Yesterday Meets Today: Themes Throughout History

We explore the time when Europe set out to explore the Atlantic and the Americas, focusing mainly on answering that question about who completed the first circumnavigation. We also look at a little of what the Vikings accomplished prior to this time period.

We take a look into two explorers from China, one from the Han Dynasty and the other from the Tang Dynasty. Two explorers separated by centuries, but still connected.

As explorers ourselves, we begin looking at explorations throughout history starting with the ancient world. Greece, Rome, and Carthage each feature along with several reasons why explorers go off towards the horizon.

We explore some of the oldest records we have for marriage. This begins in Mesopotamia. 4,000 years ago and continues through Greece and Rome.

In the final episode of our first theme in 2021, which took a definite shift towards New Year's celebrations, we explore our theme in the United States and connect it to other areas we explored. We'll explore both New Year's celebrations and our initial theme as well as another look at the phoenix.

This week we go to India and explore the festivals Nowruz and Holi. We'll trace the origins of Nowruz, the legends behind Holi, and other topics as we continue looking for examples of our theme.

We head over to China and explore a celebration thousands of years old. We'll look at its origins as well as modern celebrations. Outside these celebrations, we explore where our theme is found in Taoism.

In the first episode of 2021, we look at ideas of renewal and rebirth in several ancient societies. We also see the presence of a couple of New Year celebrations.

We wrap up our theme by looking into the history of Christmas. Along with connections to other celebrations, we'll also see how Christmas had a bumpy road before arriving to the holiday we know today.

In the third episode of our 'Tis the Season theme, we take a look at the origins of Hanukkah. Including what is called the Hanukkah miracle. We also take a brief look at Kwanzaa.