Category Archives: Getting To Know/History

Getting To Know/History

The history of Thanksgiving

Leave a comment

By: Treshawn Ross

The First Thanksgiving: By: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris via Wikimedia Commons

Origins of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving originally began in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the year 1621. Around  90 Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe attended the celebration with 52 English people or “pilgrims”. This celebration was to mark a successful harvest and is remembered historically as the first Thanksgiving. No one in 1621 called this feast Thanksgiving despite modern thoughts around the event.

Native perspective

Many Native Americans today view Thanksgiving as a reminder of the heinous crimes committed by the pilgrims and the generations that came after them. Quite soon after the first Thanksgiving, a war ignited between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag people and this heavily weakened the Wampanoag politically and militarily. Thus, the Wampanoag became one of the first Native American nations to be victimized by the pilgrims.

After the Plymouth harvest

Different states of the early U.S. and eventually the federal government proclaimed days of thanksgiving at different times in a very non-centralized way. These days were more solemn and somber rather than fun and feasting as many Americans now know it. After many years of advocating for a national Thanksgiving holiday, magazine editor Sarah Hale got her wish. America had a new holiday with storied roots.

A Presidential decree

Thanksgiving got its date partly during one of the bloodiest conflicts in U.S. history, the Civil War. On October 3rd, 1863, President Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving proclamation to help heal the spirit of the broken nation. This decree set the standard of when Thanksgiving would be celebrated, “[O]bserve the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving”. This would last for decades until in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the date to the second to last Thursday of November. 16 states refused to follow this proclamation which led to intense confusion. In 1941 congress passed a law establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national holiday known as Thanksgiving.

For more information, please visit:

Getting To Know/History

The history single combat

Leave a comment

By: Treshawn Ross

Peresvet’s duel with Chelubey: Viktor Vasnetsov

Single combat explained

The history of single combat is a very long one, this phenomenon became popular during ancient warfare. When people think about ancient battles the image that pops up is lines of men in a large formation, clashing until one side breaks. But often before the clash there would be single combat, often called “champion warfare”. One champion would go into the space between the two armies and meet his counterpart. Then they would fight, usually to the death, without interference from either army, as the men would watch in astonishment as the champions battled. If their side’s champion won they would feel confident in the upcoming battle, and their adversaries would feel disheartened or vengeful as a result.

Common myths

One major myth about single combat in the ancient era is that these skirmishes decided entire battles; this was rarely recorded and only popular in mythology. Another myth is that single combat was unique to one culture in the ancient world or in future eras. This is not true; single combat was popular in Rome, Greece, England, Brazil and New Zealand.

Famous instances of single combat in history

The Battle of the Champions between Sparta and Argos is the largest instance of this, each army brought 300 of their best warriors and they fought a brutal battle which left minimal survivors. Another example is the Battle of Kulikovo where Alexander Peresvet and Chelubey fought in single combat and both died. Also in 222 BC the Roman consul Marcellus killed the Gallic king Viridomarus in single combat. The Vikings had a system for duels known as the Hólmgang which was heavily regulated.

Decline in single combat

As armies became more modernized and disciplined, dueling became less popular or in some cases it became outlawed. The risk of ruining the moral of an entire army before the main clash of a battle was too great to bear for many kings and generals. Although, during the 1700’s and 1800’s another form of single combat became popular. Dueling with pistols became a way to settle scores and fight for honor in a more “gentlemanly” way. This was mostly indulged in by nobility or upper classes. But this eventually became banned as well during the mid 19th century.

For more information, please visit:

Getting To Know/History, Travel/Food

Root beer rankings and a brief history

Leave a comment

By: Nils Hileson

Bottles of root beer tried

Root beer was made in the 18th century by Charles Elmer Hires based of a tea that has similar ingredients. Root beer is commonly made with sassafras root, wintergreen, sarsaparilla and other natural ingredients. It also has a lot of sugar and caramel coloring in it commonly. Its name is derived from the root ingredients used to make it and beer was added to the name just to appeal to miners.

For a time root beer was sold as a syrup or powder to be added to sodas before it became a popular soda itself. I myself like root beer quite a bit so I decided to try six different root beers and rank them from worst to best.

Brownie caramel cream root beer: this one is the worst not because it is particularly terrible but because of how disappointing it was. I was expecting actual caramel flavor but it just tasted like watered down root beer. Very disappointing.

Henry Weinhard’s root beer: not very sweet nor did it have much spice. Didn’t have much flavor for a root beer, so it’s ranked low.

Old Red Eye root beer: had a nice amount of spice for a root beer but was lacking in everything else. Was very watery and kinda disappointing.

Root Naturals Apothecary craft soda: a little less sweet than a normal root beer but had good levels of spice. A fine choice for a root beer.

Drive-in style Dog n Suds root beer: had quite a bit of sweetness, and a little less spice than the others I’ve had. I prefer my root beer to be pretty sweet so this root beer was good.

Boylan Bottling Co: definitely the best root beer out of all of them. The spices they used were different from a normal root beer’s but it was a welcome change of taste. They also used cane sugar, which I’m not sure how much that changed the flavor, but I think it made it better. Didn’t taste watered down at all.

For more information, please visit:

Getting To Know/History

History of UFO sightings

Leave a comment

By: Karl Salkowski

Image created with Chat GPT AI

UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. According to the Oxford dictionary, UFOs are described as mysterious objects seen in the sky for which, it is claimed, no orthodox scientific explanation can be found.

UFO sightings have been reported throughout all of recorded history and across the world. There are many accounts of unexplained aerial phenomena throughout 500-1500AD. Many paintings and depictions of these flying objects still exist, including strange symbols and imagery. However, it’s likely that most of these medieval UFO sightings were just natural atmospheric phenomena such as comets, auroras, or rare cloud formations.

The US is home to many UFO sightings, with some of its most famous dating back to the 1950s and 60s. During the beginning of the United States’ rocketry initiative, UFO sightings began to spike. This includes several famous sightings and initiatives such as the Roswell UFO Incident, Project Blue Book, and the Robertson Panel.

The Roswell UFO incident took place in 1947 and was one of the first in a series of new sightings. A ranger from Roswell, New Mexico, found a 200-yard-long wreckage near a US Army airfield. The local newspaper reported it was an alien spacecraft, although the military declared the wreckage was only a weather balloon.

As sightings of UFOs increased in the 1940s and 50s, the United States Air Force began investigating these reports. In 1952, this became Project Blue Book, and it recorded over 12,000 sightings between 1952 and 1969.

In 1952, the United States created a panel of scientists to investigate these sightings. This panel was known as the Robertson panel, named after its head, H.P. Robertson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology. This panel determined that over 90% of sightings were astronomical and meteorological phenomena and that there was no evidence aliens exist.

Within the last 20 years there has been a massive decline in these sightings. As smartphones with high-quality cameras continue to become more and more present, grainy images and blurry photos just don’t cut it anymore. Overall, most UFO sightings can be explained by either military tests or just various natural phenomena.

For more information, please visit:

Getting To Know/History

St. Paul – A safe haven for gangsters

1 Comment

By: Treshawn Ross

John Dillinger

In the early 1900’s to 1935 St. Paul was known as a safe haven for gangsters and criminals.

How it started– This system was known as the “O’Connor Layover Agreement”, named after the police chief at the time (John O’Connor). The key conditions of this agreement were that the criminals had to check in with police when they arrived in the city, they had to pay bribes to city officials, and lastly they agreed not to commit major crimes in St. Paul during their stay.

Gangsters who thrived under the O’Connor system– John Dillinger and “Babyface” Nelson both hid in St. Paul after their numerous bank robberies. Alvin Karpis and his gang of kidnappers also used St. Paul as a hideout. The bootlegging kingpin of the city Leon Gleckman used St. Paul not only as a hideout but a headquarters from the St. Paul Hotel.

The degradation of the O’Connor system- In 1930 Chief O’Connor retired from the police force. This left Tom Brown as his successor. Tom Brown portrayed himself as a righteous lawman who would fight crime; this allowed him to obtain the vacant police chief position. Tom Brown disposed of the O’Connor system. Instead of upholding the previous order, he allowed violent crimes by the gangsters hiding in St. Paul to go unpunished. This inevitably raised the city’s crime rate and brought more attention.

The Fall- After a famous shootout with the Karpis gang, Tom Brown was demoted after being questioned by the public and the mayor about how the gang escaped. He still retained a high office in the police department and after numerous scandals relating to the John Dillinger and Karpis gangs he was put under investigation. He was publicly disgraced but faced very little punishment. The FBI then began to hunt down the murderous gangs in the city, killing John Dillinger and many of his associates. Alvin Karpis was arrested for his crime and he served his sentence in Alcatraz. Many other corrupt officers were laid off and this led to reform and less corruption in the St. Paul police force.

Getting To Know/History, News

Who is Nobel Laureate María Corina Machado?

Leave a comment

By: Karl Salkowski

Photo courtesy of Adobe stock

Maria Corina Machado is a Venezuelan politician and activist. She was born on October 7th, 1967, in Caracas, Venezuela, and served as a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014. Maria directly opposed the governments of previous Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and current president Nicolás Maduro. Maria has advocated heavily over the last two decades for democratic reforms and human rights across Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro took office in 2013 and has been serving Venezuela since. The 2024 election is widely believed to have been fraudulent in order to extend Maduro’s regime, as he had already become widely unpopular among the common people. Political scientist Steven Levitsky called the official results “[O]ne of the most egregious electoral frauds in modern Latin American history.”

Maria had been an outspoken critic of Maduro since the beginning of his presidency, and due to this, she was banned from competing in the 2024 presidential election. Despite facing persecution and having to go into hiding, she decided to stay within Venezuela to organize opposition efforts and continue rallying for what she believed in.

Maria believes in classical liberalism. She focuses on individual freedoms, free markets, and limited government, which directly oppose the views of the previous presidents. Maduro created a more authoritarian government, attempting to take away individual freedoms in order to extend government power.

She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize due to her consistent effort towards creating a safer and freer Venezuela. She resisted authoritarianism and fought to build a more democratic and fair government. She has made a commitment to non-violent resistance and strived to restore freedom and democracy in Venezuela.

Maria gained international recognition and support for her action in Venezuela. She has won many other awards, including the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. These awards are given to people who defend human and civil rights and lead and mobilize nonviolent resistance.

Overall, María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize due to her unwavering support of democracy and her dedication to providing human and civil rights to all.

Events, Getting To Know/History

A history of Halloween

Leave a comment

 By Hannan Mohammed

Today, Halloween is known as a holiday for people to dress in their scariest costumes and go door to door trick-or-treating, asking neighbors for candy to take home with them. Some people may even carve pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns to celebrate the holiday. But, how did Halloween and its ways of celebrating it come to be, and what was this holiday originally?

Sanhaim

Originally, the holiday of Halloween was known as Sanhaim, a pagan festival celebrated by the Ancient Celtic people. According to an article by BBC, this festival was celebrated about 2,000 years ago, usually on November 1. This was also the first day of winter for the Ancient Celts, and so this festival was also seen as an important transition in the year. According to the World History Encyclopedia, this holiday may have even represented the Celtic New Year.

This holiday was seen as the day in the year where a gap between our world and the spirit world was open, so that the spirits of the dead could cross over into our world. And, according to the World History Encyclopedia, these spirits could pass freely through to the human world and be either good-natured or harmful.

To celebrate this festival, the Ancient Celts would wear their own sort of costumes made from animal skins and heads, a little similar to what we would wear today, and priests (called ‘druids’) would light large bonfires to offer animal sacrifices.

Hallowed Evening

Over time, the popularity of Sanhaim spread across Europe, becoming especially well-known in Ireland. However, Christianity was also spreading by the 5th century, and one way that the Catholic Church attempted to convert the Celts was to incorporate pagan holidays into their calendar.

To do this, All Saints’ Day was moved to November 1 by Pope Boniface IV in the 7th century, incorporating elements of Sanhaim into the holiday. Because of this, the day before became known as the ‘Hallowed Evening’. As the centuries passed and All Saints’ Day became more widespread, this name was shortened to Halloween, and more traditions that we associate with the holiday today became more prominent:

Carving Pumpkins

The holiday tradition of carving pumpkins to create jack-o’-lanterns came from Ireland, centuries ago. Using turnips rather than the pumpkins we use today, Irish people would carve scary faces into the turnips in order to ward off a spirit called Stingy Jack.

A famine in 19th century Ireland forced the immigration of millions of Irish people to the United States, and they brought this tradition with them, making this Halloween activity more well-known. Over time, pumpkins became more widely used as they were easier to carve than turnips.

Image by Lirazelf via Wikimedia Commons

Souling

Trick-or-treating used to be an activity called souling, and it originated in medieval England as a tradition to take part in on All Saints’ Day. To participate, people would go door to door exchanging prayers for food. By the Victorian era, the food that was most often exchanged was a pastry called a ‘soul cake’. Today, people often exchange a greeting of ‘Trick-or-treat’ for pieces of chocolate and candy.

Image by Malikhpur via Wikimedia Commons

Conclusion

Overall, the holiday of Halloween was first celebrated by the Ancient Celts as the festival of Sanhaim, and the holiday was incorporated into the Catholic calendar as the ‘Hallowed Evening’. Over time, the spreading popularity of this holiday and other traditions such as souling and carving turnips and pumpkins turned this into the Halloween that many people celebrate today.

For more information, please visit: