Browsing: January 1

A Brief History On January 1, 1902, Pasadena, California hosted the Rose Bowl, the first college football “bowl” ever.  In case you have ever wondered why sportscasters refer to the Rose Bowl as “The Grandaddy of ‘em all,” this is why.  It was the first and is still arguably the most prestigious college football bowl game. Digging Deeper Billed as a contest of East vs. West, the first Rose Bowl game was played between Michigan and Stanford, the representatives of the Big 10 and Pacific Coast Conferences. (The former PCC is now the Pac 12.)  Traditionally, this annual championship game is…

A Brief History On January 1, 1773, the all familiar hymn “Amazing Grace” was performed for the first time at a church service in England. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find what is generally considered to be the most familiar, best loved, all around greatest hymn based on music of unknown origin. The words, however, came from John Newton, a cleric who wrote them years before with the inspiration coming from his time on a slave ship threatened by fierce weather.  The prospect of imminent death elicited the beautiful words we know today, and in them he claims to have…

A Brief History On January 1, 2021, we take New Year’s Day to reflect on the fact that January 1st, although it is now celebrated as the beginning of the new year each year in virtually all of the western civilizations of the world today, is by no means the universal harbinger of a new year. Digging Deeper We find that this particular day was not always when people celebrated the new year in Europe as well as other parts of the world.  Various European countries started using January 1st as New Year’s Day in a hap-hazard manner between the…