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reetings from Australia.
Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.
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'Tween Martinmas and Yule At Christmas, play and make good cheer, I heard the bells of Christmas Day, Jingle bells, jingle bells, Some say
that ever 'gainst that season comes So now is come our joyful feast; I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. Who, by vigour of mind almost divine, the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the tides of the seas first demonstrated. All quiet on
the Western Front, nobody saw All quiet All quiet on the Western Front Music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin (see On This Day in History, 1914, below) There was no need to do any housework at
all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse. An autobiography is an obituary in
serial form with the last chapter missing. Of course I lie to people. But I lie
altruistically – for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building
block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist – but
then what isn't? Never keep up with the Joneses; drag
them down to your level. It's cheaper. I didn't
practise. I was already
perfect. |
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Ich schau'
dir in die Augen, Kleines.
(“I look into your eyes,
little one”). The version of “Here's looking at you kid” as spoken
by Humphrey Bogart (born on December 25, 1899) in the dubbed German
version of Casablanca
Hollywood's a great place to live ... if
you're a grapefruit.
Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone TV show ideas man who was born on
December 25, 1924
I was a Christmas present that was
delivered unwrapped.
Rod Serling
It is difficult to produce a
television documentary that is both incisive and
Rod Serling
I have spent a lot of time searching through
the Bible, looking for loopholes.
WC
Fields
(b. 1880), American comedian,
who died
on
Christmas Day, 1946, spoken on his deathbed
Note: The
solstice (Yule) can occur either on December 21 or
22.
In the Book of Days, our information is on December 22.
Are you looking for
more origins and folklore of Yuletide?
Click for the big
Christmas page at the Scriptorium.
Also, this Book of Days has Christmas Eve
folklore from many lands.
Maya and Buddha; Isis and Horus; Mary and Jesus;
Devaki and Krishna
December 25 is the 359th day
of the year in the Gregorian calendar
(360th
in leap years), with 6 days remaining.
On
the dating of items in the Almanac Translate
this page Find
your birthday star Daily
Everything NNDB
Time/Date
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Calendar
converter Almanacs,
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screensavers On
this day Dictionary
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days Wiki
decades Wiki
centuries Timelines
Convert
weights, measures, etc Calendrica
Lunabar
When 'Source' links
on this page move address or
die, I might allow them to stay here, but the
Wayback Machine might help you
locate the original.
Merry Christmas!
(Holly, Ilex
bacciflora, is
today's plant,
dedicated to the Nativity of Jesus Christ. See
folklore of holly.
While the big shops put up enormous wreaths and the little shops spray on the Santa Snow window stencils, churches iron out the creases on the Put Christ Back Into Christmas posters for the glass cases on the street front.
Their struggle is not new. The Church, or at least Cromwell's puritan Commonwealth, tried to stamp out Christmas, all feast days and anything fun more than three centuries ago. A tract author with the central casting-puritan name of Hezekiah Woodward wrote, in 1656:
The old heathens' Feasting Day, in honour of Saturn, their Idol-God, the Papists' Massing Day, the Profane Man's Ranting Day, the Superstitious Man's Idol Day, the Multitudes' Idle Day, Satan's – that Adversary's – Working Day, the True Christian Man's Fasting Day ...
Picture that on the notice board outside St Chad's.
The fact is, old Hezekiah Woodward, in part, made a pretty fair point. Christmas was, indeed, in its origins a heathen day of feasting for
Saturn. And Baal. And
Mithras.
Christmas, ironically, antedates the Nativity of Christ, and December 25 is a fudge. In the third century CE the Church fathers chose that day as Jesus Christ's birthday, with good reason. It happens to fall approximately on the Northern Hemisphere's Winter Solstice, and December 25 (Midwinter's Day/Winter Solstice/Yule) has been from time immemorial a day sacred to the rebirth of the light of the sun in the depths of winter.
This day was the Festival of Natalis Sol Invictus (the Birth of the Undefeated Sun) in ancient Rome. Ancient peoples also commemorated the Babylonian Queen of Heaven, Osiris in Egypt, Dionysus, Helios, Adonis, the Celtic horned god Cernunnos, the Syrian Baal, Attis, Mithras, Balder and the Norse god Frey – all celebrated on the ancient Winter Solstice, and mostly solar saviours and dying gods. Most of these deities were given similar titles: the Light of the World, Sun of Righteousness, and Saviour. (More on ancient Gods and saviours similar to Jesus.)
Origins of customs
The Roman Empire gave the world the tradition of gift-giving in late December, with its citizens giving clay dolls (sigillaria) at the festival of the Saturnalia. Like modern revellers, too, they ate their fill of fruits, nuts, breads, pies and star-shaped cakes. They gave us decorations as well, decorating their temples with greenery for the festive Saturnalia celebrations at this time of year. Later, the Saxons at Winter Solstice time decorated their homes with two of the scarce bits of natural colour in the winter snowscape, the red-berried holly and the evergreen ivy.
Meanwhile, the Celtic Druids gathered mistletoe, a parasitic plant that grows on trees. On the sixth day of the new moon a fasting, white-clad Druidic priest cut the holy parasite from an oak tree with a sacred golden sickle held in his left hand. A virgin had to catch the falling plant, for it was not allowed to touch the ground. Mistletoe was believed by these ancient Britons, and other Europeans, to promote fertility and ward off evil. Today, of course, the fertility connections are clearly seen when a kiss is snatched under the mistletoe; the modern quest is to find a virgin to catch it should it fall. Mistletoe figured prominently in Celtic and Norse mythology – the Viking god Baldur was killed with a weapon made of mistletoe.
Unable to stamp out the widespread pagan 'Yule' (Midwinter) customs, early Church leaders pragmatically put a Christian spin on them. Throughout Europe, the celebration of Christ's birth grew in stature and became, with Easter, one of the two great festivals of the calendar. Gradually, traditions grew up, growing and changing over the centuries, even until today, layer upon layer like sedimentary levels in an archaeological dig ...
...
Read
on
Orkney Islands
As in
Norway (across the water from the Orkneys), there was a tradition that
women could not spin or card wool from the beginning of Yule until
Twelfth
Night, and spinning
and carding were forbidden in the household of any man
who owned sheep.
To the early Norse settlers, and their ancestors, ale was a sacred drink and the Yule ale was a rather strong drop. Yule ale was so important to Orkey Islanders that penalties were imposed on those who refused to drink on Holy Night. One unfortunate teetotaller who would not drink at Yule on three successive years was stripped of all his worldly goods, right down to his last penny.
Christmas in the news
Jesus, Odin, Mithras, Bacchus ...
Virgin birth, cross, Lamb of God ...
How are the ancient gods similar?
Read all about it here
Find an error or dead link?
Like to make a suggestion, or just say "G'day"?
Meet me at Corrigenda
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Or ...
Highly recommended: Folklore &
traditions of Christmas plants  The Winter Solstice
A Keltelven Guide for
Celebrating the Winter Solstice
To support this project
Photo of the day  Christmas Truce
 The Real Santa Claus
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Christmas Day "Transferred from the 6th of January to the 25th of December by Julius I. (337 - 352). "Old
Christmas Day. January 6th. When Gregory XIII.
reformed the Calendar in 1582, he omitted ten days; but
when the New Style was adopted in England in 1752, it was necessary
to cut off eleven days, which drove back January 6th to
December 25th of the previous year. So what we now call January 6th
in the Old Style would be Christmas Day, or December 25th." Christmas tree "Christmas Trees and Maypoles are remnants of the Scandinavian Ash, called Yggdrasil, the Tree of Time, whose roots penetrate to heaven, Niffheim and Ginnungagap (the gap of gaps). In Ginnungagap the frost giants dwell, in Niffheim is the great serpent Nidhögg; and under this root is Helheim, the home of the dead. "We are told that the ancient Egyptians, at the Winter Solstice, used a palm branch containing twelve leaves or shoots to symbolise the 'completion of the year.' [cf Twelve days of Christmas, PW] The modern custom comes from Germany."Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
Ursids meteor shower (Dec 17 - 26) Yawning for the Cheshire
Cheese, Cheshire, UK
The Psychedelic Secrets of Santa Claus (grain of salt required) Christmas around the world Christmas season celebrations in Australia Yule Songs from Pagan Digest
Santa Claus origins and folklore in the Book of Days More on Christmas at Catholic Encyclopedia
Halcyon Days, ancient Greece and Rome (Dec 14 -
28) Feast day of St Adalsindis of Hamay Feast day of St Alburga of Wilton Feast day of St Anastasia of Sirmium Feast day of St Eugenia of Rome Feast day of St Fulk of Toulouse Feast day of the Martyrs of Nicomedia Feast day of St Matthew of Albano Feast day of St Michael Nakashima Feast day of St Nera Feast day of St Romulus Leaf-rubbing (for medical treatments and talismans for magic protection) Ritual sacrifices of pigs and goats Bonfires (boucans) for amusement, to which the Loas (deities) come to bathe themselves and their protégés Sacrifice of
turkeys for Caplaou, Voudon (Voodoo)
Source Bain de Noêl, Voudon (Voodoo) Source Las Posadas, Mexico, ends (Dec 16 - 25)One of the four Irish Quarter days in the Irish calendar Birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan
The
flowering of the
Glastonbury
Thorn – a miracle The tree that sprang from a staff placed in the English soil at Glastonbury by Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus, blooms on Old Christmas Day, January 5 – the miracle will be a topic in this Book of Days for that day. Before the calendar change of 1752 the miracle occurred annually on December 25. Pilgrims have visited the sacred town of Glastonbury to see this every year for centuries.
From Wikipedia: Newtonmas is a secular holiday celebrated on 25 December each year in honor of Sir Isaac Newton's birthday. Newton was born 25 December, 1642. He made important advances in science and mathematics, held a professorship at Trinity College without joining the clergy, and has a connection with apples. Since his birthday coincides with Christmas, his birthday is considered by some to be the perfect choice for a non-religious holiday. This is ironic because, despite his fame as one of the greatest scientists ever to have lived, the Bible was Sir Isaac Newton's greatest passion. He devoted more time to the study of Scripture than to science, and said, "I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily." TraditionsThe Newtonmas Tree is an apple tree, but because it's not nice to kill trees, Newtonmas trees are usually something green and treelike with apples, preferably synthetic ones, on them. Living apple trees are better, but they should be left where they are growing, although decorations like lights and ornaments are okay. Newtonmas morning everyone gathers around the Newtonmas Tree—although not before everyone has showered, dressed, and brushed their teeth and had a bite to eat—and exchanges gifts of knowledge. These gifts are usually books, but CDs, videos, and other media are okay so long as they substantially contribute to the recipient's intellectual development. People with a lot of time and patience may also give free lecture passes, good for a free lecture on some topic in the near future. Creativity is encouraged. Newtonmas Transhuman holidays More See also: Pi_Day, Darwin_Day, Mole Day, Square root day
Did an apple really fall on Newton's head? In three words: not likely. The story that an apple falling on the great English scientist's head led to his brilliant theories on gravity is appealing but apocryphal. An associate of Newton's, John Conduitt, wrote
"In the year 1666 ... whilst he was musing in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (which brought an apple from the tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from the earth..." The apple was just an aside in the story. Apocalypse soon? Newton predicts end of world for 2060 Read this story at Wilson's Almanac Scriptorium
1742 Charlotte von Stein (d. 1827), girlfriend of Goethe 1763 Claude Chappe (d. 1805), telecommunications pioneer semaphore lines 1771 Dorothy Wordsworth (d. 1855), diarist, and sister of William Wordsworth 1821 Clara Barton (d. 1912), founder of the American Red Cross 1856 Hans von Bartels (d. 1913), German painter 1863 Charles Pathé, movie producer 1865 Fay Templeton (d. 1939), actress and singer 1875 Jessie Wallace Hughan
(d. April
10, 1955), founder of
the
War Resisters'
League 1876 Muhammed Ali Jinnah (date disputed; d. 1948), first Governor-General of Pakistan 1878 Louis Chevrolet (d. 1941), racing car driver, automotive pioneer 1883 Maurice Utrillo (d. 1955), a 'Montmartre' artist, French painter known for his Parisian street scenes
Thaw was jealous of Nesbit, and was
especially sensitive about her prior relationship with White. After
a trip to Europe with Thaw, Evelyn accepted his proposal and they
married on April 4, 1905. |
