By Abu Sami

Where did independence days come from?

The origin actually goes back to the Protestant Reformation in Europe, which is also where we find the roots of the modern nation-state system.

For background, we need to know a little about the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was known for the veneration of saints, people who performed miracles (or at least were believed to have done so). 

Every saint had a “saints day” and on that day the people would commemorate that saint. Commemorations would include remembering the martyrdom or miracles of a saint, praying for the dead, calling upon the saints for intercession, and having feasts in their honor. Many saints’ days were adapted from pre-Christian pagan holidays.

When bringing new peoples into Christianity, it was sometimes difficult to get them to give up certain rituals and acts of worship from their old religion, so some missionaries tried to Christianize…