 Feast day of Aedesia, ancient Greece – or is it?
Many neopagan calendars on the Net and elsewhere refer to August 22 as a commemoration for
'Aedesia', who is usually described as a female
Neoplatonist philosopher of the
5th Century,
"famous for her virtue and beauty". Some sources say she was Greek, or at least that this was a Greek day of
commemoration.
However, it is very difficult to find any actual evidence of this, as
these
conscientious people at Societas Via Romana website have
discovered independently of your almanackist. There is an Aedesius (died 355), a male Neoplatonist philosopher, who came from Cappadocia and taught at Pergamum, so he hardly fits the bill whether in century, country or sex.
Was Aedesia the wife
of Herminus and mother of Ammonius? If so, was she commemorated
on a particular day? If so, was it August 22?
A great many neopagan calendars are based on the
Juno Covella Perpetual
Calendar (or upon calendars based on it), which was written by Lawrence Durdin-Roberston, who
co-founded the
Fellowship of Isis in 1976. In turn, Juno Covella is derived, I believe, from the
Lux Madriana calendar. The Juno Covella Calendar entry for
August 22 (qv) gives today as a day for Aedesia.
The oft-borrowed-from Nigel Pennick's The Pagan Book of
Days (Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992), makes the
'Aedesia' claim on page 99. Like your almanackist, like the Juno Covella, like all the commemorations calendars on the Net and in bookstores, both neopagan and other, Mr Pennick borrows from many sources, just as many sources borrow from many others. Sometimes a fact gets multiplied such that it's like looking in
barbershop mirrors. Caveat emptor: there is a great deal of arbitrariness in all such calendars. Wilson's Almanac is no different, except that I do generally try to give references, a practice I recommend to my colleagues for the benefit of all.
Is it a nihilartikel?
The Day of Aedesia might be
a real celebration, or not. It might, in fact, be a nihilartikel, which is described thus by Wikipedia:
"A Nihilartikel, a.k.a. U-Boot (literally, submarine), is a deliberately fictitious entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary, which is intended to be more or less quickly recognized as false by the reader. The term
'Nihilartikel' is German and combines 'nihil' (Latin: 'nothing') and
'Artikel' (German: 'article'). There does not appear to be any commonly used English-language term for this phenomenon …
"It is not always simple to recognize a Nihilartikel. It is especially difficult when the same fictitious entry is reprinted and adapted by multiple reference works. In such cases, the multiple sources serve to bolster the entry's authenticity, so that many come to believe that they are reading a factual article …
"Besides the obvious possibility of simple playful mischief, Nihilartikels may be composed for other purposes. Chief among these is to catch copyright
violators. By including a trivial piece of false information in a larger work, it is far easier to demonstrate that someone has plagiarized that work: they will presumably copy the Nihilartikel along with other articles. This is very similar to the inclusion of one or more
trap streets on a map." (emphasis mine)
Do nihilartikels ever appear in Wilson's Almanac? But of course, very
occasionally. Which items are they? That will be of greatest concern to plagiarists, but is a fair question for an honest person to ask, and I will gladly respond to any queries received.
I might even divulge. :)
Festivals in ancient Greece
Awa Odori Dance Festival, Tokushima, Japan (Aug 22 - 25)
Formerly held at Awa, this
colourful festival attracts thousands of visitors, who come for the
lively street parades and dancing.
Kermesse, Antwerp,
Belgium
Festival with fabulous floats featuring animals and mythical
creatures.
Source: The Daily Bleed
Odin's Ordeal (Aug
17 - 25)
Ganesh
Chaturthi (Hinduism; date
varies annually, approx.
Aug 20
to Sep 15)
endotercisus, Roman Empire
"This is one of then (sic) endotercisus (EN), on which mornings could be for voting and afternoons not, or vice-versa."
Source
Feast day of St Andrew the
Scot, deacon and confessor
Feast day of St Gunifort
Feast day of St Hippolytus
of Porto, bishop and martyr
Feast day of St Immaculate
Heart of Mary
Feast day of St John Kemble
Feast day of St John Wall
Feast day of St Maurus and Companions
Feast
day of Mary queen of angels
Feast day of
Ss Philibert and
Fabrician
It may be that the word 'filbert', which is both
a variety of hazel and an interchangeable name for that tree and
its nut, derives from St Philibert because hazelnuts mature on or
around St Philibert's Day. See August 5 for
more on hazel (coll) and its folklore.
Feast day of St
Symphorian
of Autun, martyr
Feast day of
St Timothy, martyr
(Herb Timothy, Phleum pratense,
is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Shop saints
On which day of the week were you born? Find out here
 1195 St
Anthony (or Antony) of Padua
St Anthony of
Padua has become the patron saint of careless people, especially
those who have lost an animal, a child, or a valuable article.
He was a patron of animals, like his friend, St
Francis
of Assisi, and it is said that at Rimini, he once preached to
attentive fish when his sermon failed to enthral the congregation.
There are many miracles associated with his life. On one famous
occasion, bilocation
occurred: he was actually in two places at once (pictured). Or, so it is said.
In Rome, horses and mules and their trappings are
blessed on his feast day (June 13 –
Roman Catholic feast days are often commemorated on the anniversary
of the saints' deaths, rarely on their birthdays).
A folk saying recorded in New Mexico, USA, is that on
St Anthony's Day, as well as on St Joseph's Day (March 19),
one must give strangers food, since the strangers may be the saints
themselves.
Bilocation in
the Roman Catholic Church
Remote
viewing
1608 Basua Makin,
said to be one of the first Western feminists, born at Sussex,
England. The following is the sum total of all that your almanackist
has been able to discover about Ms Makin:
"One of the first Western feminists, Makin will
learn Latin, Greek, French, Hebrew and Italian by age 9. After
tutoring the daughters of King Charles the First, she will open a
school for girls. At first Makin will apologize for teaching
subjects ordinarily reserved for boys, insisting that a
well-educated woman would better understand her ordained
inferiority. As she grows older, however, Makin will drop the
apologies and call for an inclusive academic program for girls. In
1675, Makin will publish the book Essay to Revive the Ancient
Education of Gentlewomen In Religion, Manners, Arts, and Tongues
– With an Answer to the Objections Against this Way of Education." Source
1647 Denis
Papin, inventor of the piston
steam engine
1760 Pope
Leo XII
1771 Henry
Maudslay, inventor and tool-maker
1800 William S Harney, US general
1854 King Milan I of Serbia
1860 Paul
Nipkow, inventor, television
pioneer
1862 Claude
Debussy (d. 1918), French
composer (Prélude
à l'après-midi d'un faune;
La Mer)
1867 Maximilian Bircher-Benner (d. 1939),
Swiss physician and Muesli inventor
1874 Max
Scheler, philosopher
1880 George Herriman (d. April 25, 1944),
American cartoonist, creator of Krazy Kat
"As the story goes, George Herriman
moved from NCY to Arizona partially because he enjoyed smoking
marijuana and, during those days, it was more available in the
Southwest than the Northeast. Herriman's taste for weed was
eventually woven into the 'Krazy Kat' strip when, in May 1936,
Herriman abandoned his usual anarchic lyricism for eight weeks
in order to present a sustained Krazy Kat narrartive involving a
remarkable substance called 'Tiger Tea'. Tiger Tea, when
ingested by Krazy Kat, gave the ingratiatory innocent uncommon
strength and remarkable fortitude."
Skip Williamson's Brief History of Comics
1891 Jacques Lipchitz
(d. 1973), Lithuanian-born American sculptor
1893 Dorothy
Parker (d. 1967), American
writer and humorist
Hear Dorothy
Parker (needs
RealPlayer)
Dorothy
Parker, misandrist (needs
RealPlayer)
1900 Sergei
Ozhegov (d. 1964), Russian lexicographer
1902 Leni Riefenstahl (d. 2003), film director
1904 Deng
Xiaoping (d. 1997), leader of the People's Republic of China
(1976 - '83), one of the chiefs of the many architects of the Tienanmen Square
massacre
who have never been brought to justice
1908 Henri Cartier-Bresson (d. 2004), French
photojournalist
 1915 David Dellinger
(d. May 25, 2004),
renowned pacifist and
activist for nonviolent social
change, and one of most influential American
radicals in 20th Century.
Dellinger was most famous for being
one of the Chicago Seven,
a group of protesters whose disruption of the 1968 Democratic
National Convention in Chicago led to
charges of conspiracy and crossing state lines with the
intention of inciting a riot. The ensuing court case was turned
by Dellinger and his co-defendants into a nationally-publicized
platform for putting the Vietnam War on
trial. On February 18,
1970,
they were found guilty of conspiring to incite riots but the charges
were eventually dismissed by an appeals court
due to errors by US
District Judge Julius Hoffman.
Pictured:
David Dellinger after his arrest for failing to report for his World War II draft physical
David
Dellinger: Pacifist elder statesman of the anti-Vietnam Chicago
Eight
Goodbye,
David Dellinger (Counterpunch)
Revolutionary
Non-Violence: Remembering Dave Dellinger, 1915-2004 – Tribute
by Democracy Now!
Wilson's Almanac Book
of Days hip list
1915 Hugh
Paddick (d. 2000), British actor
1917 John Lee Hooker (d. 2001), blues
guitarist/singer
1920 Ray
Bradbury, science fiction author and fantasy author (Fahrenheit 451;
The Martian
Chronicles)
1920
Dr Denton Cooley, heart surgeon
1924 James Kirkwood, Jr
(d. 1989), American
playwright
and author
1927 Honor
Blackman, actress
1928 Karlheinz Stockhausen (d.
December 5,
2007), German composer
More
1934 Norman Schwarzkopf, US general
1935 E Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize winning author
1940 Valerie
Harper, actress
1947 Cindy
Williams, actress
1955 Will Shetterly, fantasy author
1958 Vernon
Reid, musician (Living Colour)
1960 Debbi Peterson, drummer (The
Bangles)
1961 Roland Orzabal, singer, guitarist (Tears for Fears)
1963 Tori Amos, singer/songwriter, pianist
Phew!!
Have a rest before the big This
day in history section
Send
a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one
Do you forget
birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule
your cards
to be sent during the coming year.
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Moon Day
Varies
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the 13th
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holidays
Varies Graduation
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Bandhan
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August Friendship
Day
Varies
Janmashtami
Varies
| reetings from Australia.
How it works
Feast day of the Queenship
of Mary"On August 13th, the pre-Christian feast of the Mother Goddess Diana, or Vesta, was once celebrated with cider. Another name of this Goddess was Nemesis, from the Greek nemos or 'grove,' which in Classical Greek connotes divine vengeance. Nemesis carries a wheel in her other hand, to show that she is the goddess of the turning year, like Egyptian Isis and Latin Fortuna, but this has been generally understood as meaning that the wheel will one day come full circle to exact vengeance.
