Easter & Passover Celebrations in NYC & Boros

Next Sunday is Easter for Western Christians and the Following Week it's Easter for Orthodox Christians

April 3, 2023 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / Gotham Buzz NYC / 438

Very Brief Introduction to Christian Easter Traditions

On Friday, April 7th, Christians observe Good Friday, which is when the Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross. On Sunday, April 9th, Christians celebrate the Biblical account of Jesus rising from the dead.

Emperor Constantine became the Roman Emperor in 306. In 324 Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. In 1054, the Great Schism occurred, wherein Christianity split into two different sects - Roman Catholic Christians [primarily in Western Europe] and Orthodox Christians [primarily in Eastern Europe]. The traditions have much in common, but one of the differences is in how they calculate the time of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The Western European Christians [Protestants and Catholics] use the Gregorian Calendar which was created in the 16th century and made the official calendar by Pope Gregory, while the Orthodox Christians use the Julian Calendar which was made law in the Roman Empire in 45 B.C. by Julius Caesar.

Thus there are years where the Western European and Eastern Orthodox Easter events fall at the same time, and there years where they do not. This year [2023] the celebrations of the two traditions are separated by a week, with the Western European Christians celebrating next weekend and the Orthodox Christians celebrating a week later.

• CLICK here to view our report on NYC Easter events, Easter parades, Easter egg hunts, Easter brunches & Greek Orthodox Holy Friday processsions in NYC, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx & Staten Island.

New Years Resolutions 2023: The Road Ahead

A Few Axioms To Keep In Mind Throughout The New Year

January 1, 2023 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Holidays / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC / 429.

For all of us, today starts the beginning of a new year.

If we stay the course with vaccinations, masks, social distancing and hand washing, we should be able to continue the transition from pandemic to endemic - assuming we're not already almost there - given that there are likely to be lingering long term CoVid effects and that we may never return to a pre-CoVid normal.

The rest of this report is about some of the things you can do personally to make 2023 a better year for you.

• CLICK here to read the rest of our report on New Years Resolutions 2023 - The Road Ahead.

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Things To Do Memorial Day Weekend Manhattan NYC

Things To Do In NYC & Manhattan Over The Memorial Day Weekend 2022

UPDATED _ May 29, 2022 / Things To Do Memorial Day Weekend Manhattan NYC / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

This is a report containing things to do in Manhattan over the Memorial Day Weekend. 

This was first published when Memorial Day Weekend was a few weeks away. But given New Yorkers' interest in resuming some level of normalcy post pandemic, I thought you might want more time to figure out how you're going to spend the weekend.

Weather. The temperature highs will be near 80 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, rising to the mid 80's or higher on Monday. The temperature lows will be in the 60's all weekend. Over a half inch of rain is expected between about 2 pm Friday and about 4 pm Saturday, and the rest of the weekend will be dry. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph on Friday, Saturday and Monday, falling to 3 - 5 mph on Sunday. The humidity will be 80% on Friday, 70% on Saturday, and 60% on Sunday and Monday. All in all a pretty fair weather for the three day weekend.

We'll update the weather on Friday, May 27th on the front page. Click for an up-to-date forecast of Queens Weekend Weather.

The things to do in Manhattan on Memorial Day Weekend include art exhibitions, theater, live music, comedy, dance, shopping, outdoor activities such as soccer, kyaking, baseball, parades, street fairs, museums and dining on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Harlem, Washington Heights, Midtown Manhattan, the East or West Village, LES, SoHo, Tribeca or Downtown FiDi in Manhattan NYC.

Be sure to check our Memorial Day Weekend things to do on Friday afternoon leading into the Memorial Day Weekend in Manhattan NYC.

Brief History of the Memorial Day Holiday in Manhattan

Memorial Day first started out as Decoration Day in Waterloo, New York on May 30, 1866 - a year after the Civil War - to honor those who fought in it. In the 1880's the day came to be known as Memorial Day.

According to a May 25, 2012 report in Time Magazine, ten states - Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee also officially observe some version of a Confederate Memorial Day, sometime between late April and early June [in Texas it's in January]. It's been reported that unofficially most of the former Confederate states still commemorate it, but not without some controversy as to the former Confederate diaspora it's to honor their ancestors, while to the former diaspora of the slaves it seems a remnant of these states racist past.

About ten percent of the nation travels more than 50 miles over the weekend. Memorial Day differs from Veterans Day which is held on November 11th of each year. Veterans Day began by honoring those who fought in World War I which ended on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Both honor those who served in the U.S. Military. Veterans Day coincides with a similar holiday in Europe for the same reason, which is called Remembrance Day and Armistice Day.

Things to do in Other NYC Boroughs Memorial Day Weekend

Things to do Manhattan Memorial Day Weekend NYC and Queens Things To Do Memorial Day Weekend NYC and Things to do Bronx Memorial Day Weekend NYC and Brooklyn Things To Do Memorial Day Weekend NYC and Staten Island Things To Do Memorial Day Weekend NYC.

• Click here to view the rest of our report of things to do Memorial Day Weekend in Manhattan NYC. And we'll have more to add by Friday.

Rockefeller Center: Christmas or Holiday Tree?

The Large Holiday Tree was Lit Last Week & We Were There

Posted December 5th / November 29, 2017 / Neighborhood Midtown Manhattan / Manhattan Holiday Events / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

Last Wednesday the large Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was lit for all the world to see. The festivities, including a live broadcast watched by millions, began at 7 pm and ended at 9 pm. Matt Lauer was quietly dropped from the slate of celebrities, due to sexual harrassment allegations. I arrived on the scene between 10 and 10.30 pm, hoping to get a photo of the tree and the crowds.

According to the Daily Beast the tree this year weighs 12 tons and is 75 feet tall and comes from State College Pennsylvania. Traditionally the tree is a Norway Spruce, as is the tree this year. Wikipedia provides us with a bit of the logistics involved transporting and erecting the tree, which has to be transported through New York City streets - the widths of which - limit the maximum tree height to about 100 feet.

Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting History

Both Wikipedia and Rockefeller Center tells us that the tradition was begun by construction laborers working on the erection of Rockefeller Center in the early 1930's during the Great Depression. One account has the first tree being erected in 1931, which was two years before Rockefeller Center opened in 1933, at which time the first official Christmas tree was lit.

Much ado has been made by numerous writers of the Swarovsky star atop of the tree, which reportedly weights 550 lbs and has 25,000 crystals. Wikipedia tells us that there were 50,000 LED lights hung on the tree.

NYPD Security & Barricades

The streets were barricaded by the NY Police Department when I arrived. Nonetheless there were hundreds of people milling about, trying to get a look at the tree, or possibly just trying to get across town. The barricades extended to about 52nd Street on the north, at 6th Avenue in the west, at Madison Avenue in the eastand about 46th or 47th street in the south at the time I worked my way around the tree.

I did have some luck getting past the NY Police Department barricades with my official press pass and thus got close enough to photograph the tree and remaining crowds exiting the area. I couldn't walk down the main promenade as the folks from Rockefeller Center had cordoned it off to clean it.

I spoke to a couple of policemen who told me they were glad things went well, but that they'd been there a long time and we're looking forward to going home. That sounded like a good idea, so I made my way out of the crowds and over to one of the subways in Midtown.

The tree at Rockefeller Center will remain in place until January 8th. There's a skating rink at the foot of it, which is open throughout the most of every day. And there are a ton of large floor-to-ceiling store windows with beautiful, artistic displays stretching north and south along 5th Avenue from Rockefeller Center which lies between 49th and 50th Streets.

The Road Ahead 2018

A Few Axioms To Keep In Mind Throughout The New Year

January 2, 2018 / Manhattan Neighborhoods / Manhattan Holidays / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

For many of us, yesterday started the beginning of the new year.

I used to make new years resolutions that generally lasted a few days or few weeks. Over time I've given that up and have focused on a few guiding principles that I work toward throughout the year, every year.

1. The first guidepost is to keep things as simple as possible by letting things go, so I can change and evolve who I am. Over time it's important to learn to let go of the past which includes letting many of the people, projects and things - that were once so meaningful and relevant - fade away with time. This process involves discarding much of what one collects, in order to open up life to make room for new possibilities.

2. The second guidepost is to take care of the vessel that carries one's being - meaning taking care of the body because it's the only one we'll ever get, and it has to last an entire lifetime. This means consuming the foods that will enable the body to function properly and ward off disease, while recognizing that satisfying the mind is important too, as it's a part of the body. There are three elements to this guideline.

a _ Try to maximize consumption of natural foods while managing / minimalizing consumption of the delicious processed foods that come in packages. Read package container nutrition labels which indicate the amount of fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol consumed per serving. The balance of natural and processed foods will shift depending on what's going on in life.

b _ Reduce consumption of toxins by first paying attention to the quantities consumed of them, and then by substituting the toxins with healthier choices. For example dilute a soft drink with seltzer water [cuts sugar], or swap in a lemonade for a beer [cuts alcohol], or swap in pretzels for potato chips [cuts salt and fat]. Over the years these little substitutions can add up to some fair measure of weight loss, and can aid in maintaining generally good health. But it's also important not to deprive oneself, too much, of some of the simple pleasures in life that keep one going - because my experience has been that whenever I'm too draconian, there's a subconscious rebellion, and the program doesn't work.

c _ The third element of this guidepost is to try to walk and bike whenever possible. It's a good way to kill two birds with one stone as it enables getting somewhere, while also getting some exercise. And be sure to carve out enough time each night, for a proper rest.

3. The third guidepost is to try to move your life in the direction of your interests. This will likely take a great many years, as well as needing to make a good number of economic and other trade offs. But if successful, one can then spend most of their time doing the things that totally engage them. It's said that "when someone is doing something they truly love, they'll never have to work another day in their life."

4. And the fourth guidepost is to keep on learning, because "luck is when preparation meets opportunity". So the more you learn, and the more experience you get, the better prepared you'll be ... come what may.

May your new year be filled with promise and possibilities. Best wishes for a happy and successful 2018.

Year of the Rooster in Manhattan

Chinatown Pulls out all Stops for the Year of the Fire Rooster

January 31, 2017 / Chinatown Neighborhood near SoHo & Tribeca Manhattan NYC / Manhattan History & Culture / Manhattan NYC Holidays / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

On Saturday morning I headed down to Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side – LES – in Manhattan. The Chinese were planning a New Year Day Firecracker Ceremony & Cultural Festival that would run from 11 am to 3.30 pm, with the highlight being the lighting of the firecrackers at 12 noon to ring in the New Year.

I arrived a bit after 12 noon, but just in time to catch the tail end of the firecracker ceremony. It was loud and smoky and the park was full of people who came to enjoy the whole affair. In the photo at right you can see a huge crowd wandering the streets of Chinatown in Lower Manhattan along Elizabeth Street between Canal & Mott Streets.

Grandparents, children and everyone in between were there. And the Chinese celebrants were joined in attendance by thousands of people, many of whom represented numerous other ethnic groups. One of the things I love most about New York City is times like these where I get to join in seeing the world peacefully come together, to savor one another’s culture, in a shared communal learning experience.

Traffic along Chrystie Street was a bit backed up, as the teeming crowds spilled into the streets, and motorist caution was in order with so many people, young and old, around. I made my way along the perimeter of the park up to Grand Street where the entrance is located.

Along the way I would jump up along one of the rails to take some photos of the spectacle in the park. Once inside the park, which was no mean feat, given that literally thousands were making their way out, I found a spot on higher ground where I could listen and watch some of the cultural performances taking place on the main stage. We are beginning the year of the Fire Rooster.

The Chinese have twelve symbols, one of which they designate for each year, in a rotation. The symbols are comparable to those used in the Zodiac, and is likely from where the Zodiac originated.

The use of the twelve symbols likely came from the lunar [monthly] cycle of the Chinese calendar. This year in the western / modern world is 2017, while in the Chinese lunar calendar we have just entered the year 4714. As you can see by the count, the Chinese culture has a significant head start on the west.

In the photo at right you can see performers at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, ringing in the year of the Rooster.

Diwali in Times Square

3rd Annual Indian Festival of Lights Delights Audience

October 16, 2016 / Manhattan Neighborhoods / Holidays in NYC / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

I attended the third annual Diwali Festival in Times Square on Sunday. The day long event, celebrating the millenia old Indian festival, had started in the afternoon at 2 pm and ran well into the evening, ending at 9 pm.

As I came up from the subway I asked an Indian-looking NYC policman to point me in the direction of the festival. He asked me how I had heard of the event and I mentioned that I had found out about it on Manhattan Buzz, but that I had also traveled to India some time ago where I first became aware of the Indian holiday. He inquired as to where I had traveled in India, which was mostly in the north, and he suggested the next time I visit, to check out Kerala, which is where his family is from originally. I had learned from my travels that Kerala is a southwestern Indian province along the Indian Ocean, and is said to be a bit of paradise.

A large crowd had gathered to watch the festival, many of whom were of Indian descent which I found from conversing with several of them. They brought their families to view the free entertainment which included a number of wide ranging song and dance performances by dance troupes and musicians.

Diwali is the festival of lights, which commemorates light overcoming darkness, good overcoming evil and knowledge overcoming ignorance and hope defeating despair. It is one of the three major Hindu festivals and a time for renewal and celebration which is denoted by the cleaning of homes and the lighting of lights. The Diwali Holiday officially runs from October 30th to November 3rd, but unoffically it lasts longer starting in September / October and ending in October / November. The other two major Hindu holidays are Holi which celebrates Spring with the coloring of people's bodies, faces and hair and Maha Shivaratri which is one of the rare nighttime celebrations, held just before the arrival of Spring with a mix of solemn practices including meditation, yoga and fasting.

Happy Holidays or as they say in Hindu - छुट्टियों की शुभकामनाएं.

Rosh Hashanah Begins Sunday

The Jewish New Year Begins with the Feast of Trumpets

September 28, 2016 / Manhattan Neighborhoods / Manhattan Holidays & Ethnic Culture / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

On Sunday, October 4th at sundown, the Jewish New Year begins. The festival commemorates the creation of Adam and Eve and is rung in with a sounding of the shofar, which is a ram's horn that is shaped like a trumpet.

The New Year celebration lasts two days and is also a period of judgment. People are divided into three classes - the righteous, the evil and those who fall in between. Each class is dealt with accordingly, and those who fall in between have ten days to reflect on their lives ending in Yom Kippur wherein they are expected to atone for wrong deeds.

Rosh Hashanah also includes the serving of a few symbolic foods including vegetables such as dates, leeks, spinach and squash. Apples are cut and served with honey [along with a honey bread] to symbolize a sweet year and the challah bread is served to symbolize the cyclical nature of the year. Gefilte [stuffed] fish is also a Rosh Hashanah staple.

I attended Rosh Hashanah at Chabad LIC in 2011 where I met Rabbi Yitzchok who is an artist and had several works on display. In the artwork above right he depicts scenes from Orthodox Jewish life in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Crown Heights in pop art silk screens.

4th Of July Fireworks In Manhattan

Tale & Photos Of My Trip On Independence Day

July 4th / Holidays in Manhattan NYC / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

I went to see the Macy's 4th of July fireworks in the East River on the Manhattan side on Friday night. Official reports told everyone that the fireworks would begin around 9 pm, but I knew from experience that they generally began closer to 9.30 pm.

I took the subway down the east side of Manhattan sometime after 8.30 pm but still a bit before 9 pm and it was as packed as it usually is during rush hour on a weekday morning.

I decided to go 'all in' and get off at the Court House / Brooklyn Bridge stop. Tonight it was the last stop on the train and many others had opted to get off a couple of stops earlier.

At a later date we'll post the rest of the story including photos of the 4th of July fireworks in Manhattan NYC. A photo from 2014 is shown to your right.