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reetings from Australia. 

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Pip Wilson

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Carpe diem! 21 Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search Open links in a New Window

Today is

Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are governed by the same laws. I speak of the rich and the poor.
Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister, born on December 21, 1804; Sybil, 1845

And now, how had such a precise man, such a meticulous gentleman, not known what day it was? How had he come to think it was the evening of Saturday, 21 December, when he arrived in London, when it was in fact Friday, 20 December, only 79 days after his departure?
  Here is the reason for the mistake. It is quite simple.
  Phileas Fogg, 'without beginning to suspect', had gained a day on his programme – simply because he had gone round the world eastwards. He would, on the contrary, have lost this day if he had gone in the opposite direction, namely westwards.
  By heading towards the east, Phileas Fogg had gone towards the sun, and consequently his days were four minutes shorter for each degree of longitude covered in this direction. Now there are 360 degrees on the Earth's circumference, and this 360, multiplied by 4 minutes, makes exactly 24 hours – in other words the day gained unconsciously. This means that while Phileas Fogg, heading eastwards, saw the sun cross the meridian 80 times, his colleagues remaining in London saw it cross only 79 times. And this was why, on that very same day, Saturday, and not Sunday as Mr Fogg believed, they were waiting for him in the drawing-room of the Reform Club.
Fictional character, Phileas Fogg, completed his around-the-world trip by arriving at the Reform Club on December 21, 1872. From Around the World in 80 Days, annotated by William Butcher.

... And what does it mean, then to be a poet? It was a long time before I realized that to be a poet means essentially to see, but mark well, to see in such a way that whatever is seen is perceived by the audience just as the poet saw it. But only what has been lived through can be seen in that way and accepted in that way. And the secret of modern literature lies precisely in this matter of experiences that are lived through. All that I have written these last ten years, I have lived through spiritually.
Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright, whose play The Doll's House opened on December 21, 1879; 'Speech to the Norwegian Students', September 10, 1874, from Speeches and New Letters, 1910

A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.
Henrik Ibsen; from Ibsen's Workshop, 1912

It is my fondest wish, that some day, every American will get down on their knees and pray to God that some day they will have the opportunity to live in a communist society.
Jane Fonda, American actress, born on December 21, 1937; 1970

Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read.
Rock musician Frank Zappa, born on December 21, 1940

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful,
is the basic building block of the Universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the Universe.
Frank Zappa

If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.
Frank Zappa; from The Real Frank Zappa Book 

The first hyphen in MAH-JUH-REEN could be used for erotic gratification by a very desperate stenographer.
Frank Zappa; speaking in Sydney Australia, 1974

Don't mind your make-up, you'd better make your mind up.
Frank Zappa

Information is not knowledge, 
Knowledge is not wisdom, 
Wisdom is not truth, 
Truth is not beauty, 
Beauty is not love, 
Love is not music
and Music is THE BEST.
Frank Zappa

It would be easier to pay off the national debt overnight than to neutralize the long-range effects of OUR NATIONAL STUPIDITY.
Frank Zappa

Some people crave baseball – I find this unfathomable – but I can easily understand why a person could get excited about playing a bassoon.
Frank Zappa

This is Frank Zappa saying, don't do speed. Speed turns you into your parents.
1970 public service announcement regarding drug (namely, speed) use

It's better to have something to remember than nothing to regret ...
Frank Zappa

You've got to be digging it while it's happening 'cause it just might be a one shot deal.
Frank Zappa

Anything played wrong twice in a row is the beginning of an arrangement.
Frank Zappa

You can't be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.
Frank Zappa

Yeah, I tell them to change the channel if they see some guy in a brown suit with a telephone number at the bottom of the screen asking for money. 
Frank Zappa; when asked by Tipper Gore (American author, activist for 'Parental Advisory' labels on music) if there was anything on the TV he didn't allow his children to watch

... I think [Abbey Road is] the best engineered, best mastered rock and roll album ever produced ... except that I take exception to stereo placement. 
Frank Zappa; from Frank Zappa talks about Faves, Raves, and Composers in their Graves

Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mundane educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and *educate yourself* if you've got any guts. Some of you like *pep rallies* and plastic robots who tell you what to read. Forget I mentioned it. *This song has no message.* Rise for the flag salute. 
Frank Zappa; liner notes for 'Hungry Freaks, Daddy' on Freak Out!

There's no question in my mind – the beer, the balloons and the bunting all start with ‘B’ for some cosmic reason. 
Frank Zappa; words that start with ‘B’ reminded him of the Republican Party. The Real Frank Zappa Book, page 238

Our planet is on a collision course with something that we, at our present state of knowledge, don't have a word for. A black hole is simply a gravitationally massive object, so massive that no light can leave it. What I'm talking about is something like that, except that it isn't so much gravitationally massive as temporally massive. We are soon to be sucked into the body of eternity. My model points to 11:18 am, Greenwich Mean Time, December 21, 2012 AD.
Terence McKenna (1946 - 2000), theoretician of consciousness   [See below at This day in history, 2012]

December 21 is the 355^th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (356^th in leap years), with 10 days remaining.
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Note: The solstice (Yule) can occur either on December 21 or 22. In the Book of Days, our Yule information is on December 22.

Read about the origins and folklore of the festive season at the Wilson's Almanac Christmas page.

(Sparrowwort; Erica passerina is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

This was formerly the Feast day of St Thomas the Apostle; also known as: Didymus, the Twin, and Doubting Thomas.

St Thomas's day fell on the northern Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year (in the Southern Hemisphere, the longest, or Summer Solstice).  Hence the rhyme (above).

Patronage
against doubt, architects, blind people, builders, construction workers, Sri Lanka, East Indies, geometricians, India, masons, Pakistan, people in doubt, Sri Lanka, stone masons, stonecutters, surveyors, theologians

He doubted that Jesus Christ was resurrected after his crucifixion:

Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.
Gospel of St John 20:25

The festival of St Thomas was instituted in the 12^th Century. As the apostle who was given the most direct evidence of the Resurrection, he was given a feast day early in the Christian era.

St Thomas is said to have travelled and spread Christianity among the Parthians, Medes, Persians and Carmenians, and to have been in India (for a discussion of the evidence, see the article at the Catholic Encyclopedia). Preaching there, he raised the hackles of the Brahmins, who stoned him, threw darts at him, and lanced him to death. His body was carried to Edessa.

The bleeding cross of St Thomas's, Malabar

In his church (in which he is said to have preached) at Malabar, India, a cross bleeds on Christmas Eve. Or, so it is said. Pedro de Ribadeneira, who wrote on the saints wrote that a stone cross bleeds on Christmas Eve as soon as the Jesuits start to say mass, and not before. It changes in colour from white, to yellow, to black, to azure, until the end of mass, then back to white. Drops of blood form during this process, and quite a lot flows. If it doesn't happen there is a calamity in the area soon. William Hone says "Perhaps it is further miraculous, that in a country where there is liberty of thought and speech, and a free press, no stone cross will do the like".

When the Portuguese discovered Malabar, they found Nestorian Christians there; believing them to be heretics they passed many decrees to persecute them. Nestorianism is the belief that Jesus Christ consisted of two separate persons, one human and one divine. Its name comes from its leading proponent, Nestorius, who was Patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorianism was rejected as heretical by the Council of Ephesus in 431, which held that Christ consisted of only one person with two natures, one human and one divine. A unique feature of the worship of Nestorians is their “holy leaven”, an altar bread they believe is derived from dough used at the Last Supper. Many of the Malabar people still hold to the Nestorian doctrines, refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Pope. The organised liturgy of the Malabar Church in the first centuries of Christianity was that of Mesopotamia (Iraq). 

In art Thomas is shown with a lance, because it is said that he was martyred with a lance at Mylapore, India. He may also be represented holding a builder's square, and is patron of architects and builders because of the following legend:

Legend of Thomas and King Gondoforus

When Thomas was at Caesaria, the Lord came to him and sent him to Gondoforus, king of the Indies, who wanted skilled architects and builders to make the grandest palace in the world. Gondoforus gave him a fortune in silver and gold, and went abroad for two years, during which time Thomas distributed the treasure among the Indian poor. 

When King Gondoforus returned he was full of wrath and cast Thomas into a dungeon. Meanwhile, the king's brother died, and Gondoforus was making arrangements for a magnificent tomb for him. However, after four days dead, his brother sat up and said ‘The man Thomas whom you persecute is a man of God. I have returned from Paradise, where the angels showed me a grand palace of silver and gold, built in Heaven by Thomas.’ He freed Thomas, who told him that those who care for heavenly things have little concern for things of the world.

(We know, in fact that about the year 46 CE, a king named Gondophernes or Guduphara reigned over that part of Asia south of the Himalayas that we now know as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the Punjab, and Sind. This we know both from the discovery of coins, some of the Parthian type with Greek legends, others of the Indian types with the legends in an Indian dialect in Kharoshthi characters.)

Since Thomas is the patron saint of architects and builders, you might want to make your Christmas gingerbread house on this day.

After the dispersion of the apostles, Thomas preached among the Medes, Persians, Bactrians, Ethiopians and Indians. He was martyred at Melapoor (Mylapore, or Malabar), India, and buried in the church he founded there. Marco Polo referred to his tomb, which he said was a place of pilgrimage at that time. The local red soil on the spot where he was martyred was carried off for its miraculous healing powers.

The hand of Thomas test of truth

Later the body was taken to Edessa, Mesopotamia. The arm and hand that touched the side of Jesus Christ were displayed separate from the body and used to tell one case from another in  disputes: both arguments were written on separate pages and put successively in the hand, which would automatically cast away the false one and hold tight to the true. People came from far countries to use this test.

St Thomas's Day, Europe

"In Denmark it was formerly a great children's day, unique in the year, and rather resembling the mediaeval Boy Bishop festival. It was the breaking-up day for schools; the children used to bring their master an offering of candles and money, and in return he gave them a feast. In some places it had an even more delightful side: for this one day in the year the children were allowed the mastery in the school. Testimonials to their scholarship and industry were made out, and elaborate titles were added to their names, as exalted sometimes as 'Pope,' 'Emperor,' or 'Empress.' Poor children used to go about showing these documents and collecting money. Games and larks of all sorts went on in the schools without a word of reproof, and the children were wont to burn their master's rod.

"In the neighbourhood of Antwerp children go early to school on St. Thomas's Day, and lock the master out, until he promises to treat them with ale or other drink. After this they buy a cock and hen, which are allowed to escape and have to be caught by the boys or the girls respectively. The girl who catches the hen is called 'queen,' the boy who gets the cock, 'king.' Elsewhere in Belgium children lock out their parents, and servants their masters, while schoolboys bind their teacher to his chair and carry him over to the inn. There he has to buy back his liberty by treating his scholars with punch and cakes. Instead of the chase for the fowls, it was up to 1850 the custom in the Ardennes for the teacher to give the children hens and let them chop the heads off. Some pagan sacrifice no doubt lies at the root of this barbarous practice, which has many parallels in the folk-lore of western and southern Europe."
Clement A Miles, Christmas In Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1912

Mumping Day, England (Old St Thomas's Day)

Old St Thomas's Day is called 'Mumping Day' in some parts of Britain, because on this day the poor used to go about begging, [Mump, to cheat or to sponge on others; probably from Dutch mompen, to cheat] or, as it was called, 'a-gooding', that is, getting gifts to procure good things for Christmas, or begging corn.

In Lincolnshire, the name used to be applied to Boxing Day; in Warwickshire, the term was 'going a-corning'. People would also be said to be going 'Thomasing' on this day.

Women going 'a-gooding' presented their donors with sprigs of palm and branches of primroses. It still was kept up in folklorist William Hone's time (1826) in the area of Maidstone, Kent.

This custom was also still going strong in Staffordshire, England, in 1857. The clergyman expected to give a shilling to each person, and at all houses called on a present was expected. In some parts of Staffordshire, the wealthy donated money to the church, which distributed it to the poor in what was known as St Thomas's Dole, on the Sunday nearest St Thomas's day.

Harrington, Worcestershire, England, children went about singing the verse (above) and would repay gifts by giving a sprig of holly or mistletoe. Old women in red cloaks would go a-gooding, and all the wealthy houses prepared abundant food and presents for them. It was common for the people going about to come home very drunk.

In the market town of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, St Thomas's Day was a day for bull baiting. In 1822, the cruel practice was abolished, causing resentment among the citizens, although the flesh continued to be distributed on this day.

St Thomas's Onion, a love divination

"In England there was divination by means of 'St. Thomas's onion.' Girls used to peel an onion, wrap it in a handkerchief and put it under their heads at night, with a prayer to the satin to show them their true love in a dream."
Clement A Miles, Christmas In Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1912

Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas takes the form of a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus Christ. When a complete copy of it in Coptic was found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt, it was then realized that Greek portions of it had been discovered in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in 1898. The Greek fragments of the Gospel of Thomas have been dated to about 200, and the Coptic version to 340. Although the Coptic version is not quite identical to the Greek fragments, it is believed that the Coptic version was translated from a prior Greek version. Origen mentioned it in 233 among the heterodox gospels, as did Cyril of Jerusalem some time later.

Sources and resources

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

William Hone, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, Vol., 1, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878; 1825-26 edition online

Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition,  2001    Catholic Encyclopedia

Charles Kightly, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames and Hudson, 1987

Patron Saints Index    Golden Legend: ‘St Thomas’    Gospel of Thomas    Wikipedia, et al

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Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! For all my Yule needs Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion    The Gospel of Thomas Beyond Belief: Secret Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Thomas - revised edition The Harvest of Sorrow By Robert Conquest Stalin Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives Stalin The Unknown Stalin The Secret File of Joseph Stalin The Gulag Archipelago Gulag A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia The Black Book of Communism Stalin's Last Crime Golden Bough Folklore classic Yule Decking the Halls Folklore & traditions of Christmas plants The Winter Solstice The Fires of Yule A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice Sabbat Entertaining The Pagan Book of Days Eight Sabbats for Witches Celebrate the Earth A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition Wheel of the Year The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq Be A Goddess The Wiggles - Yule Be Wiggling The Oxford Dictionary of Saints The Book of Saints The Encyclopedia of Saints Daily Everything Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Lord of the Rings   To support this project Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.     Search for posters An Inconvenient Truth By Al Gore; DVD & book The Permaculture Home Garden By Linda Woodrow The Corporation Highly recommended DVD A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy 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 Pagan Christianity Songs in the Key of W For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire By James Yee 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 Price of Loyalty The Torture Debate in America The Culture of the New Capitalism 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 Alternatives to Economic Globalization Feminism Without Borders Commercialization of Intimate Life By Arlie Russell Hochschild The Skeptic's Dictionary Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them 365 Goddess Christianity Before Christ Jesus and the Lost Goddess Body Wisdom 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 Bushwhacked Shamanism Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 The Orion Prophecy 2012 The Shaman's Prophecy 2012 Airborne Prophecy Time and the Technosphere José Argüelles The Mayan Factor José Argüelles The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness Elvis and Nixon Click to promote  your blog or website  another excellent  way we do

Christmas beetles, Australia Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Scarabaeidae Genus: Anoplognathus     Across Australia now, the Christmas beetles are out. Some are rather dull in appearance, but some earn their name well, as their iridescent gold and all the rainbow’s colours make them good enough to hang on your Yule tree. This picture doesn't do justice to the prettiest of them. Unfortunately, the total number of these harmless beetles reported in the Sydney area has declined over the last few decades as the grassy woodland areas have been cleared for housing. "If you suddenly feel something spiky crawl down your shirt or buzz loudly into your hair, chances are it's a Christmas beetle. Christmas beetles (Anoplognathus) range from 15 - 40 mm in size and belong to the Scarab family (over 3000 species in Australia), which also includes flower and cock chafers, and fiddle beetles. What to look for "Mostly active at night, Christmas beetles can be seen flying around lights. They can be green or black, but most are golden brown. Adult Christmas beetles are emerging from now through until February and can strip whole trees to a ragged mess in a feeding frenzy. Those in the northern parts of Australia tend to become active earlier than those further to the south. The grub is crescent-shaped with a pale reddish brown head and three pairs of legs. They can be dug up from lawns and pastures where they feed on roots.  Where to find them "There are 35 species of Christmas beetles right across Australia, but most prefer the moister east and south easterly areas, especially near the coast. Eight species occur in Sydney."   Source     Vendémiaire | Brumaire | Frimaire | Nivôse | Pluviôse | Ventôse | Germinal | Floréal | Prairial | Messidor | Thermidor | Fructidor | Sansculottides   First day of month of Nivôse (Snowy month), French Revolutionary Calendar On October 24, 1793, the French National Convention adopted the French Republican Calendar (French Revolutionary Calendar) retrospectively as from September 22, 1792. Napoleon Bonaparte abolished it and restored the Gregorian calendar on January 1, 1806 (the day after 10 nivôse an XIV), a little over twelve years after its introduction. However, it was used again during the brief Paris Commune in 1871 (year LXXIX). It was designed by the politician and agronomist Charles Gilbert Romme, although it is usually attributed to Fabre d'Églantine, who invented the descriptive names of the months. Instead of most days having a saint as in the Catholic Church's calendar, each day has a plant, a tool or an animal associated with it. Some enthusiasts in France still use the calendar. Each month lasted 30 days and was divided into three decades. Every day had the name of an agricultural plant, except the 5th (Quintidi) and 10th day (Decadi) of every decade, which had the name of a domestic animal (Quintidi) or an agricultural tool (Decadi). Autumn Vendémiaire (from Latin vindemia, ‘vintage’), begins Sep 22, 23 or 24 Brumaire (from French brume, ‘mist’), begins Oct 22, 23 or 24 Frimaire (From French frimas, ‘frost’), begins Nov 21, 22 or 23 Winter Nivôse (from Latin nivosus, ‘snowy’), begins Dec 21, 22 or 23 Pluviôse (from Latin pluviosus, ‘rainy’), begins Jan 20, 21 or 22 Ventôse (from Latin ventosus, ‘windy’), begins Feb 19, 20 or 21 Spring Germinal (from Latin germen, ‘seed’), begins Mar 20 or 21 Floréal (from Latin flos, ‘flower’), begins Apr 20 or 21 Prairial (from French prairie, ‘meadow’), begins May 20 or 21 Summer Messidor (from Latin messis, ‘harvest’), begins Jun 19 or 20 Thermidor (from Greek thermos, ‘hot’), begins Jul 19 or 20 Fructidor (from Latin fructus, ‘fruits’), begins Aug 18 or 19 Sansculottides The Sansculottides (also Epagomenes; French Sans-culottides, Sanculottides, jours complementaires, jours épagomènes) are the end of the calendar. They follow Fructidor and precede Vendémiaire of the next year, belonging to the summer quarter of the year. The Sansculottides, named after the Sansculottes, amend the 360 days of the calendar so that the beginning of the next year is on the Autumnal Equinox. There were five Sansculottides in a common year and six in a leap year (from this derives the French name of the leap year année sextile). The Sansculottides start on September 17 or 18 and end on September 22 or 23.   1re Décade 2e Décade 3e Décade Primidi 1. Pomme (Apple) 11. Salsifis (Salsify) 21. Bacchante (asarum baccharis) Duodi 2. Céleri (Celery) 12. Macre (Water Chestnut) 22. Azerole (Crete Hawthorn) Tridi 3. Poire (Pear) 13. Topinambour (Jerusalem Artichoke) 23. Garence (Madder) Quartidi 4. Betterave (Beet Root)