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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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Marry in Lent On Ash Wednesday the priest said to the men of
Gotham, "If I should enjoin you to prayer, there is none of you that
can say your paternoster; and you be now too old to learn. And to enjoin
you to fast were foolishness, for you do not eat a good meal's meat in a
year. Wherefore do I enjoin thee to labour all the week, that thou mayest
fare well to dine on Sunday, and I will come to dinner and see it to be
so, and take my dinner." Another man he did enjoin to fare well on
Monday, and another on Tuesday, and one after another that one or other
should fare well once a week, that he might have part of his meat.
"And as for alms," said the priest, "ye be beggars all,
except one or two; therefore bestow alms on yourselves." Anywhere is paradise. I think George [Harrison] does not require to
become my formal disciple because he is already more than my disciple.
He has sympathy for my movement and I have all blessings for him. I look at you all see the love there
that's sleeping |
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Try to realize it's all within yourself
No one else can make you change,
And to see you're only very small
And life flows on within you and without you.
George Harrison; 'Within
You Without You'
The world used The Beatles as an excuse to go mad.
George Harrison
More George Harrison quotes at Wikiquote
People seem to
seek happiness but they make it so complicated that they become
disgusted with the seeking. It is very simple! Let your head respond
to your heart and then act accordingly.
Meher Baba, born on February 25, 1894
Don't worry. Be happy.
Meher Baba
To exercise a Whim is always the sign of an independent
nature ...
Meher Baba
To penetrate into the
essence of all being and significance and to release the fragrance of that inner
attainment for the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing, in the world
of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty—this is the sole game which has
intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments in
themselves can have no lasting importance.
Meher Baba; Discourses,
'The Place of Occultism in Spiritual Life', III, Volume II
As I see it every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.
Adelle Davis, nutritionist, born on February 25, 1904
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.
Adelle Davis
We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.
Adelle Davis
All of my life I been like a doubled up
fist ... poundin', smashin', drivin' – now I'm going to loosen
these doubled up hands and touch things easy with them.
Tennessee Williams,
American playwright who choked to death on a nose spray bottle cap on
February 25, 1983
There are more Internet
connections on the island of Manhattan than there are on the entire
Indian continent.
Shashi Tharoor, PhD, author, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and
Public Information of the United Nations Source
If I die from now on, OK! This film will go on for a hundred years.
Dr Haing S
Ngor, Cambodian-born American actor (The Killing
Fields) who was murdered on February 25, 1996
February 25 is the 56th
day of the year in the Gregorian
calendar, with 309
days remaining (310 in leap years).
Calendar converter Almanacs,
calendars, time, dedicated weeks, etc
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On this day
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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.
Ash Wednesday:
Lent begins (2004)
On
the dating of items in Wilson's Almanac
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
In Western Christianity, Lent is the period preceding the Christian holy day of Easter. Eastern Christianity calls this period Great Lent, to distinguish it from the Winter Lent that precedes Christmas. The remainder of this article will discuss Lent as it is understood and practiced in Western Christianity, except when as noted.
Where Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on the Cross, Lent is concerned with the events leading up to and including Jesus' execution by Rome. This took place around the year 29 of the Common Era in Roman occupied Jerusalem of Palestine.
There are traditionally 40 days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. Lent is a season of sorrowful reflection that is punctuated by breaks in the fast on Sundays (the day of the resurrection). Sundays are not counted in the 40 days of Lent. Because Lent is a season of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter, it is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "Bright Sadness".
Though originally of pre-Christian content, the traditional carnival celebrations that precede Lent in many cultures, have become associated with the season of fasting if only because they are a last opportunity for excess before Lent begins. The most famous of pre-lenten carnivals in the West is Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Fasting during Lent was in ancient times more severe than it is today. Meat, fish, eggs and milk products were strictly forbidden, and only one meal was taken each day. Today, in the West, the practice is considerably relaxed, though in the Eastern church, abstinence from the above mentioned food products is still commonly practiced. Lenten practices (as well as other liturgical practices) are more common in Protestant circles than they once were.
Ash Wednesday: dies cinerum
In the Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.
It occurs forty days before Easter, not counting Sundays (which are not included in Lent); it occurs forty-four days before Good Friday counting Sundays. Its placement varies each year, according to the date of Easter. The date can vary from early February to as late as the second week in March.
Ash Wednesday falls on the following dates in the following years:
Some Christians treat Ash Wednesday as a day for remembering one's mortality. Masses are traditionally held on this day at which attendees are blessed with ashes by the priest ministering the ceremony. The minister marks the forehead of each celebrant with black ashes, traditionally in the shape of a cross, leaving a mark that the worshipper traditionally leaves on his or her forehead until sundown, before washing it off. This symbolism recalls the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ash over one's head signifying repentance before God (as related numerous times in the Bible). Often these Ash Wednesday ashes are made by burning Palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations and mixing them with olive oil as a fixative. In Roman Catholicism, Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence. The penitential psalms are read.
As the first day of Lent, it comes the day after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras, the last day of the Carnival season.
In certain parts of the United Kingdom, Ash Wednesday similarly involves the ritual consumption of the food hash.
In New Orleans, Louisiana it is sometimes jokingly referred to as "Trash Wednesday" due to the large amount of refuse typically left in the streets by the previous day's Fat Tuesday celebrations.
Adapted from Wikipedia
"It is believed that the custom of wearing ashes was borrowed from the Jewish religion. For instance, 'Also, in every province that the king's command and decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and everybody lay in sackcloth and ashes.' (Esther 4:3 JPS)" Source: Czech Easter
Sir James George Frazer (1854 - 1941), The Golden Bough, 1922, Ch. 62. The Fire-Festivals of Europe. Section 2. The Lenten Fires
Lenten curtain, or Lenten veil
"In the mediaeval Western Church, a white curtain hung down in Parish churches between the altar and the nave, and parted on feast days kept during Lent. It was taken down in the last three days of Holy Week and said to betoken 'the prophecy of Christ's Passion, which was hidden and unknown till these days' (Liber Festivalis). Similarly, all crucifixes and images were covered, a practice still followed in some Anglican churches."
Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
When is Easter?
Easter is on a different date each year
according to the Northern Vernal Equinox (may
fall on March 20,
21 or 22) and the
phases of the moon.
From Wikipedia:
"The
timing of Easter depends on the Jewish Pesach, in English Passover,
which commemorates the sparing of the Hebrew first-born, as recounted in
Exodus,
since it is during this holiday that Jesus is believed to have been
resurrected.
The date of Easter
"Easter
and the holidays that are related to it are moveable
feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar (which follows the
motion of the Sun and the seasons). Instead, they are based on a lunar
calendar like that used by the Jews. At the First Council of Nicaea in 325 it was
decided that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day
of the first lunar month of spring (in theory, the Sunday after the first full moon
on or after the day of the vernal
equinox). Eventually, all churches accepted the Alexandrian method of
computing Easter, which set the northern hemisphere vernal equinox at 21
March (the actual equinox may fall one or two days earlier or later), and
the date of the full moon was to be determined by using the Metonic
cycle. A problem here is the difference between the western churches
and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The former now use
the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of
Easter, while the latter still use the original Julian calendar. The World Council of Churches proposed a
reform of the method of determining the date of Easter at a summit in
Aleppo, Syria,
in 1997. This reform would have eliminated the difference in the date
between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was due to be
implemented starting in 2001, but it failed. See Reform of the date of Easter.
"Computing
the date of Easter, known as computus,
is somewhat complicated. The Wiki page explains the traditional tabular
methods, but also has algorithms such as the one developed by the famous
mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.
When is it this year? One explanation can
be found in Chambers:
"Easter Day is
always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next
after the 21st day of March; and if the full moon happens
upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after."
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)
Or, probably better:
"Easter
Sunday is the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (PFM) date for the
year. In June 325 A.D. astronomers approximated astronomical
full moon dates for the Christian church, calling them Ecclesiastical Full
Moon (EFM) dates. From 326 A.D. the PFM date has always been the EFM
date after March 20 (which was the equinox date in 325 A.D.)."
Source
with some explanation, and discussion of popular errors
Lunabar will put moon phases, equinoxes, solstices, etc on your desktop
The date of Easter (US Naval Observatory)
The date of Easter (Anglican calculator)
Timing of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (Christian Churches of God)
Folklore, customs, pre-Christian origins of:
Epiphany Candlemas/Imbolc Hall Sunday Collop Monday Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day
Ash Wednesday & Lent Mid-Lent Care Sunday Painful Friday Lazarus Saturday
Palm Sunday Spy Wednesday Maundy Thursday Good Friday Easter Saturday Easter
Easter Monday Easter Tuesday Hocktide Ascension Rogation Days Whitsunday/Whitsuntide
Corpus Christi May Day/Beltaine Lammas/Lughnasadh Michaelmas Halloween/Samhain
Martinmas Advent Christmas Eve Christmas More at Articles Index
Hundreds of feast days of saints, gods and goddesses at Wilson's Almanac Book of Days
Find an error or dead link?
Like to make a suggestion, or just say "G'day"?
Meet me at Corrigenda
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Highly recommended:
 Be A Goddess  The George Harrison Encyclopedia  Harrison  Behind Sad Eyes
 Abbey Road
 Spellcraft
To support this project
By Linda Woodrow
 The Great War for Civilisation By Robert Fisk
Photo of the day
 10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF & World Bank
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Feast day of St
Walburga
(Bugga;
Gaudurge; Vaubourg; Walpurga; Walpurgis; Valborg; Walburge;
Wealdburg; Valderburger; Valpuri) (Peach, Amygdalus persica, is today's plant, dedicated to St Walburga.)
Together with her brothers, St Wilibald and St Winibald, she travelled to Württemberg to assist St Boniface. She became a nun and lived in the convent of Heidenheim near Eichstätt, which was founded by Winibald. When he died in 760, she took over till her death 19 years later. An oily liquid flowed from her tomb, and
was a remedy for sickness. The most important day to commemorate
Walburga is April
30 (Walpurgisnacht
or Walpurgis Night), the date of the translation of her
relics to Eichstätt in 870, which is also a pagan festival
marking the beginning of summer and the revels of witches. It
has long been a witching night, particularly in Germany, and
happened to be the day that Adolf
Hitler and his mistress Eva
Braun committed
suicide. Walburga's patronage includes against coughs, against famine, against plague, against rabies, against storms, boatmen, coughs, dog bites, Eichstätt (where this English saint is especially venerated), Antwerp, Oudenarde, Furnes, Gronigen, Zutphen and other towns in the Low Countries, harvests, mad dogs, mariners, plague, sailors and storms. In art she is represented as a royal abbess or in the Benedictine habit with a small flask of oil on a book; sometimes with a crozier, a crown at her feet, denoting royal birth, and may be depicted in a family tree of the Kings of England. She is also sometimes represented in a group with St Philip and St James the Less, and St Sigismund, King of Burgundy, because she is said to have been canonized by Pope Adrian II on May 1, the festival of these saints. Sometimes she carries three ears of corn in her hand; sometimes angels hold a crown over her. She may be shown together with her saintly brothers, or with miracles taking place because of the oil extruding from her tomb.
Feast day of St Caesarius of Nanzianzen Feast day of St Constantius of Fabriano Feast day of St Didacus Carvalho Feast day of St Domenico Lentini
Feast day of St Ethelbert of Kent, first Christian king of England Ethelbert (or Æthelbert, or Aethelberht) (c. 552 - February 24, 616) was King of Kent from around 580 or 590 until his death. After his death, he was regarded as a saint. As he was the King of Kent, he was regarded as the first Christian king of England, and the monarch when St Augustine arrived bringing monasticism to that island. On Whitsunday, June 2, 597 King Ethelbert was baptized by St Augustine, commencing official recognition of Christianity in the British Isles. More information February 24, 616, the day of his death.
Feast day of St Gerland Feast day of St Herena Feast day of St James Carvalho Feast day of St Riginos Feast day of St Sebastian of Aparicio Feast day of St Victorinus and six companions, martyrs Time of the Old Woman, Morocco (Feb 25 - Mar 4)
Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days in the Bahá'í calendar), Bahá'í Faith (Feb 25 - Mar 1) These are intercalary days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving. The Ayyám-i-Há holiday begins each year on the evening of February 25 and ends at sunset on March 1. Of this period Bahá'u'lláh (1817 - '92), the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, wrote: "It behoveth the people of Bahá, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name." Bahá'í communities typically host Ayyám-i-Há
festivities, with some communities exchanging gifts in the
manner of Christmas in Christian communities, sometimes with a
different gift for each of the four days (five in leap year).
Powamu,
Pueblo/Hopi purification ceremony, (Feb 12 - 28) Manger têtes d' l'eau (Ritual feeding of
springs) , Voudon
(Voodoo) Source Norriture Rituelle des sources têt d' l'eau, Voudon (Voodoo) Source Coronado Day,
Mexico Katsuyama Sagicho, Katsuyama, Fukui
Prefecture, Japan (Feb 24 - 25)
Tenjin
Matsuri, Japan
Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri (Mud-slinging Festival),
Musubi Shrine,
Yotsukaido,
Chiba
Prefecture, Japan Sounkyo Ice
Festival, Sounkyo Onsen (spa), Hokkaido, Japan (Jan 29 - Mar 5) Katsuyama Sagicho, Japan (Feb 24 - 25)
Februaristaking
commemoration,
Netherlands |
Walburga,
or Walpurgis (born in