Your #$%^&@_(*% taxes are due the 15th -- Get it done!
The GCSC General Meeting will be Saturday, April 6, at the St. Martin Library starting at 2 pm.
April -- From the Latin aperio, "to open" (bloom), because plants begin to grow during this month.
Palm Sunday April 14th & Good Friday April 19
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A Christian holiday, Palm Sunday begins the Holy week leading to Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It commemorates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem where people put palms down in front of his path.
On Palm Sunday, palms are distributed in church and blessed during the mass. People take them home and place them around religious pictures, statues or other objects. |
They remain there for a year until the next Palm Sunday when they are replaced by newly blessed Palms.
When discarding old palms, remember it is a blessed religious object and should be burned or buried. Some gardeners bury it in their home garden, believing it will bless the coming year's crop.
Did you Know? The ashes you receive on Ash Wednesday are from the prior years palms.
Palm Sunday week terminates on Good Friday. According to Christian beliefs, on Good Friday, Jesus Christ died on the cross. But he only died in human form. He then arose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning to show us that there is life after death in heaven. Good Friday, also called "Dark Friday", is a day of solemn prayer and the final day of fasting for the long lenten season.
Christ was nailed to the cross at noon. His death came at three o'clock in the afternoon. During this time, Christians should spend in prayer and silence.
When discarding old palms, remember it is a blessed religious object and should be burned or buried. Some gardeners bury it in their home garden, believing it will bless the coming year's crop.
Did you Know? The ashes you receive on Ash Wednesday are from the prior years palms.
Palm Sunday week terminates on Good Friday. According to Christian beliefs, on Good Friday, Jesus Christ died on the cross. But he only died in human form. He then arose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning to show us that there is life after death in heaven. Good Friday, also called "Dark Friday", is a day of solemn prayer and the final day of fasting for the long lenten season.
Christ was nailed to the cross at noon. His death came at three o'clock in the afternoon. During this time, Christians should spend in prayer and silence.
Patriots Day -- April 15th
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Happy Patriots Day! It is a huge holiday in the New England area. No, it is not a celebration of the NFL's New England Patriots. Rather, it's history goes back to the birth of our country and the Revolutionary War.
Some people know little or nothing about Patriot's Day. For New Englanders, the birthplace of the American Revolutionary War, it is a big, big day. In the states in New England, it's a holiday with a day off of work for many. |
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Patriot's Day commemorates the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. This battle began the American Revolutionary War. It also commemorates the "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere". On this evening, patriot Paul Revere rode through town warning the colonists that "The Red Coats are coming!"
Easter Sunday - April 21
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Easter is the oldest and most important festival of the Western Christian year, celebrating Jesus Christ's resurrection (rising from the grave) following his crucifixion on Good Friday. Easter Sunday is the culmination of Holy Week (but not part of it), and the first day of Eastertide. Easter marks the end of the 40 days of Lent. Easter Sunday (or simply Easter Day) is the first day of the Easter Week which ends on Easter Saturday.
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Christ's resurrection forms the basis of Christian faith as it demonstrates Jesus to be the Son of God, and symbolizes his conquest of death.
According to the Gospels it was at sunrise on the first Easter Day - the 3rd day following Jesus' death - that the women who followed Jesus found the great stone blocking his tomb had been rolled away, and the tomb empty. The Gospel of John (20.14-16) relates how Mary Magdalene meets Jesus by the tomb, but does not at first recognise him, taking him to be a gardener. Finally realising that he has indeed risen from the dead, as he had promised he would, she runs to tell the disciples the good news.
These events fulfill the prophecy that 'The Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.' (Luke 24.7).
Easter is related to the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover).
How is the date of Easter calculated? Easter is a 'moveable feast', which means that its date is not fixed in the calendar, but is instead calculated according to the lunar calendar, formalised in Ecclesiastical date tables. It is based on the date of the vernal equinox. In AD 325 the Council of Nicaea decreed that Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox. The date of Easter Sunday can thus fall between March 22 and April 25. The date of Orthodox Easter (also known as Pascha) as celebrated in Eastern Christianity is the same as Easter in some years, but differs in other years.
According to the Gospels it was at sunrise on the first Easter Day - the 3rd day following Jesus' death - that the women who followed Jesus found the great stone blocking his tomb had been rolled away, and the tomb empty. The Gospel of John (20.14-16) relates how Mary Magdalene meets Jesus by the tomb, but does not at first recognise him, taking him to be a gardener. Finally realising that he has indeed risen from the dead, as he had promised he would, she runs to tell the disciples the good news.
These events fulfill the prophecy that 'The Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.' (Luke 24.7).
Easter is related to the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover).
How is the date of Easter calculated? Easter is a 'moveable feast', which means that its date is not fixed in the calendar, but is instead calculated according to the lunar calendar, formalised in Ecclesiastical date tables. It is based on the date of the vernal equinox. In AD 325 the Council of Nicaea decreed that Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox. The date of Easter Sunday can thus fall between March 22 and April 25. The date of Orthodox Easter (also known as Pascha) as celebrated in Eastern Christianity is the same as Easter in some years, but differs in other years.
Pesach (Passover) - April 19-27
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After many decades of slavery to the Egyptian pharaohs, during which time the Israelites were subjected to backbreaking labor and unbearable horrors, G‑d saw the people’s distress and sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: “Send forth My people, so that they may serve Me.” But despite numerous warnings, Pharaoh refused to heed G‑d’s command. G‑d then sent upon Egypt ten devastating plagues, afflicting them and destroying everything from their livestock to their crops.
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At the stroke of midnight of 15 Nissan in the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE), G‑d visited the last of the ten plagues on the Egyptians, killing all their firstborn. While doing so, G‑d spared the children of Israel, “passing over” their homes—hence the name of the holiday. Pharaoh’s resistance was broken, and he virtually chased his former slaves out of the land. The Israelites left in such a hurry, in fact, that the bread they baked as provisions for the way did not have time to rise. Six hundred thousand adult males, plus many more women and children, left Egypt on that day and began the trek to Mount Sinai and their birth as G‑d’s chosen people.
The first two days and last two days (the latter commemorating the splitting of the Red Sea) are full-fledged holidays. Holiday candles are lit at night, and kiddush and sumptuous holiday meals are enjoyed on both nights and days. We don’t go to work, drive, write, or switch on or off electric devices. We are permitted to cook and to carry outdoors.
The middle four days are called Chol Hamoed, semi-festive “intermediate days,” when most forms of work are permitted.
To commemorate the unleavened bread that the Israelites ate when they left Egypt, we don’t eat—or even retain in our possession—any chametz from midday of the day before Passover until the conclusion of the holiday. Chametz means leavened grain—any food or drink that contains even a trace of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt or their derivatives, and which wasn’t guarded from leavening or fermentation. This includes bread, cake, cookies, cereal, pasta, and most alcoholic beverages. Moreover, almost any processed food or drink can be assumed to be chametz unless certified otherwise.
Ridding our homes of chametz is an intensive process. It involves a full-out spring-cleaning search-and-destroy mission during the weeks before Passover, and culminates with a ceremonial search for chametz on the night before Passover, and then a burning of the chametz ceremony on the morning before the holiday. Chametz that cannot be disposed of can be sold to a non-Jew (and bought back after the holiday).
(Chabad.org is a division of the Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center · Under the auspices of the Lubavitch World Headquarters. In everlasting memory of our founder, Rabbi Yosef Y. Kazen, pioneer of Torah, Judaism and Jewish information on the web. Dedicated by Moris and Lillian Tabacinic · In loving memory of Menachem Mendel and Shaindel Tabacinic)
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/871715/jewish/Passover-2019-Pesach.htm
The first two days and last two days (the latter commemorating the splitting of the Red Sea) are full-fledged holidays. Holiday candles are lit at night, and kiddush and sumptuous holiday meals are enjoyed on both nights and days. We don’t go to work, drive, write, or switch on or off electric devices. We are permitted to cook and to carry outdoors.
The middle four days are called Chol Hamoed, semi-festive “intermediate days,” when most forms of work are permitted.
To commemorate the unleavened bread that the Israelites ate when they left Egypt, we don’t eat—or even retain in our possession—any chametz from midday of the day before Passover until the conclusion of the holiday. Chametz means leavened grain—any food or drink that contains even a trace of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt or their derivatives, and which wasn’t guarded from leavening or fermentation. This includes bread, cake, cookies, cereal, pasta, and most alcoholic beverages. Moreover, almost any processed food or drink can be assumed to be chametz unless certified otherwise.
Ridding our homes of chametz is an intensive process. It involves a full-out spring-cleaning search-and-destroy mission during the weeks before Passover, and culminates with a ceremonial search for chametz on the night before Passover, and then a burning of the chametz ceremony on the morning before the holiday. Chametz that cannot be disposed of can be sold to a non-Jew (and bought back after the holiday).
(Chabad.org is a division of the Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center · Under the auspices of the Lubavitch World Headquarters. In everlasting memory of our founder, Rabbi Yosef Y. Kazen, pioneer of Torah, Judaism and Jewish information on the web. Dedicated by Moris and Lillian Tabacinic · In loving memory of Menachem Mendel and Shaindel Tabacinic)
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/871715/jewish/Passover-2019-Pesach.htm
What bird appears on the one-dollar airlift stamp of 1968?
