Rosa Parks

One of the icons of the US Civil Rights movement looked an unlikely hero but proved to be someone whose strength of character belied her appearance. Rosa Parks was born on this day in 1934.  In the face of the overt racism of 1950’s America, Rosa famously refused to give up her seat on the bus, as black people were expected to do for white people. She was arrested, and the resulting Montgomery Bus Boycott proved to be one of foundational events of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Come down to the School Library to check out our titles on Rosa Parks and other books for Black History Month:

Imbolc

Imbolc is celebrated February 1 to 2. The traditions of Imbolc reach back deep into the pagan history of the Celtic peoples of Ireland and its neighbours. With the Christianization of Ireland, Imbolc was replaced by St. Brigid’s Day . Imbolc as a cultural event has seen a resurgence in recent years, mainly in the neo-pagan community. Imbolc has also grown in popularity amongst others who desire to celebrate traditional Irish/Celtic culture, particularly in regards to the connections with nature and the cycles of the year.

<a href="http://steven earnshaw, CC BY 2.0 source

Roughly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, Imbolc was celebrated as the start of Spring. Imbolc was associated with new life and fertility, particularly the arrival of lambs. Imbolc was also strongly associated with the Goddess Brigid. When Christianity arrived in Ireland in the early 5th, pagan traditions were often adapted to the new beliefs. Imbolc became known as St. Brigid’s Day. Along with St, Patrick and St. Columba, St. Brigid was a patron saint of Ireland. She may or may not have been a real person, and many historians believe that real person or not, her name was borrowed directly from the pagan goddess.

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The Year of the Snake

Happy Lunar New Year!

In 2025 the Lunar New Year, also known as , the Spring Festival, Chinese New Year, and many other names, begins on January 29 and will continue for several weeks all over the globe. Canadians join with many millions of people in Asia, and millions more of Asian Heritage around the world, to celebrate the Year of the Snake.

The celebrations around this event include many different local practices and are known by many names around the world, including Tet (Vietnam); Seollal (Korea); Koshogatsu or “Little New Year” (Japan).  Multiday, and even multiweek festivals will take place around the world on the days and weeks of late January and early February. The Lantern Festival is an example of an associated event that takes place several weeks into the new year.

In North America it is often called Chinese New Year, although the Chinese themselves are more likely to refer to it as the Spring Festival. Moreover, the term “Lunar New Year” is more reflective of the multi-ethnic and multicultural nature of the celebrations. In Canada this is especially important, as many Canadians trace their roots to many different parts of the world, including China, but also to many other places in East Asia such as Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan.

Find out more:

LunarFest Vancouver

The Lunar New Year in Canada

Korean New Year

Chinese New Year

Tet

BBC Lunar New Year

Guru Gobind Singh

On January 6, 2025, Sikhs in Canada and around the world celebrate Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, a chance to observe and celebrate the birth of Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru was born in 1666 in Patna, India. He was the 10th and last of the (human) Gurus of Sikhism. He established the Khalsa, the organization of men and women baptized into the Sikh faith. He also established the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism, as the final Guru for the Sikh people.

GuruGobindSingh
source: discoversikhism.com

For more on Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikh faith, check out:

Songs of Peace: Alice’s Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends, family and neighbours! Along with Turkey and football games, another staple of American Thanksgiving for many is listening to the 18 minute classic, “Alice’s Restaurant.”

November has been Peace month in the School Library, with an emphasis on understanding peace education, the antiwar movements, civil disobedience and other non-violent means of social change. Such themes overlap with American Thanksgiving in “Alice’s Restaurant.”

source


Originally released in 1967, Arlo Guthrie’s 18 minute long recording of “Alice’s Restaurant” has become on of the most famous protest songs against the Vietnam War.  The events described in the song, beginning with a Thanksgiving celebration amongst friends during the sixties, were the inspiration for a film which was released in 1969.

More than 50 years later Guthrie’s signature song is a staple of classic rock radio stations on and around American Thanksgiving.

Find out more:

source: Arlo Guthrie / You Tube via Warner Records

November is Peace Month at your School Library. Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

Songs of Peace: Blowin’ in the Wind

Bob Dylan has written many songs that are prominent in lists of the greatest protest songs of all time. One of his greatest is “Blowin’ in the Wind” from 1962.


How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Over the years song has been performed with some iconic covers. In fact, just weeks after Dylan’s version debuted, Peter, Paul and Mary released their cover.

Other great cover versions include those from Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, and Joan Baez, who has performed and recorded solo versions and duets with Bob Dylan.

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Songs of Peace: War Pigs

Fans of metal and hard rock know that some of the most overt anti-war songs have come from bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Going way back to the roots of metal, in 1970 Black Sabbath gave us “War Pigs,” a scathing indictment of war.


Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death’s construction

In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord, yeah!

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library