“May the Fourth Be with You” fanfare, written and recorded by RoyishGoodLooks (Roy Thompson). Couldn’t resist.
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The Haggadah (הַגָּדָה) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover ritual meal, the Seder.
“There’s a reason the haggadah feels goyish: Formally speaking, it’s Greek. It’s a Judaicized version of a Greek genre called ‘symposium literature’. Plato loved the form. So did Xenophon. The symposium enshrined the most appealing traits of the Hellenic personality: conviviality, Epicureanism, a love of good conversation.”
–”Platonic Form,” Judith Shulevitz, Tablet Magazine
The ancient Greek symposium (συμπόσιον) was a drinking party; drinking four glasses of wine is a Passover obligation. Diners are supposed to recline while they do so, just like the Greeks.
There’s a cute Passover tradition, breaking a piece of matzoh (unleavened bread) and hiding half of it. The bread can only be eaten at the end of the meal, after the family’s children discover it. That piece of bread has a funny name, afikomen, but its origin isn’t Hebrew. You guessed it, it’s Greek:
“In Greek, the word is epikomen and is made up of two smaller words: epi, which means after (as in an epilogue), and komos, which means a banquet or merrymaking, and is the same word that inspired the English word comedy. For centuries, Jews have taken afikomen to mean ‘that which comes after the meal,’ more commonly known, of course, as dessert.”
– “Breaking Matzah,” David K. Israel, Mental Floss
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On April 16, 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act freeing the 3000 enslaved people in the District of Columbia. This was nine months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederate states, many of whom actually remained in bondage until the the war’s end in 1865, and 20 months before ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which definitively outlawed chattel slavery everywhere in the United States.
The District of Columbia now observes District Emancipation Day with speeches, concerts, fireworks and parades. There’s a bit of rain on that parade, though, if you take a closer look at history. That 1862 act was called the Compensated Emancipation Act, and it authorized payments to DC slaveowners rather than celebrating liberation of enslaved people on moral grounds. It even sought to promote emigration of former slaves outside the borders of the United States.
In any case, enslaved Black Washingtonians had their freedom. That’s definitely worth celebrating.
More:
“When Slaveowners Got Reparations,” Tera W. Hunter, New York Times
“Bondage to Freedom: Commemorating DC Emancipation Day,” Karl Racine, Medium
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In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII instituted the (you guessed it) Gregorian Calendar, which moved New Year’s Day from March 32nd (really) to January 1st. People who didn’t know that March 32nd was now April 1st and were still celebrating the old New Year looked pretty foolish that day, hence April Fools’ Day.
Or maybe the story is just a prank. Pretty good tale, anyway.
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Today is officially Washington’s Birthday (observed) according to the federal government. This date is also known as Presidents’ Day in some states, combining observance of all your favorite chief execs (Millard Fillmore? Martin Van Buren?) into one holiday.
Birthday boy and first president George Washington enslaved 319 human beings in Virginia during his lifetime, but the state’s current governor, Glenn Youngkin, won’t let that be taught in the Old Dominion’s schools. Virginia’s kids will need a field trip to Mount Vernon to learn about it. President Washington also signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, requiring authorities in free states and territories to allow slave-catchers to seize escaped refugees and transport them back into bondage.
Happy Black History Month.
More:
“George Washington, Slave Catcher,” Erica Armstrong Dunbar, New York Times
Related:
“More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation.” Julie Zauzmer Weil, Adrian Blanco and Leo Dominguez, Washington Post
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“New Year’s Resolution,” written by Randle Catron, Willa Dean “Deanie” Parker, and Mary Frierson; recorded by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas in 1968.
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“After New Years Eve,” written by James Sheppard and William Miller, recorded by The Heartbeats, 1957.
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“This Is the New Year,” written by Ian Axel and performed by him with Chad King as A Great Big World. in 2012. Video director: Leiv Parton.
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“Auld Lang Syne Boogie,” recorded by the jump blues band of sax player Freddie Mitchell in 1949. Rip Harrington is on piano.
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“Corrido de Auld Lang Syne” by Little Bobby Rey and his Band, an early LA Chicano pop band (also called “The Masked Phantom Band”) in about 1960. “Corrido” here means the music is in a galloping rhythm. Mr. Rey learned the saxophone from Earl Bostic.
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