On the 24th of July hot dogs, hamburgers, Jell-O salad, and root beer floats were all on the menu for our Pioneer BBQ! We invited three local families (all with Utah ties) and all six missionaries from our ward! We ate, shared pioneer stories, lit off fireworks and watched the Elders try "NOT" to blow their fingers off! What a great way to celebrate Utah's birthday all the way out here in the South!
2 comments:
Technically it's not celebrating Utah's "birthday." Utah was granted statehood on January 4th, 1896.
Pioneer day celebrates the arrival of the first Pioneers into the Salt Lake valley on July 24th, 1847.
As found in the Utah History Encyclopedia - Written by Steven L. Olsen: "As it became established as a major Mormon tradition, Pioneer Day was celebrated as a birthday, an independence day, and a thanksgiving day for Mormons, as well as a foretaste of the celebration of the Saints that would usher in the millennium at the end of time. During the celebrations, major social groups (based on age, gender, marital status, occupation, residence, and ecclesiastical or civic position) interacted in ways to ritually review the society's vitality and solidarity. Customary activities--including parades, devotionals, sporting events, feasts, dances, excursions, and reunions--also often served to remind the Saints of the religious foundations of their group identity."
www.media.utah.edu/UHE/p/PIONEERDAY.html
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