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reetings from Australia. 

Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.

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Carpe diem! (Seize the day!)

Pip Wilson

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Today is

'A gush of bird song, a patter of dew
A cloud and a rainbow's warning;
Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue
An April day in the morning!'
Harriet Prescott Spofford (1835 - 1921), American writer

Till April starts, and calls around
The sleeping fragrance from the ground,
And lightly o’er the living scene
Scatters his freshest, tenderest green.
Thomas Gray (1716 - '71), English poet; 'Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude'

I open wide the portals of the Spring
To welcome the procession of the flowers,
With their gay banners, and the birds that sing
Their song of songs from their aerial towers.
I soften with my sunshine and my showers
The heart of earth; with thoughts of love I glide
Into the hearts of men; and with the Hours
Upon the Bull with wreathed horns I ride.
HW Longfellow (1807 - '82), American poet; 'The Poet's Calendar' for April

No sooner doth St. All-fools' morn approach,
But waggs, ere Phebus mount his gilded coach,
In sholes assemble to employ their sense,
In sending fools to get intelligence;
One seeks hen's teeth, in farthest part of th' town;
Another pigeon's milk; a third a gown
From strolling cobler's stall, left there by chance;
Thus lead the giddy tribe a merry dance.
And to reward them for their harmless toil,
The cobler 'noints their limbs with stirrup oil.
Thus by contriver's inadvertent jest,
One fool expos'd makes pastime for the rest.
Poor Robin's Almanac, 1728

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
TS Eliot; 'The Waste Land'  

A cold April
The barn will fill.
Traditional English proverb

An April flood
Carries away the frog and his brood.
Traditional English proverb

April showers
Make May flowers.
Traditional English proverb

When April blows his horn, [windy]
It's good for both hay and corn.
Traditional English proverb

The month of April, the upland is misty,
the oxen are weary, the earth is bare,
feeble is the stag, playful the long-eared,
usual is a guest though he be not invited;
everyone has many faults where he is not loved;
blessed is he that is faithful.
From a book of days

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there ...
Robert Browning, English poet, 1812 - 89; 'Home Thoughts from Abroad'

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
Holy Bible, 1 Cor. 1:27

However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux  

Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.
William Shakespeare; Twelfth Night (3.1.39-40)

We have all seen how an appropriate and well-timed joke can sometimes influence even grim tyrants … The most violent tyrants put up with their clowns and fools, though these often made them the butt of open insults.
Desiderius Erasmus; Praise of Folly  

[Politicians] never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.
Thomas Reed

He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.
Herbert Spencer

Who Is Not a Fool? [Qui non stultus?]
Horace (65 - 8 BCE); Satires, 2.3.158

Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: It's good to be silly at the right moment.
Horace

Then come jesters, musicians and trained dwarfs,
And singing girls from the land of Ti-ti,
To delight the ear and eye
And bring mirth to the mind.
Sima Xiangru (c. 179 - 117 BCE); 'Rhapsody on the Shanglin Park'

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
Euripides (484 - 406 BCE)

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.
Quintilian; De Institutione Oratoria

It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.
Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616); 'As You Like It'

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
William Blake

A fool must now and then be right by chance.
William Cowper

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
Poor Robin's Almanac, 1790

April Fools' Day: This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.
Mark Twain; Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar, 1894

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
Mark Twain

It is better to be a fool than to be dead.
RL Stevenson

Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.
Elizabeth Gaskell

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.
Colette (1873 - 1954), in New York World-Telegram and Sun, 1961

Looking foolish does the spirit good.
John Updike

A wise man can sometimes learn from a fool – as soon as it can be determined which is which.
Author unknown

Young men think old men are fools, but old men know young men are fools.
George Chapman
 
Fools rush in – and get all the best seats.
Marybeth Weston
 
A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool who knows what he's talking about.
Author unknown

A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool usually has his suspicions.
Author unknown 

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness.
Sacha Guitry (1885 - 1957)

To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.
Prince Otto von Bismarck, German chancellor, born on April 1, 1815

Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
Prince Otto von Bismarck

When you say you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
Prince Otto von Bismarck

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
Prince Otto von Bismarck

There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America.
Prince Otto von Bismarck

To Mr. Seward:
It is my desire that, in case Maximilian will surrender, he be sent here a prisoner of war, but that in the event of his continuing the war, or refusing to surrender, then he be shot.
Joshua Norton I, 'Dei Gratia' Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, April, 1867

An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex.
Edgar Wallace, British mystery novelist, born on April 1, 1875

I was awfully curious to find out why I didn't go insane.
Abraham Maslow, American psychologist, born on April 1, 1908

April 1 is the 91^st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (92^nd in leap years), with 274 days remaining.
On the dating of items in the Almanac  Translate this page  Birthday star  Your birth day  Daily Everything  NNDB  Time/Date  Google
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When 'Source' links on this page move address or die, I might allow them to stay here, but the Wayback Machine might help you locate the original.

April birthstone: Diamond, signifying innocence and light; quartz.

She who from April dates her years
Diamonds should wear lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow; this stone
As emblem of innocence is known.
Traditional birthstone rhyme

April

April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. The month is traditionally personified in art as a girl clothed with green, with a garland of myrtle and hawthorn buds, holding in one hand primroses and violets, and in the other the sign of Taurus. 

"The opening month (Lat. aperire, to open) when trees unfold and the womb of nature opens with young life. In the French Republican calendar of 1793 it was called Germinal, the time of budding (21 March to 19 April)."
Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988

Robert Chambers* doesn't agree that the word comes from Latin aperio, 'I open'. He suggests it comes from Aphrodite, the Greek version of Venus, as the Romans considered it Venus's month. The first day was Festum Veneris et Fortunae Virilis. Others have it that a Roman goddess of love, Aprilis, was honoured when naming the month.

Anglo Saxon Oster-monath, probably meant east winds prevailed. The term Easter may have come from the same origin (Chambers 1881).

Nigel Pennick (The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 56) says that name comes from Aphrodite (Greek goddess of love).

"It is the fourth month, in which thou art honoured above all others, and thou knowest, O Venus, that both the poet and the month are thine'."

April is the month of the house of Aries (March 21 - April 20) and the house of Taurus (April 21 - May 22). In the American backwoods tradition, the full moon of April is called pink Moon.

* Robert Chambers, (Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, etc, W & R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879 Edition is online and 1869 edition here with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year: A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days)

Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days    April poems and folklore

April, month of the goddess Venus, ancient Rome

"April is named after the Greek goddess Aphrodite – Venus to the Romans. Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She was known to the Phoenicians as Astarte and Ashtoreth to the Hebrews and King Solomon, who built a temple to her. On her birth the seas bubbled and turned rosy, and she arose, full grown and standing on a seashell, in all the surpassing glory of her loveliness and arrayed in the panoply of her irresistible charms. She floated to Cyprus, arriving in April, and as soon as her white feet touched the shore, grass and flowers sprang up at her feet and she was sweetly received by the Three Graces."   Source

The pentagram: origins in Venus



The pentagram is a fascinating arcane symbol and well known to Neopagans and occultists.

In my own view, the pentagram's origins are in part associated with the passage of the planet Venus through the skies, a view propounded by Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, but don't let that put you off. Others, such as this Freemasonry website, dispute it, and I would hazard a guess that's because of the sacred feminine associations of Venus, as the Freemasons are a very masculine association.

I know there's a lot of current interest in this question, and Dan Brown's assertion that a four-year Venus cycle informs the Olympics periodicity seems wrong to me. As far as I know, the Venus path is on an eight-year cycle. After that period, Venus, the Sun, Earth and the stars are in the same relative positions (more).

However, I certainly ain't no astronomer and can only go by what I read. If you have any information at all associated with this matter, or anything to do with the pentacle and its origins, I'd be grateful if you'd let me know.

Nick Anthony Fiorenza of Lunar Planner/The Venus Transit has very kindly permitted the use of his animation. I recommend his fascinating site.

Viewing Venus in broad daylight

April Fools' Day (Noddy Day, Gowkie Day, Gowkin' Day)

If this year's first day of April is like any other, you'll have to keep your guard against the practical jokes that others can play on you, much to your annoyance and their delight. But what are the origins of the strange cult of April Fools' Day?

There are a couple of explanations put forward by scholars to account for the trickery that takes place throughout much of the Western world on April 1.

One theory suggests that, because of the tradition of sending someone on 'a fool's errand', the practice might derive from the Biblical story in which Jesus Christ was sent uselessly back and forth between Annas, Caiphas, Pontius Pilate and King Herod, each of them not being able to resolve what to do with him.

Sending people on fools' errands has a long history. These days a teacher might send an unruly pupil to another teacher with the message, "Please give this boy a long weight". All that the lad gets, of course, is a long wait. Or else he might be sent to the Industrial Arts teacher for a "left-handed hammer". Either way, the joke's on the boy, who probably deserves it.

In merry olde England the errand was for a gullible person to be sent to the saddler's for a 'pen'orth (penny's worth) of salad oil'. In this ruse, the pun is between 'salad oil' and the French 'avoir de la salade', to be flogged. So the poor dupe got a beating for his innocent pains.

Other nasty people would send youths to a bookshop for the 'History of Eve's Grandmother', or to a cobbler for a little strap oil (the butt of the joke would indeed get the strap).

The Scots have always loved April Fool's jokes. They call an April Fool a gowk (or cuckoo; Anglo-Saxon geac, origin of the word geek), a name which even today sounds as descriptive of its meaning as it did in olden times. The trick was to send the dupe with an envelope containing a message to someone else's house a long way off. The letter inside would only read  

This is the first day of April:
Hunt the gowk another mile.

... Read on at the April Fools' Day page in the Scriptorium

Joey Skaggs: America's King of Hoaxes    Native American tricksters    Fools' Paradise    Jester links

Fooling Around the World: The History of the Jester    Some April Fools' tricks    April Fools' Day Origins

Follow the pattern of April Fool's Day history in the life of John Lennon

April Fools' Special: History's Hoaxes (National Geographic)    April Fools' hoaxes at Museum of Hoaxes

 

 

The wise fools of Gotham

Condensed from the article at the Wilson's Almanac Scriptorium

Gotham (pron. 'goat ham') is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. On a hill was a bush known as the 'Cuckoo Bush', which was planted as a memorial to the fabled population of the town.

In about the year 1540, during the reign of Henry VIII (1491 - 1547), an amusing collection of stories was published, by the name of The Merry Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham, by the mysterious 'AB of Phisicke Doctor' (actually, Pizisicke Doctour).

The tale has it that King John of England (1166 or 1167 - 1216) was marching towards Nottingham, intending to pass through Gotham meadow. Believing that any ground traversed by a king became forever after a public road, the citizens of Gotham decided to try to prevent John from passing.

Angered by them, the king sent messengers to find out the reason for their rudeness, and perhaps to impose a fine. Hearing of the messengers' approach, they quickly decided to act as stupidly as they could, to avoid punishment. Some were trying to drown an eel in a pond; some dragging their carts and wagons to the top of a barn to shield a young tree from the sun's rays; some tumbling cheeses downhill hoping they would find their way to Nottingham market; some trying to hedge in a cuckoo which had perched on a old bush ...

It is said that the Gothamites say, "We ween there are more fools pass through Gotham than remain in it." There is another Gotham, in Sussex, that lays claim to the tales, but it is generally accepted that Nottinghamshire's village is the place that gained the reputation as the 'town of fools', an archetypal concept that is found in other cultures ...  

Read on at the article at the Wilson's Almanac Scriptorium

 

How New York City came to be called Gotham

In 1807, New York-born writer, Washington Irving (1783 - 1859), invented the name for New York in the humorous article, 'Salmagundi'. By Irving's time, Gotham had long been associated with stupidity, even though we can see that the original story was actually about an ironic kind of cleverness. Washington Irving thought this just the name to give to a city that he believed to be inhabited by fools. He used the term of his fellow city people because it conveyed the sense of New Yorkers as know-it-alls and cunning fools – but they had method in their madness.  

 

 

April Fool cartoon by Thomas Nast (1840 - 1902) (click thumbnail)

"Thomas Nast's cartoon about All Fool's Day actually appeared in the April 2, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly ...

"Nast's cartoon is a mosaic of several April Fool's pranks. The inset pictures on the upper-left and upper-right depict Union soldiers and sailors, respectively, tricking their comrades about where the Confederate enemy lurks, and obscuring their vision. The small circles in the middle of each side show a phony newspaper headline announcing that the Union has captured the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. On the center-left, 'Mr. Shoddy' is upset because he will no longer be able to supply his inferior goods to the Union military at inflated prices. (See the archive for the cartoon of February 7, 1863, 'One of the Effects of the War.') On the center-right, New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley ('Mr. Fogey') is surprised (and fooled) to see that his headlines continually urging 'On to Richmond!' have come true ..."

Robert C Kennedy    Read on

 

From Harper's Weekly, March 30, 1861 (click thumbnail)

"WE publish on the preceding page a picture of the morning of the 1st April, opposite the Astor House, on the Park, in New York City. Some of the personages in the picture are enjoying the usual frolics of the day. 

"The origin of this fool-making custom, like that of may other of our oldest customs, is involved in considerable doubt and uncertainty. It prevails, besides in this country, in Scotland, Germany, Sweden, and France—in which latter place the victims of the jokes are styled poissons d'Avril, or April fishes. But in none of these countries is its origin reasonably explained. Some suppose it to be derived from the abduction of the Sabine women by the Romans under Romulus, at the feast in honor of Neptune, which occurred on the 1st of April; others trace it from the mockery of our Saviour by the Jews ; while still others ascribe it to the act of old father Noah, in sending out the dove from the ark before the waters of the deluge had subsided. 

"The following extract from an old poem will certify to the antiquity of the custom: 

"'The first of April some do say 
Is set apart for All-Fools' Day;
But why the people call it so 
Nor I nor they themselves do know. 
But on this day are people sent 
On purpose for pure merriment; 
And though the day is known before,
Yet frequently there is great store 
Of these forgetfuls to be found, 
Who're sent to dance Moll Dixon's round;
And having tried each shop and stall, 
And disappointed at them all,
At last some tell them of the cheat,
And then they hurry from the street, 
And straightway home with shame they run,
And others laugh at what is done.
But 'tis a tiling to be disputed,
Which is the greater fool reputed,
The man that innocently went,
Or he that him design'dly sent.'

"A city reporter says 

"'The number of tricks and hard practical jokes played upon unsophisticated persons, such as sending Jimmy for a bottle of "stirrup oil," dispatching Betty in search of a pint and a half of ' pigeons milk,' or requesting your illiterate friend to buy you a copy of the Life and Adventures of Eve's Mother,' in the Bowery, would require several volumes for their description. The most common methods of fooling people practiced in this city consist in pinning endless rag-tails to ladies' dresses, fastening paper appendages to the men's coat skirts, perpetrating cruel stories about the arrival of rich cousins from California with bags of the auriferous metal, and sending people extraordinary letters, containing extraordinary intelligence, and asking the most extraordinary things. Sometimes these nonsensical jokes result in the most serious consequences, and we have known "pistols and coffee" for two to be the not unfrequent denouement. Latterly the sport of fool making is confined principally to little boys and girls, who indulge in a regular carnival of merriment. Those whose mammas and papas allow them "the freedom of the city" kick up a most beautiful excitement among their grown-up superiors, while "—in-door young ones club their wicked wits, And almost frighten servants into fits.'"   Source

 

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