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Christmas – is the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, December 25th was probably chosen because it coincided with a pagan mid-winter festival. The ‘Twelve Days Of Christmas” mark the days between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6th), which was the day of the wise men’s visit.

Easter – is the most important day in the Christian calendar, because it celebrates Christ’s Resurrection, which gave / gives Christians the hope of salvation and eternal life. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (Spring) equinox, which is on 21st March.

Shrove Tuesday – (Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday) was originally a day of penance, but is now marked by merrymaking. It is the day before the beginning of Lent.

Ash Wednesday – is derived from the marking of a cross on the forehead of believers with the ashes from the burnt palms used on Palm Sunday.

Lent – 40 days of penance and fasting

Palm Sunday – the Sunday before Easter, celebrates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, where palms were strewn on the road before him.

Maundy (Holy) Thursday – the day of the Last supper.

Good Friday – is the day of Christ’s crucifixion.

Holy Saturday – is the day before the Resurrection.

The Annunciation – March 25th is celebrated by Catholics as the day that Archangel Gabriel told Mary about her impending pregnancy.

Trinity Sunday – is celebrated by some denominations in honour of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. It was confirmed part of the holy calendar in 1334 by Pope John XII.

Corpus Christi – Catholics celebrates the presence of the body of Christ on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

All Saints Day – this mainly Catholic remembrance is on November 1 and honours all Christian saints.

Advent – a religious season that starts on the Sunday nearest to November 30 and lasts until Christmas Day. It celebrates the birth of Jesus and anticipates his Second Coming. It was once a period of fasting, but now no longer.

Holy Days Of Obligation – are feast days in the Catholic calendar marked by attendance at mass and the avoidance of unnecessary work. There are six in the USA: Solemnity of Mary – January 1: Christ’s circumcision, ie his first shedding of blood Ascension – 40 days after Easter Assumption – August 15: Mary is accepted into Heaven All Saints’ Day – November 1 Mary’s Immaculate Conception – December 8 Christmas Day – December 25.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Franklin Covey planner refillss If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

A lot of people predicted that the start of the new Millennium, the year 2000 would be the of the end of the world. However, as it worked out, they were very wide of the mark.

What is it that makes people to attempt to predict disasters? Is it because they are attempting to warn people or because they wish to scare people? Frighten people, I think and thereby gain advantage over the naive.

These apocalyptic prophesies go back thousands of years and even happen in the Bible. Their only raison d’etre is to frighten people and so gain money, power and influence over them.

Even the millennium bug turned out not to be a problem with computers working perfectly well after midnight in spite of claims by ‘computer experts’ that there would be a worldwide crash of astounding importance. The computer industry made a fortune out of frightening businesses and individuals with their deceit. That was the swindle of the Nineties to end all scams!

So why all the hype? Was it just the dawn of a new millennium, which caused so many to make predictions on this date rather than stick to their usual common sense? Yes, I think. People saw the chance of a lifetime to rip others off and they jumped at it.

Needless to say there were thousands of predictions made ranging from the arrival of aliens and the Second Coming of Christ to airplane crashes. None of which came true. Here are a few of those less than truthful predictions:

May 5th was the day upon which all the planets lined up. The prediction was that the gravitational force of all these heavenly bodies in alignment would cause massive earthquakes, huge tides and volcanic eruptions.

A lot of people also prophesied that the shifting of the poles would occur during 2000 and that this would cause disastrous events such as high tides, widespread electrical failure and computer failures, which would mean economic disaster for the larger countries and insurance firms.

I do not know what you think, but perhaps instead of worrying about the demise of the world (most doom-mongers have decided on the year 2012 for the destruction of the world) we should work together to make the best of the time we have left on this planet, as well as ensuring that we pass the planet on to the next generation in the same condition as we received it.

If we behave in this way, we may hold off the apocalypse for a long while yet. We are far more likely to undergo apocalypse through nuclear war, global warming and events which are avoidable and within our control, than cosmic events which we have little control over such as asteroids or the Sun’s turning into a red dwarf and eventually exploding.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with custom wall calendars If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

Even if you were to invent something earth-shattering, you would not earn any money out of it if you left the invention on your desk. The only way you can turn a profit from it is by selling it and in order to accomplish this, you have to inform people that it exists, that it is for sale and where they may get it from. In other words, you have to advertise it.

The US Patents Office has issued thousands patents for products that never made it and many of those did not make it, not because they were not excellent ideas, but because their inventors did not know what to do with them. A business is more or less the same as a new invention. It has to be advertised, unless it is situated in the middle of the only street in town.

Having already started the business, it is to be expected that, you have already worked out your target market and evaluated the need for your products or services. Now you have to convert those potential customers into satisfied customers and this is where your promotional strategy comes in.

A promotional strategy is nothing more than a for reaching your intended market, which is of course the people most likely to require your services or products. At its simplest, your promotional strategy might consist of just hanging a sign over your door and relying on word of mouth from satisfied customers to circulate, so doing your advertising for you.

In some circumstances, this is indeed all the advertising a business requires, but the cases are not that common really. It works, if you are operating in a very small town or if your product or service is unique or very specialized or if you enjoy a long-standing good reputation. On the other hand, usually, customers require more details to go on before they will be attracted to your business.

Therefore, the objective of your promotional strategy should be to get in touch with the greatest quantity of potential customers by the most economical use of your means, which may include money, personnel and facilities. This means that you have to divine the channels of communication most used by your potential customers and try to get a message to them through those. This is normally constrained by a budget.

Advertising involves the purchasing of time or space in the media you have chosen in order to market your business to your intended market. You then have to decide which form of advertising you are going to use: institutional or product advertising. Institutional advertising markets the firm’s name as in: ‘Larry’s Boot Shop – The Best In Town’, whereas product advertising is more specific and might read: ‘Nike Walking Boots – 30% off at Larry’s. Offer Finishes Soon!’

Both types of advertising can be effective and lend themselves better to some media than to others. Institutional advertising is better carried out on shop signs, sign-written vans or windows or promotional calendars, that is, static, long-term, business name advertising and product advertising is better done by newspaper, magazine, radio and TV, where one-off special offers can be promoted.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with promotional wall calendars. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

Predicting the end of the world has probably been going on since man started thinking, whenever that was. It is warned about in Revelations in the Bible, so that must be about 2,000 years ago.

However, it is the predictions of Nostradamus that are the most well-known and most copious. Some biographical accounts of Nostradamus’ life assert that he was afraid of being victimized for heresy by the Inquisition, although neither prophecy nor astrology fell under their jurisdiction. He would have been in danger only if he had practiced magic to back up his predictions.

In fact, his contact with the Church as a prophet and a healer were always excellent. His brief imprisonment at Marignane in late 1561 came about purely because he had published his 1562 Almanac without the previous consent of a bishop, contravening a recent royal decree.

Here then are a few of the prophesies of the end of the world and the destruction of mankind.

December 21st, 22nd or 23rd 2012 are all possible dates for the ending of the world according to the ancient Mayan Calendar.

2012 has been determined by some to be the first potential date for the passing by of Planet X (Wormwood) and the demise of the world, as mentioned in Revelations, although this is fervently debated by Biblical experts and astronomers alike.

2012 is also the year given by Nostradamus as the possible demise. He gave three possible years for the apocalypse: 1994 and 1998 so this is his last opportunity to be correct.

2010 is the year so says the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn.

In 1143 St Malachy prophesied that there would be only another 112 more Popes. The current Pope Benedict is the 111th. He further predicted that the final Pope would be known as Peter of Rome, so we will have to wait and see for this one.

2017 is the year specified to the Sword of God Brotherhood by the Angel Gabriel.

November 13th 2026 is the date according to a 1960 edition of ‘Science’ magazine. The author alleged that this would be the day that the planet’s human population would ‘reach infinity’.

2033 is held by many to be the 2000th anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ and a potential date for his return, which would signal the demise of our Earthly times.

4,500,000,000 AD is the approximate date at which the Sun is expected to explode and in so doing, destroy the inner solar system including our Earth. Nobody knows, but unless we destroy ourselves first, this latter date is probably the most accurate and scientific date for the destruction of the planet.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with custom wall calendars If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars