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When Is Memorial Day 2021? Here's What to Know It'll be here before you know it. Mar 24, 2021 Believe it or not, Memorial Day weekend is almost here—and odds are, you're looking forward to it. After all, the three-day weekend typically marks the start of summer cookouts and offers a chance to relax and kick back with friends and family. But Memorial Day itself is about so much more than grilling recipes, corn on the cob, and delicious desserts. It's a sacred day of observance, centered on acknowledging, remembering, and thanking the millions of people in uniform who gave their lives for this country. Before anything else, it's about those brave heroes and the incredible sacrifice they made. Of course, in order to properly pause, reflect, and pay your respects to the soldiers to whom we owe our many freedoms, you'll have to first know when to do so. When is Memorial Day in 2021? And more importantly, what's the backstory behind this very significant holiday? When did it become an official holiday in the United States? Find answers to all of these questions below, including the exact date for this year's celebration. When is Memorial Day in 2021? When is Memorial Day in 2021? This year, Memorial Day is on Monday, May 31, 2021. This means that Memorial Day weekend—the three-day span that encompasses Memorial Day—will take place from Saturday, May 28 through that Monday, May 31. Is Memorial Day always the last Monday in May? Yes! So, if you're feeling guilty for not having known the date before reading this article, don't be: Though the holiday is always held on the last Monday in May, the calendar date changes each year. What is the history of Memorial Day? Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, but it had previously been observed in an unofficial capacity for quite some time. A similarly thoughtful, commemorative day reportedly took place all the way back on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina. The History Channel reports that after the Civil War ended and Confederate soldiers left Charleston, a group of freed slaves gathered to bury and honor the bodies of Union soldiers via a small parade. And in 1868, Union General John A. Logan suggested that May 30 should be the first annual day dedicated to the memory of all soldiers who fell during the Civil War. But the commemoration of such "memorial days" remained unofficial for several more decades. According to the Library of Congress, it wasn't until 1950 that Congress would agree upon a resolution asking the president to "issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe...Memorial Day, by praying, each in accordance with his religious faith, for permanent peace." Nearly 20 years later in 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was finally passed, which both declared that Memorial Day would take place on the last Monday in May and required that federal employees be granted a day off. In 1971, Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday intended to observe and honor the people who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. military. REBEKAH LOWIN Lifestyle EditorRebekah Lowin is the Lifestyle Editor for The Pioneer Woman, covering food, entertaining, home decor, crafting, gardening, and holiday.

Easter The shelves in the supermarkets are already stacked with large, delicious chocolate Easter eggs. The cute Easter bunnies and flower displays all over town remind us that it is once again that wonderful time of year where we exchange chocolate! But have you ever wondered why we celebrate Easter and what Easter really represents? Don’t worry, so have we! Every year, we look forward to celebrating one of the most important occasions in the Christian calendar, Easter. Children participate in activities at school, such as eager Easter egg hunts, and are usually given holiday for two weeks to celebrate with their families, by sharing chocolate eggs and traditional food. Children often bring home art projects displaying icons that represent Easter, such as flowers (marking the season of Spring), Easter bunnies that represent fertility and eggs that are a symbol of new life. However, according to many theologians, Easter originally began before the arrival of Christianity. It is believed that Easter is named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn and spring, known as Eostre. Christians celebrate Easter because they believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected three days after his execution, his crucifixion on the Friday (which is now known as Good Friday). According to Christianity, his body was taken down from the cross to a tomb where he was buried. Later, people claimed that they had seen Christ and it was also confirmed that his body was missing from the tomb. Easter normally falls anytime between March 22nd and April 25th on a Sunday, and this is dependent on which is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Not only is Easter a time of fun that marks the end of Winter but it is also a wonderful occasion for us to look forward to after the excitement of Christmas is over. By Mandy Marwaha

Passover (March 22, 2021 / JNS) When the Haggadah tells us: “You have redeemed us from Egypt, You have freed us from the house of bondage, You have fed us in famine and nourished us in plenty; You have saved us from the sword and delivered us from pestilence, and raised us from evil and lasting maladies,” in 2021 we sit up and take notice. Because it’s been one long year. Strapping on your mask for the millionth time and keeping your social distance, haven’t you thought dayenu—enough already? As Jews around the globe prepare to celebrate the holiday of our people’s freedom from Egyptian slavery, we’re not quite as free as we had hoped we’d be by now. You have fed us in famine and nourished us in plenty; You have saved us from the sword and delivered us from pestilence, and raised us from evil and lasting maladies,” in 2021 we sit up and take notice. Because it’s been one long year. Strapping on your mask for the millionth time and keeping your social distance, haven’t you thought dayenu—enough already? As Jews around the globe prepare to celebrate the holiday of our people’s freedom from Egyptian slavery, we’re not quite as free as we had hoped we’d be by now. So along comes the seder to remind us that, if there’s one thing Jews down through the ages have known it’s how to find hope in even the most dire of circumstances. The seder, which kicks off the eight days of Passover (seven in Israel) beginning on Saturday night, March 27, has invited Jews down the ages to relive our people’s dramatic and most defining moment: No less than the Master of the Universe rescuing the Israelites from their 210 years of back-breaking and soul-killing slavery at the hands of the cruelest of Egyptian pharaohs and his whip-cracking taskmasters. Oppressed as they were, how could our ancestors dare to hope they would ever be free? But hope they did, a skill much in demand today. So here are eight arguments for hope from the Haggadah (and the Torah)—one to savor each day of the holiday: Day 1: “Mah Nishtanah?” Why is this night different from all other nights? “Remaining in our homes and separated from our families, this year we understand better what it means to be slaves—to be in the narrow and constrained place that was Egypt,” says Rabbi Zev Leff of Moshav Matityahu, who also teaches elsewhere in Israel. “But on Pesach night, we can break free and, like a car battery, charge up our soul for another year. We know that, just like God took us out of Egypt when things looked hopeless, we need to feel hope now. And tell the story in a way each child can understand that they are a link in an unbroken chain all the way back to what happened to us 3,000 ago, that they can be proud of being the next link in that chain.” More by- https://www.jns.org/passover-2021-the-jewish-season-of-hope-arrives/

Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving 2018 When is Thanksgiving 2018 This is the most famous query asked by people across the globe about the holiday. In 2018, the fourth Thursday of November month is to be celebrated as a glorious event of Thanksgiving. Being a harvest festival, Thanksgiving Day is commemorated throughout the world with immense happiness and excitement. People take this festivity as an essential opportunity to give thanks to Almighty for all his grace and mercy that he showered in the form of bountiful harvest. People also appreciate their dear ones for their love and support. Thanksgiving Day 2018 Date Historically, Thanksgiving has only religious dimension attached to it, however, it’s gradually gaining a secular dimension too. This holiday has traditionally been commemorated in the countries of the United States of America and Canada. In the USA, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on fourth Thursday in November, while Canada celebrates it on second Monday in October month. So, check out Thanksgiving Day 2018 Date right below: Country Date USA Thursday, November 22, 2018 Canada Monday, October 8, 2018 Thanksgiving History and Origin Everyone is well aware of the reason for the celebration of Thanksgiving Day. But the History of Thanksgiving is woven in several instances of Thanksgiving ceremonies observed in different parts of the world. The Origin of Thanksgiving holiday can be traced back to the era of the Plymouth plantation in the year 1621. It was the year when the settlers organized a harvest feast after a successful crop season. And that’s why this iconic event is mainly considered as “First Thanksgiving”. The celebrations were carried out after a satisfactory rain which revived the crop of corn & other fruits too. For the celebration of this festivity, Massasoit, the chief of the Native Indians and his whole family were invited that constituted of ninety guests who stayed for three days. In the year, 1623 the first documented Thanksgiving celebrations in the Plymouth colony were held by the settlers. But a true Thanksgiving Day was not celebrated till 1623 when the settlers of Plymouth switched over to privatized farming to communal farming that commenced providing a decent harvest. Thereafter, other states of the United States also joined the observance of Thanksgiving Day. The president of US, Abraham Lincoln, for the first time finalized the last Thursday of November as National Thanksgiving Day of the country, that commemorate the anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod on November 21st, 1621. Later on, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date of Thanksgiving Day to the fourth of Thursday in November, in 1939.