How Mother’s Day Evolved
On Sunday, many Americans will honor their mothers on Mother’s Day. While there have been celebrations of mothers and motherhood since antiquity, the American version has its roots in the 19th century. Ann Reeves Jarvis, a West Virginia native with 11 children, is credited with starting Mothers Day Work Groups in the 1850s. The group’s […]
Thanksgiving Celebrations Vary by Region
Thanksgiving Day, a time to give thanks, will be celebrated in the United States on November 23 this year. Many Americans will mark the occasion by consuming the traditional fare of turkey and all the trimmings, with friends and family. How it is celebrated, however, varies by region. According to Google Trends, Americans have […]
Most Popular Halloween Costumes 2017
Halloween is just around the corner, and Americans of all ages (and many of their pets) will wear a costume. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual Halloween spending report, more than 179 million Americans are planning to partake in Halloween festivities, up from 171 million last year. Additionally, Americans will spend about $9.1 […]
Watermelon? There’s a Day for That. Doughnuts? That too.
Monday is National Raspberries N’ Cream Day. Tuesday is National Frozen Custard Day, and Wednesday is National Rice Pudding Day. In fact, if you look at NationalDayCalendar.com, you’ll see that pretty much every day of the year celebrates some kind of food. These “holidays” are seemingly popular, often trending on Twitter, and featured prominently in […]
Once Scorned, Many Americans Now Happily Claim This Ancestry
The Irish were among the United States’s first great wave of immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These newcomers lived in extreme poverty at the lowest rungs of American society, often enduring fervent anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic discrimination. Today, more than 33 million Americans proudly claim to have at least some Irish ancestry. People […]
Americans Can’t Always Name That President
Americans celebrate Presidents Day, a federal holiday commemorating George Washington’s birthday, on the third Monday in February. The occasion used to be celebrated every February 22 — the actual date the first U.S. president was born — until 1971, when it was moved to create more three-day weekends for the country’s workers. These days many […]
Millennial Men Prefer Bucks Over Beauty
Whoever said money can’t buy love was wrong, according to a new Valentine’s Day-related survey that finds young U.S. men are more drawn to a robust bank account than a pretty face when it comes to searching for a mate. The NerdWallet survey found that a majority of men aged 18 to 34 say the finances […]
Here’s What Americans Want Most in 2016
Americans don’t just want to work out more in 2016, they also want to firm up their savings accounts. A Nerdwallet survey conducted in December found that “increasing savings” was the top priority for 49 percent of Americans, followed by “working out” (44 percent). “There’s definitely a connection between the two in the sense that both […]
Vast Majority of US Non-Christians Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is, by definition, a Christian holiday, but it turns out that a vast majority of non-Christians in the United States — 81 percent — also celebrate the Dec. 25 holiday, which commemorates the birth of Jesus. Muslim American Zina Alathari, a Virginia dentist and mother of three girls, is one of them. “We celebrate […]
Americans Think About Strange Stuff at Thanksgiving
Millions of Americans are getting ready for Thanksgiving, but a new Google Maps project shows they’re not necessarily thinking about turkey and stuffing. Google Maps looked at the most popular Thanksgiving Day searches over the past few years and found that many Americans are likely to skip cooking up a large feast on the big day. […]