A Week of Celebrations, History, and Good News: December 25 – 31
The last week of the year would just never be complete without reflection, party, and also Christmas time, before turning around to make important historic memory or monumental events around the last days of the year, December 25 to December 31. Beautiful, nay, rich – that’s the meaning of weeks that would end the year which, averaged, is a single set of holiday traditions with some vast significance. Here let’s take a moment to reminisce over some of the crucial events of this week in history and enumerate some good news we can fight in our lives.
🎄 December 25: Christmas Day – Tradition and History in Festivity
The feast of Christmas Day is surely everybody’s favorite day of the year since ages when celebrated by people from all countries of the world with elegance and extensively commemorated on being the birth of Jesus Christ; Christmas has since come far in its evolution. Such an old habit is the introduction of “Christmas, ” the first of which was written down in 1038 and meant “Christ Mass. ” Its celebration, starting in medieval times, is observed over 12 days set aside for it, whence the famous Twelve Days of Christmas. The last biggest day in the recurring festival is January 6, when presents are exchanged and is, thus, also a community-sharing time.
Not until the Victorian era were many Christmas customs we associate with the festival today established. Prince Albert and Queen Victoria introduced the custom of the Christmas tree to the British in the 1840s, borrowing it from Germany. The trees were supplied with lights and decorations, filled and accompanied by presents, such that the Christmas tree became the key focal point of the holiday season. It became popular, for example, to exchange gifts on Christmas Day instead of the New Year, thereby providing birth to what is called a joyous and family-oriented holiday.
🎁 December 26: Boxing day- Day of Charity and Gratitude
Boxing Day, which has been observed on December 26, is said to have emerged during the Middle Ages when the wealthy elites used to distribute Christmas boxes as tips to their domestic servants and tradesmen for the services they provided in the preceding year. Most such boxes would be filled with gifts, but occasionally money and even leftover Christmas feast could also be found there. The holiday gets its name from boxing up of donations in boxes, although today it is primarily a day for relaxation and spending time with family.
The times of Queen Victoria saw Queen Victoria establish Boxing Day as part of the calendar of holidays, and in many places, celebrating it has evolved into it being a day for shopping and charitable contributions as well as some sports such as soccer or horse racing. In the years that followed, Barrie’s story of Neverland, the One important thing, even amid a work of traditions, is the idea of contributing to the less fortunate on Boxing Day and partaking communally.
Through a January 27, 1905 revival at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, J.M. Barrie took in Peter Panfor the very first time. The little boy who refused to grow up immediately drew the interest of the audience.Lost Boys, and the most notorious of all, Tinker Bell, has become part of a global iconography, especially in the Disney movie released in 1953.
Shockingly, the first actor ever to play Peter Pan was not a boy, but a woman, Nina Boucicault. She took up the role during the reign of that time’s law that prevented children under14 from taking the stage beyond 9 pm. Sorry, I just couldn’t consider the boy who wouldn’t grow up with Peter Pan Boucicault coming on stage and setting the standard for all other performances of future interpretations of what Peter Pan means for generations, yet unborn.
December 28: The US signs over to the ESA (1973)
Yes – this is December 29, 2013, and we’re talking about the United States creating some of the most significant environmental legislation ever; yes the ESA does that. Its purpose lies in advancing biodiversity at the cost of species that are at the edge of extinction, a result of the fast-paced industrialization of various regions and the destruction of the habitats.
The Endangered Species Act has, since then, cataloged thousands of species, and many recovered wonderfully thanks to united conservation efforts. As of 2023, 1,780 species are included in the list as either endangered or threatened, with 64 successful recoveries from extinction to date.
December 29, 2015: Guinea Declared Free of Ebola
Anytime on December 29, 2015, the silver lining on the cloud of public health had already rolled across the sky and announced the day when Guinea’s final liberation from the Ebola virus was proclaimed. Two years ago, the epicenter of one of the deadliest Ebola outbreaks in history was Guinea-and today, as a result of hard work and cooperation that has been highly intensive and demands collaboration between international health organizations and the devoted health service providers, Guinea has transformed into a totally Ebola-free country. It also made the world remember the effectiveness of collective effort in times of global health alarm and the flexibility of the community in the face of such situations.
💡 December 30: The Last Canaries in the Coal Mines(1986)
On December 30, 1986, a shameful and archaic practice finally was discontinued in the UK -canaries were no longer used in coal mines. Over the course of decades, miners would use little birds as an early sign of a gas leak, particularly the famous carbon monoxide. Since birds breathe faster than humans, they would become quite agitated or would die that much sooner under the toxic gas, the miners’ insurance against any trouble that might happen. With the invention of electronic sensors intended to take the place of, and hence to use the little birds-then came a stepping forward to better, cleaner ways in which danger might be detected faster and given humanely as well as efficiently.
🗓️ 31 December: Canada’s Capital City’s Formation (1857)
On December 31, 1857, Queen Victoria announces that Ottawa will take up the status of the capital city of Canada. It was a hot topic since each of Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City vied against each other on who holds the power to sit centrally to represent the provincial claims. So convincing had been Ottawa just because of its strategic location on the Ottawa River at the spot where Ontario and Quebec met and also because of its distance from the American army that greets it. Political administration at the city has since aided much not only progress in the field of politics per se, but Ottawa will soon campaign for its acclaim to being a life- and history-rich cultural site, museums, libraries, and serene parks to visit more often.
The big drama of the year is only three days before New Year’s and a propitious time to remember those most important moments in history that ever added to the course of our world. From traditional celebrations to most of the huge worldwide ploys, these points can induce us to travel right back to one of those moments when forward momentum, cooperation, and a great knowledge community were at least as visible as the evil that happened to them.
Feel free to share significant historical happenings, collected in the narrative, with a family member or friend when the year ends that celebrate and look back at what went by.
