Search Results: Green day

Saint Valentine’s Day, or simply Valentine’s Day, is celebrated on the 14th of February, almost internationally but primarily in western societies. It is a commemorative Christian feast for some but a secular occasion for others who see it...

The Qingming Festival is held one hundred and four days after the winter solstice, and is known as the ‘pure bright festival’, ‘tomb-sweeping day’ and ‘ancestors day’. For over 2,500 years, this festival has been a day for Chinese people...

Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in” or “SAH-win”), was a festival celebrated by the ancient Celts halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It began at dusk around October 31st and likely lasted three days. Samhain marked the transition...

Before chocolates, roses and letters from your valentine were given on Valentines Day, there was the Ancient Roman Festival of the Lupercalia in honour of both the agricultural god Luperca and the she-wolf who sucked Romulus and Remus, Lupus...

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the infamous St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. In Paris, in the high summer of 1572, a very unusual wedding was happening in the cathedral of Notre Dame. Henri, the young Huguenot King of Navarre, was marrying...

Halloween is among the oldest traditions in the world as it touches on an essential element of the human condition: the relationship between the living and the dead. The observance evolved from ancient rituals marking the transition from...

During the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603 CE), people of all classes greatly looked forward to the many holidays and festivals on offer throughout the year. The vast majority of public holidays were also religious commemorations, and attendance...

A 16th-century painting by François Dubois showing the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre of Protestants in August 1572 during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). (Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland)

The history of green tea in Japan goes back to the 8th century when it was a popular stimulant for meditating monks. In this article, we examine tea's origins and cultivation, how it became an integral part of Japanese culture, the symbolism...

The history of Halloween goes back thousands of years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. It was celebrated halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, it started on October 31st at dusk, and probably went for three...