#digln

Looking into History: April Fools’ Day

The first of April has long been a day of merriment across various cultures. However, the origins for modern celebrations are veiled in history. Now one is sure exactly which of the possible root origins is responsible for the April Fools’ holiday enjoyed today.

Cause 1: Hilaria

As with many popular holidays, there’s a Roman holiday that could be the origin. The festival occurred at the end of…

Looking into History: St. Patrick’s Day

One of the more recognized holidays in March is approaching, along with all the accompanying paraphernalia. I refer of course to St. Patrick’s Day and all the green that comes with it. Each year, conspicuous amounts of green beer are consumed to mark the day. However, that’s not March 17th started.

Who was St. Patrick?

St. Patrick was born in the late 4th century in Britain, probably under the…

Looking into History: Valentine’s Day

Since February is right around the corner, let’s look at Valentine’s day. Realistically, it’s already taken up a lot of space in store shelves. However, the history of Valentine’s is far from what it is today.

The Pagan Festival

There is an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia which occurred in February. The exact date is around when we currently celebrate Valentine’s Day. The idea of…

New Year’s Resolutions for Learning

Well, it’s finally here, the last day of 2018. Do you know what your New Year’s resolutions are going to be? Yes? No?

Here’s the thing, many resolutions are based on the external version of making yourself better. Things, like lose 20 pounds and give up alcohol, are common. Now, there’s nothing wrong with those goals. However, there are also internal goals that we could be resolving to do.

Intern…

Looking into History: Christmas Edition

Did you know there are 29 religious holidays between November and January? That figure only counts the big seven world religions, not all the smaller sects. One of the big ones is Christmas, celebrated across the world on December 25th.

Until 336 A.D., the birth of Christ was not actually celebrated. Epiphany (Easter) was the major religious holiday instead. Since so much time elapsed between the…

Looking into History: Thanksgiving Edition

In the season of holidays, November holds Thanksgiving as well as Native American Heritage month. Now here in the U. S., the Christmas decorations are already up in stores and have been for a while. However, that doesn’t mean Thanksgiving is less important, or that we shouldn’t look into Thanksgiving as well, especially given the dissonance between what happened and what schools teach.

Many…

Looking into History (Halloween Edition)

Way back in high school, we were all taught history is fact and that what’s seen today always was. Mainly, this point prevails because all of the events already happened. Let’s take Halloween for example. That’s later this month, and it is fairly tradition based. There’s the trick or treating, the costumes, the decorating, and even the pumpkins. Where did that all come from?

Until around the…

How to Balance Learning and Life

Life has a funny way of getting away from people and losing balance. Thing is, we all want to improve our lot in life, and one of the quickest ways to do that is to obtain new knowledge. This new knowledge lets us move up ladders or even into new positions.

I personally am a learning fanatic and tend to pick up whatever catches my attention, even if I know I will probably never do it in a job…