States of the U. S. A. #2
Japanese Prefectures
Church (New) Year
Thanksgiving Day Trip
Wounded Knee
Japanese and Habakkuk
Tintinnabulation
The Wright Brothers
Winter Solstice
Christmas
Christmas Recollections
Boxing Day
Yearend Customs
States of the U. S. A. #2
03/12/03
This message answers questions posed in a previous message (#660) relating to states of the U. S. A., so it is advisable to read that message before this one. The names of the 50 states, in alphabetical order with explanations added are: Alabama, Alaska (largest, separated from contiguous states), Arizona, Arkansas, California (largest population), Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii (islands in Pacific Ocean), Idaho (5 letters), Illinois, Indiana, Iowa (4 letters), Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine (5 letters, ME), Maryland (MD), Massachusetts (13 letters, MA), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Mississippi (MS), Missouri (MO), Montana (MT), Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio (4 letters), Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania (12 letters), Rhode Island (smallest), South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas (5 letters), Utah (4 letters), Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming (smallest population). It is common to divide these states into four regions: Northeast (9), Midwest (12), South (16) and West (13), but the capital is not included in any state. It is a separate unit called Washington D. C. Efforts have been made to give this District of Columbia voting representation in Congress and to accept it as the 51st state, but they have not been successful. When the country was officially established, there were 13 states. Additional states were added every few years until 1912 when Arizona became the 48th state. It was 47 years later that Alaska and Hawaii were added as the 49th and 50th states. (662)
Japanese Prefectures
03/12/05
After composing a couple of messages of questions and answers related to states in the U. S. A. for readers in both the U. S. and foreign countries to consider, I decided to compose a message related to Japan and its prefectures to test or increase the knowledge of readers in both the U. S. A. and elsewhere. Japan is an archipelago consisting of many islands, but the four largest ones are the most important. Do you know their names and their meanings? How many prefectures can you name? Formerly, the administrative units were called "provinces," but now they are called "prefectures," which a dictionary defines as "the district, office, or authority of a prefect." In Japanese, the 47 prefectures have four different designations. One, the capital, Tokyo, is a "to;' one, the large northern island of Hokkaido is a "do;" two, Osaka and Kyoto, are "fu," and the other 43 are "ken." The name "Hokkaido" means "North Sea Road." The island of "Honshu," on which Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and 31 other prefectures are located, means "main/basic state/ province." On the island of Shikoku, meaning "four countries/provinces," there are four prefectures and on the southern island of Kyushu, meaning "nine states/ provinces" on which there used to be nine provinces, there are now 7 prefectures. On the Ryukyu Islands, still further south, the 47th prefecture of Okinawa is located. The smallest prefecture in size is Kagawa and the smallest in population is Tottori. I presume you know which one is the largest in population, but we should remember that size and numbers are not always indications of importance. (663)
Church (New) Year
03/12/08
My dictionary defines a calendar as "a system of reckoning time in which the beginning, length and divisions of a year are arbitrarily defined ." There are a number of different kinds of calendars used by particular nations, cultures and religions, each of which begin at different times and have different divisions of different lengths. The Gregorian calendar in general use in most of the industrialized world begins on January 1st. In the Gregorian calendar for this year, the Jewish New Year began on September 27th and the Islamic New Year began on March 5th. In liturgical Christian churches, the New Year begins with the Advent Season which begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas (December 25th). "Advent" means "coming" or "arrival" and as the beginning of the Church Year, it is a preparatory season for the celebration of Jesus' birth on Christmas Day, just as Lent is the preparatory season for Good Friday and Easter. In the Church Year, the Feast of Epiphany (when the divinity of Christ was manifested to the Gentiles) lies between Christmas and Lent. Following Easter, festivals commemorating Jesus' Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost are held. The Sunday after Pentecost (or Whitsunday) is Trinity Sunday, the beginning of the Trinity Season which lasts for about 6 months until the first Sunday of Advent. During this Church Year, various important events in the life of Jesus, the Christ, are commemorated. We are now at the beginning of a new Church Year as we approach the Christmas season when the significance of Jesus' birth is considered. (667)
Thanksgiving Day Trip
03/12/10
It is the custom for families to gather together for a special dinner on Thanksgiving Day. Although there was a special dinner at the dining hall in this retirement community, my wife and I did not eat there. Rather, we drove to the city of St. Petersburg, the fourth largest city in Florida, about 350 kilometers to the south. This burg was not named for St. Peter. It was named by a man named Peter, who was president of a local railroad, for the city in Russia, which was his former home. That St. Petersburg, whose name was changed to Petrograd, Leningrad and then back to St. Petersburg, was named by the Russian czar, Peter I, also known as Peter the Great. Our eldest granddaughter from Japan is now living with a family in St. Petersburg while attending her senior year in high school. We were invited to share the Thanksgiving dinner with that family and the parents and aunt of the mother who live in a retirement community closer by. It was a real feast that included the traditional cuisine of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry jelly, cooked vegetables, raw vegetables in a salad, and three different kinds of pies for dessert. Following that dinner, we again went by car to the city of Bradenton, a few kilometers further south, where we enjoyed meeting a couple of missionaries we knew in Japan, who live in another community for retired missionaries. We returned home late at night, very tired after a very enjoyable day and thankful for the many blessings we enjoy--including an efficient car and a super-highway on which we may drive up to 112 kilometers an hour. (668)
Wounded Knee
03/12/12
The common meaning of "wound" is an injury, so a "wounded knee" is an injured joint on one's leg, but "Wounded Knee" is also the name of a creek in South Dakota and what is called the "Battle of Wounded Knee" is considered the final battle of the Indian wars. One of the most shameful themes in American history is related to the treatment of the Native Americans by the European invaders. With superior weapons and an obvious lack of moral character, the so-called white men pushed so-called red men off of their native lands and made treaties with them, which the invaders disregarded when it was to their advantage. The tribe of Native Americans known as the Sioux had been forced to sign a treaty which granted them land in the Black Hills territory of South Dakota, but when gold was discovered in those hills in the mid-1870s, the treaty was unilaterally canceled and the Sioux were ordered to leave. Some of them refused to do so and, under the command of their chief, Sitting Bull, they fought against the United States army. In the "Battle of Little Bighorn," in 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and some 260 calvarymen were surrounded by the Sioux and wiped out in what has been called "Custer's Last Stand." Later, suffering from disease and famine, many Sioux surrendered and Sitting Bull became famous after joining Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but he returned to fight for his people, was arrested and killed. Disarmed Sioux men were brought to Wounded Knee and there, on December 28,1890, almost 200 men, women and children were shot and killed by the American soldiers. (669)
Japanese and Habakkuk
03/12/14
Recently, I presented the program at a Sunday evening meeting at this retirement community. The aim was to introduce those who attended to the complicated Japanese written language. I noted that it was unfortunate that the first written language Japan encountered was Chinese, with its 50,000 different ideograms, or characters (called kanji in Japanese) which were then applied to the entirely different Japanese language. Now, there are about 2000 kanji designated for common use in Japan, about 1000 of which are taught in elementary and middle schools. Because of the obvious need for other symbols to communicate in written Japanese, two separate syllabaries were devised with 51 symbols each. One of the syllabaries is used basically to transliterate foreign words. Using an overhead projector, I drew some simple kanji, including those meaning above, below, river, mountain, sun, tree, root, Nippon (combining sun with root). I also displayed the two syllabaries and copies of pages from my kanji dictionary, showing how the complicated characters may be identified by the radicals and the number of strokes in their composition or by their pronunciation. The pages I displayed showed the 215 radicals used when writing kanji, the 453 kanji in that dictionary that are composed of 11 strokes and a page showing that there are 82 kanji pronounced "sen," 34 pronounced "so" and 83 pronounced "sou." We then read the dialog between a prophet and God in Habakkuk 1:1-2:4 in the Old Testament and focused on 1:1 and 2:4 in both English and Japanese, emphasizing the need for a living faith. (670)
Tintinnabulation
03/12/16
In "The Bells," a poem of the well-known American poet, Edgar Allen Poe, we find the words "the tintinnabulation that so musically wells from the bells." I was surprised to find this word in a dictionary for I thought it was a word made up by Poe for this poem. According to the dictionary, however, it means "the ringing or sounding of bells." This word came to my mind last week when my wife and I once again stood in front of a large supermarket next to a tripod stand with a kettle hanging on a chain. There was an opening in the top of the kettle to allow passersby to insert money for the Salvation Army which regularly solicits funds for its social service activities in this way at this time of year. Both of us wore red caps like the one worn by Santa Claus and smiled at people who entered or left the store. I was the bell ringer, who constantly rang a small bell to attract attention, but my wife was the main focus of attention because she carried a large puppet with a smiling face, a white beard and a red cap like the one worn by Santa. With her hand imperceptibly causing his mouth to move, she greeted people "Merry Christmas" in a Santa Claus-like voice. Needless to say, this attracted the attention of both adults and children. Some of the children wanted to touch or kiss the puppet and to engage in conversation with it. Their parents also smiled and both adults and children merrily deposited bills and coins in the kettle. After two hours of standing, smiling, talking like Santa Claus and ringing a tintinnabulum, we were tired, but we were happy to contribute our time and effort for this worthy cause. (673)
The Wright Brothers
03/12/19
There are a number of words in English which have the same pronunciation but have different meanings and, in some cases, different spellings. Such words are called "homonyms." There are at least six homonyms which begin with the R sound, end with the T sound and have the I sound in the middle. One of them, spelled r-i-g-h-t, is the opposite of "left." Another, having the same spelling, is the opposite of "wrong." A third homonym, spelled r-i-t-e, denotes a ceremonial act and a fourth one, spelled w-r-i-t-e, is what people do with a pen or pencil. Still another one, spelled w-r-i-g-h-t, signifies a person who constructs something including a "playwright," but when this word begins with a capital letter, it is a proper noun, a surname. In American history, a couple of brothers whose surname was Wright are famous because of what they accomplished 100 years ago this week. After months of experimenting with kites and gliders, Wilbur and Orville Wright, who were in their thirties, constructed a flying machine that included a motor and on December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they finally succeeded in their attempt to launch the world's first airplane. On that first flight, the machine, which weighed 340 kilograms and had a wingspan of 12 meters, stayed in the air for 59 seconds and traveled 260 meters. Both of the Wright brothers have been elected to the Hall of Fame in New York City and the site of the epoch-making flights and glider experiments is now designated as the Wright Brothers National Memorial, a 175 hectare area administered by the National Park Service. (674)
Winter Solstice
03/12/21
One of the reasons for the varied, irregular pronunciations and spellings of English words is because many words have been introduced from foreign languages and, in many cases, the spelling or pronunciation of the word in English resembles its spelling or pronunciation in the original language. During this weekend, we have entered the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere when the hours of daylight become longer. Because the sun seems to have no movement at this time, it is called the "solstice," from Latin words meaning "sun stand [still]." Likewise, the summer solstice in June marks the beginning of summer, when daylight hours begin to become shorter. In ancient Rome, a prominent festival was held at this time of year for eight days, called Saturnalia, in honor of the Roman god Saturnus (from which the seventh day of the week and one of the planets that circle the sun get their English names). The lively Roman festivities at this time included reveling, feasting, gambling and rioting. Schools were closed; people exchanged presents and greeted one another with the words "Hurrah Saturnalia." It was to oppose, compete with or utilize this festival for Christians that the Christian celebration of Jesus' birth, the season of which is uncertain, came to be celebrated at this time of year and some of the pre-Christian customs were continued with a different meaning. For Christians, it is significant that the birth of Jesus, who is called "the Light of the world," is celebrated at the beginning of the season when daylight hours lengthen. I wish you a bright, merry and meaningful Christmas. (675)
Christmas
03/12/24
Although we are not sure of the day, the month or even the year, when the baby was born who was named Jesus and later was called Christ, his birth is now celebrated throughout the world on December 25th, called Christmas. "Christ" is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Messiah," which means "anointed one." In the Old Testament, this term was sometimes used for men, including priests, prophets and kings, who had been set apart for special divinely ordered activities and had been anointed by the high priest. In some Old Testament prophecies, mention is made of the coming of the Messiah, who would deliver the children of Israel from their bondage and establish a kingdom that would last forever. This title was applied to Jesus, the son of Mary, but his ministry and teaching was very different from what the Jewish people were expecting. Although he often spoke about a kingdom, he made clear in his testimony before the Roman governor that his kingdom was "not of this world" (John 18:36). As the Anointed One, the Messiah, or Christ, he never sat on a throne. Rather, he was condemned as a criminal and died on a cross. Christians believe that he gave his life as a sacrifice for sinful people and the basic reason that Christians give gifts at Christmas is in commemoration of the great gift of God's love which was manifested in the birth of Jesus, the Christ. According to the verse that many Christians believe to be the heart of the Gospel, "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). (672)
Christmas Recollections
03/12/26
The Christmas season is celebrated by many families in many different ways. As I reflect upon the Christmas celebration in my home in northern Illinois 70 years ago, these are some recollections. A week or so before Christmas, father brought home an evergreen tree to be erected in our living room. Our whole family, including father, mother and six children, helped to decorate the tree which reached the ceiling of the room when placed on a stand. It was our custom for each member of the family to give a gift to every other member and to place presents under the Christmas tree to be opened on the morning of Christmas Day. Day by day, the number of the pretty wrapped gifts increased and I sometimes peeked at the names written on them to see which ones were for me. On the window ledge behind the tree, father attached a large representation of a fireplace with a hook at the top for each child from which we could hang one of our stockings. On the morning of Christmas, those stockings had been filled with small toys or candies that each of us were permitted to enjoy while waiting for the entire family to gather for the distribution of the gifts from under the Christmas tree. But on Christmas Eve, as we sat in the living room, we heard the sound of sleigh bells outside and then a knock at the door. Who should appear but a man in a red suit with a white beard and a bag over his back who smiled and distributed gifts from his sack. I do not recall my age at the time, but one Christmas Eve I noticed my father's ring on the finger of this "Santa Claus" and realized who "Santa" really was. (676)
Boxing Day
03/12/28
From the standpoint of my wife and me, the month of December includes a number of special days, besides Christmas. Both of us celebrate our birthdays in this month. Also, December 4th is the feast day of Saint Barbara, which is the name of my wife, and December 26th is the feast day of Saint Stephen, which is the name of our elder son (but his name is spelled with a v, because my wife's maiden name was Stevens). In England and some other countries that were a part of the British Commonwealth, the first weekday after Christmas is called "Boxing Day." The word "box" has a number of different meanings; there are various kinds of "boxes." A certain kind of evergreen tree is called "box." A blow or slap with the hand may also be called a "box." And the sport of fighting with the fists is called "boxing." An ancient Greek mural, dated in the 15th century before Christ, depicts fighters wearing gloves and boxing was introduced into the Olympic Games in 688 B.C. "Boxing Day," however, is not related to the sport nor to the tree. Rather, it refers to the rectangular containers, into which many different kinds of things may be put. Many Christmas presents are put into boxes and wrapped with pretty paper. And in England, boxes placed in churches for the casual offerings of worshippers were opened on Christmas Day and the contents were used to purchase gifts or to give cash to mail carriers, newspaper deliverers, messengers and other employees on the day after Christmas. Although I had experience in my youth in each of these activities, I do not recall receiving any special gifts on Boxing Day. (677)
Yearend Customs
03/12/31
Every nation and culture has its own traditions and customs relating to the ending of an old year and the beginning of a new one. The ones I know best are those of Japan and the United States of America. In Japan, the word designating the end or "twilight" of the year is "seibo." If an honorific "o" is added to this word, the meaning changes. An "oseibo" is a yearend gift given to those to whom one wishes to express gratitude for past favors which, hopefully, will continue in the future. "Bonenkai," or "year forgetting parties" are held, which include drinking rice wine while sharing memories of the past year. Traditionally, all debts should be paid and all accounts settled by the end of the year and homes are thoroughly cleaned. The traditional New Year's Eve meal includes buckwheat noodles, whose long length symbolize a long life. Shortly before midnight, Buddhist temple bells may be heard as they toll 108 times to signify the elimination of the 108 earthly passions. In many American homes and meeting places, New Year's Eve parties are held and the New Year is welcomed with ringing bells, blowing horns, clashing gongs, tooting whistles or shooting firearms and people play games, sing songs and dance around. But there are also watch night services held in many churches, both in Japan and the U. S. A., where worshippers gather to quietly meditate on spiritual truths while they prayerfully bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year with a renewed dedication, discarding their "old self" and putting on a "new self," as noted in the New Testament book of Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 22-24. (679)