The TW&E History Book

Feb. 5, 1597 — Seen as threat to Japanese society, a group of 20 Japanese Christians and six European missionaries are killed by the government of Japan.

Feb. 2, 1887—Punxsutawney, Pa., holds its first Groundhog Day festival, coinciding with the Christian religious observance of Candlemas.

Feb. 4, 2004—Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize homosexual marriage. Four members of the state's seven-member Supreme Judicial Court rule that a man should be allowed marry a man and a woman marry a woman. The state legislature blocked attempts to allow Massachusetts voters to decide if the ruling should be overturned by constitutional amendment.