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Holy Days Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

offline.cacher: The general rule reviewers use to archive a cache is that the cache owner has been notified (through a log entry) by the reviewer and that no response has been forthcoming in 30 days. This is the case with this cache. As a result it has been archived.
If the owner would like to discuss this issue, please contact me through my geocaching.com profile. Include the GC code for the cache.

Thanks
offline.cacher
Virginia geocaching.com reviewer

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Hidden : 4/18/2008
Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

A puzzle cache located near plenty of parking. Please bring your own pen.

This Puzzle is NOT AT THE POSTED LOCATION.
Please bring a pen.

I’ve always thought that the original holidays were the Holy Days celebrated by the local religion. It didn’t matter the religion – the local cultures modified their schedules around the Holy Days to give people a time to celebrate. In the US, we generally recognize Christmas and Easter as holidays for the general population. For those Holy Holidays, everyone generally knows the background of why there is a celebration.

There are also a number of other “holidays” that have grown over the years. But we don’t generally know the background on some of these others. As such, I thought I’d share a few here.

Aprils Fool’s Day -- There is no one event that led to this day. Many cultures have had spring festivals, feasts, and celebrations which involved pranks around this time in April. One country has a record of it's own evolution of April Fools Day, France.

Until the 16th century in France, they observed April as the first day of the year. The New Year's Day was April 1st.

Then in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced the new calendar where the first day of the new year was now January 1st. The French were having trouble believing that the year started in January and not April and continued to celebrate as such. Those who knew about the change ridiculed those who celebrated in April and called them "April fools".

Sadie Hawkin’s Day -- On November 15, 1937, cartoonist Al Capp created a holiday in strip form only. Sadie Hawkins was the ugliest woman in Dogpatch. Her father, Hekzebiah Hawkins feared his spinster daughter would live with him the rest of his life. He declared a footrace in which all the homely gals in the county would run after the available men. If they caught one, the men would have to marry them.

Although this was just fiction, Al Capp had a popular following who campaigned this become an annual theme in the strip. This fictious holiday took on a life of it's own, sort of a reverse Valentine's Day where the women were empowered to make the first move on the man.
Hundreds of schools and colleges had a Sadie Hawkins' Day celebration where the female students were encouraged to ask the male students to a dance.

Cinco De Mayo -- commemorates the defeat of the French army by the Mexicans at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. Mexico briefly gained independence from Spain in 1810. There were many internal political takeovers and wars in the country including the Mexican-American War and the Mexican Civil War of 1858. These events wiped out the economy.

During this time Mexico was greatly in debt to several nations who were demanding payment. Mexico stopped making any payment and France decided to use the debt issue to establish its own leadership in Mexico by appointing Archduke Maximilian of Austria as ruler of Mexico.
The French army encountered strong resistance at Loreto and Guadalupe. Lead by General Seguin, a militia of about 4,500 soldiers defeated the French army of 6,500 soldiers.

While the victory was a memorable one for the patriots, it was short lived. Napoleon had found an excuse to send more troops to help Maximilian. A year later, the French were eventually able to depose the Mexican army, take over Mexico City and install Maximilian as ruler as planned.

Now for the puzzle
To find this cache, you just need to solve the following puzzle. No hints to start, but when enough days have passed, I might provide a pointer:

Cache is located at N38 XX.XXX W077 XX.XXX
After solving the puzzle, subtract .100 from decimal portion of N and .030 from decimal portion of W
000 096 050 221 001 032 228 001 228 098
004 276 100 095 045 066 008 034 010 337

Remember to bring a pen and Good Luck!

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Holiday information listed above taken from
www.information-entertainment.com

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

#1 Jvyy cebivqr ng n shgher qngr... #2 Fbzr bs gur ahzoref va gur chmmyr arrq gb or zbqvsvrq orsber lbh pna fbyir guvf... vg jbexf orfg vs gur lrnef ner nyy va guvf zvyyraavn (bx, bar vfa'g ohg vg'f pybfr rabhtu) #3 Crbcyr xrrc gryyvat zr guvf chmmyr jvyy gnxr gurz lrnef naq qnlf, lrnef naq qnlf...

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)