Christmas is from the Old English words Cristes moesse, 'the mass or festival of Christ'. The first celebration took place in Rome about the middle of the fourth century. The exact date of the Nativity is not known, but even in pre-Christian times the period from December 25 to January 6 — now known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas" — was considered a special time of year. The abbreviation Xmas, thought as sacrilegious by some, is entirely appropriate. The letter X (chi) is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ.

Reindeer is actually redundant. The root rein is Scandinavian for 'reindeer', so reindeer translates to 'reindeer deer'. It came to English from Old Norse hreindyri.

Mistletoe is thought to be based on a German word for bird excrement (mix) from the fact that the plant is propagated in it, though there is also a theory that the term derived from another German word (mash) which refers to the stickiness of the berries. It is combined with an Old English word (toe) meaning 'twig'. This shrub usually grows on broad-leaved trees like apple, lime, and poplar.

Christmas carol is a term which originally referred to a non-religious ring dance accompanied by singing. Eventually it came to mean a merry song with a tune that could be danced to. The Italian friars who lived with St. Francis of Assisi were the first to compose these songs, c. 1410. Since the nineteenth century, carols have been sung in place of hymns in most churches on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

St. Nicholas was not only wealthy but modest, and he liked to help people in need without drawing attention to himself. Poor families would often find a gold piece or well-filled purse without knowing where it had come from. His American successor, Santa Claus, carried on the tradition.

Native to Central America, the red and green poinsettia has been a symbol of Christmas in the United States since the 1820s when it was first shipped to North America by Joel Poinsett, the American minister to Mexico.

Wassail comes from the Middle English waes haeil (c. 1205), which means 'be in good health' or 'be fortunate'. Wassailing was the Old English custom of toasting the holiday and each other's health. Wassail is also the name of the spiced apple beverage used in such toasting; it has been drunk since around 1300.

The word winter comes from an old Germanic word that means "time of water" and refers to the rain and snow - as well as low temperatures - of the season in middle and high latitudes. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is commonly regarded as extending from the winter solstice (the year's shortest day), December 21 or 22, to the vernal equinox, the start of Spring. The word winter came into English c 888.

Dormant comes from the Latin word dormire 'to sleep,' and its original meaning was sleeping, literally or figuratively. Dormant and dormancy later were used to describe plants and seeds as well as animals, especially during the winter season.

Fire is often associated with winter, for its great contribution to keeping us warm. The English word has many cognates (words related by descent from the same ancestral language) in the Germanic languages and corresponds to Greek, Umbrian, Armenian, and Sanskrit terms. Originally, the word described emotion and passion; by 1300, it described one of the four "elements" (with earth, wind, water). The spelling fire was first recorded around 1200, but it did not become fully established until the early 1600s.

The word hibernate derives from the Latin terms hibernare 'to winter,' from hiberna 'winter quarters' and hibernus 'wintry.' Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin, first used the word in 1802, according to Noah Webster.

Ice has cognates in Germanic languages and is ultimately from Proto-Germanic. Beowulf used an Old English form of it around 723. Freeze has a similar background and its sense of chill or be chilled was first used in a phrase meaning, "It is so cold that water turns to ice."

The word skate was originally plural and comes from Dutch schaats, which derived from an Old French word for 'stilt' but the connection is unclear. Skate appeared in English in the mid-seventeenth century. Ski, in English by 1755, was borrowed from Norwegian, and ultimately from Old Norse for 'snowshoe.' And sled came from Flemish and Germanic sledde between 1325-1388 for a 'vehicle for transporting heavy goods' and is related to sledge and sleigh.

Snow is of Teutonic in origin, from an Indo-European root shared by the Latin words niv-/nix and Greek nipha. The spelling snow first appeared in English around 1200.

The solstice is one of the two times of year when the Sun's apparent path is farthest north or south from the Earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is on December 21 or 22. The situation is exactly the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where the winter solstice is on June 21 or 22. The word solstice is from Latin solstitium, from sol 'sun' and sistere 'to stand still,' as it is regarded as a point at which the Sun seems to stand still. The word was first used in English around 1250.

More than 2,000 years ago, when the Syrian-Greek King Antiochus IV occupied Jerusalem, he forced the Jews to worship the Greek gods. For three years, Judah the Maccabee (also Judas Maccabeus) led a rebellion against the Syrians, and when he finally defeated them in 165 BCE, the Jews could worship freely again. To rededicate the temple, they cleaned it up from top to bottom and then relit the menorah, their special branched candelabrum. They could only find enough consecrated (pure) oil for one day, and it would take eight days to prepare more oil. They managed to make the oil in the bottle last eight days and Hanukkah celebrates both this and the rededication of the temple. Today, families gather around a menorah and light one candle on the first night of Hanukkah, two on the second, and so on for all eight nights of the festival. There are songs, stories, presents, food fried in oil (latkes, jelly doughnuts called sufganiyot) and prayers. Children play games of chance with the spinning tops called dreidels.

Hanukkah (also spelled Hanukka, Chanukah, Chanukkah), is from Hebrew and means "conse cation, dedication." It was first recorded in English in 1891. Hanukkah is observed somewhere between November 25 and December 26, from 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet, because the original rededication was on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. The celebration is also called the Festival of Lights, Feast of Lights, Feast of Dedication, or Feast of the Maccabees.

The ancient gambling game called dreidel is actually a Yiddish word coming from German drehen, "to turn." (It is known as sevivon in Hebrew.) The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, he/hay, and sh'in on its faces. These letters stand for the sentence Nes Gadol Haya Sham, "A great miracle happened there!" (In modern Israel, the letters of the dreidel were changed to reflect the translation, "A great miracle happened here.") In the game, players gamble with pennies or pieces of candy. Depending on which letter comes up when the top is spun, the player adds to or takes out of the pot: N take nothing, G take all the pot, H take half the pot, SH add to the pot. The letters also have numeric values which can be used in the game.

A latke is a potato pancake and it is usually served with sour cream and applesauce. The word latke is Yiddish, from Russian l´tka, "pastry." The word first appeared in English in 1927. Latkes are served at Hanukkah in memory of the Maccabee women who cooked latkes for the Jewish soldiers when they were fighting the Syrians. Because latkes are fried in oil, they also symbolize the oil that miraculously lasted for eight days in the original menorah.

A menorah is a nine-branch candelabrum designed to commemorate the eight days that the oil in the temple lamp burned. One holder anchors the shamas or shamash or shammash, the "worker" candle that is used to light the others. The candles are inserted in the menorah incrementally each night of the festival from right to left but are lit from left to right - one for the first night, two for the second, and so on. A blessing is also offered while the candles are lit each night. Menorah is Hebrew for "candlestick, candelabrum," or "lamp stand." The original menorah in the ancient temple in Jerusalem had seven branches; it now has eight branches and a holder for the shamas to celebrate Hanukkah. The seven-branched menorah is still a symbol of Judaism and also the nation of Israel. Shamas(h) is Hebrew for "attendant," from a base word meaning "to serve." The Hanukkah menorah is also called the hanukkiyyah. The first candle is lit at sundown on the 24th day of Kislev. Free software! Get instant dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia access from most Mac and Windows programs.

During the winter of 1620, half of the 102 Mayflower passengers (Pilgrims) who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died. The following spring, a Native American named Squanto helped those who survived plant corn and barley. Their autumn harvest was a success and the colony held a thanksgiving celebration, inviting Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag tribe, to join their feast. Encyclopaedia Britannica gives this account:

"Plymouth's Thanksgiving began with a few colonists going out "fowling," possibly for turkeys but more probably for the easier prey of geese and ducks, since they "in one day killed as much as...served the company almost a week." Next, 90 or so Wampanoag made a surprise appearance at the settlement's gate, doubtlessly unnerving the 50 or so colonists. Nevertheless, over the next few days the two groups socialized without incident. The Wampanoag contributed venison to the feast, which included the fowl and probably fish, eels, shellfish, stews, vegetables, and beer."

The standard Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie does not really reflect the original Plymouth event!

The US Continental Congress proclaimed a national Thanksgiving upon the enactment of the Constitution, but by 1798 the celebration of Thanksgiving was left up to the individual states. A women's magazine editor ("Godey's Lady's Book") named Sarah Hale petitioned to establish a national day of thanksgiving for more than 20 years. In 1863, US President Abraham Lincoln finally proclaimed August 6 as Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday. In 1867, President Andrew Johnson moved it to the last Thursday in November. Though President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried moving it up a week — to stimulate the economy by allowing more time for Christmas shopping — and Ulysses S. Grant (in 1870) moved it to November 18 — Thanksgiving Day was officially set in 1941 as a legal federal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October.

The autumn harvest has always been a cause for celebration. The ancient Greeks honored Demeter, their corn goddess, in October. The Romans had Cerealia, held also in October, to honor their grain goddess, Ceres. Jewish people observe Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, in autumn. And both North and South American Indians celebrated the harvest. Most of these celebrations were social and religious occasions. There were also English Harvest Home celebrations and Dutch thanksgiving traditions, which the Pilgrims knew about before traveling to America. Even in America, it is said that there were at least two "Thanksgiving" celebrations before the one in Plymouth. In 1607, English settlers shared a harvest feast and prayer meeting with Abnaki Indians near the mouth of the Kennebec River. In 1619, there was a celebration in Virginia where colonists who had traveled up the James River came ashore and joined Native Americans to give thanks.

Cornucopia is a Latin form evolved from two words cornu copiae, "horn of plenty." The horn of plenty was fabled to be the horn of the goat nymph Amalthaea, whose milk was fed to the baby Zeus in Greek mythology. The cornucopia is a goat's horn filled with corn and other grains, flowers, and fruit. It has long been a symbol of fruitfulness and abundance and at Thanksgiving, baskets shaped like cornucopia are filled and put on display.

The word feast comes from the Latin festa (plural of festum), "festive ceremonies" and was originally a religious celebration commemorating a person, like the Bible's Passover. There are movable feasts like Easter, whose date changes each year, and immovable feasts, like Christmas and saints' days. The word feast came into English in the 13th century.

Indian corn is the common name of Zea Mays, also called maize, a North American plant or the grain produced by it. Indian corn was cultivated by Native Americans at the time of the discovery of America. Columbus and other explorers introduced corn to Europe, from where it spread to all areas of the world suitable to its cultivation. Native Americans taught colonists to grow the indigenous grains, which included some varieties of yellow corn that are popular as food as well as varieties with red, blue, pink, and black kernels, often banded, spotted, or striped, that are now regarded as ornamental. In the United States, these variegated corns are traditionally used in autumn harvest decorations and are called Indian corn.

The oldest Thanksgiving Day parade (Latin parare, "to make ready, procure, prepare, furnish"), dating to 1920, is Gimbel's department store's in Philadelphia. Macy's department store held its first parade in 1924.

The pilgrims were originally called Puritans because they wanted to "purify" the Church of England, which they felt was too caught up with ritual. Many people studied the Bible and listened to sermons in private homes — without the ritual activities — and if they were caught, would have been considered treasonous. The 102 people who made the voyage on the Mayflower included some people who decided to travel to the New World for these religious reasons. The basic meaning of pilgrim, was "traveler, wanderer" and our English word can be traced back through French to Latin pelegrinus, an alternation of peregrinum, "foreigner."

Turkey was originally the name for African guinea fowl and eventually for the Western hemisphere fowl with which the earlier fowl was confused. The existence of the wild turkey in North America was recorded in 1613 by Samuel Purchas in his book "Pilgrimage." Because of their size (20-30 pounds), the turkey was relatively easy to catch and became a source of food for early American settlers. The turkey did not become part of Thanksgiving tradition until the 1860s. Benjamin Franklin lobbied unsuccessfully to have the turkey declared the national bird of the United States. The custom of snapping the turkey's wishbone (the forked bone in front of the breastbone) goes back to ancient Roman times, making it a tradition long before the Pilgrims came to America.

The armistice that ended the fighting of World War I was signed in Marshal Ferdinand Foch's railroad car in the Forest of Compiègne, France, on November 11, 1918. Celebrations were held in Paris, London, and New York City. During the 1920s, the annual observance of the armistice was known as Remembrance Day in England and Canada and Armistice Day or Victory Day in the United States. It became more of an official US memorial in 1921 when the remains of an unidentified American soldier from World War I who had died fighting in France lay in state in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. for three days. Then he was buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. At the same time, the burial of unknown soldiers at Westminster Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris took place. November 11 became a national US holiday in 1938.

Veterans' groups lobbied to have November 11 set aside to pay tribute to those who had fought in the world wars as well as the Korean War. In 1954, a bill was passed that officially changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans' Day in the US. Naturalization ceremonies have come to be an important part of the day's activities.

Grammatically, it should be Veterans' Day with a possessive apostrophe (i.e. a day for or belonging to veterans), but you will often find this holiday spelled without the apostrophe. The word veteran ultimately comes from Latin veter/vetus, "old" (which became veteranus, "of long experience") and the word's original meaning was that of an old soldier or one who had a long history of military service. Our modern meaning in North America is any ex-serviceperson.

The word armistice is derived from the Latin armistitium, from arma, "arms" and -stitium, "stopping." It means a temporary cessation from fighting or the use of arms, or a short truce.

The poppy is a small red flower that grows wild in the fields of Europe — where many of those who died in World War I are buried. Poppies have long been associated with World War I memorials through the poem, "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian Army physician John McCrae:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium and Flanders Fields' is also the name of an American war cemetery near Waregem, Belgium, where several hundred Americans are buried. Flanders was the site of heavy fighting during World War I and the poppy came to symbolize both the beauty of the land and the blood shed there. In several countries, like the US, paper poppies are sold to raise money for the support of veterans and are worn in the lapel as a sign of remembrance.

A tomb is any place of burial, but to most it means a chamber or vault in the earth. The word is derived from Latin tumba and Greek tymbos, "sepulchral mound." The principal observation of Veterans' Day in the US still takes place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Sentries maintain a vigil at the gravesite throughout the year and, since 1960, a flaming torch first lit in Antwerp, Belgium, has been mounted there. Taps are sounded at 11:00 a.m. on November 11 and a wreath is place on the shrine.

The word campaign had several other meanings prior to its political sense. It first meant "a tract of open land," from Latin campus, "level ground." It evolved into the military sense from an army's "taking the field" (moving from a protected area or fortress to open land or country for battle). By 1809, the political sense was recorded — referring to the organized efforts of office-seekers to sway public opinion or influence their vote at an upcoming election.

Democracy is an important term derived from Greek for "power or rule by the people." A democrat first indicated an opponent of the aristocrats of the French Revolution of 1790 and the word is patterned on aristocrat. In the US, the Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties and its traditional symbol is the donkey. Though this party can be traced back to 1792 — actually named Republicans or Jeffersonian Republicans at that time — it did not take on the name of Democrat until the 1830s. The Republican Party, or GOP (Grand Old Party), has an elephant as its symbol. This party is traceable to 1853 and adopted its official name in 1854. The word republic is from Latin res publica, from res, "affair, matter" and publicus, "public."

Election came via French from Latin electionem from the earlier eligere, "to choose, pick out." The formal process of selecting a person for public office or of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting was used in ancient Greece and Rome and also for the selection of Holy Roman emperors and popes, but as a truly organized process it really only dates to the 17th century in Europe and North America.

The word politics is based on the Greek polites, "citizen," from polis, "city." Though government has existed way back in time, politics as the art or science of government dates only to the 16th century.

An early sense of poll was a count of heads or of votes, based on the original sense of poll, as "human head." The use of the word evolved into its sense as a "census" and then as the "voting at an election" by 1832, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Vote is from Latin votum, "vow, wish," which was the word"s original meaning in English. The word had a number of (now) obsolete meanings before it took on the sense (in the 15th century) of "a formal expression of one"s opinion or approval or disapproval of a matter, esp. a candidate, motion, or proposal."

Halloween can be traced back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the Lord of the Dead. Observed on November 1 in the British Isles and parts of France, Samhain also marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year. Because it was a time of transition between the old and the new, the Celts believed that the souls of those who had died during the previous year gathered to travel together to the land of the dead and it was also a time when those who had died before that returned to visit their homes. November 1 was also considered the end of the summer period, the date on which the herds were returned from pasture and land tenures were renewed. People lit bonfires to scare away evil spirits and "sacrificed" fruits and vegetables, hoping to appease the spirits of the deceased. Sometimes people disguised themselves in masks and costumes so that the visiting spirits would not recognize them. Charms, spells, and predictions of the future were all part of the eve of Samhain. In the old Celtic calendar, that last evening of October was "old-year's night," the night of all the witches.

When Christianity burgeoned, starting in the fourth century, pagan festivals like Samhain were very much frowned upon. However, the Celts would not give up their ancient rituals and symbols — so the Christian church gave them new names and meanings. November 1 became All Saints' Day (All Hallows' Day in England), by proclamation of Pope Boniface IV in the 7th century, a celebration of all the Christian saints. The evening before All Saints' Day, October 31, became a holy, or hallowed, eve and thus All Hallows' Eve (later Hallow-e'en, Hallowe'en, Halloween). Despite the name change, this holiday's association with the supernatural persisted.

Halloween came to be accepted in America with the influx of Irish immigrants in the 1840s. Their folk customs and beliefs merged with existing agricultural traditions. The early American Halloween, therefore, was not only a time to foretell the future and dabble in the occult, but was connected with seasonal tasks of the fall harvest. Over the years, the holiday's agricultural and harvest significance faded and it became primarily a children's holiday — one where they dressed up as the spirits (ghosts and goblins) that their ancestors at one time feared.

Bonfire comes from the words bone and fire ("fire of bones") and originally indicated a large open-air fire on which bones were burnt, either as a ceremony (like a funeral) or for burning heretics or banned books. The Halloween bonfires were lit to scare away evil spirits. Nowadays, bonfires are also celebratory — after a day at the beach or for a homecoming football game.

The word costume came to English via French from Italian for "fashion" or "custom, habit," from Latin consuetudo/consuetudinem meaning "custom." Mask also made a trip through French (masque) from Italian maschera/mascara, perhaps from Latin masca, "evil spirit, witch."

Ghost comes from an Old English word gast/gost, "spirit, soul" and has related forms in other West Germanic languages. These related words appear to be connected with Sanskrit hea, "anger, fury." Goblin is from French and it may be related to the German Kobold, a mythological spirit who haunted homes and lived underground in caves and mines. Etymologists believe it may be related to Greek kobalos and to Latin Gobelinus, mischievous spirits. The goblin carries the connotation of being grotesque and ugly, evil and malicious. The ghost is just downright scary, being the supposed soul of a dead person.

A jack-o'-lantern (also jack-a-lantern) is a hollowed-out pumpkin, originally a turnip, carved into a demonic face and lit with a candle inside. Light from a candle inserted inside can be seen flickering through the jack-o'-lantern's cutout eyes, nose, and usually grotesquely grinning mouth. The custom originated in the British Isles, with a large turnip or other vegetable rather than a pumpkin. The original meaning of the word jack-o'-lantern was "night watchman" or "man with a lantern," but it took on the Halloween sense by 1837, first in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales.

Pumpkin — the large fruit of the plant Cucurbita Pepo — is a word evolved from the original English spelling of pompeon or pumpion or pompion to pumkin and finally to pumpkin. The word pompion came from Latin pepo/peponem from Greek pepon, "large melon, edible gourd," from another word pepon, "cooked by the sun; ripe." Another spelling variant is punkin.

In Old English, witch was actually wicca and originally (c 890) was a man who practiced magic or sorcery, which we now call wizard. By the year 1000, witch came to be defined as "a female magician or sorceress."

The colors associated with Halloween are black and orange. Orange, the color of the jack-o'-lantern, is a symbol of strength and endurance as well as of autumn and the harvest. Black is primarily a symbol of death and darkness. The black of a witch's cloak and the black cat are reminders that Halloween was once a festival of the dead.

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on San Salvador in the Bahamas, sure that he had reached the East Indies. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain sponsored his trip west to search for a faster trade route to the Orient. Up until the end of his life (1506), Columbus believed that he had found that route. The anniversary of his landing was formally celebrated for the first time by the Society of St. Tammany, also known as the Columbian Order, in New York City on October 12, 1792. Columbus Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October (since 1971) and it is a tribute to the revelation of a New World. Columbus himself, a native of Genoa, Italy, is a hero of Italian-Americans. On the 400th anniversary of his landing, a presidential proclamation made it a national holiday. The landing of Columbus also came to be commemorated as a holiday in Italy, and in most of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas it is celebrated with fiestas as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) — because many of the Spanish settlers who followed Columbus married native peoples and created a new "race."

America is named for navigator Amerigo Vespucci who followed after Columbus and extended his discoveries. Vespucci (1451-1512) was Italian explorer who navigated the coast of South America in 1501.

The word discover goes back to Latin dis- and cooperire, meaning "to remove the covering; completely uncover." By 1553, it was used to mean "seeing or gaining knowledge of something previously unknown" and "finding out; bringing to light."

Navigation first described the action of traveling on water and is traceable to Latin navigare, "to sail." Navigate originally meant "to go from one place to another in a ship" from navis, "ship" and igare/agere, "drive, lead."

Voyage first described a "journey by sea or land," from Latin viaticum, "provisions for a journey." The phrase boon voyage ("prosperous journey") was altered to bon voyage late in the 17th century.

There has been much debate about both the accomplishments and the destruction caused by Columbus's voyages. The view of Columbus as a hero has been countered by the study of the impact of the slave trade and the ravages of disease brought by the visitors upon the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean region and the Americas. Columbus himself was not greatly revered by his companions or the natives he encountered. Still, Columbus is regarded as a hero for accomplishing the four voyages, for bringing great material profit to Spain and other European countries, and for opening up the Americas to European settlement.
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Autumn or Fall is regarded as the third season of the year, from the descending or autumnal equinox to the winter solstice, approximately September 21 to December 21. Chaucer first used the word autumn c 1374, which is derived from Latin autumnus/auctumnus. The use of fall to mean autumn in North American English comes from the phrase fall of the leaf and it came into use by 1545 for this time of year when the leaves fall from the trees. The term autumn is still preferred in British English.

An equinox, literally 'equal night' from Latin aequinoctium, occurs twice a year when the Sun crosses the equator and day and night are equal in length. The autumnal equinox is actually the moment at which the Sun crosses the equator, usually on September 22 or 23.

The word foliage first appeared in late Middle English, was spelled foilage, and meant 'a design resembling leaves' though quite quickly it took on the collective meaning of 'leaves of a plant or tree.' The word traces back through French to Latin folium, 'leaf,' which influenced the later spelling change. In the fall, there are many foliage tours and leaf-peeper trips to see the spectacular changes in leaf colors.

Leaves are green because of pigments called chlorophylls. When chlorophylls are abundant in the leaves' cells during the growing season, the chlorophylls' green color dominates and masks the colors of any other pigments in the leaves. Thus, the leaves of summer are characteristically green. But as autumn approaches, certain influences both inside and outside the plant cause the chlorophylls to be replaced at a slower rate than they are being used. The "masking" effect slowly fades and the other pigments that have been present begin to show. These are called carotenoids and they give the leaves colors of yellow, brown, and orange. The reds, the purples, and their blended combinations come from another group of pigments in the cells called anthocyanins. These pigments are not present in the leaves throughout the growing season but develop in late summer in the sap of the leaf cells due to complex interactions both inside and outside the plant. The formation of anthocyanins depends on the breakdown of sugars in the presence of bright light as the level of phosphate in the leaves is reduced.

Harvest is from an Old English word haerfest which meant 'autumn' which had Germanic origins and shared an Indo-European root with related forms like Latin carpere and Greek karpos. Harvest's original meaning in English was 'autumn' and then came to refer to the season for reaping and gathering grain and other grown products. The full moon nearest the autumnal equinox is called the Harvest Moon. Near the time of the autumnal equinox, the angle of the moon's orbit relative to the Earth's horizon is at its minimum, causing the full moon to rise above the horizon much faster than usual. Because the harvest moon, like any full moon, must rise near the hour of sunset, harvest workers in the Northern Hemisphere may be aided by bright moonlight after sunset.

A common autumn phenomenon in the central, eastern, and northern United States and in Europe is Indian summer, a period of unseasonably warm and dry weather that sometimes occurs in late October or November. The name may come from this phenomenon having first been noticed in the region occupied by the Native Americans (Indians) in North America.

The names of the months September, October, November are rooted in Latin. September is from septem 'seventh month' of the early Roman calendar - though it is now the ninth month in the Gregorian calendar. October (octo) is Latin for 'eighth month' (now tenth) and November (novem) is Latin for 'ninth month' (now eleventh in the Gregorian calendar). In Old English, September was called 'harvest month.'

In 1882, Peter J. McGuire, a leader of the labor union the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (joiner being "a craftsman who constructs things by joining pieces of wood" or "a worker in wood who does more ornamental work than a carpenter") proposed a day to honor laborers. Laborers were considered a new class that worked in the factories and plants created by the Industrial Revolution. Labor Day became a national holiday on which workers in the 1890s and early 20th century used to call attention to their grievances. There were often parades, political speeches, fireworks, and a picnic. Today, Labor Day, celebrated on the first Monday in September (as of 1894, by law), simply honors anyone who works. The date has no traditional or historic significance but was picked because it filled a gap in the schedule of legal holidays. Canada also celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September; many other countries observe this on May 1. The word labor comes from Latin laborem, "distress, toil trouble; drudgery, labor," and first referred to work that was compulsory or painful. The meaning changed with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The first labor unions or trade unions came with the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain in the 18th century.

Employ comes from a French word employer, which first meant "to apply or make something for a specific purpose." The French word traces back to Latin implicare, "to involve or engage." By the late 16th century, the sense of "to use the services of a person in a business or professional capacity" was recorded. The word employer was coined by Shakespeare (c 1599) and he also used employ and employment. Employee was first recorded in 1850 according to the Oxford English Dictionary, though previously it was spelled employé and was used by 1834 for "one who is employed." The word payroll is a combination of pay and roll as in "list," i.e. "a list of employees to be paid."

A factory was originally a place where traders did their business in another country. The word is based on Latin factorium "an oil press" (for olive oil). As a place for manufacture of goods, the word was first recorded in 1618. According to Wikipedia, the world's first factory was the Venice Arsenal (1104) in Italy, where ships were mass-produced on assembly lines using manufactured parts.

The word college comes from Latin collegium, "association, partnership," from collega, "partner in office." In English, it dates from the 14th century and its early meanings were for a body of colleagues or an assemblage, as of companions. As an educational institution, it first referred to a self-governing corporation or society in a university, as the College of the Sorbonne in the University of Paris, and the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. In Roman law, a collegium was a body of persons associated for a common function. The name was used by many medieval institutions – from guilds to the body that elected the Holy Roman emperor. The word university is from Latin universitas, "the whole," from universus, "combined into one." The term was used in English by 1300 and it referred to a whole body of teachers and students at a place for higher education. The words college and university are sometimes used synonymously. However, the difference usually drawn between a college and a university is that a college offers degrees in one or a few specific areas, while a university is a collection of colleges. When one attends a university, one is likely to be enrolled and then graduating from one of its colleges, such as the business college or college of fine arts. A university differs from a college in that it is usually larger, has a broader curriculum, and offers graduate and professional degrees in addition to undergraduate degrees. The earliest Western institution that could be called a university was a medical school in Salerno, Italy, in the 9th century.

Library comes from Latin libraria, "bookshop," and librarius, "relating to books," from liber, "book." Chaucer was the first recorded user of the word library in English (c 1374) as a place set aside to hold books for reading, reference, and study. A Latinized Greek word, bibliotheca, is the origin of the word for library in German, Russian, and the Romance languages. Archaeologists have found a temple in the Babylonian town of Nippur, dating from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, in which a number of rooms were filled with clay tablets, suggesting a well-stocked archive or library.

At first, pencil denoted a fine paintbrush and the word is derived from a diminutive of Latin peniculus, "brush" – which itself is actually a diminutive of penis "tail." Chaucer also holds the distinction of having first used the word pencil (c 1386) as the instrument used in painting. By 1612, a pencil was a writing instrument – a thin cylinder with a tapering point made of various materials such as chalk, charcoal, graphite, plumbago, slate, etc. The amount of clay used determines the degree of hardness of the lead in a pencil, e.g. No.1 is soft, No. 2 is medium-soft, etc.

School traces back to Greek skhole "lectureplace," but earlier it meant "leisure," "learned discussion," and "study." This very old word appeared in English by 1000 AD and it has cognates in nearly all Celtic, Romance, and Teutonic languages. It became Latin schola "school," and then Old English scól.

The word study is based on Latin studium which meant "painstaking application" or "zeal, eagerness," and was related to Latin studere "to be zealous." Student, studio, and studious all share this base. Study's earliest uses are surprising: "affection, friendliness" (again, by Chaucer, c 1374), an "occupation or pursuit," and "a state of reverie or abstraction; state of perplexity." Soon, though, it was used to mean thought or effort that was applied toward the accomplishment of a purpose.

Teach in Old English (c 888) first meant "to present or point out; instruct" and the word is of Germanic origin. The word teacher was first used to mean "that which points out or shows," and then quickly became used in the sense of "instructor."

Independence Day or Fourth of July is the annual celebration of the United States' "birthday," the date of the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The first celebrations included bell ringing, bonfires, processions, and speeches. In some towns, these celebrations also had a mock funeral for the king, symbolizing the end of America's rule by the British monarchy. It was not until 1941, however, that Congress officially established the Fourth of July as a legal holiday. The date could easily have been July 2, the day on which the Continental Congress approved a resolution for independence, or August 2, the day on which the members of Congress actually signed the document. But it was on July 4 that the final text of the Declaration, which had been drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was ratified. By 1788, the Fourth of July also commemorated the U.S. Constitution as well, which had recently been approved by ten states.

Feasting has always been part of Fourth of July celebrations. In the beginning there were banquets, but this has evolved into outdoor barbecues and picnics. Barbecue was originally a word for a wooden framework for sleeping or for drying or storing meat or fish. The word derives from Arawak or Haitian or Taina barbacoa and became Spanish barbacoa, "wooden frame on posts" or "framework for meat over fire." Barbeque is the variant spelling. In English, the word's first meanings were the framework and the animal roasted on it; the usage of "social entertainment" is not recorded until 1733. Picnic is from French pique-nique, but that word's origin is unknown. Picnics started out as social occasions (the word first recorded in English in 1748) to which each participant brought comestibles.

The bald eagle (also called the American or white-headed eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the national bird of the United States and one of the largest birds in the world. "Bald" in this instance means "white," not "hairless." Eagle comes from the Latin word aquila, "black eagle," from aquilus, "dark-colored," which it is until it gets the white head plumage as an adult. The eagle has been a symbol of freedom and liberty and power since ancient times. Some people, like Benjamin Franklin, did not agree that the eagle was an appropriate symbol. Franklin thought the turkey was a better choice for the national bird.

The term for a combustible or explosive or pyrotechnic ("pertaining to fire art") projectile was "rocket" until fireworks was used in 1777 to describe these in connection with the first Fourth of July celebration. "Rockets" are still the most popular form of firework. Rockets are lifted by recoil from the jet of fire created by the burning ingredients — and they are designed for maximum combustion and maximum thrust. Fireworks originated in ancient China. The word firecracker refers to those that make loud sounds and sparklers are those that send off a shower of sparks. The very first Fourth of July celebrations in 1777 included fireworks as a part of the festivities.

A flag as a piece of cloth used as a standard, signal, or symbol in English dates to the late 15th century. The word may be an onomatopoeic representation for such a cloth flapping in the wind, but the origin remains obscured. As far as the American flag goes, there are many theories about its origin, with the story of Betsy Ross being the most famous.

The first Fourth of July parade took place on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. when President John Quincy Adams led a boat procession up the river. Parade comes from a French word meaning "a showing" or "action of stopping a horse," originating from Latin parare, "to prepare."

Summer is the warmest season of the year and starts at the summer solstice and runs till the autumnal equinox. The word summer derives from Old Norse sumar, but ultimately is from Proto-Germanic. By the late 1500s to early 1600s, it locked into its current spelling. The term midsummer actually refers to the day of the summer solstice as well as the "middle of summer." Its formation was patterned on words like midday, midnight, and midwinter.

Bonfire comes from the words bone and fire, referring to an open-air burning of bones or funeral pyre. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the use in Scotland of the form bane-fire and also to the annual midsummer banefire or bonfire in the burgh of Hawick, for which bones were collected and stored regularly until around 1800. Lighting bonfires was one of the most universal of ancient midsummer rites and one that still survives in some northern European countries. The solstice bonfires were believed to prevent cattle disease and were also associated with human courtship and fertility.

The phrase dog days is said to have originated in Roman times as canicularis dies, 'days of the dog,' referring to the dog star Sirius or Procyon. The Romans thought the rising of the most brilliant star of the constellation Canis Major contributed to the heat of summer.

The word humidity is from Latin humidus, from humere 'to be moist.' Humidity was found in English c 1400.

The solstice is one of the two times of year when the Sun's apparent path is farthest north or south from the Earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is on June 21 or 22, the longest day of the year. The situation is exactly the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where the summer solstice is on December 21 or 22. The word solstice is from Latin solstitium, from sol 'sun' and sistere 'to stand still,' as it is regarded as a point at which the Sun seems to stand still. The word was first used in English around 1250.

Though modern observances of the summer solstice are rare, there were celebrations in ancient times in Europe, the British Isles, China, Egypt, North Africa, and Scandinavia. These include the celebration in ancient Egypt at the Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak, starting around 3700 B.C.E., where a beam of light would illuminate a sanctuary in the temple's interior for about two or three minutes on the day of the solstice. A similar phenomenon was observed at Stonehenge in southwest England. If one stands at the center of the monument and faces northeast along its axis, the 35-ton Heel Stone appears 256 feet away, marking the approximate place on the horizon where the sun rises on the summer solstice. Astronomers have discovered at least two dozen other solar and lunar alignments that the ancient builders of Stonehenge incorporated into its structure.

Vacation is a word coming from Latin vacation/vacatio, from vacare 'to be free, empty; to be at leisure.' Around 1395, this term entered Old English, meaning 'rest and freedom from any activity.'

The celebration of Father's Day was inspired by the success of Mother's Day (which was observed nationally for the first time in 1914). Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was listening to a Mother's Day sermon in church in 1909 and decided that fathers deserved a similar day of recognition. Her father, a Civil War veteran, raised Sonora and her five siblings after their mother died in childbirth. She circulated a petition suggesting the third Sunday in June (the month in which her father was born) and urging people to wear a rose on that day in honor of their fathers. The first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910. It was not until 1966, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, that it was proclaimed a national holiday and observance of this on the third Sunday in June was made a law in 1972.

The word father first appeared in Old English spelled as fæder (c. 825), having derived from assumed Germanic fadar. It has cognates (relatives) in many other languages: Dutch vader and German Vater, as well as forms in Old Norse, Swedish, Danish, Gothic, etc., Latin and Greek pater, Old Irish athir, and Sanskrit pitar; all of these words share an Indo-European root. The use of the word father as a verb did not occur until 1483. Common synonyms for father are dad and daddy (c. 1500), papa (c. 1681), pa (c. 1811), pop (c. 1838), poppa (c. 1897), and pops (c. 1928). (You only need to capitalize father or its synonyms when you are referring to your own father.)

Just as the carnation became a symbol of Mother's Day, the rose was suggested and became connected to Father's Day. Some observe the custom of wearing a red rose to indicate that one's father is living or a white rose to indicate that he is deceased. The flower and plant rose comes from a shrub of the genus Rosa. Red is the most frequent color, but roses are also white, yellow, pink, and various shades of peach and pink. The Old English form rose came from Latin rosa, which may have been an adoption of the Greek word rhodon, "rose."

The creation of Mother's Day was a godsend for the florist industry. Its counterpart for Father's Day is the necktie or tie. Neckties started appearing on the earliest Father's Day greeting cards and retailers saw this and took advantage, suggesting this as a great practical gift. The word tie ("band, cord, rope") came into Old English by 800 in the form teah, teag, or teagum, developed from Proto-Germanic. The word necktie dates from around 1838 when it first hit the fashion scene as a narrow band of material worn around the collar (neck) of a shirt and tied in front. As early as 1920, the custom of giving a neckties to fathers as a token of affection took hold. Other popular gifts are socks, pipes and cigars, and shirts.

Golf is a game that many fathers look forward to enjoying before or after being feted on Father's Day. The word originally comes from Scottish (golf, gouf) for the game was first played in Scotland by 1457. The word might be related to Dutch kolf, "bat, club" (derived from Proto-Germanic), but no definite connection has been shown. The verb golf, "to play golf," did not emerge until 1800.

The word family first referred to the servants of a household and then to both the servants and the descendants of a common ancestor. It comes from Latin familia, "household; household servants," which came from another Latin term famulus, "servant." It was not until 1667 that the term was used specifically for the group of persons consisting of parents and their children.

The history of greeting cards goes back hundreds of years. Early greeting cards were hand-delivered and handmade. Their popularity forced the introduction of the first postage stamp in 1840. The oldest known greeting card in existence is one for Valentine's Day, made in the 1400s and now displayed in the British Museum. The most popular card-sending holidays in order are Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter, and Father's Day. Together, the Greeting Card Associations says these five card-sending holidays account for 96 percent of individual seasonal card sales.

Memorial Day was originally set aside to honor the Civil War dead from the North by decorating their graves with flowers and it at first was called "Decoration Day." In 1866, the first commemorations were held in Waterloo, New York, and in Columbus, Mississippi. The American flag was flown at half-staff and a veterans" parade marched to the village cemetery, where patriotic speeches were given. The first national Decoration Day was held on May 30, 1868 by Union Army veterans known as the Grand Army of the Republic. The May 30 date was close to the date of the final surrender of the Confederate Army (May 26, 1865). The Southern states started remembering their soldiers on a Confederate Memorial Day on various dates. After World War I, the American Legion took over the observance, renaming it Memorial Day, setting it for the last Monday in May, and dedicating in the honor of all those who died in U.S. wars. Some southern states continue to observe a separate day to honor the Confederate dead.

Memorial Day is observed with the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, and by religious services, parades, and speeches nationwide. Flags, insignia, and flowers are placed on the graves of veterans in local cemeteries.

The word decoration comes from Latin decorationem, from decorare, "to adorn or beautify." The practice of decorating graves with flowers and wreathes began during the Civil War, so it became a natural part of the observance. In Columbus, Mississippi, where both Union and Confederate soldiers were honored in 1866, the strewing of flowers on the graves became a symbol of friendship and understanding between the North and the South.

A flag as a piece of cloth used as a standard, signal, or symbol in English dates to the late 15th century. The word may be an onomatopoeic representation for such a cloth flapping in the wind, but the origin remains obscured. As far as the American flag goes, there are many theories about its origin, with the story of Betsy Ross being the most famous. On Memorial Day, the flag is flown at half-mast, a symbol of mourning, from sunrise until noon, and at full staff from noon until sunset.

The word grave as a place of burial dates to c 1000, though the verb form (now obsolete) meaning "to dig," may have come first and is of Germanic origin.

We know a patriot to be one who loves his or her country and is keenly interested in promoting the welfare of the country. It was not used in this sense until 1605, with its original use being " a fellow countryman or compatriot" (now obsolete). The word came into English from French and earlier from Latin patriota, "fellow countryman" and Greek patris meaning "one's fatherland."

Red paper poppies are used to symbolize war dead because real poppies bloomed everywhere in the battle graveyards of France. The Veterans of Foreign Wars had their first paper "poppy sale" in 1922 to raise money for disabled and destitute veterans. At one time, many people referred to Memorial Day as "Poppy Day." The poppy was first recorded in English around 700, from Latin papaver, which may be related to Latin papula, "papule," as the flower contains rounded capsules which contain many small round seeds. This herbal plant or flower of the genus Papaver grows in temperate and subtropical regions.

War, first coming into Old English (c 1154) as werre or warre, from Anglo-Norman French, is ultimately of Germanic origin.