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.

We explore the pre-Christian Yule holiday, including a look at the mythology surrounding it as well as how the winter solstice impacted it. We also look at a winter solstice holiday called Yalda.

We begin our December theme by traveling back to Ancient Rome. Here we examine the festival Saturnalia including its origins, traditions, and some of the changes it underwent when impacted by Greek influences as well as the transition from Roman Republic to Empire.

We conclude our Festive Food them with a look at more modern examples, naturally including a look at Thanksgiving. We'll see how some food traditions have continued over thousands of years and where some new traditions have emerged.

In this episode we take a look at Africa. We'll approach this exploration by looking at several different cultures rather than just one as we have in the past.

In this episode we continue exploring our Festive Food theme in the Ottoman Empire. As we do so, you'll see how Islamic traditions play a prominent role in the empire's celebrations.

We begin our Festive Food theme by looking at Ancient Greece, primarily the Classical period. We'll look at different ways people came together, in good times and bad, and how often food is present during this events. 

We round out our Halloween-Ish theme. First we bring Halloween to the United States through the travels and trials the Irish faced. Then we look at the Halloween we know today and make some connections.Instacart - Groceries delivered in as little as 1 hour. Free delivery on your first order over $35.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

In this episode we explore the origins of the festival from which our modern day Halloween is derived. We look at ancient origins with a little Irish history and explore traditions that may sound familiar.

We continue exploring our Halloween-Ish theme with a look at Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. We'll look at the celebration as it is today as well as origins that are traced back to the Aztecs.

We begin our look at celebrations throughout History that can in some way be connected to Halloween. Looking at Ancient Festivals don't see direct equivalents to Halloween. What we will see smaller themes that connect to the holiday we celebrate today.

Here for the first time we'll see how "Yesterday Meets Today" as we make the connections between Ancient Rome, Japan, Aztec, and the United States. After a brief U.S. history we'll explore components of the theme and see how different societies are more similar than you might think.

The Aztecs are our next stop in the exploration of our Emerging Societies theme. We'll look at how they arrived in the capital Tenochtitlan after a previous society collapsed. We'll see how they got started and grew from the Mexica people into an entire empire, examine what they valued, how they lived, and learn about a very old ball game.

Our exploration into the theme of Emerging Societies takes us to Japan. In these episode we explore the early history of Japan, both through archaeological evidence and legends. We'll travel through more years than any other society in this theme to establish how this society emerged into one of emperors. We'll also look at how they treated the dead during this time period.

Our first theme explores the emergence of societies, starting with Ancient Rome. In this episode we explore what we know about the beginnings of this society including their connection to Ancient Greece, what archaeological evidence remains, and the importance of their founding myth in interpreting the evidence we have prior to written history. The events of the myth may not be real, but there is truth in it and we'll see how it applies both archaeologically and to the Ancient Romans as a society.