May Days/Daze
“Holidays”
Names of States
Philately
Popular Baby Names
Graduation Ceremony
“Speaking Truth in Love”

May Days/Daze
08/05/03

The name of this fifth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar is “May.” One theory regarding the origin of that name relates it to the Latin word for “elders” and the name of the following month to the word for “juniors,” thus considering these special months to honor the senior and junior members of the community. However, a more widely accepted theory is that the name is related to the name of a female goddess. The first day of May, called “May Day,” has been celebrated as the beginning of spring and as an international holiday to celebrate labor organizations. When using capital letters, the day has a positive meaning, but the term “mayday” has also been used as an international radio-telephone signal word used by aircraft and ships in distress. In Japan, the first week of May has been called “Golden Week” for it includes many special days that have increased the profits of movie theaters and other entertainment businesses. April 29, the late Emperor Hirohito’s birthday, was a holiday during his (Showa) reign. That day is now called Showa Day, and the influence of the Showa era is emphasized. May 1 (May Day) is Labor Day, when the rights of workers are recognized. May 3 is Constitution Day, commemorating the day in 1947 when Japan's new, postwar Constitution came into effect. May 4 has now become a holiday, called Green Day, when respect for the greenery in nature is emphasized. May 5 is Children's Day, a traditional day to show respect for the personalities of children and to wish them happiness. And May 6th has now been declared a general, national holiday to make the week yet more attractive. Such a concentration of public holidays may seem a bit dazing to some people who may think of “May Daze” instead of “May Days.” (1143)

“Holidays”
08/05/08

One of the reasons I continue to compose these “Timely Words” messages, even in my “retirement,” is because I am mentally stimulated and continue to learn as I prepare them. The previous message on “May Days” left me a bit dazed and required a revision and corrections as I considered more carefully the meaning of “holiday,” which may be translated into Japanese with various words with their particular nuances. As you may recognize, this word is derived from “holy day,” but not only the spelling and pronunciation have changed; so has the meaning. All holidays are not holy days and the names and dates of some “rest days” may change as the days in “Golden Week” did after I left Japan. In the U. S. A., legal holidays are determined by the individual states, but all states observe the ten federal holidays designated by the federal government for federal employees and the District of Columbia. Four of them are set by date (New Year’s Day--January 1, Independence Day--July 4, Veterans Day--November 11 and Christmas Day--December 25); the other six are set by a day of the week and month: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday (January), Washington’s Birthday (February), Memorial Day (May), Labor Day (September), Columbus Day (October) and Thanksgiving Day (November). All but the last are celebrated on Mondays to create three-day weekends. In some states, Election Day (on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November) also is a legal holiday. The first day of next week is not only a regular, weekly “holy day” for Christians. It is also Pentecost (Whitsunday), commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection. And this year, it is combined with Mother’s Day, a special day to honor mothers. (1144)

Names of States
08/05/12

In Japan, there are territorial and political units called “prefectures,” which my dictionary defines as “The district, office, or authority of a prefect.” Although I do not recall ever using or reading the word “prefect,” there are now 43 prefectures in Japan. In my dictionary, the last of the 11 definitions of “state” is “One of the more or less internally autonomous territorial and political units composing a federation under a sovereign government,” and there are now 50 states in the United States of America. Because the names of Japanese prefectures are written in Chinese characters, the meanings of the names are obvious. The names of American states, however, are written in the English alphabet and their meanings are generally unclear. Names of states that begin with “New” (New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico) are related to the names of places outside the U. S. A., and a few names are related to political figures in Europe (Maryland, named for an English queen; Louisiana, named in honor of Louis XIV of France; Carolina, named for Charles II of England; Georgia, named for King George II of England). The one state named after its founder is Pennsylvania (Penn + Latin term for “woodland”). Most of the other names are derived from Native American languages. Four of the states have only four letters in their names. Can you name them? One of them has the same pronunciation as the common Japanese morning greeting. When my wife and I first arrived in Japan, in 1951, we were happy we arrived in the morning so we could make use of that greeting, which was the only Japanese word we knew. “Ohio” is derived from an Iroquoian word, meaning “fine river,” but the Japanese term, ohayou, which is translated “good morning,” literally means “it is (or you are) early.” (1145)

Philately
08/05/16

I presume that many/most readers of these messages are not acquainted with the word “philately,” but at a recent monthly meeting of the Stamp and Coin Club, one of the active groups in this retirement community, I gave a talk that began with an explanation of that word. There are a number of English words that begin with “phil,” derived from a Greek word meaning “love.” “Philosophy” is a love of wisdom; “Philanthropy” is a love for mankind; “Philharmonic ” is a love for music. But what is “philately”? According to my dictionary, it is “the collection and study of postage stamps, postmarks, and related material; stamp collecting.” The word was coined from the Greek words philos (“love”) and ateleia (“exemption from tax, without a charge”), alluding to the fact that the first stamps served as evidence that postage charges had been prepaid and thus the receiver was exempted from further charge. This prefix may also be found in the name of one of America’s most important and historic cities. “Philadelphia,” meaning “brotherly love,” was given that name by William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. He chose to name that city after a city in Asia Minor, noted in the New Testament book of Revelation (1:11; 3:7) as one of the seven churches to which this apocalyptic manuscript was sent. In Romans 12:10, this same Greek word is found, not as the name of a city, but as a word of encouragement to believers from the Apostle Paul which should also be taken seriously and followed by people today. (1146)

Popular Baby Names
08/05/21

Usually, newly born children in Japan are given names that have special meaning to the parents, whether signifying their hopes, reflecting current events, related to family tradition or expecting it to bring good luck. In English-speaking countries, however, most parents are unaware of the meaning of their own names or of the names they give their children. The Social Security Administration recently released the list of the names of baby girls and boys born last year to American citizens. For the 12th year in a row, Emily was the most popular name given to a baby girl and for the 9th year, Jacob was the most popular name for boys. Emily, derived from the Latin name of a Roman clan (of commoners rather than noblemen), was a common Christian name in early Roman inscriptions but did not become popular in English-speaking countries until the 19th century. Jacob is a name often found in the Bible, for the God of the Israelites, or Jews, was called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The story of why the son of Isaac was named Jacob is found in the 25th chapter of Genesis, verses 21-26. The Hebrew meaning of the name is: “he grasps the heel” and was figuratively used to mean “he deceives.” The character of that boy is seen in the short story at the end of chapter 25 and a longer story in chapter 27, shows his special ability to deceive--even his father. As a result of the incident narrated in Genesis 32:22-32, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and his 12 children became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. In the list of names given to babies last year, 3 of the top 10 girls names and 6 of the top 10 boys names are taken from the Bible. (1147)

Graduation Ceremony
08/05/27

As readers of these messages already know, the English language can be very confusing. For example, my wife and I have one daughter and we consider her a “grand daughter,” but actually she is not a “granddaughter.” And we have three “granddaughters,” whom we consider to be “great granddaughters,” but really they are not “great-granddaughters.” Now, all three of our granddaughters have graduated from high school and we have been able to attend all three of their graduation ceremonies—4 years ago in St. Petersburg, Florida, 2 years ago in Nagoya, Japan and 2 days ago in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Both ceremonies of the American schools were held outdoors in the high schools’ stadiums. At the recent ceremony, as the high school band played, the 339 graduates filed in and sat on the folding chairs that had been arranged for them on the grass in the central part of the stadium. Most of the graduates wore blue robes, but 61 of them, including our granddaughter, wore white robes, indicating that they had a superior grade point average. Beside the featured speaker, speeches were given by the valedictorian and the three salutatorians who had the same second-place grades. Every one of the graduates, after being called by name, went to the front platform to receive their diploma and to shake hands with teachers, so the ceremony took a long time. The stadium was full of families and friends of the graduates and, often, shouts from the stands or the blowing of horns would be heard as certain names were called. It was an interesting, enjoyable time. I am writing this message from Dallas Airport as we wait for the plane that will take us back to Jacksonville. (1148)

“Speaking Truth in Love”
08/05/30

Have you ever heard of a “lectionary”? A “lectionary” is a book containing “lections” (Scripture passages to be read in a church service). Some churches have a lectionary containing Scripture passages from different parts of the Bible, which are recommended for reading on every Sunday throughout the church year. The pastors in such churches often choose the subject of their Sunday sermons from the Scripture passage listed for that Sunday. My church tradition does not include lectionaries, but recently, when I was asked to preach at the Presbyterian Church my son and granddaughter attend in New Mexico and to tell about my missionary activity in Japan, I checked the lectionary I bought fifty years ago when I was a student at a Presbyterian university and decided to use the Scripture passage listed for that Sunday (Ephesians 4:1-16) as the basis for my sermon. In that passage, both the unity and diversity of the church is emphasized. Each of us have different gifts or talents, but all of them should be used for the building up or maturing of the “body of Christ,” which is the church. As I explained about the cultural, religious traditions in Japan which I had earnestly tried to understand, I emphasized that it was my aim to “speak the truth in love,” which is noted in verse 15. From my perspective, “speaking the truth in love” should be the aim, not only of missionaries and pastors, but of all Christians, and of all others who are seeking to make a better world. Often it is difficult to accomplish this in our daily lives, but it should be our aim. (1149)