Sports are timeless activities; ones that humans have enjoyed since at least ancient times, as exemplified by the Greek Olympic Games. Indeed, ethnographic and archaeological evidence such as cave paintings and the accounts of early European explorers indicate sports may well go back to the very beginning of humankind.

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The history of Soccer or football takes it origins back over 3000 years.  One cannot exactly point out as to when and where the game actually began.  A lot of references agree that China is the birthplace of “kicking the ball”. Documentary evidence reveals that an organized activity resembling football transpired during the 2nd century BC in the reign of the Han Dynasty. 

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Most sports historians trace golf’s origins to a type of land hockey played in Flanders in the middle ages. It is suggested that three Scotsmen fighting in a regiment allied with the French witnessed the game and took it home to Scotland where golf as we know it took root.

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The history of basketball finds it way back to the year 1891. It was a Canadian physical education instructor by the name of James Naismith who introduced the game of basketball to the world. He was born in Ontario and taught physical education at McGill University and Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. James Naismith, during his stint with Springfield College, a YMCA training school during that time, invented the indoor sport with able support and guidance from the American phys-ed specialist Luther Hasley.

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Baseball is America’s national pastime, but how much do Americans really know about the history of baseball? The game has been played in the United States for nearly two centuries, from its humble beginnings in the Northeast to the multi-million dollar professional sports franchise we know today. The history of baseball began when the English game of “rounders” was first played in America, where it was referred to as “townball,” “baseball,” or simply “base.” The first milestone in the history of baseball came about in the mid-nineteenth century.

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“Football” before the 19th century referred to any number of ball games played on foot. The rules of these games differed from one another, some allowing the use of hands “running games”, others forbidding it “kicking games”.

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The game of Hockey has been around from the time of early civilization. Some of the reports find the earliest origin of the game 4000 years back. Field hockey was reportedly played even before the birth of Christ. Basically known as the “ball and stick” game, it was played since ancient times in places diverse as Rome, Scotland, Egypt and South America.

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The history of the Winter Olympics is a shaky one indeed. As early as 1894 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established, ice skating was proposed for the Olympic program. In spite of this, it was not until 1908, fourteen years later, that an ice-skating event was held at the Summer Olympics in London.

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The Summer Olympic Games are not historically documented until 776 BC, but it is widely accepted that they had been in practice from as early as the 13th century BC.  There are several Greek legends that speak of the beginnings of the Summer Olympic Games.  One indicates that it was begun when Herakles won a race then asked that the race be run every four years. 

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St. Valentines Day is known around the world as a day for lovers.  We buy valentine gifts, write love poems, and generally express our affection for our significant others.  When you look at the greeting card aisle, with all the innocuous pink hearts and red paper, and you see the chocolate candies and red roses, it is difficult to imagine that this holiday has its roots in a bloody festival and a violent murder.  However that is indeed the case of St. Valentine Day. 

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St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, is an Irish holiday celebrating St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.  St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat of an Italian father and a Scottish mother, sometime around 385 A.D., in Scotland.  At the age of 16 he was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery for six years in Ireland.  After seeing a vision of a ship, St. Patrick planned his escape from Ireland to France, where he became a priest and later a bishop.

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As the calendars have changed over the millennia, so has the day on which people celebrate New Years Day.  However, the history of the New Years Day is almost as old as the human conception of time itself.  From the advent of the first calendars in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago, New Years Day has been a time for friends, family and celebrations. 

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Like much of the culture of Louisiana, the modern celebration of Mardi Gras and its manifestation in parties and parades around the United States, particularly in New Orleans, are a direct result of French influence.  However, the origins of Mardi Gras go back much further than the French celebration of the beginning of the Lenten Season. 

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Although weddings and wedding celebrations occur in some form or fashion all over the world and have since people began organizing themselves into societies, most of the history and traditions associated with modern marriages are actually fairly recent.  Unlike holidays like New Years, which has been celebrated for at least 4,000 years, wedding day traditions like the white dress are not quite so old.

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Each year on October 31st people from all over celebrate Halloween.  A favorite of children and those who like to tap into their “inner child”, Halloween is a day to dress up in costume, hand out candy (usually to children), and try to frighten each other and ourselves with spooky stories.  Like many holidays that are celebrated today, Halloween did not start off being celebrated in this manner – its origins have a history that started many centuries ago.

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There are very few people in the world today who do not know what the Christmas holiday is all about.  Christmas, as we know it today, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, which happened over 2000 years ago.  The word “Christmas” translates to “Mass Of Christ”.   However, we can all be sure that the celebration of the Christmas holiday did not start right away.  So how did the actual celebration of the Christmas holiday begin? 

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