Regional/Cultural Day
Kansas Day
Kansas entered the Union on January 29, 1861. In Topeka, schoolchildren reenact the state's admission. They learn that Kansas is called the Sunflower State, the Jayhawk State, and the Wheat State. They do not learn that "Bleeding Kansas" was a preview of the Civil War, or that the state's motto "Ad Astra Per Aspera" means "to the stars through difficulties," which is a polite way of saying "everything here is hard."