DECEMBER 17, 2013 – NATIONAL MAPLE SYRUP DAY – WRIGHT BROTHERS DAY

           NATIONAL MAPLE SYRUP DAY

December 17 is the perfect day to begin the day with pancakes, french toast or biscuits topped off with delicious maple syrup as you celebrate National Maple Syrup Day.
It is usually from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple or black maple trees that maple syrup is made from although it not limited to those maple species.
These trees, in cold climates, store starch in their trunks and in their roots.  In the spring, the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap.  The maple trees are then tapped by boring holes into their trunks and the released sap is collected.  After the sap is collected, it is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup.
Maple syrup was first collected, processed and used by the indigenous peoples of North America.  The practice was then adopted by the European settlers who gradually refined production methods.  In the 1970′s further refinements in the syrup processing were made with technological improvements. 

• A maple syrup production farm is called a “sugarbush” or a “sugarwood”.
• Sap is boiled in a “sugar house” which is also known as a “sugar shack”, “sugar shanty” or a “cabane à sucre”.

Up until the 1930′s the United States led in maple syrup production, now Canada is the world’s largest maple syrup producer. 
Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup in the United States. 

Happy National Maple Syrup Day, try maple syrup on some ice cream today, you will be amazed!

NATIONAL MAPLE SYRUP DAY
Within our research, we were unable to find the creator or origin of National Maple Syrup Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.
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               WRIGHT BROTHERS DAY

By Presidential Proclamation, December 17 is Wright Brothers Day.   The President is requested each year to issue a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Wright Brothers Day is an annual United States national observation.  It is codified in the US Code and Wright Brothers Day commemorates the first successful flights in a heavier than air, mechanically propelled airplane, that were made by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The Wright brothers were American brothers, inventors and
aviation pioneers. 

Orville Wright
( August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948 )

Wilbur Wright
( April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912 )