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April 23rd. I have told of
Pales, I will now tell of the festival of the Vinalia; but there is
one day interposed between the two. Ye wenches of the people,
celebrate the divinity of Venus: Venus favours the earnings of ladies
of a liberal profession. Offer incense and pray for beauty and popular
favour; pray to be charming and witty; give to the Queen her own
myrtle and the mint she loves, and bands of rushes hid in clustered
roses. Now is the time to throng her temple next the Colline gate; the
temple takes its name from the Sicilian hill. Venus was transferred
[i.e. from Eryx] to Rome in obedience to an oracle of the long-lived
Sibyl, and chose to be worshipped in the city of her own offspring.
You ask, why then do they call the Vinalia a festival of Venus? And
why does that day belong to Jupiter? Ovid, Fasti, iv. 863Roman calendar
And now, as the night was senescent
And star-dials pointed to morn –
As the star-dials hinted of morn –
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn –
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn. Edgar Allan
Poe; from 'Ulalume'
In Eastern Europe many analogous rites [to
the ancient Roman festival of the Parilia, April 21]
have been performed down to recent times, and probably still are
performed for the same purpose, by shepherds and herdsmen on St.
George's Day, the 23rd of April, only two days after the Parilia, with
which they may well be connected by descent from a common festival
observed by pastoral Aryan peoples in the spring …
On St. George's Day,
which is the modern equivalent of the Parilia, Southern Slavonian
peasants crown their cows with wreaths of flowers … in the evening
the wreaths are taken from the cows and fastened to the door of the
cattle-stall, where they remain throughout the year till the next St.
George's Day. With the offerings (Ovid, IV. 745) and the prayer that
accompanied them at the Parilia we may compare the ritual which
herdsmen in the Highlands of Scotland used to observe and the prayers
which they used to utter at Beltane, the festival which is the Celtic
analogue of the Italian Paralia … In this (i.e. Pennant's) account
of the Beltane festival the spilling of the caudle (composed partly of
milk) on the ground answers to the offering of milk to Pales, and the
Highland herdsman's prayer to the being who preserved his flocks and
herds corresponds to the prayer which the Italian shepherd addressed
to Pales, as we learn from the following verses of Ovid. Tibullus
tells us that it was his wont to purify his shepherd every year and to
sprinkle Pales with milk, referring no doubt to the libation of milk
to the goddess at the Parilia. Perhaps Ovid's expression, "when the
viands have been cut up", is explained by the Beltanecustom,
described by Pennant, of breaking a cake of oatmeal in pieces and
throwing the bits over the shoulder as offerings to the 88 preservers
or destroyers of the flocks and herds. Among the viands so cut up at
the Parilia were no doubt included the millet cakes mentioned by Ovid
in a previous line. These the Italian shepherd, like the Highland
herdsman, may have broken and thrown over his shoulder as an offering
to Pales. Certainly the cakes were an important part of the festival. Sir
James
George
Frazer (1854 - 1941),The Golden Bough, 1922,pp 411 - 415
St George
cries "Go!" St
Mark [April 25] cries "Hoe!" Traditional English proverb
(don't blame me, I didn't write it); today is the feast day of St
George, patron saint of England
If on St
George's day the birch leaf is the size of a farthing, on the feast of
our Lady of Kazan you will have corn in the barn. Traditional
Russian proverb
At St
George the meadow turns to hay. Traditional
English proverb
When on St
George rye will hide a crow, a good harvest may be expected. Traditional
English proverb
Saint
George he was for England
Saint Denis was for France. Sing,
Honi soit qui mal y pense. Old English ballad
When many
hardy Strokes he'd dealt, And
could not pierce his Hide,
He run his Sword up to the Hilt, In at the Dragon's
Side;
By which he did his life destroy, Which cheer'd the drooping
King;
This caus'd an universal Joy, Sweet Peals of Bells did
ring. 'Seven Champions of Christendom', an old English ballad
Sound,
drums, and trumpets, bold and cheerfully, God
and St George, Richmond and victory. William Shakespeare, born on April
23, 1564; Richmond, in Richard III
Advance our
standards, set upon our foes,
Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons! Upon
them! William Shakespeare; Richard, in Richard III
What a piece of work is man! How noble in
reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and
admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!
the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! William Shakespeare; Hamlet
Bonfires in
France I am forthwith to make To
keep our great St George's feast withal! William Shakespeare; Henry VI
To save a
Maid, St George the dragon slew
A pretty tale, if all is told be true
Most say, there are no Dragons, and 'tis said There
was no George: pray God there was a Maid. John
Aubrey, Remains of Gentilism, 1688
I came, I
saw, God conquered. Charles
V, Holy Roman Emperor,
after the Battle of Muhlberg, April 23, 1547
I believe that these works of Turner's are at their
first appearing as perfect as those of Phidias or Leonardo, that is to say,
incapable of any improvement conceivable by human mind. John Ruskin (1819
- 1900), English poet, on JMW Turner, English painter, born on April 23, 1775
Turner's temperament was audacious, self-centered,
self-reliant, eager for success and fame, yet at the same time scorning public
opinion—a paradox often found in the artistic mind of the first class; silent
always—with a bitter silence, disdaining to tell his meaning when the critics
could not perceive it. Elbert Hubbard on
JMW Turner
Source
God bless
you! Is that you, Dora? Last words of William
Wordsworth,
Poet Laureate, who died on
April 23, 1850
I like America to some extent. Take the
Japanese for instance. They are complicated and tend to be reserved in
expressing themselves. Sometimes, it is difficult for me to understand
them. Americans are simple and clear. They are charming people. You will
understand how good an individual American is. What I am not satisfied
with America is that the nation cannot control the government and economy.
Only a handful of people have the power to control the country. Michael Moore, American documentary
film maker, born on April 23, 1954
I don't compromise my values and I don't
compromise my work. That's why I've been kicked from one network to the
next: I won't give in. Michael Moore
I have invited my fellow documentary nominees
on the stage with us. They're here in solidarity with me because we like
nonfiction. We like nonfiction, yet we live in fictitious times. We live
in a time where we have fictitious election results that elect a
fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to
war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape, or the
fiction of orange alerts. We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you,
Mr. Bush, shame on you. And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks
against you, your time is up. Thank you very much. Michael Moore; upon accepting the Academy Award for Best
Documentary Feature,
March 23, 2003, the Kodak Theater, Hollywood,
California (see 2001 below)
The media, the corporations, the politicians
... have all done such a good job of scaring the American public, it's
come to the point where they don't need to give any reason at all. Michael Moore; Bowling
for Columbine
Today, Americans can regain the
sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by
re-fighting a war. US
President Gerald Ford at Tulane University,
April 23, 1975, stating that
the Vietnam War was over as far as the USA was concerned
Television is by nature the dominator drug par
excellence. Control of content, uniformity of content, repeatability of
content make it inevitably a tool of coercion, brainwashing, and
manipulation. Television induces a trance state in the viewer that is the
necessary precondition for brainwashing. As with all other drugs and
technologies, television's basic character cannot be changed; television
is no more reformable than is the technology that produces automatic
assault rifles. Terence McKenna,
American psychonaut; see TV Turnoff Week, below
More TV quotes:
If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace. John Lennon
I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts. Orson Welles
Television is designed to arouse the most perverse, sadistic, acquisitive drives. I mean, a child's television program is a real vision of hell, and it's only because we are so used to these things that we pass them over. If any of the people who have had visions of hell, like Virgil or Dante or Homer, were to see these things it would scare them into fits. Kenneth Rexroth,
American poet
I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence, There's a knob called brightness, but it doesn't work. Eugene P Gallagher
Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff. Mariah Carey
did not say this. See Snopes.
When I was a child, there were times when we had to entertain ourselves. And usually the best way to do that was to turn on the TV. Jack Handey,
American comedian
They call television a medium. That's because it is neither rare nor well done. Ernie Kovacs,
American comedian
It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. Rod Serling,
TV producer and director of The Twilight Zone
The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness. Eric Sevareid, 'The Press and the People', television program, 1959
The marvels – of film, radio, and television – are marvels of one-way communication, which is not communication at all. Milton Mayer
While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming. Lee De Forest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, 1926
I do not believe television will come to stay until the picture shown is sufficiently larger, cleaner and more detailed to permit a family of five to see what is going on, without exerting any great amount of effort on their part. L Waters Milbourne, WCAO Baltimore, US, 1944
Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl F Zanuck, President,
20th Century Fox, 1946
Television won't matter in your lifetime or mine. Rex Lambert, The Listener, Editorial, 1936
Television won't last. It's a flash in the pan. Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948
Television? No good will come of this device. The word is half Greek and half Latin. CP Scott, 1846 - 1932
Television in the home is now technically feasible. The difficulties confronting this difficult and complicated art can only be solved from operating experience, actually serving the public in their homes. David Sarnoff, RCA, October 1938
The average American family hasn't time for television. The New York Times, 1939
On September 10, half the world was already living, if one can call it that, on less than $2 a day, with a fifth surviving on half of that. Thirty thousand children were already dying needless deaths daily. Inequality is exploding both within and among nations, and perhaps contrary to the poor of the nineteenth century, today's poor know they are poor. The plausible fantasies of Western television constantly remind them of their own failure to capture the material rewards of modernity. Susan George of the Transnational Institute
Channel One, an advertiser-sponsored school television program, beams its news and ads for candy bars, fast food, and sneakers directly into the classroom for twelves minutes a day in more than 12,000 schools. In exchange for a satellite dish and video equipment, for each classroom, the school must agree that Channel One will be shown on at least 90 percent of school days to 90 percent of the children. Teachers are not allowed to interrupt the show or turn it off. David C Korten,
When Corporations Rule the World
Our grasping arms are being crammed with the produce of an age of abundance, our eagerness to grasp being more than matched by the zeal of the people who shower such produce upon us. Abundance in the West has become a menace threatening to inundate us under mountains of television sets, houses, clothes, flowery toilet paper, cars, snowmobiles, books, furniture. In order that we may avoid being deluged, goods must be "kept moving." Advertising has been carried to lengths never before known. Our mailboxes, telephones, radios and televisions are channels for would-be sellers of merchandise who are hard put to get rid of what the manufacturers produce. There is nothing wrong, of course, with a proper distribution of goods and services. I am not talking about that but about the promotion of superabundance. We need food, clothing and shelter. Even abundance and comfort are gifts of God. But we are no longer his creatures accepting and distributing the goodness he pours upon us but the feverish and slavish worshipers of abundance itself. John White, The Golden Cow, 1979
Consumer sales depend on the habits and behaviors of consumers, and those who manipulate consumer markets cannot but address behavior and attitude. That is presumably the object of the multibillion-dollar global advertising industry. Tea drinkers are improbable prospects for Coke sales. Long-lunch traditions obstruct the development of fast-food franchises and successful fast-food franchises inevitably undermine Mediterranean home-at-noon-for-dinner rituals—whether intentionally or not hardly matters. Highly developed public transportation systems lessen the opportunity for automobile sales and depress steel, rubber, and petroleum production. Agricultural lifestyles (rise at daylight, work all day, to bed at dusk) are inhospitable to television watching. People uninterested in sports buy fewer athletic shoes. Health campaigns hurt tobacco sales. The moral logic of austerity contradicts the economic logic of consumption. Can responsible corporate managers then afford to be anything other than immoral advocates of sybaritism? Benjamin R Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, 1995
So many sins against the poor cry out to high heaven! One of the most deadly sins is to deprive the laborer of his hire. There is another: to instil in him paltry desires so compulsive that he is willing to sell his liberty and his honor to satisfy them. We are all guilty of concupiscence, but newspapers, radios, television, and battalions of advertising men (woe to that generation!) deliberately stimulate our desires, the satisfaction of which so often means the degradation of the family. Dorothy Day (1897 - 1980),
The Catholic Worker, April 1953
The gospel preached during every television show is 'You only go around once in life, so get all the gusto you can.' It is a statement about theology; it is a statement about beer. It's lousy beer and even worse theology. John Silber, president of Boston University quoted in Time, May
25, 1987
I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and
the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a congressman. Bruce Baum
Heaven would be a place where bullshit existed only on television. (Hallelujah! We's halfway there!) Frank Zappa,
The Real Frank Zappa Book, p. 234
Pyre Festival, Syria, to Goddess Astarte ('Ashtart)
'Ashtart,
commonly known as Astarte (also Hebrew or Phoenician
עשתרת (transliterated Ashtoreth), Ugaritic 'ttrt
(also 'Attart or 'Athtart), AkkadiandAs-tar-tú
[also Astartu], Greek
Αστάρτη [Astártê]), was a
major northwest-Semitic goddess,
cognate in name, origin, and functions with the east-Semitic goddess Ishtar.
Astarte,
the consort of the god Baal, was of western Semitic origin and was
worshipped between about 1500 BCE and
200 BCE, mainly by Phoenician
peoples (in Lebanon and Syria, for example).
Astarte, or
Ashtoret in Hebrew, was the
principal goddess
of the Phoenicians, representing the productive power of nature. She was a
lunar
goddess and was adopted by the Egyptians as a daughter of Ra or Ptah.
In Jewish mythology,
she is referred to as Ashtoreth, supposedly interpreted as a female
demon of lust in Hebrew monotheism. This interpretation is also inherited
by Christianity. The name Asherah may also be
confused with Ashtoreth, but is probably a different goddess.
The Palestinians and Jews
knew her as Astoreth, who was mentioned in the Bible (I Kings 11.5):
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Israel's
King Solomon built a temple to her near Jerusalem.
'Ashtart was connected with fertility,
sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the
dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus.
Pictorial representations often show her naked.
Astarte sat on a throne with a sphinx on either side, and
her
crown of cows' horns emanated rays from a solar disc. The Bible refers
to her as an abomination, and Solomon worshipped her for a time under the
influence of some of his many wives.
The
name of this annual festival derives from vinum (wine) and was
celebrated with both wine and fire. There were two festivals of this name
celebrated by the Romans: the Vinalia urbana or priora, and the Vinalia
rustica or altera. The
Vinalia
were wine festivals lasting several days, honouring Roman godJupiter, leader of the gods and god of the sky,
and also Venus
in her aspect as guardian of gardens, olive groves and vineyards. Today was the day for honouring Venus as the protectress of the
hetairae, or dancing girls. The hetaerae entertained with music and dancing during dinners and feasts, and sometimes with sexual favours.
On April 23, the Vinalia priora, the wine casks
which had been filled the preceding autumn were opened for the first time,
and the wine tasted
(Plin. H.N. xviii.69 s3). Wine of the
previous season was broached and libations of the old wine were poured on
the ground (as an offering to Jupiter) from old wineskins by the
officiating chief priest. The people attending the ceremony joined in by
pouring a libation on the ground like the priest, as propitiation, after
which they were allowed to drink freely.
This was
also the dedication day of a temple dedicated to Venus Erycina, the aspect
of Venus served by sacred prostitutes on Mt San Giuliano, Sicily – she
was in fact the Phoenician love goddess, Astarte (Ishtar). Ovid (Fasti,
iv. 863) urged Ye
wenches of the people, celebrate the divinity of Venus: Venus favours the
earnings of ladies of a liberal profession. Offer incense and pray for
beauty and popular favour; pray to be charming and witty; give to the
Queen her own myrtle and the mint she loves, and bands of rushes hid in
clustered roses.
The other Vinalia (Vinalia rustica) was on August 19, when
the new vintage began.
Both
Vinalias must have been holidays of great revelry. Wine-drinking games
were commonly played at this time. You might allow yourself a glass or two
of red or white today, and don't worry if you spill a drop.
In ancient Latvia,
Jurgi was a festival held on April 23. It was the beginning of summer, and the
first day of outdoor farm work and shepherding. It was sacred to the St
George and the god Usins.
Livestock are allowed to graze outside after this day.
In the morning, their stalls are locked, with a riding crop and a knife
hanging above them because Ragana and other evil spirits were on the hunt the
night before. A black rooster was sacrificed to Usins, and then eaten by
the man. The blood of the rooster was sprinkled around the barns and the
ground bones were scatted among the rushes.
The
horses were bathed and brushed, but nothing else, in order to bring good
luck. They were not fed before the sunrise.
The
farmers gathered under an oak and then let out the livestock, sprinkled with ashes
so that bees would not sting them. Three pitchfork-fulls of manure was
removed from the stones. Some of the men were given eggs, boiled with
hot stones and thrown in shrubs or a knothole in an oak tree. The horses drank
the water left over from the baking to help them grow strong.
Cows'
snouts were washed in milk, bringing an increased milk production. A heavy
dew on this day also increased milk production.
Wolves
were warded away by tying a special knot with a sheep's
tethers and repeating magical words, and by refraining from chopping wood
on this day.
If
possible, washing in the morning snow was good luck. Fires were not lit,
warding away fires for the rest of the summer. Washing one's face on this
day would cause fires and all washing was done in a river. Beer, bread and
mead were laid out for the spirits.
Jurgi
was often used for moving, preferably on a Saturday. The movers brought
the rushes, salt, bread, eggs (thrown onto the house, then sprinkled on
the pigs), wisp of hair from the animals, from their old house. Milk and
brooms were not brought from the old house. On the way to the new house,
salt was sprinkled on the ground, preventing forgetfulness. The new house
was entered with the sun at the back and a book or bottle was left in once
corner of the house, which was thoroughly swept, to ward off evil spirits.
At
night, there was a feast, supposedly joined by Usins himself. Chicken,
eggs and beer were consumed. Usins was offered soil, bread and bacon.
Alternative:
Usini
Usini
Festival, Latvia (various towns)
"Travellers of more delicate sensibilities may only want
to take part in the early part of the Usini Festival, in which horses are
taken to swim before sunrise, since this traditional agricultural
celebration's main activities involve killing roosters, draining the blood
into horse troughs, then using it to paint crosses on doors.
"This
celebrates the arrival of ploughing time and the start of the "summer
singing". Roosters (boiled) also feature in the ritual meals, which also
involve eggs and, of course, beer."Source
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Meet me at Corrigenda
(Harebell, Hyacinthus non
scriptus, is
today's plant, dedicated to St George, whose feast day this is.)
King
Edward III (1312
- '77) adopted St George as the
patron of England, and today
is the National Day of
that nation. Ever since this saint supposedly came to the aid
of English crusaders during their campaign at Antioch in
1098, he has been popular in
England. At Stephen
Langton's Council of Osney, Oxford in 1222, St George's Day was declared a public holiday.
He was probably a Roman officer, a martyr who
was tortured and beheaded c. 304 at
Diospolis, ie, Lydda, Palestine,
before the time of Constantine
during the Diocletian persecution of Christians, according to
hagiographer Alban
Butler. The Greeks called him The Great Martyr. Pope Benedict XIV recognized him as Protector of
the Kingdom of England and Edward III instituted the Order of the Garter
under his name and ensign.
"The chapel dedicated to St. George in Windsor Caste was built to be the official sanctuary of the order, and a badge or jewel of St. George slaying the dragon was adopted as part of the insignia. In this way the cross of St. George has in a manner become identified with the idea of knighthood, and even in Elizabeth's days, Spenser, at the beginning of his
Faerie Queene, tells us of his hero, the Red Cross Knight:
But on his breast a bloody Cross he bore,
The dear remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweet sake that glorious badge we wore
And dead (as living) ever he adored." Source
His legendary
slaying of the dragon is an allegory for the triumph of good over
evil, and is thought to have appeared as late as the
12th
Century.
We know the tale from the article
on St George in The Golden Legend
(Aurea Legenda), compiled by Jacobus de
Voragine, 1275,
('Englished by William Caxton,
1483'). One day in
Libya, St George came upon a swamp-dwelling dragon. The locals
offered it two sheep each day in appeasement, but, having run out of
sheep, had begun sacrificing humans selected by lot. When the lot
fell on the daughter of the king, no one would take her place, but St
George saved the princess by slaying the creature.
When he stuck the dragon with his lance, St George took the princess's girdle and placed it around the serpent's
neck (which possibly is related to St George's position as patron of the Order of the Garter), by which the princess led the dragon into the city. George calmed the frightened citizens of Sylene, Libya, by promising to slay the beast if they would all be converted
to Christianity and baptized. The grateful citizens then abandoned
their ancestral Paganism and
converted.
St
George may well be a version of the Greek chimera-slayer,
Bellerophon, and the northern European hero, Sigurd the Dragonslayer,
who is Siegfried in the Wagnerian opera.
The legend might have origins in the story of Perseus, who defended the virgin Andromeda against the monstrous Medusa.
Possibly, too, the legend
of St Michael and the slaying of his dragon might have been
conflated with the story of St George.
"However, secular historians consider
the roots of the story to be older than Christianity itself. They
note that the origin of the saint is said to be partly from Cappadocia
in Asia Minor, and
that Asia Minor was
among the earliest regions to adopt the popular veneration of the
saint. The region had long venerated other religious figures. These
historians deem it likely that certain elements of their ancient
worship could have passed to their Christian successors. Notable
among these ancient deities was Sabazios,
the SkyFather
of the Phrygians and known
as Sabazius
to the Romans. This god was traditionally depicted riding on
horseback. The iconic image of St. George on horseback trampling the
serpent-dragon
beneath him is considered to be similar to these pre-Christian
representations of Sabazios." Source
In
medieval times in England, today was a holiday, celebrated with
horse races, mock dragon slayings and processions. This is why there
are many English place names with dragon in them. By 1680,
belief in George had dwindled: as was sung at the time, Most say there are no dragons; and tis sayd there was no George.
In 1969, Saint George was
dropped from the Roman Catholic
calendar, and his commemoration reduced to a purely local
observance. He is however still honoured as a saint of major
importance by Eastern
Orthodoxy. His feast date, April 23, remains the second most
important National Feast in Catalonia. It is traditional in that autonomous
community to give a rose and a book to the loved one. This has
led UNESCO
to declare April 23 as the International
Day of the Book.
St George's Day
is also celebrated with parades in those countries of which he is
the patron saint. St George is also the patron saint of the Spanish
region of Aragón.
St George was not the only slayer of dragons.
St Sylvester, St
Martha and St
Michael were all depicted in church
art as dragon killers. Jesus and the Virgin Mary are also depicted
with dragons underfoot, and St John the Evangelist
(John the Divine) charmed a winged
dragon from a poisoned chalice. Indeed, there are at least 40 known
dragon-slaying saints. The archetypal battle represents the triumph
of positivity over negativity. Face your personal dragons today.
Of saints and serpents*
Many Christian saints
are known to have been
associated with dragons; some are dragon-slayers, while some are depicted
in art with dragons for various other reasons, such as a representation of
Satan (dragons
and serpents are quite numerous in the Bible).
St George the corrupt
St George was probably born in a fuller's
shop in Epiphania,
Cilicia. Through flattery he rose from obscurity
and corruptly gained a lucrative contract to supply the army with
bacon. When discovered, he had to flee his homeland, and was
converted to Arianism, a Christian sect.
As Archbishop of Alexandria, George cruelly
taxed the Christians and plundered the pagans. The Alexandrians
murdered him and his companions, and his death at the hands of
pagans made him a saint in the eyes of the Arians. Crusaders brought
his cultus back to England, where he became the patron saint.
St George loses his head Some sources say that England's patron St
George was decapitated on the order of the Emperor Diocletian
because George had criticised Diocletian's terrible persecution of
Christians. Others say he was killed in revenge by pagans he himself
had persecuted.
Blue coat day The Order of St
George, or, the Blue
Garter, was created by King Edward III
of England in 1344. St George's feast was kept by English
people with great enthusiasm, many wearing blue coats in imitation
of the mantles of Knights of the Garter. (Blue is still England's
national colour.) In 1567, Queen Elizabeth
I thought the feast
incompatible with Christian values, so banned it.
St George into battle English kings always had the standard of St
George precede them into battle.
St George the patron St George is best known as the patron of
England; it is less known that he is also patron of Barcelona,
Malta, Genoa, Portugal, Germany, Valencia, Aragon, Sicily and the
Order of the Garter.
St George forward! Henry VII
of England prohibited the Irish from using
their favourite battle cry of Aboo,
or Aber. They had to cry
out St George forward! or Upon them, St George! as the
English did.
St Jordi Day In Catalonia,
Spain, St George, or Jordi, is revered today as patron. Parades with
dragons are held, along with mock battles between Christians and
Moors. Men give women roses, while women respond by giving books.
Catalonian bakeries sell rectangular pastries bearing the saint's
name on one side and red and yellow stripes on the other.
Silver collar day On St George's Day, as well as several
other grand days (or collardays), judges at the
London court of St James used to wear sterling silver collars, each
containing twelve small pieces of silver engraved with religious
verses. These collars were derived from Saints Simplicius and
Faustinus, who were martyred by being tossed into Rome's Tiber
River with large stones chained around their necks.
Riding of the George At Leicester, England, on this day, it used
to be that the mayor could order anyone to ride a horse, called St George's horse, that was
harnessed and ready to go. This was called the riding of the George.
St George's Day,
Dublin,
Ireland In old Dublin on St George's Day, it was
traditional to enact a pageant showing the adventures of the saint.
Dragons The word dragon comes from the Latin draco. In 793 CE, fiery
dragons were seen over the English kingdom of Northumbria and seen
as prophesying Viking invasions. On Friday,
September
25, 1449, two
fire-breathing dragons did battle by the River
Stour, according to a
medieval chronicle.
St George's Day, Orthodox The Orthodox Christian Church celebrates St
George's Day on May 6.
Mari Ghergis (St George), Egypt
It's
interesting to note that St George, who is so strongly associated
with England, is also the most popular saint in Egypt where he is
known as Mari Ghergis and associated with Al-Khidr (El Khider; 'the Green One'), a
pre-Islamic Green Man,
who appears to travellers who are lost or desperate. ("Al-Khidr was mentioned in
Bukhari vol.1:124 p.90-93 as someone Moses visited who knew things about God that Moses did not."
Source) On the birthday
of Mari Ghergis, Coptic Christians and Muslims make pilgrimage to
the saint's tomb at Armant to commemorate the great man.
As folklorist Waverly Fitzgerald points out in the
excellent website, School
of the Seasons, in Egypt the saint has, naturally enough, taken
on some of the cultural trappings of the local environment. His
devotees believe that he emerged from images of the ancient Egyptian
goddess Isis,
then speared her evil brother
Seth, who changed himself into a
hippopotamus and hid under the waves. It might be that the sea
monster is the rising of the water itself, the seasonal flooding of
the Nile, the watery associations of which have influenced the
Christian rituals associated with Epiphany (January 6 in
the Western Church).
Toulouse gallop
It used to be the practice at Toulouse,
France, for people on St George's Day to gallop nine times around
the town tower. In 1546 Stephen Dolet, a pioneering printer, was
executed for heresy. One of his controversial views was that this
custom was superstitious nonsense. What a nerve.
Dear Pip
I saw this in the 'Quick Takes' column
in the Chicago Sun-Times today and when I saw your almanac notes on
Saint George I thought you might find it interesting and
perhaps a bit sad as I did. Political Correctness does run amok.
Enjoy the Day!
"The Royal Society of St. George has decided not to use an
emblem portraying St. George slaying the dragon for its annual
St. George's Day dinner this month because 'it was felt that the
Christian links of the image of St. George were not
appropriate.'"
Norman Ritchie, personal
correspondence, April 23, 2003
"In all the wide domain of the mythical
and marvellous, no legends occur so frequently, or in so many
various forms, as those which describe a monstrous winged serpent,
or dragon, devouring men, women, and children, till arrested by the
miraculous valour or saintly piety of some hero. In nearly all of
these legends, a maiden, as the special victim of the monster, and a
well, cave, or river, as its dwelling-place, are mixed up with the
accessory objects of the main story. The Grecian mythology abounds
with such narrations, apparently emblematical of the victory gained
by spring over winter, of light over darkness, of good over evil.
Nor was this pagan myth antagonistic to the language or spirit of
Christianity. Consequently we find a dragon – as the emblem of sin
in general, and paganism in particular – vanquished by a saint, a
perpetually recurring myth running through all the ancient Christian
legends. At first the monster was used in its figurative sense
alone; but in the darker ages, the idea being understood literally,
the symbol was translated into an acknowledged fact …
"In churches at Marseilles, Lyons, Ragusa, and Cimiers, skins of
stuffed alligators are exhibited as the remains of dragons. The best
authenticated of all the dragon stories is that of the one said to
have been killed by Dieudonne, of Gozo, a knight of Rhodes, and
afterwards Grand Master of the Order, in the fourteenth century. The
head of this dragon was carefully preserved as a trophy at Rhodes,
till the knights were driven out of the island. The Turks,
respecting bravery even in a Christian enemy, preserved the head
with equal care, so that it was seen by Thevenot as late as the
middle of the seventeenth century; and from his account it appears
to have been no other than the head of a hippopotamus …" Dragon
legends from olde England
Feast day of St Jordi (George), Catalonia Presents of books and roses are given today.
Celebratory rituals,
Candomblé religion,
Brazil and adjacent countries
In the religious tradition of the
Afro-Brazilian Candomblé,
Ogoun
(as this
Yoruba
divinity is known in the
Portuguese language) is often identified with St George in many
regions of Brazil and neighbouring countries, being widely
celebrated by both religions' followers.
Bermudans
observe the annual collection of one peppercorn as payment by the
governor and local dignitaries, to the Masonic Lodge St George No.
200 of Bermuda, a Scottish lodge established in 1797, the oldest
outside Scotland. The origins of the festival were in 1816 when
government moved from St George to the City of Hamilton. The mayor
of Bermuda was given use of the state house for the annual rent of
one peppercorn. This token rent is delivered each year on the
Wednesday closest to April 23, with pomp
and ceremony.
Peppercorn
rent: A nominal rent. A pepper-berry is of no appreciable value, and
given as rent is a simple acknowledgment that the tenement virtually
belongs to the person to whom the peppercorn is given. Ivor
H Evans, Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
"The ceremony begins around 11am with the gathering of the
Bermuda Regiment on King's Square. Then the premier, mayor, and
other dignitaries arrive, amid the bellowing introductions of
the town crier. As soon as all the principals have taken their
places, a 17-gun salute is fired as the governor and his wife
make a grand entrance in their open horse-drawn landau. His
Excellency inspects a military guard of honor while the Bermuda
Regiment Band plays. The stage is now set for the presentation
of the peppercorn, which sits on a silver plate atop a velvet
cushion. Payment is made in a grand and formal manner, after
which the Old State House is immediately used for a meeting of
Her Majesty's Council."Source
Senteisai Matsuri, or Courtesan
Festival, Japan (Apr 23 - 25) Held
annually at Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Prefecture, this ancient festival
goes back to when many court ladies were widowed by war, and became
courtesans. In sympathy for them, ordinary women don courtesan
attire.
Lover's Day, Catalonia Men receive a book as a gift from their romantic interest, while
women receive roses. The book is in honour of Shakespeare's death and
Cervantes's burial on April 23, 1616.
World Book and
Copyright Day (UN)
Links to resources for this "world-wide tribute to books and
authors" held on April 23, "a symbolic date for world literature for
on this date in 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de
la Vega all died." Provides links to material from UNESCO, the World
Intellectual Property Organization, and other websites from the
United Nations (UN) and other international groups. Available in
several languages. From the UN.
The TV turnoff network (formerly TV-Free
America) is an organization that tries to encourage children and
adults to watch less television and so have more time for a
healthier life and more community participation. It is a grassroots
alliance of many different organizations, such as
AdBusters
in Canada and
White Dot
in the UK. One of your Almanac's mottoes is, "I killed my TV before
my TV killed me". Turn off your TV this week, and try something
different.
"TV
Turnoff Week is no ordinary social ritual. The goal is simple: to
shake up routines and get people questioning the role of TV in
their lives.
"Sure,
it's a statement against dead-end couch culture. But it's also
about cleaning up the mental environment. Like our oceans and air,
our shared mindscape is littered with pollutants -- distorted
news, manipulative ads, violence and top-down culture.
"How can we fight back? In years
past, we've smashed TVs, postered schools and offices, aired ads,
and performed anti-tube street theater. The hottest idea this
year? TV-B-Gone™ -- a key-chain remote control capable of
turning off virtually any television. It's the ultimate tool for
reclaiming our commons.
"From April 25 to May 1, thousands
of jammers will be hitting the streets with this ingenious device,
illicitly zapping TVs. Clarity of mind, one click at a time. Get yours
at cost until May 1 » "
The great
Bard, the most loved of English-language writers, was the third of
eight children of a tanner. April 23, 1564 is usually given as the
date of his birth, but all we know is that the Bard was christened
on April 26. Perhaps April 23 was settled on because, firstly, it is
possible, if not likely; secondly, it is St George's
Day, and Shakespeare is revered as almost a second patron saint of
England, and thirdly, it matches with his death on April 23,
1616.
An inscription on his grave's headstone,
however, indicates he was born some time before April 23. His only
grand-daughter, Lady Barnard, married on April 23,
1626, exactly ten
years after the poet's death. Did she choose his birthday, or his
death day, as the timing for her wedding?
Some
scholars believe that it was actually Lord Francis Bacon
(1561 - 1626), the eminent English Renaissance scholar, who wrote the
plays of William Shakespeare, claiming that the supposedly
uneducated Shakespeare could not possibly have done so. While the
theory is perhaps fanciful (we can deduce a little about Shakespeare's
probable education), it has persisted.
April 23 is not the brightest day for
poetry. Not only did Shakespeare and Cervantes shuffle off this
mortal coil, but also poets William Wordsworth (1850) and Rupert
Brooke (1915).
Birthday boy William Shakespeare's play Macbeth was first performed
in August 1606 for King James I, a descendant of Duncan and Banquo, two
of the play's characters.
The Scottish business
William Shakespeare's play Macbeth is associated with many superstitions. Actors avoid naming
it, referring to "that play" or "the Scottish business".
Laurence Olivier was nearly killed while playing in Macbeth, when a scenery
weight fell near him. It is unlucky to quote from the play; it is
thought that the witches' song (Act IV, Scene I) is the reason for
the superstitions.
Shakespeare's
smoke and mirrors tricks
"The
longstanding mystery of a floating dagger in Shakespeare's Macbeth
may now have been solved thanks to the detective work of an
Australian National University researcher.
"Professor Iain Wright, from the ANU Faculty of Arts, has
uncovered a potential source of inspiration for the famous
scene. The source is a description contained in a book edited by
one of the fathers of modern science, John Dee, who was
fascinated with how the eye could be deceived by tricks of the
light.
"'Macbeth is a great enigma,' Professor Wright said.
'It's a bigger mystery than Hamlet. We don't have any
record of its first production.'
"Professor Wright estimates that Macbeth was written
and first performed in 1606, soon after Scottish monarch James I
assumed the throne of England. He made Shakespeare's players
the official royal company, meaning the bard would have been
under pressure to please his royal patron.
"The new king and his family had a great appetite for
theatre, especially masques, which combined music, performers
and special effects to create an elaborate and illusion-rich
amusement for the aristocracy.
"Professor Wright argues that although Shakespeare kept his
distance from the emerging masque hype, the bard acknowledged
the trend by incorporating references into his later works, and
tailoring his plays for performances in the closed, exclusive
space favoured by the king.
"'You notice at once that Macbeth is full of optical
illusions – there are floating daggers, the ghost of Banquo,
ghostly kings, and ghostly cauldrons. I thought, surely if
that's the case, Shakespeare is probably saying to himself,
"What sort of special effects are available to make these
more spectacular?".'
"This train of thought took Professor Wright to the library
at the University of Cambridge where he picked up a copy of
Euclid's Geometry edited by John Dee. A contemporary
of Shakespeare, Dee is now regarded as one of the fathers of the
modern age because of his talent for what was then called
natural magic – science. He was especially interested in how
specially modified mirrors could create tricks of the light,
making things appear as if by magic." Source
Britain's great painter was the son of a London barber
who was so impressed with his celebrity customers that he thought
his son should be a great man, and arranged for him a good
education. In 1789, Joseph Turner entered the
Royal Academy
of Art as a
student. He is best remembered for the unique light and colour he
brought to paintings.
Once he
was rude to a beggar woman, then went running after her with a
five-pound note. He was reputed never to have uttered a harsh word
against anyone, nor criticised a fellow-artist's work.
Britain's great painter of light
and colour was renowned for his kindness. He used to leave tips for
cleaners in hotels underneath his pillow because he was too shy to
offer them in person. He once sent, secretly, £20,000 to the aid of
a former patron. Turner left an equivalent today of many millions to
found a charity for needy artists. Once one of his pictures was hung
between two by a painter named Lawrence. In case his painting should
detract from its neighbours, he darkened his own painting with
lamp-black.
Turner was also an obstinate person.
Once he argued with Lord Egremont over whether a certain building
had six or seven windows. Turner ordered a coach and was driven
there to find his mistake.
1899 Dame Ngaio
Marsh (d. 1982), New Zealand writer of detective
fiction. She was one of
the 'Great Ladies' of the English mystery Golden Age, including
Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie,
and Dorothy L
Sayers. She founded the
British Commonwealth Theatre Company.
1928Shirley Temple
(Shirley Temple Black), American actress and US Ambassador to Ghana
1932Jim Fixx, author
of the bestselling The Complete Book of Running (1977), which initiated the 1970s
jogging craze. Fixx
died of a massive coronary, his autopsy revealing one coronary
artery 99 per cent clogged, another 80 per cent obstructed, a third
70 per cent blocked. He had three other heart attacks in the weeks prior
to his death.
1954Michael Moore,
American writer, director noted for his provocative populist
documentaries that are unapologetic attacks on callous business
corporations, opportunistic right-wing politicians and other social
wrongs. He usually wears a baseball cap and glasses.
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Brian Boru (born c. 940) was one of the
high kings of Ireland. He was
born Brian Mac Cennétig. He became known as Brian of the Tributes (Boru),
because he collected monies from the minor rulers of Ireland and used these to
rebuild monasteries
and libraries
that had been destroyed during Norsemen (Viking) invasions. He died on
Good Friday,
April 23,
1014 during the Battle of Clontarf against the Vikings.
1348The Order of the Garter was founded by King Edward III of England. It is the oldest
British order of knighthood, its patron St George, whose day this is. The
French-language motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense (Evil be to him who
thinks evil of it) derives from the legendary incident surrounding the original
lady's garter.
"The origin of the symbol of the Most Noble Order of
the Garter, a blue 'garter' with the motto Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense will
probably never be known for certain as the earliest records of the order
were destroyed by fire, however the story goes that at a Ball possibly held
at Calais, Joan Countess of Salisbury dropped her garter and King Edward
seeing her embarrassment picked it up and bound it about his own leg saying
in French, Evil, (or shamed) be he that that thinks evil of it' this is
almost certainly a later fiction. This fable appears to have originated in
France and was, perhaps, invented to try and bring discredit on the Order.
There is a natural unwillingness to believe that the World's foremost Order
of Chivalry had so frivolous a beginning."Source
April 23 is not the brightest day for poetry. Not only
did Shakespeare shuffle off this
mortal coil on this date, but also poets William Wordsworth
(1770 - 1850) and Rupert Brooke
(1887 - 1915).
The mission was also fitted out with scientific
instruments, and accompanied by a selection of some of France's finest
scientists, and was in fact the largest andbest-equipped
scientific expedition dispatched from France in the 18th Century.
Aboard were botanists, hydrographers, astronomers, artists – even a gardener,
who left his mark on the island, one still visible today.
Two
landfalls were made on the Tasmanian coast at Recherche Bay – in
April1792,
for 26 days, and again in January1793, for 24 days. Records show that the
French and Australians enjoyed each other's company in very respectful ways,
which was not altogether usual in the annals of European colonization. The
French entertained the locals with music, including the performance of excerpts
from a popular opera of the day.
At Recherche Bay, the
expedition gardener, Felix Delahaye, built
the first European vegetable garden
in Tasmania, and left it in the hope that it would not only be a possible food
source for future French expeditions, but that it would also introduce European
horticulture to the indigenous people. However, on the expedition's return the
following January, it was found that the garden of chicory, cabbages, sorrel, radishes, cress and potatoes had become
overgrown.
It is said that later, back in France, Delahaye became
head gardener at the palace of Napoleon's wife,
the Empress Josephine.
Whether this is correct or not, Tasmanian black swans did swim on its lake.
He was a she
In the ship's company was a steward, Louis Girardin,
aged about 38, who was in fact a woman disguised as a man – the first European
woman in Tasmania. Her name was
Marie-Louise Victoire
Girardin, and it is
believed that both D'Entrecasteaux and his second in command were well aware of
her deception, but turned a blind eye to it, as she had her own separate cabin.
It has been said that
Girardin might have been the
daughter of the head gardener at The Royal Court of
Versailles, forced to leave
France after the birth of an illegitimate child. 'Louis' tended to keep her
own company, and on one occasion had a duel with another sailor, possibly over
some imputation of her ruse, but we have no records of the cause. Marie Louise
later became the lover of a sub-lieutenant on the Recherche and both died
of dysentery a day apart in late 1794.
Postscript: Did D'Entrecasteaux ever find La
Pérouse? No, he didn't. The fate of the French captain is not exactly known,
but a reconstruction of events may be found in Wikipedia.
As King Louis XVI mounted
the scaffold of the guillotine on
January 21, 1793, he asked "Is there any
news of La Pérouse?" Or, so it is said.
1867
William Lincoln patented the zoetrope, a machine that showed
animated pictures by mounting a strip of drawings in a wheel.
1871 Death of Émile
Deschamps (b. 1791),
French poet whose experience with several pum puddings is a famous
story of synchronicity.
1873Australia: Explorer
William Gosseset out from Alice Springs on an expedition which led
to his party being the first non-indigenous people to see (on July 19, qv) what Gosse
named Ayers Rock (Uluru), the
second largest monolith
in the world (after Mount Augustus, also in Australia).
1893 Travelling from Samoa aboard the Torrens,
John Galsworthy made friends with the first mate, "a Pole called Conrad"
(Joseph Conrad) who had
"a
fund of yarns on which I draw fully".
1896 The
world's first cinema opened, in New York City.
1897
"McKinney Bayou (Arkansas). Judge
Lawrence A. Byrne of Texarkana, Arkansas, was surveying a tract of land when he
saw a peculiar object anchored on the ground. "It was manned by three men who
spoke a foreign language, but judging from their looks one would take them to be
Japs." (Farish, in Allende Letters (Award Special, 1968)"Source
1915 Rupert
Brooke, 27, English poet, died of blood poisoning on the Greek island of Skyros
on his way to Gallipoli. Three days later, Winston Churchill wrote (without a
hint of irony) that Brooke "was all that one would wish England's noblest sons
to be in days when no sacrifice but the most precious is acceptable, and the
most precious is that which is most freely proffered."
1920
The national council in Turkey denounced the government
of SultanMehmed VI
and announced a temporary constitution.
1923 The ceremonial
inauguration of Gdynia
Seaport.
1962 Some 150,000
people amassed in London's
Hyde Park in a
'Ban The Bomb' demonstration.
1967Soyuz 1
was launched into orbit, carrying a single cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir
Komarov, who was killed when the spacecraft crashed after returning to
earth.
1968 The United
Kingdom produced its first decimalised coins, a 5p and a 10p coin.
1968Vietnam
War: Anti-war protests ending up in rioting and police heavy-handedness began at Columbia University in New York
City, USA.During
a sit-in, Columbia University students
opposed to defence contracts and a new gymnasium to be built on Harlem parkland,
seized the administration building and
several other facilities, holding the dean hostage. Police stormed the campus on
April 30, resulting in 150 casualties.
More than 700 were arrested, and the student strike continued for another month.
1969 A Los Angeles jury, rejecting psychiatric testimony that Sirhan
Sirhan was a psychotic incapable of forming the intent to murder, sentenced the
assassin of USA Senator Robert Kennedy to death.
1969 Northern Ireland independence activist, Bernadette Devlin, took
a seat as Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
Devlin
refused entry to USA, Feb 21, 2003
"Irish activist and former Member of Parliament, Bernadette Devlin
McAliskey was detained by immigration officials in Chicago, February 21, and
denied entry into the United States allegedly on 'national security'
grounds.
"According to her daughter, Deidre, two INS officers
threatened to arrest, jail, and even shoot the legendary civil rights
campaigner when she arrived at Chicago's O'Hare airport. McAliskey (56) was
then photographed, finger-printed and returned to Ireland against her will
on the grounds that the State Department had declared that she 'poses a
serious threat to the security of the United States.'" Feb 21, 2003, BernadetteDevlinDenied Entry into the US
"Last Friday's arrival in Chicago wasn't the 55-year
old grandmother's first visit to the US. Hell, no...she'd been here some 30
times before in as many years. She had come this time on a visit with her
daughter and didn't expect trouble. Why on earth should she? Devlin had
never before encountered difficulties, but never before was America ruled by
Aschroftian justice."Source
The Vietnam Vets had planned to return the medals in
body bags, but authorities had erected a fence around the Capitol building so
the veterans threw the medals over the fence.
Some of the
vets, before tossing their medals, dedicate them to comrades – both American
and Vietnamese – who had died in battle.
1983 Germany's Stern
magazine disclosed that it had Adolf Hitler's diaries, later proved to be
fakes despite their endorsement by distinguished historian Hugh Trevor-Roper.
2001 "In Istanbul's Swissotel, 13
pro-Chechen gunmen surrender and release the 120 guests they took as hostages 12
hours earlier, late on 22 April. The gunmen are led by Muhammed Tokcan, Turkish
citizen of Chechen origin who, on 16 January 1996, at the Turkish Black Sea port
of Trebzon, hijacked a ferry with more than 200 hostages on board, which he
freed unharmed after four days. He was imprisoned and, late in 2000, released
under an amnesty law."Source
2002 The death of Linda Boreman(b.1949), best
known as Linda
Lovelace, American pornographic
filmstar (Deep Throat,1972)who
became a prominent anti-pornographyactivist. For many years
after the release of Deep Throat (whichgrossed an estimated $600
million), Boreman claimed that her first husband, Chuck Traynor, whom she
divorced in 1973,
had forced her into pornography at gunpoint. According to Boreman's 1980 autobiography Ordeal,
the couple's relationship was plagued by violence, rape, prostitution
and of course, pornography.
On April 3, 2002, she
sustained severe injuries in a car accident in which her sport utility vehicle
rolled over. On April 23, 2002 she was taken off life support and died in Denver,
Colorado.
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