Foundations of Everyday Life (and other Interesting Facts)

So you get up every morning, go to work, and get back home. There are many things you may not notice, but you use every day. The question is, where did it all come from? Why is there only seven days of the week? Why is north always up? Why is English is the world’s most spoken language? Why does Santa Claus live in the North Pole?

If you ask, today’s entry covers almost everything about how the world came to be. Did you know that the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (a licensed product) is older than the chocolate chip cookie (a generic product)? Did you know that Animal Crossing (a 21st century video game) is older than at least one Christmas tradition (which feel like has been there forever)? Did you know that the “fourth-Thursday” Thanksgiving was an adjustment made by Franklin D Roosevelt and not something Abraham Lincoln decided? Some things feel like they have been here since the beginning, but are actually quite recent. Some things feel like they were rather new, but have been here for a very long time. And some things, despite common beliefs, have different origins.

So let’s get started on the first one: the foundations of time:

Foundations of Time:

So what is the base unit of time? The answer is seconds. Meters are the base unit of length, even though America still uses feet. Grams are the base unit of mass, even though America still uses pounds. Liters are the base unit of volume, even though America still uses cups. But no matter where you are, seconds have always been, and always will be, the base unit of time.

The length of one second was a thing for over 5,000 years, with Sumerians (which came from a land that is now known as Iraq) inventing them. In these days, numbers were based on the sexagesimal system (base-60). As they observed the time of the day, they divided each day into 24 hours, but each hour was divided into 60 minutes, and each minute was divided into 60 seconds. The length of one second has been the same since the very beginning, and that has not changed.

Going even further, many ancient cultures from the Middle East used the Lunar Calendar, where each new month is based on the moon phases. Some cultures, like the Egyptians and the Mayans, used the Solar Calendar, which is the 365-day calendar we all know. The Julian Calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar, was one of the many 365-day calendars. Because of the Roman Empire’s massive size, the Christianization of Europe, and European colonization of the world, the 365-day calendar we use today has become the global calendar, with the year being based on how many years it’s been since the birth of Jesus.

The calendar we use today is the Gregorian Calendar, which was created in 1582 to fix the calendar to match the seasons. This calendar had one extra day every four years, one common year every 25 “fourth years”, and one leap year every four “100th years”. This created the 400-year cycle, which the world has went through at least once since the creation of the Gregorian Calendar.

• Why are there seven days a week? While many systems have a base of 4, 5, 6, 10, or 12, there’s at least one system that involves the number of 7. And the number of days there are in a week is one of them. This started in Mesopotamia, where each day is dedicated to another celestial body. One for the Sun, one for the Moon, one for Mercury, one for Venus, one for Mars, one for Jupiter, and one for Saturn. This was later adopted by the Jews, where they based it on the six days to create the universe, plus one other day for rest.
• When did weekends begin? While each major religion had at least one day of rest, weekends weren’t a thing until the Industrial Revolution, and later the 20th century. Many various factories in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island had negotiations where people work five days a week, so the Jews and the Christians can have their days of worship off. Henry Ford also followed this suit by closing factories on Saturday and Sunday, which popularized weekends to the point that in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act codified the five-day work week.
• Why does February have 28 days? Believe it or not, the early Roman Calendar had only 304 days, where Winter was basically not part of the calendar. The first month of the year was March, and the last was December. And then there is a long period of cold weather. When Numa Pompilius added the months of January and February, he had to synchronize the lunar calendar with the months. Since even numbers were considered bad luck, and since both odd and even numbers were needed to have an odd number of days, February has become the month with 28 days.
• Why is Summer longer than Winter? Now this is based on science rather than history. The Earth’s orbit is elliptical, not perfectly round. That means it’s closer to the Sun at one time of the year than another. The distance from the Sun does not affect temperature or luminosity, but rather how fast the Earth moves. The closer it is to the Sun, the faster it moves along the orbit. Right now, it moves faster when it’s Winter than when it’s Summer, making Spring and Summer longer than Winter and Fall. Seems nice, until you count the heat waves.
• Why does the Islamic Calendar change, but not the Hebrew Calendar? Both the Hebrew Calendar and Islamic Calendar are lunar calendars, not solar calendars like the Gregorian Calendar. The moon phases do not correlate to the position of the Earth around its orbit around the Sun, which is why some years have 13 of the same moon phase and some have 12 of the same. If there are consistently 12 lunar months per year, this could mean that the new year could start any time of the year, regardless of season. The Muslims did nothing to adjust that, but the Jews wanted to keep Passover in the Spring. So the Hebrew Calendar was adjusted. Every 19 years, there are 7 years with 13 months, and 12 years with 12 months.

Geographical Facts:

So let’s go to maps. Although they have existed as far back as 25,000 B.C., it wasn’t until the 8th century or later when maps were created by using mathematical measurements, which is one of the early Islamic inventions. Since then, they have been associated with distances and directions, which have made them more accurate.

The invention of maps has resulted in better maps of the world. The Mercator Projection, despite being inaccurate, it was the first 2D map projection that was based on the world being round. If you want to know something, early maps depicting North America were way off with how North America was drawn. But as navigation improved, so has maps. We are now at the point where we can see every continent from space, something we couldn’t have done before the 20th century.

Now moving onto the influence Europe had on the world. While many civilizations from many cultures had their own inventions, education, and influences, most parts of today’s life have stemmed from Europe. This includes the following:

• Mathematics (i.e. the four different notations of derivatives ($\frac{d}{dx}$, $f'(x)$, $D_{x}f$, and $\dot{y}$) were all made by European mathematicians)
• Music
• Cooking
• Business
• Art
• Science
• Geography
• Democracy

The question is, how did Europe become more advanced than the rest of the world? The answer is not that Europe is more advanced in education and technology. The advantage it had over the rest of the world is military and navigation. And do you know why they took over the world? It has to do with land and resources. Many civilizations, like the Middle East, China, India, and the Americas, they had a lot of land, thus a lot of resources to back up on. But Europe had less land. Therefore, they needed to travel to other places for resources. When Columbus brought resources from the Americas to Europe, this opened a new chapter. Their militaristic advantages were the reasons why two of the most prominent pre-Columbian civilizations have fallen, and why they were able to take over land in the Americas and Africa. The influences that Europe had over the world is also why Christianity became the largest religion in the world and why many countries speak English, French, or Spanish.

However, one country in Europe really went the furthest in imperialism. One small island, not part of the mainland of Europe, has taken over 25% of the world. It’s not even a tropical island. It’s a bitterly cold island. The kingdom was originally seven kingdoms, with the names of Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Wessex, Sussex, and Essex. Then it became the largest empire in the world. But how did it have such a large empire? It’s not just militaristic advantages. It was all about the money. When the Bank of England formed, they had interest rates that were lower than many other kingdoms’ interest rates. Lower rates resulted in more borrowing. This allowed the king to have a much bigger navy, allowing them to control many of the oceans and make it safer for English sailors to set up trading posts across the world. It’s also worth mentioning that the Industrial Revolution began in England. You know how businesses today can beat others and destroy entire industries? That’s exactly what England did with the Industrial Revolution. By making things with machines, they had more advantage over other cultures that still made stuff by hand, giving them more power to control them. And that’s how one island took over the world.

Since the United Kingdom ruled the world, many of their cultural customs have been spread across the world. This is why English essentially became the main language of the world, and why some countries were better off after declaring independence from Europe than if they never got colonized at all. Of course, the British Empire has fallen after World War II, but English remained to be the dominant language. That’s because another country has rose to world power, a country that England once colonized before it broke apart. I’m talking, the United States. America’s influence over the world, especially in the digital age, is why English still rules over other languages.

• Why is north always up? Early navigators relied upon the Sun as the direction. Even though it rises in the east and sets in the west, it mostly risen and set in the south. So the south is the “Sun side”. Many cultures favored east as the side up or the south side up. But it wasn’t until magnetic compasses were invented, as the compasses always pointed north. It had a south pointing too, but the bias towards the north came from the fact that they were invented in the northern hemisphere. And of course, European colonization made maps north-side up. It eventually bled into science, and then it became the global standard.
• How did Europe get separated from Asia? By the standards of science, Europe and Asia are part of one big continent called Eurasia. The separation of Europe from Asia first came from Ancient Greece, where Asia was the land of empires and Europe was simply smaller kingdoms. As time went on, Europe was defined as the land of dominant Christianity, while Asia was defined as the land of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. They also used geographical boundaries, as the Black Sea, Ural Mountains, and several other mountains and rivers divided Europe from Asia.
  • It’s also worth mentioning that the Mediterranean Sea, where many ancient civilizations were built along, had separated Africa, Europe, and Asia. Europe was to the north, Africa was to the south, and Asia was to the east. Out west is the wide open ocean.
• How did Russia become the largest country? Russia, once known as the Viking city of Novgorod, was once a small kingdom. It was invaded and taken over by the Mongols, but they were eventually expelled by Ivan III, the Grand Prince of Moscow. After the Mongols left, Russia focused on expansion. The absence of natural barriers allowed them to expand, while the harsh climate made it difficult for other countries to challenge Russia for the land.

I would also like to tell you that no Europeans, not even from the medieval period, believed that the world was flat. They believed that the world was round. The reason why they refused to sail was because they feared that the oceans were too big, not because they could fall off the edge of the Earth.

The Origins of Today’s Holidays:

While it’s obvious that 4th of July was based on the day America declared independence, this section will cover how today’s traditions of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter all came to be.

Halloween:

When we think of religion, we think Halloween is a Pagan holiday. That is actually true, except that it’s not Pagan in the sense of spooky creatures, but rather in the sense of it being an autumnal harvest festival, just like Thanksgiving.

The Celtic holiday Halloween was based on is Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts believed that the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred at this time of the year, so they used it to honor their ancestors. But they also believe that evil spirits would take over, so they had to use many skills to ward off the evil spirits. They included sacrifices (even crop sacrifices), dressing kids up as demons, and carving jack-o-lanterns (which were turnips, not pumpkins).

The name “Halloween” is actually a Christian name, not a Pagan name. When Christians took over the holiday, they had to discard the Pagan rituals and make it the day of honoring saints. This is known as All Hallows Day, also known as All Saints Day. The day before was “All Hallows Eve”, named after the evening before All Hallows Day. It was contracted to Hallowe’en, which was later changed to Halloween.

The pumpkins, they were from North America, not Ireland. When the Irish moved to the New World, they started carving pumpkins because they were bigger. The costumes may have originated form Samhain (which includes ghosts and witches and why they were popular costumes), but the trick-or-treating part, that came from the United States. The tricks were dressing up, telling jokes, or reciting poems. The first tricks, which came from the Great Depression, were rather extreme. They started trick-or-treating to discourage vandalism. As a child-friendly alternative, they started giving out candy to kids in costumes.

Thanksgiving:

So we know all about the first Thanksgiving, which was a peace treaty between the Indians and the pilgrims. But where did these other Thanksgiving traditions come from, like the turkey, the 4th-Thurdsay Thanksgiving, and the family gatherings?

Starting with turkey, Thanksgiving feasts didn’t start serving turkey until the middle of the 1800s. In 1857, it became the traditional meal of Thanksgiving dinners in New England. It wasn’t the pilgrims that ate turkey. They also didn’t eat stuffing or pumpkin pies. Even though stuffing was a thing for a long time, the bread and vegetables came from many family recipes. As for pumpkin pies, even though colonists ate pumpkins mixed with milk and honey, they didn’t eat pies. The pumpkin pies were invented in the 1700’s, where they mixed pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and spaces like cinnamon. When a cookbook in 1796 was published, pumpkin pies became a tradition of Thanksgiving.

The family gatherings for Thanksgiving, it was one of the solutions to the American Civil War. So we know that the war started because of slavery, which led to secession. Abraham Lincoln was more about keeping America together, not abolishing slavery. In attempt to unify the nation, he made Thanksgiving a national holiday. The unity surrounding Thanksgiving was what involved families meeting together. Not just nuclear families, but also extended families.

And yes, Abraham Lincoln did make Thanksgiving a national holiday, but he intended it to be the last Thursday of November. Franklin D Roosevelt was the one who made it the fourth Thursday of November. The problem with Thanksgiving always being the last Thursday has led to Christmas shopping seasons that were as short as 24 days. Roosevelt fixed that in 1939, when it became a holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. Now the shortest the shopping season can get is 26 days, which typically happens in years starting on a Tuesday.

Christmas:

Christmas may be the day of celebrating the birth of Jesus, but many of our modern Christmas traditions were Pagan rituals. If you took out nearly every Pagan tradition form Christmas, all you’ll be left with are the presents, the lights, and the Christmas songs.

This is true. The Christmas we know today is a Pagan holiday, as many of our traditions came from it. The trees, the wreaths, the Winter Solstice timing, and even the color scheme. The holiday Christmas was based on is Yule, a Celtic holiday surrounding the first day of Winter. The wreaths came from a Roman holiday called Saturnalia. The trees came from Yule, as pine trees were the trees that did not lose their leaves when Winter came. They were seen as the “victory of life and light over death and darkness” since many other trees were like dead. As for why red and green are the Christmas colors, red represented berries, and green represented the evergeen trees.

I will say that the presents around Christmas time did come from the birth of Jesus. When he was born, he was given three gifts from the Wise Men. One was gold. One was frankincense. And the other was myrrh. The fact he was given gifts was where the custom of gifting and receiving presents came from. The Christmas lights, that came from the United States. Although, I can say that candles were used as Christmas lights before. In 1882, Edward H. Johnson created the first strand of electric holiday lights. When he placed it on a Christmas tree in New York City, it has changed Christmas forever, as it became more about the lights. The Christmas lights having multiple colors also came from the United States. The first strand of lights used both red light bulbs and blue light bulbs.

Even the American Civil War created some of the Christmas traditions we follow today. The family gatherings, the Christmas cards, Christmas carols, and tree decorations, that came from the Civil War. The other thing that came from the Civil War was the fact that Christmas became a national holiday. This wasn’t the case back when the colonies were first established or when America first declared independence. Now Santa Claus, the myth originated from Saint Nicholas, but the modern depiction of Santa Claus and why he came from the North Pole came from Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist. Said cartoonist also portrayed the Democrats as donkeys, symbolizing their stubbornness, and the Republicans as elephants, symbolizing their pushiness, hence the donkey and elephant symbols.

Easter:

This may sound the most surprising, and the most heartbreaking, but it’s true that Easter also had Pagan origins, including the name. While the timing of the holiday was based on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the secular holiday of Easter was based on an ancient Celtic festival of love and fertility. This holiday is known as Ostara, named after the Celtic goddess Eastre. The eggs and the Easter bunny were symbolic with fertility.

The reason why these facts were “heartbreaking” was because in the Bible, using Pagan rituals to worship God is an abomination. And the day Jesus was resurrected was the holiest day of the year. The vernal timing of the holiday was based on Passover, but around this time was the Pagan holiday Ostara.

Other Interesting Facts:

So now you know where some of the traditions or norms began, it’s time to go over some other interesting facts. Some things that we believe were a thing since forever were fairly recent, meaning that some Disney movies are older than these norms. And some things we felt like were more modern were actually much older. So let’s go over some facts.

• The designation of Republicans being the red party and the Democrats being the blue party is quite new. It’s no older than the Bill of Rights, nor is it older than the American Red Cross. It’s not even older than the TV show SpongeBob SquarePants. It first became a thing in 2000, when red represented the states George W Bush (a Republican) won, and blue represented the states Al Gore (a Democrat) won.
• Remember when the Cubs last won in 2016? Before their 2016 win, the last time they won the World Series predates much of modern history. When they last won (before 2016), Arizona and New Mexico were yet to become states, the Titanic wasn’t even built, and Babe Ruth (one of baseball’s most famous players) wasn’t in the MLB yet. The radio, TV, and computer? Didn’t exist back then. Adolf Hitler? He didn’t even become a general yet. The next time the Cubs won the World Series, Osama bin Laden (who already gained enough infamy by then) was dead for at least five years.
• Speaking of the Cubs, the association with the South and the Confederacy may be old, and so is baseball, but the first “all-Confederate” World Series occurred in 2021. Not too long later, the ALCS was an all-Texas championship series, which is an amazing feat given that only two MLB teams come from Texas.
• The idea that Heaven and Hell were from a different dimension didn’t become a thing until the 20th century, when modern telescopes were invented. Even as late as the 19th century, people believed that Heaven was simply above and Hell was simply below.
• The association with rabbits and carrots first came from Looney Tunes. However, the association with mice and cheese is much older than that.
• The chocolate chip cookie was first invented in 1938. This means that Oreos (invented in 1912) and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (invented in 1928) are older than the chocolate chip cookie.
• Some of our Christmas carols are no older than a few Disney songs. For example, “Little Wooden Head” is older than the song “Little Drummer Boy”.
• Iron maidens have never been used as torture devices, let alone, in the medieval period. They were first made in the 1700’s and 1800’s by museum curators for shock value to patrons.
• While computers were an invention from the 20th century, the oldest computer in the world is actually older than Christianity. There is an ancient Greek computer that was used to measure the position of the stars.
• Taylor Swift may be one of the most influential people in the music industry, but none of her songs are older than the DK Rap, which was some cheesy song composed by Grant Kirkhope as part of the game Donkey Kong 64.
• Anne Frank and Martin Luther King were both born in the same year.
• Harper Lee and Elie Weisel both died in the same year.
• The last execution done by the guillotine in France happened sometime after Star Wars came out in theaters.
• Although America never elected a female president, it did elect a female vice president, but not before Animal Crossing: New Horizons became a game.
• Another thing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is older than: ChatGPT.