Whitsunday, or Pentecost, is the seventh Sunday after Easter. For Christians, this commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of flame upon the apostles. Because the disciples were said to have begun baptizing thousands of people soon afterward, Whitsunday or Pentecost became the traditional time for baptisms. Whit, a corruption of white, refers to the white baptismal garments worn on this day. It is also a time of spring festivals throughout Europe, with echoes of pagan spring rites such as morris dancing and dressing a young boy in greenery (Jack-in-the-Green) and marching him through the village.
1700s
1780s
- 1785: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CREATED HIS OWN PAIR OF BIFOCALS
- 1788: SOUTH CAROLINA WAS ADMITTED TO THE UNION AS THE 8TH STATE
1800s
1870s
1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
- 1930: TOWNSEND-PURNELL PLANT PATENT ACT BECAME THE FIRST IN THE UNITED STATES TO GRANT PATENT PROTECTION TO PLANT BREEDERS
- BORN 1931: BARBARA BARRIE (ACTRESS)
- BORN 1933: JOAN COLLINS (ACTRESS)
- BORN 1934: ROBERT MOOG (INVENTOR)
- DIED 1937: JOHN D. ROCKERFELLER (ENTREPRENEUR)
- 1938: ACTOR ERROL FLYNN APPEARED ON THE COVER OF LIFE MAGAZINE
1950s
1960s
1970s
- BORN 1974: KEN JENNINGS (WON 74 STRAIGHT GAMES ON JEOPARDY! GAME SHOW IN 2004)
- BORN 1974: JEWEL (MUSICIAN)
2000s
- DIED 2002: SAM SNEAD (GOLFER)
- 2004: FIVE PEOPLE WERE KILLED, WHEN A LARGE PART OF THE ROOF OF A NEW TERMINAL COLLAPSED AT PARIS’ CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT IN FRANCE
- 2007: HUGH LAURIE WAS KNIGHTED BY QUEEN ELIZABETH II AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
2010s
COURTESY www.almanac.com
