Jan. 17, 2007
If you ask my son what his favorite holiday is, he'll tell you it's Christmas. Then he'll tell you that his second favorite is Darwin Day.
What is Darwin Day? According to its official website, it is a "global celebration of Science and Humanity" on Feb. 12 of each year, Charles Darwin's birthday. There is a giant movement to make this day an "International Celebration to show our appreciation for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity." Why single out Charles Darwin for the celebration of what science has offered us? The article "Why is Evolution Important in Teaching, Science, and Society?" on the Rutgers University's website has an article answer to this question. Here is a summation of its explanation.
Evolution is the central theory of life. An understanding of evolutionary process and evidence is necessary for considering, not only the history of living things, but also many modern questions. For example; Why should we be concerned with a bird-flu epidemic? Why is HIV so difficult to treat? How does research on lab rats apply to humans? How did humans evolve from apelike ancestors? What is the best strategy for delaying the onset of pesticide resistance? Increasingly evolutionary understanding is required for appreciating basic questions in fields traditionally apart from basic biology and anthropology. Major areas of psychology, philosophy, computer sciences, and other fields now require a solid grounding in evolutionary thinking."What better cause do we have to celebrate? I hope that the religious and nonreligious alike will recognize the benefits that Darwin's work has given us and join us in the celebration.
A goal of the Darwin Day movement is to build momentum and increase the number of celebrants and celebrations until the year 2009, when it will be Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his book, On the Origins of Species.
How do we celebrate Darwin's Day? The events page of the Darwin Day website contains a world-wide listing with links, listed by country alphabetically (United States' celebrations are toward the bottom under "U").
Most events have speakers. A humanist organization in my hometown has had fish at a seafood restaurant (as in the Darwin fish). The organization pushing the Darwin Day movement suggests having a "phylum feast," a feast with an enormous variety of meats from various phylum.
Some groups celebrate for one day, on Darwin's actual birthday. Others extend the celebration for the entire week.
As a mom who wants her kids to grow up with an appreciation for science and an understanding of evolution and our origins, I have created our own tradition of celebrating that is both fun and educational.
We have a six-night celebration over the dinner hour. Our celebration centers on the book, The Tree Of Life: The Wonders Of Evolution by Ellen Jackson. Our meals over the evenings represent the various stages of life forms as Jackson out-lines them in her books. I decorate the table according the stage we are focusing on (two evenings take place under the sea, one has to do with dinosaurs, etc.) and we quiz the kids with questions and evolution trivia throughout the meal. Each meal ends with a surprise treat that has to do with the life forms for that evening.
Mark your calendar for Feb. 12 and join us as we celebrate the advancement of humanity through scientific discovery!
Happy upcoming Darwin Day!
Copyright AgnosticMom.com 2006
Noell Hyman writes for her blog, AgnosticMom.com. She has been blogging since August of 2005. Relatively new to the humanist landscape, Noell declared herself a humanist some time in the year of 2002 after leaving religion, specifically the Mormon Church. A stay-at-home mother of three young children, Noell's aim is to reach other non-religious parents who find themselves isolated in the struggle to raise a healthy family without religion. Noell wants to make "Agnostic Mom" a humanist and secular household name. Visit: www.AgnosticMom.com
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