Anniversaries

Anniversaries.

Life is full of them. (Even for pirates!) Anniversaries of births, deaths, marriages, (and sometimes divorces) as well as holidays. So for this post, I decided to research the origin of anniversaries.

It seems calendars were invented for keeping up with anniversaries, not just for planning into the future. An early account of memorializing dates for future recognition can be found in Shakespeare’s Henry V.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Some of you fellow adorers of Western arts and literature will recognize this speech from the Birdcage Theatre scene in the movie Tombstone. This speech also refers back to the the feast day of Saint Crispin – which takes us even earlier in our search for the origin of the celebration of anniversaries –the Christian liturgical calendar.  

Catholicism especially reveres in anniversaries – with each day of the year attributed to a specific Saint of that was either martyred or otherwise died on that day. This is said to be their Feast Day and even non-Catholics celebrate many of these Feast Days. Two examples are St. Valentine’s Day, which is coming up, and St. Patrick’s Day!

Another special anniversary which is the root cause of this post today, is that it is ours. My husband’s and mine. On one hand, it seems like we’ve been married forever (in a good way!) though it’s just year number two, and on the other hand, it feels that forever as Wesley’s wife isn’t long enough. I've included a couple of pics of us through the years (I can officially say years -- not just year!) I think my favorite is Wesley getting attacked by the giant fake spider. Love is funny that way.