929.

Dr. King was the leading figure of the Civil Rights Movement, as African-Americans struggled for freedom and equality in the United States. Dr. King was a brilliant orator and an inspirational leader. Dr. King was committed to the principals to non-violence, in part based on the example of Gandhi in India.  He believed that the only path towards a peaceful resolution of the plight of black people in the United States was through non-violence, civil disobedience, and peaceful protest.

source: wikimedia commons / Library of Congress

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a national holiday in the United States on the 3rd Monday of January.

For more on the life of Dr. King:

Orthodox Christmas

source: wikimedia commons / CC / GFDL

Merry Christmas to Eastern Orthodox Christians in Canada and around the world who celebrate the birth of Christ on this day. The Orthodox Churches of Russia, the Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe continued to follow the Julian Calendar after most of the rest of the Christian world adopted the Gregorian calendar from the 16th century and onward. While most of the countries of Eastern Europe eventually adopted the western calendar for political and economic purposes, some have maintained the Julian Calendar for religious and cultural purposes.

Epiphany

Also known as King’s Day or Twelfth Night, Epiphany is a Christian celebration that traditionally brought a close to the Christmas Season. In the western Church, King’s Day commemorates the visit of the Magi, the “Wise-Men” or Kings of the East, to the infant Christ, God’s revelation of the Messiah to the Gentiles (non-Jews.)  In bygone traditions, the “Twelve Days of Christmas” were marked from Christmas Day to Epiphany.

Adoration of the Magi by Mantegna (Public Domain / WIkimedia Commons)

This holiday is not prominent in Canada, but is a significant event in many Catholic areas, including parts of the Europe, Central America and South America.

For more:

Catholic Encyclopedia

It’s Twelfth Night…

Epiphany 2015

J.R.R. Tolkien

One of the most popular authors of the 20th Century, J.R.R. Tolkien was born to English parents in 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State. The family moved back to Britain at age 3. He studied at Oxford and eventually taught there as well. He would go to author some of the English language’s most read books, including The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. For more on Tolkien, click here.

Isaac Asimov

asiConsidered one of the giants of science fiction, Isaac Asimov was born on this day in 1920. His work and the work of other great sci-fi writers, film makers and game developers is celebrated on this day, unofficially International Science Fiction Day. (If you get the chance, visit the Sci-Fi Museum in Seattle!) For more on the life of Isaac Asimov, click here.