The Big Apple is Big on Christmas

Awixa Castle at Christmas

New York City is arguably the premier city in the world. The Big Apple is home to Wall Street, Broadway, Times Square and, as Huey Lewis sang, "you can do a half a million things all at a quarter to three". During this time of year, Rockefeller Center is lit up like it's high noon with a giant tree decorated to the nines. I am not too familiar with NYC, but I am sure that there are a thousand other such things going on. A little Google Fu led me to a place on Long Island called Awixa Castle.

The original deed on the land that Awixa Castle sits on, dates back over 400 years authorized by Queen Anne of England. The Castle itself didn't come to fruition until the early 20th Century. In 1999, a guy bought the place and it was in disrepair, so he decided to fix it up. And he did. Now a days, Awixa Castle is used for various charitable events a few times a year. In addition, at Christmas time, the castle is transformed into a magical lighted fantasy land, with over 250,000 lights on over three acres of land.

Here's a video interview with Joe Weiss, the owner of the castle. Throughout the interview, you'll get to see various mini - displays within the big display. It's quite a sight to behold.

You can find several more photos and with a little site navigation, you'll also see and learn quite a bit about Awixa Castle.

Labor Day - A Brief History

Labor Day is much more than the Unofficial End of Summer, a day off work or a day to grill out and watch baseball on TV or get up a back yard game of horse shoes, it is a time to celebrate the role of the average working American and his or her role in making the United States the most prosperous Nation on Earth.

From the first Labor Day on September 5, 1882 in New York City to today, almost a century and a half later, here's a brief history of the holiday, shameslessly copied and pasted direct from the web site of the United States Department of Labor.

 Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Honoring American Workers Since 1882

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.