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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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Carpe diem! 14 Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search Open links in a New Window

Today is

Liberty, then, is the sovereignty of the individual, and never shall man know liberty until each and every individual is acknowledged to be the only legitimate sovereign of his or her person, time, and property, each living and acting at his own cost.
Josiah Warren (b. 1798), American communitarian who died on April 14, 1874

An impression has gone abroad that I am engaged in forming societies. This is a very great mistake, which I feel bound to correct.
  Those who have heard or read anything from me on the subject, know that one of the principal points insisted on is, the forming of societies or any other artificial combinations IS the first, greatest, and most fatal mistake ever committed by legislators and by reformers. That all these combinations require the surrender of the natural sovereignty of the INDIVIDUAL over her or his person, time, property and responsibilities, to the government of the combination. That this tends to prostrate the individual – To reduce him to a mere piece of a machine; involving others in responsibility for his acts, and being involved in responsibilities for the acts and sentiments of his associates; he lives & acts, without proper control over his own affairs, without certainty as to the results of his actions, and almost without brains that he dares to use on his own account; and consequently never realizes the great objects for which society is professedly formed.
  Some portion, at least, of those who have attended the public meetings, know that EQUITABLE COMMERCE is founded on a principle exactly opposite to combination; this principle may be called that of Individuality. It leaves every one in undisturbed possession of his or her natural and proper sovereignty over its own person, time, property and responsibilities; & no one is acquired or expected to surrender any "portion" of his natural liberty by joining any society whatever; nor to become in any way responsible for the acts or sentiments of any one but himself; nor is there any arrangement by which even the whole body can exercise any government over the person, time property or responsibility of a single individual.
Josiah Warren; Manifesto, written at New Harmony, November 27, 1841

Of all the remarkable people associated with New Harmony, the most remarkable by far was Josiah Warren. Had he been a general, a politician, or a capitalist, he would have been one of the most famous of all Americans. He was a genuinely universal man — a talented musician accomplished on several instruments, a craftsman skilled in several crafts, an important inventor, an economist, philosopher, and founder of American individual anarchism — as a movement at least, since Thoreau was too individualistic to be the founder of a movement.
Kenneth Rexroth; chapter on Josiah Warren in Communalism

America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.
Arnold Toynbee, British historian, born on April 14, 1889

One mustn't allow acting to be like stockbroking – you must not take it just as a means of earning a living, to go down every day to do a job of work. The big thing is to combine punctuality, efficiency, good nature, obedience, intelligence, and concentration with an unawareness of what is going to happen next, thus keeping yourself available for excitement.
Sir John Gielgud, British actor, born on April 14, 1904  

When you're my age, you just never risk being ill – because then everyone says, "Oh, he's done for".
Sir John Gielgud, aged 84  

Like all professions acting has terrible drawbacks. It can be fearfully boring, fearfully unglamorous ... But what is fun about the theatre is that we get our prizes while we are alive to enjoy them. We have the pleasure of the audience's reaction, we have the applause, we have the publicity, we have the tribute and the honours and whatever it may be. Much more than we probably deserve.
Sir John Gielgud

The beauty of the living world I was trying to save has always been uppermost in my mind – that, and anger at the senseless, brutish things that were being done …
Rachel Carson (b. 1907), American author of Silent Spring, who died on April 14, 1964

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
Rachel Carson

Every mystery solved brings us to the threshold of a greater one.
Rachel Carson

Why are privates shown videos of US military massacres while playing Metallica in the background, thus causing us to scream with the joy of the killer instinct as brown bodies are obliterated? Why do privates answer every command with an enthusiastic, "kill!!" instead of, "yes, sir!!" like it is in the movies? Why do we sing cadences like these?:

"Throw some candy in the school yard, watch the children gather round. Load a belt in your M-60, mow them little bastards down!!" and "We're gonna rape, kill, pillage and burn, gonna rape, kill, pillage and burn!!"

These chants are meant to motivate the troops; they enjoy it, salivate from it, and get off on it. If one repeats these hundreds of times, one eventually begins to accept them as paradigmatically valid.
Chris White, former US Marine sergeant; Why I Oppose the US War on Terror: an ex-Marine Sergeant Speaks Out

April 14 is the 104^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (105^th in leap years), with 261 days remaining.
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Feast day of Ss Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus, martyrs in Rome

All three were given parts in the legend of St Cecilia and honoured at Rome from an early date. The Roman Martyrology says that Tiburtius and the others suffered under Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, who ruled from 222 - 235. (Valerian is also known as Valerianus.)

An old English saying goes: "The cuckoo sings from St Tiburtius's Day to St John's day [June 24]".

Another says;

In April the cuckoo shows his bill;
In May he sings all day;
In June he alters his tune;
In July away he'll fly;
In August go he must.

And;

Turn your money when you hear the cuckoo, and you'll have money in your purse till he come again. 

 

Cuckoo Day, England

Although strongly identified with St Tiburtius's Day, Cuckoo Day may really be described as a 'moveable feast' dependent upon the variability of Nature. The common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, overwinters in Africa and returns to the UK in Spring, but the arrival date varies. 

(Cuckoo populations are believed to have fallen over the past 30 years, by as much as 20 per cent in farmland areas and 60 per cent in woodlands. Many factors are to blame, primarily our consumerist Western lifestyle and its effect on Nature.)

In keeping with the fact that Westerners in previous years enjoyed many more holidays than today's wage slaves, in Shropshire, England, when the first cuckoo was heard, the workers would all knock off work and spend the rest of the day carousing in what they called the 'cuckoo ale'.

More cuckoo folklore

It is unlucky not to have money in pocket when you first hear the cuckoo. When a girl first hears one, if she removes her left shoe she is assured of finding in it a hair of the same colour as that of her future husband.

It's an old Danish custom that in early Springtime, when  the cuckoo is first heard in the woods, every village girl kisses her hand and asks, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo! When shall I be married?" On the other hand, old folks ask, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo! When shall I be be released from this world's cares?" The bird, in answer, keeps singing "Cuckoo!" as many times as years will elapse before their wishes are met.

The song, 'Sumer is icumen in', which has the chorus, 'Sing cuccu' is said to be the oldest English language song known from a sample manuscript (MSS Harl. No 978) with musical notation. It dates from the early 13^th Century. We have reproduced the first verse, above.

There is an early English poem, in the Latin language, that shows that the cuckoo has long been considered the harbinger of Spring. Part of it goes: 'Tempus adest veris, cuculus, modo rumpe soporem'.

In some parts of England, it was believed that the cuckoo always made its first appearance on April 21; others said April 20, and there are other variants.

In olden times, some believed that the cuckoo had supernatural knowledge. Some believed that the bird was an incarnation of one deity or another, and it was often a crime to kill it. The notion that the cuckoo could tell how long a person would live was widespread in northern Europe and many parts of Germany. It was believed that if, first thing in the morning, you ask respectfully how long you will live, it would repeat its note accordingly.

The Latin writer, Caesarius of Heisterbach, wrote in 1221 that a 'converse' (ie, a layman who had become a monk) in a certain monastery was out walking one day. He noted that the cuckoo's musical answer to his question "How many years shall I live from now" was 22. "Ah," said the monk, "If I am to live so long, why should I mortify myself for all those years in this monastic life? I'll leave, and live a life of sinful pleasures in the world for 20 years, then have a comfortable two years in which to repent." Sadly, he left the cloisters and died after just two years. The good news is that those two years were very, very good. More examples of the cuckoo-age belief are to be found in Wright's Selection of Latin Stories and the 13^th Century romance of Renart (Reynard the Fox).

Cuckold

Cuckold [ME cukeweld, cokewold (3 syllables) – AFr. Cucuald, var. of Ofr. Cucuault (xv), f. cucu CUCKOO + pejorative suffix –ald, -aud, -ault.] 1. The husband of an unfaithful wife. Derisory.
Shorter Oxford Dictionary

Chambers writes: "The notion which couples the name of the cuckoo with the character of the man whose wife is unfaithful to him, appears to have been derived from the Romans, and is first found in the Middle Ages in France, and in the countries of which the modern language is derived from the Latin. We are not aware that it existed originally in the Teutonic race, and we have doubtless received it through the Normans. The opinion is that the cuckoo made no nest of its own, but laid its eggs in that of another bird which brought up the young cuckoo to the detriment of its own offspring, was well known to the ancients and is mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny. But they more correctly gave the name of the bird not to the husband of the faithless wife, but to her paramour, who might justly be supposed to be acting the part of the cuckoo. They gave the name of the bird in whose nest the cuckoo's eggs were usually deposited, curraca, to the husband. It is not quite clear how, in the passage from classical to mediæval, the application of the term was transferred to the husband."

 

 

The cuckolding man has been depicted as having two horns on his head. 

See the Horned God article at the Scriptorium

 

 

 

The bird is named after its song in most languages: coucou in French, koekoek in Dutch, kuckuck in German, cuco in Spanish and kak-ko in Japanese.

More 'Cuckoo Days' in the Book of Days:

April 15, Arrival of the cuckoo, Hampshire; April 25, 'St Mark's gowk'; April 27's Marsden, UK, Cuckoo Day, and April 28, Towednack (UK) Cuckoo Feast.

See also at the Scriptorium The Wise Fools of Gotham and the story of the Cuckoo Bush.

Cuckoo migration (UK)    The great migration crisis

International Migratory Bird Day is the second Saturday in May (see May 8).

"In mid to late April the cuckoo arrives, and one of the best places to see their first landfall is the Scilly Isles. Traditionally, the bird is expected in Sussex on 14^th, Cheshire on 15^th, Worcestershire on the 20^th and Yorkshire on 21^st. Traditional too is the report of the first cuckoo on the letters pages of the Times newspaper - announcing the arrival of spring.

"Several places have events celebrating the arrival of 'the merry cuckoo, messenger of spring'.

"April 14^th is traditionally First Cuckoo Day. A tale of Heathfield Fair in East Sussex depicts the Old Woman releasing the Cuckoo from her basket, whereupon he 'flies up England carrying warmer days with him'.

"On 15^th in Hampshire 'the cuckoo goes to Beaulieu Fair to buy him a great coat', according to the English Dialect Dictionary."   Source

More cuckoo lore

ilson's Almanac and Phenology

Nature and calendar side-by-side

Cuckoo Day is a good time to think about how Ma Nature's clocks are 'going cuckoo'. I like to think that Wilson's Almanac has something to say about our place in Nature, and how 'seizing the day' is best when we seize it with all its glorious natural wonders that surround us. I hope that when you visit the Almanac, you'll learn with me more about how Nature has always had a huge influence in the conscious and unconscious life of humanity.

There is now a science of studying the calendar in relation to natural phenomena that will probably interest Almaniacs. Phenology is the study of the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena, such as the migrations and breeding of birds, the flowering and fruiting of plants, and so on.

Webster-Merriam's Dictionary defines it thus: "a branch of science dealing with the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena (as bird migration or plant flowering)". Phenology is related to biometeorology, an interdisciplinary science studying the interactions between atmospheric processes and living organisms – plants, animals and humans.

Wikipedia notes in its article on phenology that in Japan and China the time of blossoming of cherry and peach trees is associated with ancient festivals and some of these dates can be traced back to the eighth century. Such records form an important part of climate change research. The pinot noir grape can also be used in historical phenology. Writing in Nature, Isabelle Chuine and co-workers describe how French records of pinot noir grape-harvest dates in Burgundy can be used to reconstruct Spring - Summer temperatures from 1370 to 2003. Chuine found that 2003 summer temperatures were probably higher than in any other year since 1370.

Phenology UK has a good website which puts it this way:

"Phenology is the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena especially in relation to climate change. It is recording when you heard the first cuckoo or saw the blackthorn blossom. This can then be compared with other records."

In these days of climate change, you can see how important folklore and Nature observation can be when they work together. Sometimes we can tell much about the damage being done by our lifestyles, by comparing today with yesterday. The rapidly disappearing Springtime song of "Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo", such a prominent sound in old British calendar customs, gives just one example of how all this ties together, and why I commend 'amateur phenology' to Almaniacs.

For Australians, the Scribbly Gum website is an interesting place to read up on Aussie natural phenomena through the calendar, and Macquarie University (Sydney) has its Biowatch phenology project – if you know of more Southern Hemisphere links, I'd be grateful for the information, which isn't easy to obtain.

How the blurring of the seasons is a harbinger of climate calamity

Phenology in the news

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Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! Our store Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald Against All Enemies: Inside the White House's War on Terror – What Really Happened The Passion Mel Gibson A Guide to the Passion Power and Terror - Noam Chomsky The Pagan Prosperity The Triumph of the Moon The Celtic Dragon Tarot Sabbat Entertaining The Pagan Book of Days The Rise of the Creative Class Celebrate the Earth A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition Wheel of the Year The Trouble with Islam Brave Hearts, Rebel Spirits The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq Lady Godiva Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture Activists Beyond Borders The Book of Spells Spellcraft The Book of Saints The Encyclopedia of Saints Daily Everything Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable   To support this project Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.     Search for posters What Would Jefferson Do? By Thom Hartmann The Price of Loyalty The Torture Debate in America The Culture of the New Capitalism Pagan Christianity Lawless World   The Great War for Civilisation By Robert Fisk The God Who Wasn't There A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy When Corporations Rule the World Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy By Robert F Kennedy, Jr The Skeptic's Dictionary Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them 365 Goddess Adventures in a TV Nation Michael Moore Drawing Down the Moon Globalization/Anti-Globalization More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at   Cafe Diem! Celtic Daily Prayer Dude, Where's My Country? Photo of the day Mother Earth Spirituality Rich Media, Poor Democracy Robert McChesney Shamanism Women's Activism and Globalization Back To Titanic Titanic Titanic Titanic - The Complete Story Raise the Titanic By Clive Cussler Titanic Starship Titanic Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic Last Dinner On the Titanic Menus and Recipes Titanic Return to Titanic Click to promote  your blog or website  another excellent  way we do

Festival of Ba'ath, Egypt Source Cerealia, for goddess Ceres, ancient Rome  (Apr 12 - 19) Circensian games, ancient Rome  (Apr 12 - 19; Sep 4 - 19) India: Hindu Goddess of the sea Mariamne (or Maryamma) is honoured with a sacred festival Source: Earth, Moon and Sky Sommarsblót, Norse festival to welcome Summer Celtic tree month of Fearn (Alder) (Mar 18 - Apr 14) ends New Year Water Splashing Festival, China, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos (Apr 13 - 15) Feast day of St Abundius the Sacristan Feast day of St Antony of Vilna Feast day of St Ardalion Feast day of St Benezet, patron of Avignon Feast day of St Carpus of Thyatira, and others Feast day of St Domnina Feast day of St Eustace of Vilna He was crucified on a tree in 13 December 1342 at Vilna, Lithuania. Feast day of St Lambert of Lyon Feast day of Blessed Lydwina of Schiedam (Borage, Borago officinalis, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) She is the patroness of bodily ills, ice skating, prolonged suffering, roller skating sick people, sickness, skaters, skating. "Lydwine suffered a fall while ice skating in 1396, when a friend collided with her and caused her to break a rib on the right side. From this injury, she never recovered. An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused Lydwine extreme suffering. Eventually, she was to suffer a series of mysterious illnesses which in retrospect seemed to be from the hands of God."   Source Feast day of St Marguerite d'Youville Feast day of St Peter Gonzalez (Telm; Elm; Telmo; Elmo; Erasmus; Pedro Gonzalez; Pietro Gonzalez; Peter Gonzales) (Green stitchwort, Stellaria holostea, is also today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) "Dominican protector of captives and sailors. Born in Astorga, Spain, he entered the Dominicans and became the chaplain and confessor of King St. Ferdinand of Castile. He preached a campaign against the Moors, and then cared for the captured Muslims. He also cared for sailors, who dubbed him Thelmo, after St. Elmo."   Source (Not to be confused with St Erasmus [Elmo of Formiae], bishop and martyr, feast day June 2.) Feast day of St Tassach Feast day of St Thomais Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints National Fast and Prayer Day, Liberia Pan American Day (Day of the Americas), Honduras Pan-American Day, Haiti Pi Mai (Laos New Year), Laos Varushapirapu, Tamil New Year (c. Apr 13 - 14) Bpee Mai (Songkan; New Year), Laos (c. Apr 13 - c. 16) Chaul Chnam Thmey (New Year), Cambodia (c. Apr 13 - c. 15) Wanabat is the name of the second day of the new year celebration. People contribute charity to the less fortunate, help the poor, servants, homeless people, and low-income families. Families attend a dedication ceremony to their ancestors at the monastery. Today is a Cambodian public holiday and considered to be the most important festival on the calendar. New Year celebrations in parts of India and whole of Sri Lanka A note on the dating of items in the Almanac Baisakhi, Punjab, India Poila Baisakh, Bengal, India Vishu Harvest festival in Kerala, India   Black Day, South Korea Today is an informal celebration day (with recent origins in commerce) for single people to get together and eat noodles with black bean sauce. Singles: dress in black today! Those who didn't give or receive gifts on Valentine's Day or White Day, can get together and eat jajang myeon (jja jang myeong), Korean-Chinese noodles with black bean sauce (hence the name) to commiserate their singledom. The number of chocolates received by men from women on February 14 (Valentine's Day) may be taken as an indication of his popularity. The men get their own back on White Day (March 14) when the custom is to give white gifts of chocolates, sweets (candy), marshmallows or biscuits (cookies) to the women or girls of their fancy. 'Black day' also refers to the day honouring Tomonari Ishigoro, the Japanese yoyoer. "In addition to White Day, Black Day, Yellow Day, Blue Day and other color days are known for 14th day of the following months."   Source " … as well as Rose Day (May 14) and even Kiss Day (June 14). As the effectiveness of the so-called 'day marketing' is no more a secret, a great variety of 'uniquely Korean' celebration days have appeared recently.  "January 1 of every year is Pear Day. Its celebration originated at a New Year festival in Naju, South Jeolla, as pears came to symbolize abundance (the word 'pear' in Korean sounds exactly as the word 'double' or 'multiples'). Samgyepsal Day, or the day when Koreans eat 'samgyepsal,' or three-layered pork, is March 3, whereas '3' symbolizes the three layers of meat. This day is marked to boost pork consumption. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation designated September 9 as 'Gugu Day,' or 'nine-nine day,' as the day of eating chicken meat and eggs ('gugu' means 'Cluck! Cluck!' in Korean). May 2 is Cucumber Day ('5/2' is pronounced as 'oi' in Korean, which sounds exactly as the Korean word 'cucumber.'). It is also Duck Day, or the day of eating duck meat, because 'duck' in Korean ('ori') resembles the word 'oi,' or '5/2.' Peach (boksunga) Day is celebrated in summer to wish happiness as 'bok' also means 'happiness' and 'summer' in Chinese characters. "Why so many new events? "The peculiarity of all these new 'days' is that nobody knows for sure who designated them and for what reasons. Not only is it almost impossible to grasp how many 'days' we have to celebrate, but also their number keeps proliferating among teenagers and people in their 20s on the Internet and by word of mouth. People ascribe special meanings to new anniversaries, while businesses target consumers' sentimentality to make profits." Anniversary and celebration boom in Korea Korean food    More   Youth Day, Angola Runic half-month of Man commences "A time when the archetypal reality of the human condition should be meditated upon." Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992, p. 60 Nagasaki Takoage, or Kite-Flying Event, Nagasaki, Japan (Apr 3 - 29) Tsurugaoka Hachiman (Shrine) Spring Festival, Japan (Apr 7 - 14) Zōjō-ji (Zojoji) Matsuri, Tokyo, Japan (Apr 13 - 15) Nagahama Yamakyogen, Japan (Apr 13 - 16) Yayoi Matsuri, Japan (Apr 13 - 17) Feast days of Songkran, Thai New Year (Apr 13 - 15) Faroese can't eat eggs today People of the Faroe Islands, situated about halfway between Iceland and Norway, should never eat eggs on this day, which marks the end of Winter. Old custom says that anyone who does will suffer boils for the rest of the year. Venetia Newall, An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1971, p. 87       1629 Christiaan Huygens (d. 1695), mathematician and astronomer who discovered Saturn's rings 1827 Augustus Pitt Rivers, archaeologist (d. 1900) 1831 Gerhard Rohlfs, scientist (d. 1896) 1842 Catherine Eddowes, fourth confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper (d. 1888)   1860 George Robertson (d. August 27, 1933), Australian bookseller and publisher, one half (with DM Angus [b. 1855] until the latter's death in 1901) of Angus & Robertson, the pre-eminent publisher of Australian writers especially from the golden era circa 1895 to 1925. In about 1895, A&R branched from just bookselling to publishing as well. Among the authors were May Gibbs, Norman Lindsay, Henry Lawson, CJ Dennis, AB 'Banjo' Paterson and Victor Daley. Robertson not only recognized many a promising author and artist, he often took considerable risks with backing their careers, and, as Lawson found many times, extended many kindnesses, gifts and loans. Although for a long period Robertson forbade Lawson to enter the A&R premises, because the poet was so loud (being deaf), disruptive and often drunk, Lawson understood Robertson's position and he sometimes signed his letters to Robertson "Your friend till death". "During the last 30 years of his life the number of volumes he published exceeded the total number brought out in the same period by all the other publishers in Australia. The Australian Encyclopaedia, published in two volumes in 1926, is one of the most important books published in Australia." [My grandfather was one of its typesetters – PW.]   Source Angus & Robertson: Administrative History Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson   1862 (April 2 Old Style) Pyotr Stolypin (d. September 18 (September 5 Old Style) 1911), Tsar Nicholas II's Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) from 1906 to 1911. He became known for his heavy-handed opposition to revolutionary groups and for instituting the agrarian reform. Nicholas put him in charge of a reign of terror that saw thousands executed. He died some days after being shot by an assassin while at the opera in Kiev in the presence of the Tsar.