More Monthlies

 

MITTEN TREE DAY
Date:	December 6
Origin:	Possibly created by school teachers as a way to have a fun Christmastime activity for the children to make while they were in school. It has also been said that the holiday was created because of a book with the title “The Mitten Tree” which was written by author Candace Christiansen, in the book the main character Sarah is bundling up to walk through the cold winter weather, and on her trek she sees a group of children placing their mittens on a small dead tree.
Comments: ·         Celebrate by putting mittens on your Christmas tree branches. ·         The word “mitten” is derived from the Old French word “mitaine” which was an old pet name for a cat, because back then mittens were made of animal fur. ·         The earliest mittens known to man date back to around the year 1000 A.D. and originally were used as sheaths for gloves since mittens did not have any separate finger openings to allow finger mobility. They were believed to have been made out of wool due to the discovery of a woollen mitten found in the harbor area of Dorestad in the Netherlands, determined to be from the 8th or 9th century AD based on surrounding archaeological evidence. ·         In 1914 an informal Christmas truce took place along the Western Front between German soldiers on one side and French and English soldiers on the other.  Men strolled in no man’s land, exchanged gifts and played soccer.  The brass soon put a stop to it.  From Private Frank Sumpter of the London Rifle Brigade: ‘ . . . most of the boys stayed there the whole day and only came back in the evening. There were no shots fired and some people enjoyed the curiosity of walking about in no man's land. It was good to walk around. As a sign of their friendliness the Germans put up a sign saying 'Gott mit uns' which means 'God is with us' and so we put a sign in English saying 'We got mittens too'. I don't know if they enjoyed that joke.’

PUT ON YOUR OWN SHOES DAY
Date:	December 6
Origin:	Unknown
Comments: Encourage young children to select their own shoes and tie their own laces.

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION DAY
Date:	December 7
Origin:	The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was created  on December 7, 1944. In 1994, ICAO celebrated the first International Civil Aviation Day, in recognition of the organisation's 50th anniversary.  In 1996, The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution recognising December 7th as International Civil Aviation Day.
Comments: International Civil Aviation Day promotes awareness of the importance of international civil aviation. This special day was created to promote and bring awareness to the importance of civil aviation for social and economic development around the world. It is also intended to promote the safety and efficiency of air transportation.

NATIONAL LETTER WRITING DAY
Date:	December 7
Origin:	There is no clear origin of this day. One possibility is that this day evolved from Japan, and the hobby of stamp collecting. Japan has a Letter Writing Week, and a Letter Writing Day. Actually, the Japanese Letter Writing Day is held monthly on the 23rd of each month. A second possibility is that this day evolved from one of many school related letter writing days. There are many references to Letter Writing Day  as a grade school, high school and college letter writing days. These events are often one time events, and have been held on a myriad of dates.
Comments: Celebrate it by doing something that you probably haven’t done in a long time: send someone a handwritten letter.

PEARL HARBOUR DAY
Date:	December 7
Origin:	On August 23, 1994, the United States Congress designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. On November 29, President Bill Clinton issued a proclamation declaring December 7, 1994 the first National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
Comments: Pearl Harbor Day, commemorates the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The attack began at dawn December 7, 1941. It crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and caused the U.S. to enter World War II. During the attack at Pearl Harbor, over 2,400 American serviceman and 68 civilians were killed. Five of the eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, and virtually all ships were damaged. On Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, U.S. flags are to be flown at half staff.  On December 8, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in a speech to Congress it was "..a day that will live in infamy". The U.S. then declared war on Japan. The attack left 2,335 U.S. military members dead.