Happy Birthday United States of America!!! You’re 232 years old!! During the Revolution, the legal seperation from Great Britain actually occurred on July 2, 1776, which was when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. Once the vote for independence had gone through, Congress turned its attention on the Declaration of Independence, which was debated, revised and finally approved on July 4. It’s interesting to note that most delegates did not, in fact, sign the Declaration until August 2, 1776. However, we celebrate our Independence day on the fourth of July, which is a federal holiday.
The first Independence day in 1777 was celebrated in Philadelphia with an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Add to that a picnic, barbecue, and perhaps a baseball game, and you’ve got the same celebration we have today! Very little has changed in that regard. It’s interesting to note that the first recorded use of the name “Independence Day” did not happen until 1791. Observance of the holiday did not become commonplace until after the War of 1812. Congress made it an unpaid federal holiday in 1870. It was not until 1941 that Congress changed it to a paid federal holiday.
These pics are from a 1941 celebration!!!
I’m hoping that my beloved American readers are with family and/or friends celebrating outdoors! I love that this holiday gets people outdoors to honour our nation! Whether it be for parades, picnics, or the fireworks displays, it is Summer and the party is usually outdoors! YAY!!! And who doesn’t love fireworks? Major displays are held in New York on the East River, in Chicago on Lake Michigan, Boston on the Charles River, in St. Louis on the Mississippi River, and on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the annual Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario host one of the world’s largest fireworks displays, over the Detroit River, to celebrate both American Independence Day and Canada Day (which was July 1st).
One of the celebrations is America’s Freedom Festival in Provo, Utah. It includes one of the largest Independence Day parades, and the Stadium of Fire. The Stadium of Fire, created by Alan Osmond, has around 50, 000 people in attendance, has had quite a few celebrity performers and holds the world record for most fireworks blown up at once (over a million)!
Every year in the U.S.A., the Rainbow Family gather for prayer for World Peace. With attendance ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 or more participants, (most refer to it as Interdependance Day as all live in primitive conditions by choice) festivities take place in State Forests and rely upon one another for the first week of July. Independence day is spent in group prayer, meditation, and/or silence during the morning, which ends in a group Aum or Om. This non-commercial gathering welcomes all who wish to peacefully participate.
However you choose to spend the holiday honouring the “land of the free and the home of the brave”, I hope that it is a Beautiful celebration for what is a truly diverse nation, made up of dynamic people. Happy Fourth of July!!!
Happy Independence Day has 2 Comments
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July 4th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Awwww!
What an absolutely lovely tribute to our national holiday, Antonia! LOVE all the graphics. Perfect pictures for a rather old and abiding tradition. And I’m making note that the birthplace of your grandmother is also the home of the Stadium of Fire! Who knew?? 
Enjoy yourself today! And thanks for the informative post, which you do so well. Love, Mom xoxo
July 4th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Thank you, mom!
Aren’t those old pics great? Love it!!!
I noticed that about grandma’s birthplace!
You enjoy the Holiday as well!
Love you
Antonia
xoxox