Carpe diem!

22

Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search

Open links in a New Window

Today is

Treason! Treason!
Last words of Richard III of England, who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field, on this day in 1485; his best men had deserted him

Consider every day that you are then for the first time – as it were – beginning; and always act with the same fervour as on the first day you began.
Saint Antony of Padua

The centuries have changed little in this art,
The subjects are still the same. 
"For Christ's sake take off your clothes and get into bed, 
We are not going to live forever." 
"Petals fall from the rose," 
We fall from life, 
Values fall from history like men from shellfire, 
Only a minimum survives, 
Only an unknown achievement. 
They can put it all on the headstones,
In all the battlefields, 
"Poor guy, he never knew what it was all about." 
Spectacled men will come with shovels in a thousand years, 
Give lectures in universities on cultural advances, cultural lags ...
This year we made four major ascents, 
Camped for two weeks at timberline, 
Watched Mars swim close to the earth, 
Watched the black aurora of war 
Spread over the sky of a decayed civilization. 
These are the last terrible years of authority. 
The disease has reached its crisis, 
Ten thousand years of power, 
The struggle of two laws, 
The rule of iron and spilled blood, 
The abiding solidarity of living blood and brain. 
Kenneth Rexroth; 'August 22, 1939' (The anniversary of Sacco's and Vanzetti's execution in 1927, actually August 23)

Highly recommended:
Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret Read MacDonald

Pre-order F9/11 now!

Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD or VHS

Pattern Recognition
By William Gibson

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Internet Sacred Text Archive CD-ROM

The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines

Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations

Life in a Medieval Village

To support this project
Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.

Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our Lives and What We Can Do About It

What Would Jefferson Do?
By Thom Hartmann

How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World

Songs in the Key of W

Pagan Christianity

In Praise of Slowness

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set
By CS Lewis

Hello Laziness!
By Corrine Maier

For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire
By James Yee

Medieval Celebrations

Women's Activism and Globalization

The Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites

Secrets and Lies

The Clash of Civilizations

Imperial Crusades

The Medieval Cookbook

The Spiritual Traveler

The Murray Bookchin Reader

Environmental Activism

Astro pic of the day

American Folklore

Permaculture

Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilisation: Backstage With Barry Humphries

Sun Goddess

African Folklore

Daily Everything

A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore

The Edible Asian Garden

The Secret Language of Birthdays

Live with Passion!
Anthony Robbins


More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at  
Cafe Diem!

Celtic Daily Prayer

Hidden Agendas

Poor Richard's Almanack
By Benjamin Franklin

Photo of the day

Mother Earth Spirituality

Wheel of the Year

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

The Survival of the Pagan Gods

Click to promote 
your blog or website 
another excellent 
way we do

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 5^th 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

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 narrative 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 20^th 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)    Dave Dellinger - Nonviolent Warrior

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)

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.

Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Women's Equality Day [ Aug 26 ] Birthdays Hug Your Sweetheart Day [ Aug 23 ] Be An Angel Day [ Aug 22 ]

Varies Full Moon Day
Varies Friday the 13^th
Varies Hindu holidays
Varies Graduation
Varies Raksha Bandhan
Early August Friendship Day
Varies Janmashtami
Varies Ganesh Chaturthi
September Fathers' Day (Australia)
September Labor Day, USA

August

20 Lemonade Day
20 Zoroastrian New Year
22 Be An Angel Day
23 Hug Your Sweetheart Day
23 Ride The Wind Day
25 Kiss And Make Up Day
26 Women's Equality Day
26 Cherry Popsicle Day
26 Toilet Paper Day
27 Just Because Day
27 Banana Lovers Day
29 Lemon Juice Day
29 Chop Suey Day
30 Toasted Marshmallow Day
31 Eat Outside Day

September

1 Cherry Popover Day
3 Football Day
5 Labor Day
5 Be Late For Something Day
5 Teachers' Day (India)
5 Cheese Pizza Day

  ... More Events

Visit the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live'
And I hope you will sign my GuestMap

Your family and friends will get a kick when they hear their own name being sung in 'Happy Birthday'!!
You can schedule your singing cards in advance, and even add your own face to funny animations. (Pay cards)

 

 

 

 

If you are enjoying this page, click to receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine

Webmaster, webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on application. Further details

 

408 Stilicho, the Vandal commander who controlled the forces of the Western Roman Empire, was murdered. He was born c. 359  in Germany, joined the Roman army and by the reign of Theodosius I had risen to the rank of general.

565 St Columba was the source of the first known reference to the Loch Ness Monster. 

According to the story, on August 22, 565 he came across a group of Picts who were burying a man killed by the monster, and brought the man back to life. In another version, he is said to have saved the man while the man was being attacked, driving away the monster with the sign of the cross.

Nessie    The Legend of Nessie    China's 'Loch Ness Monster' resurfaces    More

Nessie's 1933 appearance, at the Book of Days (May 2, 1933) (also Loch Ness Webcam)

 

1188 Death of King Ferdinand II of Leon.

1241 Death of Pope Gregory IX.

1280 Death of Pope Nicholas III.

1286 Death of Erik V Klipping, king of Denmark (murder).

1350 Death of Philip VI of France, king of France.

1358 Death of Isabella of France (b. c. 1295), known as the 'She-Wolf of France' and Queen consort of Edward II of England, with whose extraordinarily nasty murder she was involved.

1485 The House of Lancaster finally defeated the House of York in the 30-year Wars of the Roses, fought over the throne of England. The last battle was at Bosworth Field, near Leicester, where Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) was victorious and Richard III was killed. Henry, the first of the Tudor sovereigns, was a Welsh noble.

1553 Death of John Dudley, English admiral and politician (beheaded).

1559 Bartholome de Carranza, Spanish archbishop, was arrested for heresy.  

1599 Death of Luca Marenzio, Italian composer.

 

1608 UFOs seen over Genoa, Italy          

At 8 pm on August 5, 1608, citizens of Nice, France, saw three luminous objects race across the sky at the Baie des Anges. The oval objects then hovered about a metre over the water, whereupon humanoid creatures emerged, dressed in red with silver scales. They had huge heads and two luminous eyes.

The creatures left the craft and later re-entered, and the three objects then flew away. They reappeared on August 22 in Genoa, Italy and were treated to 800 cannon shots from the citizens there. On August 25 a single craft showed at Martigues, near Marseilles; two beings emerged and appeared to duel in the air. The following week there were heavy falls of red rain.

 

1642 King Charles I called the English Parliament "traitors". Beginning of the English Civil War.

1654 Jacob Barsimson arrived in New Amsterdam. He was the first Jewish immigrant to what was later the United States.

1692 Eight people were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

1715 Handel's Water Music was performed for the first time as George I and nobles boated down the Thames.

1717 Spanish troops landed on Sardinia.

1770 James Cook's expedition landed on the east coast of Australia and Cook took official British possession.

James Cook, 'The Great Ocean's Greatest Explorer'    Fortunate Discovery: Did Cook have prior knowledge?

1775 King George III declared the American colonies to be in open rebellion

1780 James Cook's ship Resolution returned to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).

1788 Sierra Leone was made a settlement for free blacks.

1791 Beginning of the Haitian Slave Revolution.

1815 France's first parliamentary elections saw the return of pro-royalist politicians.

1846 The United States annexed New Mexico.

1849 Amaral, the governor of Portugal's Asian colony of Macau, was assassinated for his anti-Chinese politics.

1851 Gold was discovered in Australia.

1858 Queen Victoria and America's president Buchanan exchanged the first intercontinental greetings by submarine cable.

1862 Britain and Belgium signed a commercial treaty.

1864 Twelve nations signed the First Geneva Convention. The Red Cross was formed.

1868 The China Inland Mission was sacked by a mob of ten thousand Chinese.

1894 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, founded the Natal Indian Congress to fight colour prejudice.

1896 Carl Herz, an American illusionist, presented films (on one of Robert Paul's Theatrograph projectors) at the Melbourne Opera House. This was the first cinema event in Australia.

1901 Cadillac Motor Company was founded.

1902 Theodore Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to ride in an automobile.

1910 Japan annexed Korea.

1911 The Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, the world's best-known painting, was stolen from the Louvre in Paris.

1914 In Belgium, British and German troops met for the first time in World War I.

1926 Gold was discovered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

1931 Death of Edward Dyson (b. March, 1865), writer (Below and On Top) and poet (Men of Australia; Of the True Endeavour; The Old Whim Horse), closely associated with The Bulletin of Sydney. He figured to a minor degree in the 'Up the Country' poetic contest. Edward Dyson was a brother of fellow Bulletin regular, the artist and cartoonist Will Dyson (1880 - 1938).

Short stories and poems    Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

1941 German troops reached Leningrad, leading to the siege of Leningrad.

1942 Brazil declared war on the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan).

1944 The last transport of French Jews to concentration camps in Germany.

1944 Thirty-two Spaniards and four Frenchmen tackled a German column (1,300 men in 60 trucks, with six tanks and two self propelled guns), at La Madeiline, France. Three Maquis were wounded, 110 Germans killed, 200 wounded.

1944 The liberation of Paris.

1953 The jail on Devil's Island was closed.

1953 The Shah of Iran returned to the Peacock Throne in Tehran.

1962 An attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle failed.

1962 The Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered ship, completed its maiden voyage.

1963 Charlie Wilson was jailed for his part in the Great Train Robbery.

1966 China's Cultural Revolution: "Sha Ping, the principal of Beijing Third Girls Middle School, was beaten to death. After she died, some Red Guard students forced teachers to slap her corpse. Li Peiying, the dean of this school, hanged herself ... Hua Jin, the head of Beijing Eighth Middle School died in the room where she was imprisoned and tortured. After a serious beating, vice principal Han Jiufang developed a bad case of septicemia. The beating left her permanently handicapped. Shen Xianzhe, a teacher of Chinese, committed suicide after a beating."   

Source: Student Attacks Against Teachers: The Revolution of 1966    Mao holocaust

1968 Warsaw Pact tanks entered Prague to crush the Czechoslovakian reform movement led by Alexander Dubček (Alexander Dubcek).

1968 Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogotá, Colombia. It was the first visit of a pope to Latin America.

1969 The Beatles met at John Lennon's Georgian manor house, Tittenhurst Park, and were photographed. They didn't know it, but it was the last time all four men would be in the same place at the same time. The photos were used for the front and back covers of their Hey Jude album (a collection of single sides) early in 1970.

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list

1972 Rhodesia was expelled by the IOC for its racist policies.

1975 An attempt to assassinate president Gerald Ford failed.

1988 The Australian koala, the first platinum coin, was issued.

1989 The first ring of Neptune was discovered.

1992 FBI HRT sniper Lon Horiuchi shot and killed Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, USA.

1999 It was reported in the UK's Mail on Sunday newspaper that Samuel Strickson, 39, of Nebraska, tried to stuff more clothes into his top-loading machine by stomping on them. He kicked the on button, trapped his feet, and died during the spin cycle.  Source

2001 The Trojan room coffee pot was switched off for the last time.

2004 The Scream, the painting by Edvard Munch, was stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.

 

Tomorrow: Pigasus for President

 

 Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search

 

 

Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.

Read more about today at Wilson's Blogmanac