On This Day:
Wednesday March 11, 2015 This is the 70th day of the year, with 295 days remaining in 2015. Fact of the Day: Easter symbols Around the Christian observance of Easter as the climax of the liturgical drama of Holy Week and Good Friday, folk customs have collected, many of which have been handed down from the ancient ceremonial and symbolism of European and Middle Eastern pagan spring festivals brought into relation with the resurrection theme. These customs have taken a variety of forms, in which, for example, eggs, formerly forbidden to be eaten during Lent, have been prominent as symbols of new life and resurrection. The hare, the symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt, a role that was kept later in Europe, is not found in North America. Its place is taken by the Easter rabbit, the symbol of fertility and periodicity both human and lunar, accredited with laying eggs (often brightly colored or decorated) in nests prepared for it at Easter or with hiding them away for children to find.
Holidays Lesotho: Moshoeshoe's Day.
Feast day of St. Oengus, St. Vindician, St. Sophronius of Jerusalem, St. Constantine of Cornwall, St. Eulogius of Cordova, St. Aurea, St. Benedict of Milan, and St. Teresa Margaret Redi.
Lithuania: Restoration of Independence Day.
Events 1779 - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was established.
1824 - The U.S. War Department created the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1861 - The Confederate convention in Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a constitution.
1865 - In the Civil War, General William T. Sherman captured the town of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
1888 - The famous "Blizzard of '88" hit the northeastern United States with approximately 40 inches of snow; around 400 people died.
1930 - President Howard Taft became the first U.S. President to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, {Virginia.
1941 - President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis Powers.
1942 - In World War II, General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia as Japanese forces advanced, vowing "I shall return."
1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.
1990 - Lithuania proclaimed its independence from the USSR, the first Soviet republic to do so.
1990 - American tennis player Jennifer Capriati, aged 13, became the youngest-ever finalist in a professional contest.
2004 - Spain is the victim of terrorists when at least 10 bombs explode on four commuter trains in Madrid during rush hour, killing 202 people and wounding more than 2,000. An Arabic newspaper reports it received a fax alleging that al-Qaeda was behind the attack.
Births 1903 - Lawrence Welk, American bandleader.
1916 - Harold Wilson, English Labor Party politician; twice prime minister.
1926 - Ralph David Abernathy, American civil rights leader.
1931 - Rupert Murdoch, Australian media mogul.
Deaths 1957 - Richard Evelyn Byrd, American aviator and explorer.
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