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Happy Birthday to the Trees!


Yesterday, February 6, 2023, was the Jewish festival Tu B'Shvat. It is the birthday of the trees. The date this festival is celebrated shifts from year to year. All Jewish feasts do because the Jewish calendar is lunar. The birthday of the trees it will always be in January or February, however. Why do the trees need a birthday? Because the ancient Jewish law forbade a person from eating from a fruit tree until it was five years old. So, all the trees have their birthdays on the same day. 

What does that have to do with us at the Kentucky Faith & Public History Education Project in Paris, Kentucky? Our mission is to provide education around the Christian religion and its history, particularly in Kentucky. As one of the signs on our half-mile Walking Trail says, the first people who believed the Christian message were Jewish people living in Jerusalem in the first century of the Christian era. So, by honoring this Jewish festival, we recall the roots of the Christian faith. Besides, the Walking Trail takes visitors through a beautiful arboretum that was planted last summer. Next year Tu B'Shvat will be on January 25. We will celebrate the birthday of the trees in the arboretum on that day. Watch our Facebook Page for details. 

The Walking Trail, Arboretum, and our carefully designed menu of history-themed educational activities  is a perfect field trip for K-12 students studying history, nature, literature, humanities, arts and culture. Call 859-987-5407 to schedule your class' field trip. Two hour experiences are free - donations are appreciated. 

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