Hey, Trivia Buffs!

No one really knows where National Trivia Day came from. People have been using the word “trivial” since the 15th century to refer to something of little or no importance. Since most trivia questions are quick bits of dry facts about petty knowledge of popular culture, the name is a good fit.

But it wasn’t until February 5 of 1965 that anyone had ever heard of a ‘trivia question’. Made popular by two students of Columbia University, Mr. Ed Goodgold and Dan Carlinsky. It was these two guys who created the first trivia contests. The earliest contests were challenges between colleges called quiz bowls.

Since its early years, trivia contests caught on like wildfire and the fun of trivia was realized all over the country. It took less than 20 years for Hasbro to jump on the trivia wagon and put out their infamous game Trivial Pursuit which has now become a classic choice for game nights and trivia aficionados.

Trivia contests have also increased in popularity for many restaurants and bars where friends enjoy grabbing a bite to eat or a couple drinks while racking their brains and straining their memory over topics that ultimately don’t matter.

So what can you do to celebrate Trivia Day? Celebrate Trivia Day by playing a heated game of Trivial Pursuit with your family and friends! You could eat out at a restaurant that hosts trivia contests. Or simply by impressing your friends and family with the little nuggets of knowledge that you know.

Here’s one to get you guys started: Did you know that Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street was actually orange in the first season. His explanation in the second season for his green appearance was that he fell asleep in a swamp and turned this new color overnight.

Happy Trivia Day to one and all!

Hey, Trunk Enthusiasts!

If you’re the proud owner of a C&N Footlocker from Everything Summer Camp, then your camp trunk isn’t any older than 27 years. In the big scheme of things that’s not very old at all, is it? But what about trunks in general—how long have people used trunks? The quick answer is around the medieval times.

But let’s delve into the subject a bit deeper than that, huh? Trunks weren’t made in America until the late 1600s. What was America like back then? Well, for starters, there were no phones, bathrooms, cars, supermarkets—HECK!—there wasn’t even running water or electricity! They were extremely different times than what we know today.

Back then, there was no Corelle company that sold fine dinnerware, nor was there an Everything Summer Camp where you could find quality-made camp trunks. The desire for such products, however, grew and grew during this time. Services like iron and coal mining, brick-making, glass-making, and, yes, even trunk-making became common means of trade and commerce.

Early trunks were made out of wood and covered with cowhide or some other animal skin. They were typically lined with old newspapers or some other printed paper.

But there certainly weren’t any summer camps around back then. So what did people use trunks for? Well, just as they’re used today, back then people used them for long periods away from home as well as decorative storage pieces. It didn’t take long for people to start experimenting with the way their trunks looked.

The late 1700s and early 1800s brought a richer and more ornamented style to trunks with iron locks and handles, leather trim, and brass tacks. A round top became a popular look around this time as well. But other styles came along too such as bevel-tops, barrel-tops, dome-tops, steamers, barrel-staves, wardrobes, dresser trunks, wall trunks, and more.

As trunk styles have changed all throughout history, Everything Summer Camp continues the tradition by keeping an experimental attitude toward the appearance of the trunks that we manufacture.

Hey, New Year Lads and Lasses!

Ready to ring in the new year for 2014? This holiday’s traditions are a little more self-explanatory than, say carving a pumpkin or keeping evergreens in our houses. The New Year’s tradition is to stay up late—until midnight—counting down the seconds to the start of the coming year. It’s pretty straightforward.

Traditions couldn’t have gotten too confused for such a simple holiday, right? Well, people have been celebrating New Years for the last 4000 years! That’s a long time to play the proverbial game of telephone from year to year, attempting to keep our traditions the same.

Surprisingly enough, it’s not so much our traditions that have changed over time for this holiday but rather the day of the holiday that’s changed over the last four millennia. That’s right, believe it or not, the new year was not always on January 1. Well, how can that be? you might be asking yourself. How can the new year change days?

Well, it’s not so much that the new year changed days so much as people started using different calendars (or even making up their own). The ancient Babylonians used to celebrate their New Year’s Day late in March around the vernal equinox.

The original Roman calendar only had 10 months and consisted of slightly over 300 days. But in the year 46 B.C., Julius Caeser first introduced his Julian calendar (which most resembles the Gregorian calendar, most commonly used in the modern day), he had to add 90 extra days just to make it all work.

In any case, whether people based their calendars off of earthly matters or the motion and arrangement of heavenly bodies, what’s important is that we continue to celebrate the passing of the old year and the coming of the new one.

From everyone at Everything Summer Camp, Happy New Year’s, Everybody!

Hey, Holiday Fans!

Well, another bright Christmas season has come to an end. As sung in a song popularized by The Carpenters, “Greeting Cards have all been sent, the Christmas rush is through.”

 The only thing left now is New Year’s Day, right? Wrong. The next holiday after Christmas is right now. Today! It’s Boxing Day. Recognized in many commonwealth nations like Canada, England, South Africa, and others, Boxing Day in today’s world is essentially an extended Christmas Day.

 It’s the day where you check out the presents that you unwrapped yesterday and eat the food that you ate yesterday. It’s a day for hangin’ around the house, being lazy, and wondering, “what now?” Though it seems right up our alley, the U.S. does not celebrate this holiday.

So what in the heck is Boxing Day?!

That’s a question that’s easier to ask than it is to answer (mainly because there is no answer). There are a couple different ideas on the subject

The first idea is taken from the Christmas carol, Good Kind Wenceslas. For those familiar with the song, you’ll note that King Wenceslas spots a poor man gathering firewood in a snowstorm on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26). According to the song, the king brings the man food and wine and brings him to his home.

Another idea is that the holiday originated from the old tradition in which employers and the upper class gifted their servants and employees presents (in boxes). The employees and servants would then go home to have a second Christmas of sorts with the boxes they received from their employer.

In any case, Boxing Day started out as a day in which the poor were gifted by the rich. Nowadays it’s more so a day for watching sporting events and eating leftovers. Happy Boxing Day, everyone.

Hello, Everybody!

Do you cherish your hot chocolate? Do you crave your cocoa? Well, 'tis not only the season but it’s also the day to be drinking that chocolaty favorite that was made for a frigid winter day. That’s right, it’s National Hot Cocoa Day. Go make yourself a cup and come back here so you can appreciate this hot, wintry beverage while learning about it. Continue reading when your hot chocolate is ready…

So here’s a little history of hot chocolate:

First of all, if it wasn’t for monkeys, you and I might never have tasted such a fantastic drink! What do monkeys have to do with hot chocolate? Well, people didn’t start eating chocolate until we noticed our less-evolved predecessors doing it. What happened when people first saw monkeys eating the white pulp within the cocoa pods? Well, monkey see, monkey do.

The Mayans were the first people to try it out, eating the pulp and spitting the bitter beans out like the monkeys did. After some time, however, the Mayans realized the cocoa beans weren’t so bad after roasting in the sun for a while. The Mayans would soon come to ground the cocoa beans and turn the grounds into a drink. And VOILA—the world’s first hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate that you’re enjoying right now is nothing like the original Mayan cocoa drink. If you were drinking the original, Mayan cocoa drink, you probably wouldn’t like it very much. It used to be a spicy, bitter drink. Despite what we might think of it, the Mayans couldn’t get enough of it. Cocoa beans actually became more valuable than gold was in the Mayan culture!

The Mayans shared their drink with Aztec traders who were eventually conquered by Hernan Cortes and his Spanish army. Cortes took cocoa beans back to Spain with him and it eventually became a treat that the whole world loves. So as you sit there, finishing up the last of your hot cocoa, smile and be thankful for monkeys.

- John