In the Birthplace of Juneteenth, I Learned the Value of the Holiday

The Annual Commemoration of Slavery’s End Should Be Celebrated Far Beyond Its Texas Island Roots

When my husband and I moved to Galveston, an island city on the Gulf Coast of Texas, in 1991, I was exhausted by racial hatred and violence, and Juneteenth was not a holiday I celebrated. I did not know it at the time, but those two facts would soon become deeply intertwined. Growing up in the Northeast, I’d never heard of Juneteenth. Even later, after I learned of this holiday’s importance as the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, I didn’t observe it particularly.

Galveston …

By Dale M. Taylor | June 17, 2016

Where Does Santa Call Ho-Ho-Home?

Nordic Countries Are Battling to Claim the Legend's Address, but Maybe It's Better Not to Know

By Bruno Kaufmann | December 21, 2015

In my neighborhood, everyone gets a chance to live with Santa.

Östanfors, an old miners’ district in the town of Falun, Sweden, has a longstanding tradition of moving Old Saint …

The Tenacious Woman Who Helped Deliver Mother’s Day to the U.S.

For Anna Jarvis, a Holiday Devoted to Moms Was Not Sentimental Fluff, But a Practical Exercise in Patriotism

by Katharine Lane Antolini | May 8, 2015

One hundred years ago last May, President Woodrow Wilson signed the first congressional resolution and presidential proclamation calling upon all citizens to display the national flag in honor of American …

When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Cinco de Mayo

In One California Town, a Holiday Co-Opted by Beer Companies Has Roots in a Celebrated Citrus Crop

by José M. Alamillo | May 5, 2015

What’s with Cinco de Mayo, anyways?

Corporate advertisers treat it as the de facto Mexican Day, if not Latino Day, in this country. In 1998, the United States Post Office …

How America Invented St. Patrick’s Day

Immigration and Nativism Transformed a Quiet Religious Celebration into a Day of Raucous Parades and Shamrock Shakes

by Mike Cronin | March 17, 2015

When I was growing up in Britain in the 1970s, St. Patrick’s Day didn’t exist. The conflict in Northern Ireland was at its bloodiest, and it was not a time …

In Atlanta, Every Day Was MLK Day

If You Grow Up Black in King’s Hometown, You Can’t Help But See His Story Intertwine with Your Own

by Errin Whack | January 19, 2015

To grow up in Atlanta is to be always aware of the story of Martin Luther King, Jr., and to see it intertwine with your own fate.

I was born …

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