My New Year’s Resolutions for 2021

Tomorrow is 2021. I have no idea what next year will bring, but I’m excited about it nonetheless. I think that 2020 is going to be looked back on as the beginning of a new era, but I don’t want to speculate on the future right now. Instead, I want to talk about New Year’s …

The War on Advent

Some people talk about the War on Christmas. Supposedly, people aren’t allowed to say “Merry Christmas” anymore because it’s offensive to do so. But outside of the odd attention-seeker, the War on Christmas seems to be a relic of the past. A passing Jew saying to me “Happy Hannukah” isn’t offensive to me, so why …

The History of Santa Claus

Ah, Santa Claus. Is there a single person in the world who doesn’t know the generous, plump, and jolly old elf? But who is he, anyway? And why is he synonymous with Christmas? The history of Santa Claus is one that’s fascinated me for a long time. His history shows how a legend forms over …

Days of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving isn’t simply a holiday celebrating the triumph of the Pilgrims. Around the world, it’s celebrated as a holiday in which people give thanks and sacrifice for the bountiful harvests they accumulated during the fall. The United States, Brazil, Canada, Grenada, Liberia, and parts of Australia and the Netherlands all celebrate a holiday called “Thanksgiving”, …

Pilgrim’s Patriotism

What we come to know as the spirit of America – the ideas of freedom and democracy, as well as the unique, American form of Christianity – was founded by an unlikely group: a bunch of Radical Protestant Christians who, in 1620, landed on Plymouth Rock and established the first permanent English settlement in North …

Facts About Halloween You Might Not Know

There are only nine days left until Halloween, so I feel in the mood to write about this holiday. This holiday is one of my favorites because of its fantastic aesthetic. Halloween is a holiday with a storied past. It’s often misunderstood by well-meaning people, who think it to be an intimidating and possibly demonic …