Juneteenth, also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. June 19th was chosen because it was on this day in 1865 “that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.” General Granger read aloud General Order No.3 which stated, “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”

Celebrations of Juneteenth waned during much of the twentieth century, but there was a resurgence of interest beginning in the 1980s’s. Juneteenth is now an official state holiday or observance in 39 states.

Father’s Day falls on the third Sunday of June. This year Father’s Day is observed on June 16th. Check our Father’s Day page for lots of ideas for celebrating with dad.

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14th, as this is the anniversary of the Flag Resolution by which the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the American Flag. Flag Day was celebrated unofficially for decades before President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation officially designating June 14th as Flag Day. In August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

The Dragon Boat Festival, or Duan Wu Jie, falls on June 12th.

It is widely held that the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C.), who drowned himself rather than see his homeland invaded by a warring state. However, according to Yuan Chang-rue, a folklorist and professor at the Graduate School of Folk Culture and Arts, “[i]n ancient times, the Dragon Boat Festival, celebrated in early summer, reminded people that the ‘poison season’ of May, June and July, is beginning…” and was associated with health and well-being.

Today, the festival is highlighted by the dragon boat races and the eating of zongi, a sticky rice dish with a variety of fillings.

National Men’s Health Week is observed every year as the week leading up to Father’s Day. “The purpose of Men’s Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.”

This year, get into the act and “wear blue” during Men’s Health Week.

The Massachusetts Center for the Book has announced the winning titles for 2013, honoring the best books by Massachusetts authors or on Massachusetts subjects published in 2012;

Here is a list of the winning titles, with links to the library catalog to help you find and request these books:

Fiction: The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
Find it in the catalog: Book | Large Print Book | Audiobook on CD

Nonfiction: Brothers by George Howe Colt
Find it in the catalog: Book

Poetry: Place by Jorie Graham
Find it in the catalog: Book

Children’s/Young Adult Literature: Ocean Sunlight by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm
Find it in the catalog: Book

Must Reads 2013 — Here’s the complete list of this year’s Must Reads