The Travelin' Grampa
The Travelin’ Grampa Touring the U.S.A. without an automobile Special Supplement Christmastime Calendar Vol. 8, No. 12, December 2015 Illustration credits: Dec. 1891 Scribner’s magazine; engraving based on 1845 painting by Carl August Schwerdgeburth. Left: The First Christmas Tree, the Oak of Geismar, drawn by Howard Pyle, for a story by that title, by Henry van Dyke in Scribner’s Magazine, Dec. 1891. Pictured is Saint Boniface, in A.D. 772, directing Norsemen to where the tree is to be placed. Right: First Lighted Christmas Tree, said to have been in the home of Martin Luther, in 1510, or maybe 1535. Some scholars claim the first Christmas tree was put on display near Rega, in Latvia, in 1530. Or maybe near Tallinn, in Estonia, in 1510. In the USA, there’s more to Christmastime than Christmas Traveling abroad, Grampa notices most natives tend to resemble one another and share a similar culture. Not here in the USA. Our residents come in virtually every race, creed, skin color and geographic origin. In our country, at this time of year, we celebrate a variety of holidays, in a wide variety of ways. There’s the Feast of the Nativity, aka Christmas, of course. Most celebrate it Dec. 25; others on Jan. 6. Hindus celebrate their 5th day of Pancha Ganapati Dec. 25. There’s Chanukah. Or is it spelled Hanukkah? And let’s not forget Kwanzaa, several year- ending African American holidays invented in 1966 in Long Beach, Calif. Sunni Muslims say Mohammad’s birthday is Dec. 24 this year.
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