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Summer Holidays, Observances, & Notable Dates Posters
for the classroom, home schoolers, and theme decor for offices.
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social studies > holidays & observances posters > SUMMER POSTERS < climate < science
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Summer, the season with the longest daylight hours of the year, is the warmest season and opposite of Winter, the coldest season of the year on Earth. The Summer season is after the transitional season of Spring and before the transition season of Autumn.
Astronomically 'Summer' begins at the summer solstice (sol + stitium= stoppage), when the sun is furthest from the celestial equator, and appears to stop in the northern sky. In the Northern Hemisphere summer lasts from around June 20 to around September 20. • animated .gif of seasonal changes.
The increase of sunlight promotes optimum growth for plants, and animals are able to "fatten" up and nourish their young to withstand the decrease in food during the winter. “Summertime, and the livin' is easy .... ” from Porgy and Bess is the one of the most popular songs celebrating summer; William Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” is set for the shortest night of the year.
Meteorologically summer is considered to take the months of June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere; and December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere. The English word 'summer' is from the Old Norse sumar, a geographical setting where summer is greatly appreciated to balance the cold weather of winter.
Summer is the warmest time of the year; “heat waves” of uncommonly prolonged intense heat can cause illness and death.
In the U.S. summer holidays include Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father's Day, Juneteenth, the 4th of July, Women's Equality Day, and Labor Day.
Summer Observances and Events lists -
June list | July list | August list | September list
Quotes ~
• “One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.” ~ Aristotle
• “Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies -"God damn it, you've got to be kind.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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In the United States Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was set for May 30 by Union General John A. Logan to commemorate the Union soldiers who died in the American Civil War. Logan wanted the graves of the more than 620,000 dead soldiers “whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land” to be decorated with flowers. Prior to Logan's efforts for the Union women in the South were commemorating fallen Confederate soldiers. Fittingly the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day 1922.
FYI - On May 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC former slaves honored 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave at the Confederate “Race Course” prison camp. They dug up the bodies and worked for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children where they marched, sang and celebrated.
Today the parades and services are for the men and women who died while in military service to their country in all wars. Traditions include raising the American flag to full staff, then lowering to half-staff until noon, then raising it to the top of the staff for the rest of the day. In 2000 the U.S. Congress passed legislation encouraging citizens to pause for a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 pm local time.
In 1968 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act* moved Memorial Day from its traditional date to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. Events like the Indianapolis 500 take away from the tributes and gratitude for service.
Traditions and rituals of Memorial Day have ancient roots. The Greeks and Romans held days of rememberance for those they loved, draping graves with flowers and holding public rituals. Compare Pericles Funeral Oration for Athenian soldiers in 431 BC to Lincoln's 1864 Gettysburg Address.
* (also Washington's Birthday, Columbus Day and Veterans Day)
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On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress resolved: “That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The resolution did not specify the arrangement, orientation, or number of points in the stars, so there were many flags in different configurations, crafted by many different hands, during the Revolution.
Tradition has it that a recently widowed Philadelphia seamstress by the name of Betsy Ross, née Griscom, was visited in mid-1776 by George Washington, George Ross and Robert Morris, to sew a flag. The version attributed to her with the thirteen five pointed stars laid in a circle is portrayed in contemporary battlefield paintings by John Trumbull and Charles Willson Peale (though I have been unable to locate any such paintings online).
In 1916 Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day, and in 1949 National Flag Day was established by Congress. Flag Day is not celebrated as a Federal holiday.
• more Flag posters
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Fathers' Day honors fathers (and male parenting), and has a several inspirations, not the least a balance for Mother's Day celebrated in May. In the U.S. Fathers' Day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday in June.
FYI on the different spellings: Fathers' Day is the plural possessive, Father's Day is the singular possessive, and while not technically correct is the preferred spelling.
• “The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war.” E. B. White
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Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
It was on June 19th, 1865, that the news of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862 by Abraham Lincoln, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, reached the slaves in Galveston, Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control.
The General Order No. 3 read - “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
• Juneteenth: A Novel by John F. Callahan, Ralph Waldo Ellison
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Independence Day, 4th of July, commemorates the "Declaration of Independence" from Great Britain. The resolution to separate from Great Britain occurred in a closed session of the Second Continental Congress on July 2; the Declaration - a statement explaining the resolution, was prepared by a committeed headed by Thomas Jefferson, was approved on July 4, 1776.
Fourth of July observances are marked with red, white and blue decorations and include parades, picnics and fireworks.
• more July Observances
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Women's Equality Day
Designating August 26th of each year as Women's Equality Day
WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States ...
• Pioneers of Womens Rights posters
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