Figure 1.--This Americam color postcard was printed in Detroit, probably the 1920s. The caption at the bottom read, "The Handorgan Man in Hepzibath's Day". The scene is of course stagd as the children wear early 19th century Kate Greenaway costumes that predated photography. The clothes look rather like 1830s styles. HBC knows nothing about Hepzibath Day.

HBC in preparing this section on holidays has come across some holidays that we have never hears of and have been able to find now information about. Presumably they are holidays whose celebration used o be of greater significance thn is the case today. They may also be religious or national holidays with which HBC is unfamiliar. Hopefully HBC readers will provide us some information on these holidays to expand our coverage of this interesting topic.

Hepzibath's Day

HBC at this time knows nothing about Hepzibath's Day. Hepzibath appears to be a girl's name a few centuries ago. According to the Oxford Dictionary of First Names, "The name Hephzibah is biblical "my delight is in her" i.e. a new born daughter. It was borne by the wife of Hezekiah, King of Judah; she was the mother of Mannasseh (2 Kings 21). It is also used in the prophecies of Isaiah as an allusive name of the land Israel. Var. Hepzibah." We believe that it was either an American or English holiday. We do not know if it was celebrted anyhere else. It appears to have been celebrated with dance, much as the children in Kate Greenaway's drawings--although the girls seem more interested in dancing than the boys. Hopefully some of our HBC readers will know something about this holiday. Several HBC readers commented on this page, but no one had any knowledge of a special celebration of Hepzibath's Day or even when it was. Neither did anyone know what the Kate Greenaway suits were for. One reader noted "In the 1920s color postcard with your web piece, did you notice that the boy, second from right, seems to be wearing button-on long pants (but with fewer buttons around the waist than modern boys had). I never had fewer than six buttons, and most pants/blouses had seven or eight.) If that kid had only four buttons around his waist to hold his pants up, that put a lot of stress on each one (especially if he carried stuff in his pockets--but then my pants with side openings didn't have side pockets)." [HBC note: The outfit the boy wear is a costume based on early 19th century garments. How accurate it was, HBC is not sure.]

Created: March 9, 2002
Last updated: March 11, 2002