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I was lucky enough to be in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year this year. In China it’s known as the Spring Festival. In case you were wondering, the inventors of fireworks are still the undisputed champions. The whole show was about 30 minutes, non-stop explosive action. Here’s ten minutes. I shot this video from Wan Chai, looking out at Tsim Sha Tsui. Amazing show! Chinese New Year Fireworks – Hong Kong – February 11, 2013 
September 11
Perhaps because of the plurality of the attacks—four planes, three locations, and two landmarks of national significance—no single name summed up the tragedy of 9/11 better than the date itself. Today “September 11″ refers the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, and the plane crash outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It means the extinguishing of thousands of innocent lives in a single morning. But long before 2001, in fact before the pilgrims …Read more 
June 23
The Scandinavians never pass up a chance for a good bonfire. Midsummer Night, or St. John’s Eve as it’s sometimes called in Denmark and Norway, is the perfect occasion. The holiday has little to do with St. John the Baptist, other than falling just before his saint day. In the 10th century Baltic and Scandinavian countries replaced the traditional names of Midsummer with allusions to the feast of St. John the Baptist, which …Read more 
June 21
Greenland. Photo by Jens Buurgaard Nielsen “Our country, who’s become so old your head all covered with white hair. Always held us, your children, in your bosom providing the riches of your coasts.” — from Greenland’s National Anthem “And you: friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed in Greenland!” —Vizzini, The Princess Bride 
June 19 What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a statement of freedom. Juneteenth is the unshackling of a body of people. Juneteenth is the freeing of slaves in the State of Texas. Juneteenth is the renewing of one’s character, integrity, spirit, and ability to achieve one’s greatest opportunities. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, June 19, 2003
Emancipation Celebration, Richmond, Virginia, April 3, 1905 Juneteenth is also an amalgamation of the words June and Nineteenth, and …Read more 
June 18 Egypt’s National Day is on July 23: Revolution Day. Revolution Day celebrates the day in 1952 that the Free Officers, led by the future Presidents Naguib and Nassar, forced pro-British Egyptian King Farouk to abdicate in favor of his infant son. Despite the king’s abdication, the monarchy was not officially abolished that year. It was on June 18, 1953 that the new government declared Egypt a republic, and General Naguib became the republic’s first president. But …Read more 
3rd Sunday in June June 19, 2011 June 17, 2012 June 16, 2013 Spectators and victims of the Monongah Mine Disaster, 1907 100 years ago the congregation of Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church in Fairmont, West Virginia gathered to pay tribute to the 362 men, many of them fathers, killed at the Monongah Mine disaster of 1907. The victims were largely from poor immigrant families, Italian, Greek, Slav, Polish, and Russian. The accident left 250 women widows and …Read more 
June 17
“So weareth summer: Uspak rideth to the Leet and halloweth it; and when harvest comes, he fares to the fells when men go after their wethers, and they were brought in well, for the searching was careful, and no sheep were missing, either of Odd’s or any other man’s.” — The Story of the Banded Men, ancient Islandic saga Summer is here, and few appreciate that fact more than the Icelanders. On June …Read more |
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