Winter Olympics Part I: History

The first in a three (or more) part series on the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will open on Friday, February 7th and I, for one, am very excited. The Olympics are one of the greatest stages in the world to see international history, culture, and politics.

Olympic Rings (From Wikipedia.com)

Compared to the Summer Games, the Winter Olympics have a much shorter history. While they don't stretch back to Ancient Greece, the idea for the Winter Olympics is more than a hundred years old.

Figure Skating became part of the Summer Olympics (if you can believe it) in 1908. The International Olympic Committee considered creating a separate Winter Games in 1912, but Sweden, who was hosting the games, already had a popular Nordic Competition and declined. A separate Winter Games was again proposed in 1916 in Berlin, but both were cancelled due to World War I.

Ice Hockey was added to the Summer Games in 1920 and, in 1924, an agreement was reached to host an International Winter Sports Week in Chamonix, in the French Alps.

Poster of the Chamonix 1924 Winter Olympic Games (From Wikipedia)

In 1928, the 2nd Official Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, making the Chamonix Games the 1st Official Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics were then held every four years, except for 1940 and 1944 (due to World War II).

Until 1992, the Winter Olympics were held the same year as the Summer Olympics. Since 1994, the Winter Olympics have been held every four years, two years after the Summer Olympics.

The Sochi Olympics are the 22nd Olympic Winter Games.

For more information on the Sochi Olympics, check out the Official Sochi 2014 Olympics website.
For a schedule of the Olympic events in the US, check out NBC Olympics.

Check back next week for Part II: Sochi, Russia

The Doorkeeper of the Year

 January begins our year, but do you know where it came from?

January was added around 700 BCE (along with February) to bring the Roman calendar to 355 days, closer to a full a solar year of 365 days. Originally, the month was near the end of the year, but Julius Caesar reordered the calendar in 45 BCE, adding 10 days for a true solar year and January was placed at the beginning of the year.

 January (Ianuarius in Latin) is named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings.

 Head of Janus, Vatican museum, Rome from Wikipedia Commons 

Janus had two faces, which looked both backward and forward. With such an ambiguous description, Janus oversaw birth and death, war and peace, as well as the past and the future. He was invoked at the beginning of any number of things, including marriage, harvest, and journeys.

Temple of Janus on Coin from the time of Nero, from Wikipedia Commons

A temple to Janus in Rome would keep its doors open during war time, so that the god could intervene if necessary, and would close them during peace time. However, the doors were rarely closed and the ceremony to close them was an important event.

Janus is generally associated with doorkeepers and we derive our word "janitor" from his name.

"There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." --Aldous Huxley

Christmas Time in Scandinavia

So, Tuesday you got a Share Spotlight about Las Posadas. Today, you get post about Christmas in another part of the world!

Ever since reading about it in the American Girl book Kirsten's Surprise (yes, that was a long time ago and yes, I do want to read it again every Christmas) I've loved the celebrations of Saint Lucia that happens in Scandinavia.

Saint Lucia of Syracuse (St. Lucy to most of the rest of the world) was an early Christian martyr. Her name means light and, with her feast day the 13th of December, she came to be associated with midwinter celebrations of the return of longer days.

In many Scandinavian countries, a girl dresses in a white robe with a red sash and wears a wreath of candles on her head (though these days the candles are most likely to be electric, thank goodness). She often distributes "St. Lucia buns" or other baked goods. Usually, a traditional song is sung, with lyrics about how St. Lucia overcame the darkness.

St. Lucia celebration, from Wikipedia Commons.

In Sweden, it is common for the eldest girl in the family to play this role while other Scandinavian countries tend to have a single girl play St. Lucia for the town or region. To be picked to be St. Lucia is considered a great honor.

In Italy, she is celebrated as the patron saint of Syracuse in Sicily, and her day is National Day on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean. Italian and Scandinavian immigrants also brought the tradition to the United States and celebrations can be found particularly in the Midwest.

Wherever her day is celebrated, she stands for the triumph of light over darkness.


"But you know happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light." --Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban