Tidbits of History

December 21 is:

National French Fried Shrimp Day
From Fodimentary.com

Every shrimp is born male, then some mature into females.
It takes 2 pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of farmed shrimp.
Shrimp is the favorite seafood of Americans.
The “Pistol Shrimp” can fire water like a bullet from its claw, producing an incredibly loud pop.
The “Ghost Shrimp” is transparent, and therefore practically invisible in the water.

National Hamburger Day
Forefather’s Day
Humbug Day
National Flashlight Day
Look on the Bright Side Day

In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21st is usually the shortest day of the year and is sometimes regarded as the first day of winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, December 21st is usually the longest day of the year.

The winter solstice is celebrated around the world.

• Soyal is a ceremony performed by the Zuni and Hopi peoples to celebrate the beginning of a new year. The ceremony lasts nine days and marks the arrival of the kachinas – benevolent spirit beings that remain with the group until the summer solstice.
• Pancha Ganapati is a 5-day Hindu festival celebrating Lord Ganesha. The festival focuses on mending past mistakes and offers a chance at a new beginning. Each of the five days focuses on creating love and harmony in relationships or bringing forth love and harmony from the world. Each morning, children dress a statue in the home of Lord Genesh in a different color. (Golden Yellow on Dec 21, Royal Blue on the 22nd, Ruby Red on the 23rd, Emerald Green on the 24th, and Brilliant Orange on Dec. 25.) The children are given gifts each day, which they place in front of the statue. On the fifth day, the children are allowed to open the presents.
• Yule was a midwinter festival practiced by Germanic tribes. Many Yule traditions have made their way intact into the modern holiday season. Most people are familiar with the tradition of burning a Yule log, but the tradition of a Christmas ham likely originates from the sacrifice and feast of the Yule boar, and Christmas caroling is likely descended from the Yule festival as well.
• Yalda is a Persian winter celebration that marked the birth of Mithra, a sun god. It has become an occasion for family to reunite and hold a feast, staying up past midnight. Foods served during the feast often have magical implications for those who consume them – for instance, watermelon will ensure health during the coming summer, pomegranate protects against scorpions and garlic soothes joint pain.
• Koleda was a Slavic pagan festival. During Koleda, families would light a fire in their hearth and worship their personal gods. Children would don disguises and go singing door to door in their villages for which they would receive treats and gifts in return.
• Beiwe Festival was celebrated by the Saami-a Finno-Ugric people who originated in what is now Scandinavia. During the winter solstice, the Saami would honor Beiwe – the sun goddess-by sacrificing a white female reindeer and smearing butter (which melts in sunshine) onto their doorposts in order to provide sustenance to the goddess.
• Dongzhi Festival is a Chinese celebration marking the winter solstice and heralding the arrival of winter. Throughout China the festival is a time for family get-togethers, during which Tangyuan-brightly colored balls made from rice flour are served. The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos

1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Publication of Federalist Paper #25: The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered written by Alexander Hamilton in 1787. This article continues to examine the issue of raising armies in peace time. Hamilton argues that a federal military is preferable to individual state militias. If an army is not available during peace time, it would need to be raised only if the country were attacked and invaded. Could state militias protect the entire country?

1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declared their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion. Some historians consider the Fredonian Rebellion to be the beginning of the Texas Revolution.

On Dec. 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin, the Soviet statesman who was leader of the Communist Party and dictator of the Soviet Union for 25 years , was born in Gori, Georgia. By some estimates, he was responsible for the deaths of 20 million people during his brutal rule.

Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium in 1898.

Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World in 1913. An interesting side-note was that Wynne also played violin in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

December 21, 1937 – “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the world’s first full-length animated feature, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater, Los Angeles (Hollywood), California. The Dwarfs were named Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey. Among the songs in the film are: Someday My Prince Will Come, I’m Wishing, Whistle While You Work, and Heigh-Ho!

1959 – Tom Landry accepted coaching job with Dallas Cowboys December 21, 1959. He stayed until 1988.

Apollo program: Apollo 8 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on December 21, 1968, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first to reach the Moon, orbit it, and return. Its three-astronaut crew — Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders — were the first humans to fly to the Moon, to witness and photograph an Earthrise, and to escape the gravity of a celestial body.

Elvis Presley met with President Richard M. Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss fighting drugs on December 21, 1970.

Eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991.

December 20 is:

National Sangria Day

Go Caroling Day

A Swedish explorer living in Delaware, Marcus Jacobson, aka Long Finn, managed to convince some townsfolk to rebel against English authority so that the Swedes could rule the province. Of course, he was taken to court and found guilty in the first trial by jury in Delaware. He was sentenced to a severe public whipping, branded on the face and chest with the letter “R” (for “Rogue”) and, finally, sold to a plantation and became a slave in Barbados.

The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I. in 1790.

Louisiana Purchase Day The Treaty was signed in April, announced to the people in July, ratified by the Senate in October, and New Orleans was turned over to the U.S. on December 20, 1803. France got about $15 million; the U.S. got about 828,000 square miles (less than 3 cents per acre).

1820 – The state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year.

New York’s Broadway became known as the “Great White Way” when it was lighted by electricity in 1880.

The film “Flying Down to Rio” was first shown in New York in 1933. It was the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It was the only film in which screen veteran Ginger Rogers was billed above famed Broadway dancer Fred Astaire.

The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life was first released in New York in 1946.

On December 20, 2007, – Elizabeth II became the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

December 19 is:

Look for an Evergreen Day

Oatmeal Muffin Day

1606-The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery departed England carrying settlers who found, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States. They made landfall April 26, 1607.

Benjamin Franklin began publishing “Poor Richard’s Almanac” on this date in 1732.

In 1776, Thomas Paine published his first “American Crisis” essay in The Pennsylvania Journal , in which he wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls”

On December 19, 1777, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter. The army marched away from Valley Forge on June 19, 1778, exactly six months after they had arrived.

Publication of Federalist Paper #24: The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered written by Alexander Hamilton in 1787. Hamilton discusses the issue of having a standing army in peacetime. Hamilton reminds the reader that the United States is surrounded by territories subject to the dominion of other countries (England and Spain), and populated by “savage tribes”.

World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-chief of the German Army in 1941.

Jake Kilrain and Jim Smith fought in a bare knuckles fight in 1887 which lasted 106 rounds and 2 hours and 30 minutes. The fight was ruled a draw and was halted due to darkness.

Robert Ripley began his “Believe It or Not” column in “The New York Globe” in 1918.

First radio broadcast from space in 1958:

( President Eisenhower‘s voice This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message
is a simple one. Though this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind, America’s wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere.

Nelson Rockefeller was sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford in 1974 under the provisions of the twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1998 – President Bill Clinton was impeached by The United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached. A two-thirds majority, 67 votes, would have been necessary to convict and remove the President from office. The perjury charge was defeated with 45 votes for conviction and 55 against. (Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voted “not proven,” which was considered by the Chief Justice Rehnquist as a vote of “not guilty.”) The obstruction of justice charge was defeated with 50 for conviction and 50 against.

In 2000, The U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.

2011 North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Il, died; Kim Jong-Un was announced as his father’s successor.

December 17 is:

National Maple Syrup Day
from Foodimentary.com

Usually a maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12 inches in diameter before it is tapped.
The maple season may last eight to 10 weeks, but sap flow is heaviest for about 10-20 days in the early spring.
It takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
It takes one gallon of maple syrup to produce eight pounds of maple candy or sugar.
Maple syrup is boiled even further to produce maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candy.

Underdog Day

Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry VIII of England in 1538.

On this date in 1777, France recognized the independence of British colonies in America.

1791 – A traffic regulation in New York City established the first street to go “One Way.”

First impeachment trial against a US senator, William Blount of Tennessee began. An aggressive land speculator, Blount gradually acquired millions of acres in Tennessee and the trans-Appalachian west. His risky land investments left him in debt, and in the 1790s, he conspired with England to seize the Spanish-controlled Louisiana Territory in hopes of boosting western land prices. When the conspiracy was uncovered in 1797, he was expelled from the Senate, and became the first U.S. public official to face impeachment. Blount nevertheless remained popular in Tennessee, and served in the state senate during the last years of his life.

1862 – Gen U S Grant issued Order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee; the order was rescinded 21 days later. Grant believed gold and cotton were being smuggled through enemy lines, thus interfering with military operations.

1865 – Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” premiered.

Anti-Saloon League of America formed, Washington, DC in 1895.

In 1900, a first prize of 100,00 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded–considered too easy.

The Wright Brothers made their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.

1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane. Over 16,000 were built under various licenses. It was the “C-47” workhorse of WW II and they’re still in service around the world to this day.

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen & dummy Charlie McCarthy, first appeared on TV in 1936.

On December 17, 1944, US Army announced end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast, detainees released.

The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 17, 1957.

1959 – The film “On the Beach” premiered in New York City and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world. See review of the book written by co-author of this website.

Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs in 1969, stating that sightings were generated as a result of “A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects.”

The United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 54/134 in 1999, designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.

December 15 is:

Bill of Rights Day
The United States Bill of Rights became law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly on December 15, 1791. The first ten amendments add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically granted to the U.S. Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.

National Cat Herder’s Day

1890 – Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull was killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

1891 – James Naismith invented basketball (Canada)

1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially became effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.

Gone With The Wind 1939 – premiered at Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The questions surrounding “Gone with the Wind” actually predated the film. Debate immediately ensued over the 1936 publication of Mitchell’s novel, with its nostalgia for plantation life, portrayal of happy slaves and threatening freed blacks, and sympathy toward the Confederate cause. Gone with the Wind was immensely popular when first released. It became the highest-earning film made up to that point, and held the record for over a quarter of a century. When adjusted for monetary inflation, it is still the highest-grossing film in history. It was re-released periodically throughout the 20th century and became ingrained in popular culture. Although the film has been criticized as historical revisionism glorifying slavery, it has been credited with triggering changes in the way in which African Americans are depicted cinematically. The film is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time by The American Film Institute. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

1944 – A single-engine plane carrying U.S. Army Major Glenn Miller disappeared in thick fog over the English Channel while en route to Paris in 1944. American big band musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known big bands. Miller’s notable recordings include “In the Mood”, “Moonlight Serenade”, “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, “A String of Pearls”, “At Last”, “(I’ve Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo”, “American Patrol”, “Tuxedo Junction”, “Elmer’s Tune”, and “Little Brown Jug”.

Canada adopted Maple Leaf Flag in 1964.

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney died in Los Angeles in 1966 at the age of 65. He died of circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer

2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.