Given the enormous influence of the United States in the world and the flood of information that it produces, Independence Day and its festivities are well known worldwide but this date isn’t celebrated beyond U.S. borders. The pagan traditions however (like Halloween and Christmas), most of the western world tries to replicate. Americans remember the War of Independence as a classic tale of David and Goliath, a saga of how a ragged band of citizen soldiers led by George Washington defied the odds and stood up to the vast military might of Great Britain, eventually winning their freedom and forging a new nation. At least that’s what we are taught in grade school. Yet according to historian Larrie D. Ferreiro, author of the book "Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It", that’s only a part of of the story. What started as a small rebellion in the New World by colonists against the crown soon widened, drawing in Britain’s European enemies. From there, the fighting rapidly escalated into a global struggle with action taking place in theaters far from America’s shores. The real story of the Revolution is that American was born as the centerpiece of an international coalition. Research uncovers that a decade before the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, France and Spain had been planning for a war with Britain, and had already foreseen the coming American Revolution as a means to weaken their common enemy. But before they could aid that insurgency, America had to be seen as an independent nation fighting a war, and not simply engaged in a civil dispute with its mother country.

 Let us not forget about what was going on in U.S. Southwest and Northern Mexico in 1776, it was a war zone. The Spanish settlements, ranchos, haciendas and missions were besieged by hostile Native Americans tribes and clans of the Apache, Comanche, Karankawa, Yaqui, Tarahumara, Seri nations and the non-aligned groups of the Sierra Madre Oriental commonly called Chichimeca. Local militia units had to escort travelers as well as periodically mount campaigns against marauding tribes and clans. Cattle, horse, sheep and goat ranchos were frequently raided as were merchants and small groups traveling on the caminos real. Peace or trading treaties signed by local governments with a specific tribe or clan were not respected by other tribes or clans, EVEN when they belonged to the same Native American Nation, hence the continuous war zone status in that region. 

Today people in Texas and the U S. Southwest forget that events in 1776 in the British colonies were a foreign affair. The July 4th Declaration of Independence, rebellion and eventual union of the thirteen former British Colonies into a new country called the United States of America all occurred in a foreign country. Spanish American citizens from Texas and Louisiana might have assisted the British American rebels but it was nonetheless intervention in a foreign affair in a foreign country. El Diario (the first daily newspaper is published in Mexico City), though heavily censored by Spanish authorities, the newspaper begins to affirm a distinctly Mexican identity. This identity is reflective of a new generation of criollos (the descendants of Spaniards born in Mexico) and mestizos (the descendants of mixed marriages between Spaniards and native Indian peoples) who resent the privileged rule of gachupines (Spanish born administrators, merchants and land owners) and begin to discuss the possibility of independence from Spain. El BajareZo (one of the earliest Spanish language newspapers) published a write up in San Antonio, Texas. Due to the vigilante persecution of Mexicans in California, the newspaper article was outspoken in denouncing the abuse of Mexicans who are often lynched by mob violence. So why would the natives and those in Texas / the U. S. Southwest have a desire to celebrate the 4th of July? After all, many who live in the U.S. today are direct descendants of families that originally settled in Texas and the U.S. Southwest long before the creation of the United States and Mexico. So again why celebrate an incident that occurred in 1776 in a foreign country? 

Whether people celebrate the 4th of July in the U.S. with or without fireworks, this "sense" of patriotism (conditioning) is not always practiced and the political belief that “all men are created equal” falls by the way side. This American conditioning gives people a false "thought or belief" that all people have the inherent right of self government, freedom of religious expression and freedom of the press. Bottom line, people are celebrating the thoughts that where written on a piece of paper (by masons w/ hidden agendas) that changed NOT only the British American colonies, but the world.

Historical research proves that the enslavement of Native Americans by European colonists, was common. Many of these Native slaves were exported to the Northern colonies and to off-shore colonies, especially the "sugar islands" of the Caribbean. Historian Alan Gallay estimates that from 1670 to 1848, British slave traders sold between 24,000 and 51,000 Native Americans from what is now the southern part of the U.S. Following the invasion by U.S. troops, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved in the new state from statehood in 1850 to 1867. Slavery required the posting of a bond by the slave holder and enslavement occurred through raids and a four-month servitude imposed as a punishment for Indian vagrancy.

1776 The Birth of the Illuminati

Johann Adam Weishaupt (a German philosopher, and professor) founded the Order of the Illuminati, a secret society. The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 May 1776. The society's goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power. "The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them." The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict by the Bavarian ruler Charles Theodore with the encouragement of the Catholic Church.

July 4th in the USA falls in midsummer

Just like Saturnalia (which takes place in the winter solstice), midsummer solstice is its flip side. The pagan festivities held during this ancient time is ridden with sacrifice and is sacred in the pagan cultures. Due to the calendar change, it was moved to July 4th so that it would fit in with the ancient pagan / Wiccan / Druid / Witchcraft calendar, which was a day of human sacrifice (3rd century BCE). July 4th is the day of the year planet Earth is furthest from the SUN. When you do your research on the ancient summer solstice, you’ll find the observances held at holy places like Stonehenge and Chichen Itza. You may have seen the performance of Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", but sadly only a few know the true meanings of Midsummer Eve / Day, their rituals, and or what pagan, mythology beliefs lay behind them. The summer solstice, around which the Midsummer festival was celebrated (originally the evening-night of June 23 and the day of the 24th), is the flip side of the winter solstice and Christmas. The SUN was at its height, the day was at its longest, the season was warm, and vegetation was full and still green. For the pagans this season seemed magical, but this time also marked the beginning of the slow and inevitable weakening of the SUN over the next half year. In the book The Mythology of Ancient Britain the mythical “Oak King” ruled when the SUN was waxing, while the opposing “Holly King” (who ruled over the waning sun), began his rule on the summer solstice. The “Oak King”  on the other had withdrew to the circumpolar stars, which never disappear below the horizon even in winter. On the winter solstice, people celebrated the beginning of the return of the SUN. Depending on which one of these deities you side with, these seasons my be viewed negatively, but the masses always make the holidays into something positive (although ALL based on SUN worship). Such major transitions in nature and the changing seasons never fail to kindle human emotions and imaginations, hence producing myths, traditions and rituals.

Midsummer Eve was one of the spirit nights of the year when the boundaries between the worlds were thin and porous. During this time evil spirits, demons and witches are very active. Men were proverbially subject to fairy tricks and queer fancies (from Fantasy), as portrayed by Shakespeare. In fact, during this season farmers, animals and crops were particularly exposed to disease; farmers also needed continued SUN together with enough rain to ensure a successful crop. It is therefore not surprising that the Midsummer festival, even with Christians, was one marked by agrarian paganism, centering around the SUN, fire and water. This festival was most important in the north of Europe – the Nordic lands, Russia, the British Isles and Ireland – where the SUN is weakest and the growing season the shortest. In these climes Midsummer was the most important festival of the year. The main Midsummer Eve rituals centered around fires which were lit at nightfall and the purpose was to stimulate the now waning sun to remain as strong as possible through the rest of the growing and pasturing season. This Midsummer Eve ritual was of sympathetic magic since the fire was looked upon as a miniature version of the sun. Part of the ritual involved jumping over the fire, several times (repetition is important in magic) and both forward and backwards (which imitated the sun oscillating through the seasons). In doing this, the leapers would secure protection and good fortune for themselves. When the flames were still high, the leaping participants were strapping youths of the village, competing with one another. As the flames died down, women and couples also leaped to secure a good marriage, ensure that they would have children, and to receive blessings.