Next year our country will celebrate its "semiquincentennial," and you have to admit that does not exactly roll off the tongue.
It's the term used for commemorating 250 years, and for the U.S. it will be the 250th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.
According to my cursory research, there will be commemorative coins and stamps, and various activities and celebrations will take place leading up to July 4, 2026.
I will date myself here, but I was around for the last big event like this 50 years ago, "The Bicentennial," which was a lot easier to say than semiquincentennial. In fact, it was the year I graduated from high school and much of our graduation memorabilia contained patriotic memorabilia and symbols. After all, we were the "Bicentennial Class."
I can't tell if this 250-year commemoration is going to be the shindig the Bicentennial was.
Longtime (and blog) friend Kelly and I were part of a "Bicentennial Chorale," a group of a dozen-or-so singers chosen from our top high school choir. We wore period costumes and while I believe the intent was for it to be a group that supplemented the big choir and sang a few patriotic numbers here and there, it took on a life of its own as we sang all over the area at other schools, churches, civic clubs, business meetings and parades.
By the time the year was done, I believe we had performed close to 100 times. (My memory might be a little fuzzy, if not exaggerated, but I do remember being very busy with this group.)
We sang the typical patriotic songs like "God Bless America," America the Beautiful" and "This is My Country," but as I recall, we also performed a little one-act play with some original music. Again, the memory is faulty.
I know we had a lot of fun and enjoyed singing around town. It was a different time, of course, and who knows what a "Semiquincentennial Chorale" would look (or sound) like?
7 comments:
Sadly, displays of patriotism have come to symbolize support for a certain party and denigrating those symbols has come to symbolize support for the other party. Even if I disagree with those two parties, I still love my country and will celebrate next year in my own way. I am still hopeful that some of my descendants will be around for the 500th birthday. Happy 4th Bob!
Bob, I have no memory of the one-act play! I do know we were super busy, singing all over the region. The girls quartet I was in also sang a lot that year and I remember when we did programs that were more close harmony than barbershop, we wore our bicentennial dresses. I also remember the lace cap I wore came from Williamsburg when our church choir went there the year (or two?) before! I'm afraid our current prez will try to make it more about himself than the country's (kind of like his birthday vs. the Army's bday). 1976 was a bittersweet year for me.
I was thinking I was an adult at the time of our country's bicentennial, but since you made me think about it I realize I was between my junior and senior year of highschool. I remember that it happened, but I have no memories of anything related to it happening. Reading your post, and from a perspective of 49 years later, I can see it would have been nice to have been part of something like a chorale that made it their job to commemorate it. Thanks for sharing this, Bob. And thanks for adding a new word to my vocabulary. I have a year to practice saying it!
I hope that the entire country is able to celebrate it next year.
I think you and Kelly need to reunite and sing a duet for our 250th anniversary as a nation! I was depressed by the bicentennial, partly because I was looking for an incredible fireworks display along the Cape Fear river, with the fireworks being lighted from across the river at the Battleship North Carolina. A thunderstorm and rain ruined it!
Hi Bob, thank 😊 you so much for sharing this. Warm greetings from a 68 year old retired lady living in Montreal, Canada 🇨🇦
I'm sure Bob would do great, but my singing days are over!! (except in the car when I'm alone)
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