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Got springbreak?
BRIAN SMITH STAFF WRITER BTS723@CABRINI EDU
Why is today so special?
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Well for one, it’s because today is the day Cabrini College’s spring break begins.
In addition to that, several other historical events have occurred on this day. One of those events would be the anniversary in which a lot of Christians were persecuted.
The year 303 A.D. was the beginning of heavy persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Also today, Roman Emperor Galerius Maximianus published an edict that would begin the persecution in his area of the empire. Galerius would heavily enforce this edict until the Edict of Toleration was issued in April 311 A.D, near the time of his death.
The happy ending would come when Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. At this point, Christianity was considered a legitimate religion and the official religion of the Roman Empire, ousting the previous religion, paganism.
Today is also the day that our neighbors in Mexico celebrate Flag Day, which is the day Mexico became an independent nation. Feb. 24 is also the same date that the “Plan de Iguala” document was signed, ratifying Mexico’s independence.
Mexico’s flag itself holds a lot of history.Its green stripe symbolizes hope; its white stripe symbolizes purity or religion and its red stripe symbolizes the blood of their national heroes.
The flag’semblem, an eagle eating a serpent on top of a cactus, is also based on a legend. A group of nomadic Aztecs was searching for a place to build their capital. The god Huitzilopochtli told them to build it where they found the sign, an eagle devouring a serpent on a cactus. They found this sign in the middle of a lake, where they built Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. This story is also featured in a 1945 Disney movie called “The Three Caballeros.”
Even without all of these events, still enjoy your spring break. Maybe you can use this information for a drinking game.
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