MySql field back into array and into checked checkboxes

Hi all,
I have managed to update my DB field with an a bunch of checkboxes. This is what appears in the DB:
Holy Places, 9/04/04<br> Easter, 11/04/04<br> Christmas, 25/12/04
Now I am making an update page where all checkbox choices appear, and I would like the previous choices checked, i.e. if the user had checked boxes 1,2,3,6,7 and 11, then I would like those to be checked when I retrieve the record.
I have managed to just display the right choices on screen with a print_r command, but how do I assign the values to the checkboxes?
To make things a little clearer, here is my current code:

<?php
$rsUpdateJob = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM jobs WHERE jobid='" . $_SESSION['jobid'] . "'") or DIE("Can\'t select the job");
$Job = mysql_fetch_assoc($rsUpdateJob);
$specname = $Job['specialname'];
$specs = explode("<br> ", $specname);
// echo "<br><br>";
// print_r($specs);
foreach($specs as $k => $v) {
// $i = 0;
// print "<b>\$specs[$i] => $v.\n</b><br>";
// $i++;
//echo "<b>$v<br></b>";
//echo current($specs)."<br>";
while ( $specnames = mysql_fetch_array($rsSpecials) ) {
?>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>
<input type="checkbox" name="SpecialName[]" value="<?php echo $specnames['specialname'] . ", " . $specnames['specialdate'];?>"<?php if (($specnames['specialname'] . ", " . $specnames['specialdate'])==current($specs)) echo "checked";?>>
<td align="left">
<?php echo $specnames['specialname']?>, <?php echo $specnames['specialdate']?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<?php
}
$specs++;
}
?>

This code is probably a bit messy but it reflects some of my attempts, with varying results...
I have no idea how to loop through the array.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?
Thanks,
Toine

Well, after days of trying different things, there was a very simple solution in the end: array_intersect() did the trick!
Instead of the checkboxes I am using a multiple select list because it looks cleaner.
Here's the code, if someone is interested:

Thanks for posting a followup.