Celebrations Today – December 8
Holidays and observances
- Bodhi Day (Japan)
- CARICOM–Cuba Day (Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba)
- Christian feast day:
- Clement of Ohrid (Julian Calendar), and its related observances:
- Eucharius
- Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances:
- Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Communion), lesser commemoration
- Christmas on Campus (University of Dayton)
- Festa da Conceição da Praia, celebrating Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean in Umbanda (Salvador, Bahia)
- Festival of Lights (Lyon)
- Mother’s Day (Panama)
- Lady of Camarin Day (Guam)
- Richard Baxter (US Episcopal Church)
- Romaric
- December 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Romania)
- Constitution Day (Uzbekistan)
- Day of Finnish Music (Finland)
- Earliest day on which National Tree Planting Day can fall, while December 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in December. (Malawi)
- Hari-Kuyō (Kansai region, Japan)
- National Youth Day (Albania)
Celebrations Today – USA: December 8
National Brownie Day
Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day
National Christmas Tree Day
National Take it in the Ear Day
Today in US History: December 8
Louisiana: the Creole State
Citizens of Louisiana ratified a new state constitution on December 8, 1879. The post-Reconstruction constitution reorganized the Louisiana judiciary and moved the state capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Louisianians revised and passed new constitutions ten times from 1812-1921.
New Orleans, Louisiana and its Vicinity,
J. Wells, 1863.
Panoramic Maps
Located at the mouth of the Mississippi-Missouri river system, Louisiana was occupied by Native Americans for 16,000 years prior to European settlement. Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to discover Louisiana, but the French were the first to colonize it. In 1682, French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle claimed this strategically vital region for France.
French Canadians from the colony of Acadia sought refuge in Louisiana during the 1750s and 1760s after being ousted by the British. Their descendants, the “Cajuns,” culturally dominate much of southern Louisiana.
In 1812, nine years after the ratification of the Louisiana Purchase, Louisiana became the eighteenth state in the Union. Just three years later, Major General Andrew Jackson successfully defended Louisiana’s main port in the Battle of New Orleans. Over the next thirty years, the combination of the expansion of steamboat transport and the rise of King Cotton made the port of New Orleans the fourth busiest in the world.
Louisiana’s fertile subtropical soils conceal oil fields and also support production of cotton, sugar cane, and rice. Frequent flooding prompted innovative planning including a system of canals and the aboveground cemeteries of New Orleans.
Humorist William Hall used Louisiana’s climate as a point of departure in his 1904 monologue Diversified Drollery:
Appreciating the fact that her [my mother-in-law’s] life depended on being in a dry climate, I rented a house in the flood section of Louisiana, in a town called Swamp Haven. Swamp Haven is on the banks of the Mississippi river, when it’s not under it….That landlord was actually imbued with the idea that Swamp Haven was the only town on the map…. I said [to him], “Don’t you think it would have a tendency to check these floods if the citizens would get together to dam the water?” He said, “No, I think prayers would do more good than profanity”William D. Hall, Diversified Drollery: A Monologue, Satirical and Reminiscent,, 2-4, 1904.
The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
The rich multicultural heritage of Louisiana is very evident in New Orleans. With French, Spanish, and African roots, this Creole city on the Mississippi proved fertile ground for American creativity. The birthplace of jazz, New Orleans produced famed musical artists Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Mahalia Jackson. Writer Truman Capote, poet/novelist Arna Bontemps, and playwright/screenwriter Lillian Hellman also were born in New Orleans. In the 1940s, Louisiana state politics inspired Robert Penn Warren‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King’s Men. The city also provides the setting for Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire.
Traditional Mardi Gras festivities express the cultural diversity of New Orleans as well as the fun-loving spirit of the “city that care forgot.”
Mardi Gras Scenery, New Orleans, 1910.
Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991
The Library of Congress has a wealth of materials on Louisiana.
- The American Memory collection Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase presents a rich variety of research materials including maps, letters, and newspapers, as well as a lengthy essay relating to that landmark event. Browse the collection by Subject, Title, Creator, or Place.
- France in America, a Global Gateway presentation, is a bilingual multi-format digital library project between the Library of Congress and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Search on Louisiana Purchase for information on the French presence in America and the interactions between the French and American peoples.
- Search the following American Memory collections on Louisiana or New Orleans to view images or maps of the state:
- Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner, 1935-1955
- American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936: Images from the University of Chicago Library
- America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945
- Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991
- Map Collections
- Search on the term Mardi Gras in Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1820-1860 & 1870-1885 to locate sheet music such as the 1874 Mardi Gras Polka March.
- Search Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920 on New Orleans to locate images such as Royal Street.
- Search the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog on Louisiana or New Orleans for thousands of images of the state and its most well-known city.
Today in History – December 8-External Links
Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia