Martin Luther King Jr. Day
This year, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 19. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister. He was also a social activist. In fact, he led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until he was assassinated in 1968.
While many people do not have to go to work or school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, many choose to spend this day giving back to their community by participating in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. This movement is based on King’s statement “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” You can find out more about it at www.mlkday.gov.
Happy New Year!
We celebrate the new year on Jan. 1, but that was not always the case. The earliest recorded festivities celebrating a new year date back about 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox (the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness) marked the start of a new year. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut in the spring) that involved a different ritual on each of its 11 days.
In addition to the new year, Atiku celebrated the mythical victory of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat and served an important political purpose: It was during this time that a new king was crowned or that the current ruler’s divine mandate was symbolically renewed. Source: History.com
