The Greeks introduced the tradition of a baby to symbolize the rebirth of the god of fertility Dionysus. Early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, but due to its popularity as a new birth they reevaluate their view and allowed members to celebrate the New Year with a baby that symbolized the birth of Jesus.

The Tournament of Roses Parade, in Pasadena, California began in 1886 when members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers to celebrate the ripening of the orange crop. The Rose Bowl football game began as the sports centerpiece of the festival in 1916, although a game had been played on that day in 1902.

The song ‘Auld Lang Syne’, which is sung at midnight of New Years eve in almost every English-speaking country was written by Robert Burns in the 1700′s. It was first published after his death in 1796. The music came from an old Scotch tune. ‘Auld Lang Syne’ means ‘old long since’. In the United States the most popular version is by Bandleader Guy Lombardo, who ushered in the New Year with the song on radio and the early days of television, following a tradition he started at a New Year’s eve party at New York’s Roosevelt Hotel in 1929. He played it every New Year’s eve until his death in 1976.

The watching the ball drop on New Year’s eve at New York’s Times Square began in 1907. The original ball was made of wood and iron. The current ball is of Waterford crystal and weighs 1,070 pounds and is six feet in diameter.

January 1st is ushered in first at Kiritimati on the Christmas Islands, in Kiribati. Not all cultures celebrate January 1st as the beginning of the New Year. The Chinese New Year begins on the new moon of the first lunar month which falls between January 21 and February 21. The Jewish New Year begins on Rosh Hashanah, ‘head of the year’. The Iranian New Year is the moment of the vernal equinox in March or when spring begins.

For the second time this year the date has had all ones in it when written as numbers. The first was New Year’s Day with 1/1/11.

And there is still another one. It comes on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, November 11, 2011 or 11/11/11. This is also Veterans or Armistice Day. A day we celebrate our military veterans and the end of World War I.

This post is also being published at 11:11 am EST.

Looking at this being a numbers game, the ones have it.

One common beginning of the season is the Summer Solstice. The Summer Solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year. It’s when the tilt of the Earth axis, North or South, is most inclined towards the sun. But this should be considered the middle of the season, but not the beginning.

Then again if this was the mid-point of the summer the end of summer, beginning of autumn, would occur around August 1st. I doubt that you could convince anyone who is living through the hot, humid days of August that it’s not summer.

If looking at the solstice as the mid point of summer, then when would be the beginning of summer? That would be around the first of May. A time when many are beginning to turn towards summer activities, but also one that still has many cool, and depending on location, down right cold nights.

Which brings us to the middle/end of May. Memorial Day weekend is considered by many the beginning of summer. Then again so is the last day of school. Most American colleges ends their Spring semester, one that begins in Winter, in May. Grade schools are working towards their end, that comes in late May/Early June.

The calendar, at least all of those I use, calls the Summer Solstice as the first day of summer. And in 2010 that day comes on June 21st. So here’s a wish for everyone to have a very nice first day of Summer.

The Roman poet Ovid provides two possible sources for June’s name in his poem entitled the Fasti. The first is that the month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter. The second is that the name comes from the Latin word iuniores, meaning “younger ones,”.

In the Northern Hemisphere June is the month with the longest daylight hours. In the Southern it is the month with the shortest daylight hours.

The solstice called the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from June 22nd to 23rd June (UTC). In the pagan wheel of the year the summer solstice is the time of Litha and the winter solstice is that of Yule.

In the United States the third Sunday in June is Father’s Day. This is also true in the counties the United Kingdom, Mexico, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Ireland and Canada. Belgium has theirs on the second Sunday.

A number of counties honor their flags in June. Sweden (June 6), United States (June 14), Denmark (June 15), Argentina (June 20), and Romania (June 26).

Cincinnati’s Public Radio Station 90.9 WGUC
90.9 WGUC was founded in 1960 by a group of citizens who wanted a radio station devoted to cultural and public affairs programming. WGUC was one of the first stations in the nation to meet the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s qualification standards; a charter member of National Public Radio; and a founder of American Public Radio (now Public Radio International).

Domino’s Pizza
The beginnings of Domino’s Pizza began in 1960 brothers Tom and James Monaghan purchased a small pizza store in Ypsilanti for a down payment of $75 and a loan of $500. Eight months later, James traded his half of the business to Tom for a used Volkswagen Beetle. In 1965 Tom renamed the business Domino’s Pizza, Inc. with the first franchise store opening in 1967.

American Football League
1960 was the first season for the newly formed American Football League. The team in that in that inaugural season were teams from Dallas Texans (later Kansas City Chiefs), New York Titans (Jets), Houston Oilers (Now the Tennessee Titans), Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers (San Diego), Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots (New England) and Oakland Raiders.

The Temptations
The beginning of the group that would be the dominate soul group out of Motown in the 1960′s could see 1960 as their beginning. It was that year that Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Elbridge “Al” Bryant, Eddie Kendricks, and Paul Williams (members of two rival groups the Primes and the Distants) came together to audition for Berry Gordy of Motown. At the time they were using the name The Elgins. The group would be renamed the Temptations a year later when it was learned that there already was a group using the name the Elgins.

Erin Brockovich
Born on June 22, 1960 Erin Brockovich came to fame when she was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California in 1993 dealing with contaminated water.

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) of the United States and Canada had set the date of May 1, 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become the standard work day. In the Chicago area of Haymarket Square on May 4, a riot broke out between strikers against employers who did not grant the 8 hour work day. The strikers lost.

May Day is also a holiday that was celebrated in pagan Europe. It was a festival day to celebrate the spring planting. For the Druids it was the second most important day in the year when they celebrated the festival of Beltane.

From this May Day celebration comes the May Pole and the May Pole Dance. In the Middle Ages the villages would bring a pole to the center of the village from the adjoining forest. At times neighboring villages would even have contest to see who had the tallest pole.

In the bigger towns, such as London, the poles would become a permanent structure. This custom came to America with the English colonist. One such structure in the center of New York was renamed the Liberty Pole just prior to the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

At Washington College, a small Liberal Arts College located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the first of May has become a day when the students celebrate the coming of the end of the semester and the beginning of summer with an unique liberating May Day tradition.