Shavuot 2021 begins at sundown on Sunday, May 16, and concludes at nightfall on Tuesday, May 18. Called the Feast of the Weeks in the Jewish calendar, Shavuot is a two-day holiday that was originally a harvest festival. It’s also a thanksgiving day to commemorate the Giving of the Law, the Torah, recalling when Moses and the Israelites received the Ten Commandments from God at Mount Sinai. Shavuot, which means weeks, always begins exactly seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot is known also as Yom Habikkurim, or “The Day of the First Fruits,” because Israel’s farmers would bring a bundle from their first harvest to the temple in Jerusalem as a token of thanksgiving to God. Spring harvests in Israel began with the barley crop at Passover. Each farmer would set aside the first of each type of fruit to ripen, tie it in ribbon, and all would be brought to the city, accompanied by a joyful, musical celebration.
1770s
1800s
1860s
- 1866: U.S. CONGRESS GAVE AUTHORIZATION TO MINT THE NICKEL
- 1866: CHARLES ELMER HIRES INVENTED ROOT BEER
1900s
1910s
- BORN 1912: STUDS TERKEL (WRITER)
- 1914: GRAND LEAGUE OF THE AMERICAN HORSESHOE PITCHERS ASSOCIATION WAS ORGANIZED IN KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
- BORN 1915: THEODORE HOLMES BULLOCK (NEUROSCIENTIST)
- BORN 1919: LIBERACE (ENTERTAINER)
1920s
1950s
- BORN 1953: PIERCE BROSNAN (ACTOR)
- BORN 1955: DEBRA WINGER (ACTRESS)
- BORN 1955: OLGA KORBUT (OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST/GYMNAST)
- BORN 1957: JOAN BENOIT SAMUELSON (RUNNER, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST)
1960s
- 1961: PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY BEGAN A 3-DAY VISIT TO CANADA
- BORN 1966: JANET JACKSON (SINGER)
- BORN 1969: TUCKER CARLSON (TELEVISION COMMENTATOR)
- BORN 1969: TRACEY GOLD (ACTRESS)
1970s
1980s
1990s
- 1990: FIRE BROKE OUT AT TIRE DUMP, ST-AMABLE, QUEBEC
- BORN 1990: THOMAS SANGSTER (ACTOR)
- DIED 1990: SAMMY DAVIS JR. (ENTERTAINER)
- DIED 1990: JIM HENSON (CREATOR OF THE MUPPETS)
2000s
- 2005: IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON, TEXAS, LARGE, BLACK GRACKLES, IN AN EFFORT TO PROTECT THEIR FALLEN OFFSPRING, ATTACKED THE HEADS, HAIR, AND BACKS OF PEDESTRIANS.
- 2008: CANADIAN VICTORIA CROSS UNVEILED
2010s
COURTESY www.almanac.com
