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Feast day of St Hilary
(Hilarius of Poitiers)
(Coldest day of the year,
English traditional.)
(Celebrated
formerly on January
14 in the Roman Catholic calendar. Barren strawberry,
Fragaria sterilis,
is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Hilary was born in about 300 or 315 at Poitiers, France into a Gaulish pagan
family. He converted and became bishop at Poitiers. The most active
and influential part of his life was passed under Emperor
Constantius II in the East, though he is known as a Father of the
Western Church. St
Augustine praises him as "the illustrious teacher of the
churches". St Jerome
says that Hilary was "a most eloquent man, and the trumpet of
the Latins against the
Arians". His study also led him to the
conviction that man is in the world to practice moral virtue that
must be rewarded in the hereafter.
A commentator
on scripture, an orator and a poet, Hilary wrote against the sect
known as the Arians (the
Council of Nicaea in
325 had outlawed its
doctrines), who were patronized by Constantius, and was banished
for his orthodoxy. On a certain island the serpents (which were
many) fled from his holiness. He put up a stake as a boundary,
commanding them not to pass it; they obeyed.
He once raised a dead child to life, and
also prayed his daughter to death. He even obtained his wife's death
by prayers. After he died,
two merchants offered, at their own cost, an image at his shrine,
but one wouldn't pay his share, so St Hilary caused the image to
tear from top to bottom. He died in about 367
or 368 of natural causes.
Editions of his writings were produced by Erasmus
(Basel, 1523, 1526, 1528).
Hilary's
relics have been moved several times. Some parts appear to be in
Limousin, some burned by the Huguenots in Poitiers; but most of his
remains are in the abbey of St Denis, near Paris.
In art, he is portrayed holding
an open Gospel; or as a bishop with three books; sometimes with a
child (sometimes in a cradle at his feet, raised to life by him); or
with a pen or stick. He may be shown with a snake and dragon.
English
tradition has this as the coldest day of the year.
Patronage: against snakes, backward children, snake bites.
More
And more
Closed seasons for marriage
"These were of old,
from Advent (November
30) to
St Hilary's Day; Septuagesima to Low Sunday;
Rogation Sunday to Trinity
Sunday. They continued to be upheld in
the English Church after the Reformation, but lapsed during the
Commonwealth.
Advent marriage doth thee deny,
But Hilary gives thee liberty.
Eight days from Easter says you may.
Rogation bids thee to contain,
But Trinity sets thee free again.
"The Roman
Catholic Church does not allow nuptial mass during what is left of
the 'close season', ie between the first Sunday of Advent and the
Octave of the Epiphany, and from Ash Wednesday to Low Sunday."
Ivor H
Evans, Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
The terms in
English schools were marked by the festival immediately preceding
the day of commencement; viz St Hilary, Easter, The
Holy Trinity, and Michaelmas.
Frost
When
a great frost came to London, as in 1684 and 1814, labourers who
could no longer work because the ground was frozen walked around
London, wearing aprons, clutching old spades and hoisting as a sign
of distress a turnip on a long pole, crying "Frozen-out
Gardeners" or "Hall frozen hout!" or chanting
"We've got no work to do!" Sometimes they got some charity
money doled out to them from householders. Often they were impostors
who wanted the charity. Just as often, the sad procession continued
long after the warmer weather had set in.
The ides of
January, ancient Rome
St
Knut's Day,
Sweden
It is the
feast day of Canute
IV of Denmark who ruled Sweden from 1080 - 1086 declared that
Christmas should be celebrated for twenty days. Also known as Little Christmas
and Twentieth Day or Tyvendedagen
(Norway), this is the day on which Scandinavians 'plunder'
their trees (julgransplundring) – Christmas decorations are taken down. (In the
Western Christian tradition, still observed in some countries such
as Australia, the traditional date for that custom is Epiphany, January 6.) Today
officially ends the Scandinavian Juletid, or
Yuletide.
The confectionery and biscuits on the tree may be
eaten and finally the tree is removed from the home. It is
traditionally a festive day when friends and families get together.
Tiugunde Day, Old England
Twenty days after
Yule there was an Old English day, sacred to
Tyr, Tiw or Tiu (after whom
Tuesday is named), the ancient Teutonic
chief god, ruler of the year. It was also called Midvintersblót, or
Midwinter's Offering.
From
Wikipedia:
Tyr (Old
Norse: Týr) is the god
of warfare
and battle in Norse
mythology, portrayed as a one-handed man. He was a son of either
Odin
or Hymir.
Corresponding names in other Germanic languages include Tyz (Gothic),
Ty (Old
Norwegian), Ti (Old
Swedish), Tiw, Tiu or Tew (Old
English) Týr (Modern
Icelandic), and Ziu (Old
High German).
The name Tyr meant 'god' (cf, Hangatyr, the
'god of the hanged' as one of
Odin's
names) and goes back to a Proto-Germanic
Tîwaz, continuing Proto-Indo-European
Dyeus,
originally the chief god, the precursor also of, eg,
Zeus
in Greek
mythology, and Dyaus
Pitar in Vedic
religion. The oldest attestation of the god is Gothic Tyz
(Vienna cod. 140).
Tîwaz was overtaken in popularity and in
authority by Odin
at some point in both the North
Germanic and West
Germanic traditions. Among East
Germanic tribes, however, he seems to have remained the supreme
god: the Goths
of the 3rd
Century were feared because they sacrificed the captives they
took in battle to Tyz, their god of war, and then hung the arms of
the victims in trees as a token-offering. This custom of human
sacrifice seems to have been transferred to Odin
in Scandinavia, as reported by Adam
von Bremen in the 11th
Century (compare also Odin himself hanging from a tree as a
sacrifice to himself in the Havamal).
It is possible that the transfer of
supremacy from Tyr to Odin was facilitated by the Germanic custom of
diarchy
(see Germanic
king and cf, eg, Hengest
and Horsa, Yngvi
and Alf and Erik
and Alrik), so that the two gods might have ruled the early
Germanic pantheon as equals at some point. A trace of their
relationship may be seen in the appearance of Tyr as Odin's son in
Norse mythology, and also in Anglo-Saxon,
if Tiw is identified with Saxnot (Seaxneat), the
'war-god' and son of
Woden,
who was revered as the ancestor of the Saxons.
In an earlier version, Tyr may have been the son of Hymir,
as he is in Hymiskviða
(cf,
Zeus
being a son of
Chronos).
There is sketchy evidence of a consort, in
German named Zisa: Tacitus
mentions one Germanic tribe who worshipped 'Isis',
and
Jacob
Grimm pointed to Cisa/Zisa, the patroness of Augsburg,
in this connection. The name Zisa would be derived from Ziu
etymologically, in agreement with other consorts to the chief god in
Indo-European pantheons, eg, Zeus
and Dione.
Grimm's
Teutonic Mythology (English
translation, chapter 9) Tyr
in Germanic Religion
Týr
and Zisa by William Bainbridge Deities
of many cultures in the Book of Days
Silvesterkläuse (Silvesterklause),
Urnäsch,
Switzerland (Dec
31 and Jan 13)
"The tradition
of the Urnäsch Silvesterkläuse, a custom over 200 years old, has
developed from simple begging in disguise into an expression of
creative handwork. Today, the Kläuse wear robes and masks which
require a great deal of time and effort to make.
"Three very
different groups must be distinguished: the Schöne (beautiful),
of whom more will be said, the Wüeschte (ugly), who wear natural
disguises in the form of pine branches, moss, and frightening
masks, and the Schö-Wüeschte (less ugly), who use the same
materials for their disguise as the 'ugly ones' but look less
so.
"In the evening, most of them meet in small groups and proceed
from house to house. Singing and ringing their bells, they wish
the families a prosperous year. They receive small gifts of
money which help to cover the cost of the costumes and
refreshments ...
"The event takes place in similar form on two separate days, New
Year's Eve and January 13."
Source
Silvesterklause photos at flickr
Old New
Year (New Year's
Day in the Julian calendar)
Nigel Pennick (The
Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont,
USA, 1992, p. 32) says that New Year's observances are still
performed, such as wassailing (paying homage to apple trees). He
doesn't say where, nor elaborate.
From
Wikipedia:
The Old New Year (Russian:
Старый Новый год) or the Orthodox New Year (Serbian:
Православна нова година or Pravoslavna nova godina) is an informal
traditional
Slavic Orthodox holiday celebrated as the start of the New Year
by the Julian calendar. In the 20th and 21st
centuries the Old New Year falls on January 13/14.
"The Julian calendar, standardized in 46 B.C.E., was
revised by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 C.E. The length of the year
in the Julian calendar was figured at 365.25 days, which is
greater than the correct length of 365.2422 days by 0.0078 days.
The error accumulated over time and Pope Gregory XIII revised
the calendar by omitting the accumulated portion which totaled
10 days at the time, from the month of October, 1582. He
ordained that Thursday, October 4, be followed by Friday,
October 15. The leap-year rule was also revised, making the
century years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, etc., non-leap
years. The years 1600, 2000, 2400, etc. which are divisible by
400 were made into leap years. In this way, the average
year-length of the calendar was brought down to 365.2425 days,
the residual error now being 1 day every 3300 years."
Source
Runic half-month
of Peorth begins
Feast of
Brewing, Druidic
Source: The Phoenix and
Arabeth 1992 Calendar
Feast day of St Andrew of
Trier
Feast day of St Elian
Feast day of St Elian ap
Erbin
Feast day of St Enogatus of
Aleth
Feast day of St Erbin
Feast day of the Forty
Martyred Soldiers at Rome
Feast day of St Godfrey of
Cappenberg
Feast day of St Gumesindus
Feast day of St Hermylus
Feast day of St Hildemar
Feast day of St Leontius of
Caesarea
Feast day of St Potitus
Feast day of St Stephen of
Liège
Feast day of St Stratonicus
Feast day of St
Veronica de Binasco (of
Milan, Italy)
(Yew tree,
Taxus baccata, is today's
plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Veronica was a
poor girl worked in fields near Milan. She entered the nunnery of St
Martha in Milan, and became its
mother superior. Following a six-month
illness, she died, aged 52, in 1497, on the date she had predicted.
Even when ill
she did hard duties and desired to take only bread and water.
The original Vera Iconica
The name calls to mind the devout female attendant who wiped the
face of Christ with a handkerchief. The cloth became miraculously
impressed with His countenance. It became Vera Iconica, or 'true
image'.
The cloth was sent to Abgarus, king of
Odessa and passed though a series of adventures; ultimately settling
at Rome, where it was kept for many centuries in St Peter's. From it
came the name Veronica. (That
Veronica's feast day is July 12.)
More
Feast day of St Viventius
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Shop saints
Nosso Senhor
do Bonfim Festival (Festa do Bonfim),
Salvador,
Bahia State,
Brazil (c. Jan
13 - 20)
Our Lord of the Happy Ending Festival, one of
Salvador's most colourful fiestas, commencing on the second Thursday
after
Epiphany and ending on the Sunday ten days later. The
Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (Portuguese:
Igreja de Nosso Senhor do Bonfim) is the centre of the
festivities.
On the Thursday, the faithful gather in front of the
Church of Conceição da Praia, in downtown Salvador (Baixa),
including a large group of Bahia women (bahianas) in
traditional white costume, with turbants and long, round skirts.
After mass, the faithful take part on a procession that leaves the
Church of Conceição da Praia and, after an
8 km
course, reaches the hill of the Bonfim Church. Upon reaching the
top, the bahianas wash the steps and the square (adro) in
front of the church with aromatized water while dancing and singing
chants in the
Yoruba language. The washing ritual is called the Lavagem do
Bonfim (Washing of Bonfim) and attracts a multitude of believers
as well as tourists.
The festa reveals much about the
religious
syncretism between Catholicism and African religions in the
STate of Bahia. In the
Candomblé
religion, Our Lord of Bonfim is associated with
Oxalá, father of
the Orishas and
creator of humankind. Indeed, people dress in white during the feast
to honour Oxalá.
"The saint with the largest following
in Bahia, Senhor do Bonfim or Lord of the Good End – associated
with the Candomblé deity Oxalá, the father of all the orixás
(o-RICK-sa) – is honored in the month of January.
Nearly 800,000 people dressed in white accompany traditional
'Baianas' wearing typical multi-layered white-lace petticoats
and turbans. The multitudes parade through the Lower City from
Conceição da Praia to Bonfim church, where the Bahian women
bless those present by showering them with lavender water and
perform the traditional 'washing of the steps', in a ritual of
faith and hope. A fireworks display marks the beginning of the
parade. Immediately thereafter, priestesses and initiates of
Candomblé carrying clay vases filled with flowers and lavender
water on their heads begin the procession to the Holy Hill to
wash the steps of Bonfim Church. Civilian authorities, the
faithful, and revelers accompany the parade on foot or in
horse-drawn carts. The festivities include a novena, a solemn
mass and the open-air festival."
Source: Bahia annual events
Liberation Day,
Togo
Lohri.
A celebration of
winter, primarily observed in the Punjab state of
India.
Meitlisunntig Festival – Woman in the
Battles
of Villmergen (1712),
Switzerland
Shusho-E Matsuri,
Japan (Jan 1
- 14)
Fire
Festival, Scalloway, Shetland Islands, Jan 12 - 13
Redemption Day, Ghana
Commemorates the military
government seizing power in 1972.
1334
King Henry
II of Castile (d. 1379)
1381 St
Colette, abbess and reformer (Order of Poor
Clares)
1562
Mark
Alexander Boyd (d. 1601),
Scottish poet
1596
Jan
van Goyen (d. 1656),
Dutch painter
1610
Maria
Anna of Austria (d. 1665)
1616
Antoinette
Bourignon (d. 1680),
Flemish mystic
1635
Philipp
Jakob Spener (d. 1705),
German theologian
1651
Henry
Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington (d. 1694),
English politician
1720
Richard
Hurd (d. 1808),
English bishop and writer
1749
Friedrich
Müller (d. 1825),
painter, narrator, lyricist and dramatist
1805
Thomas
Dyer (d. 1862),
Mayor of Chicago
1808
Salmon
P Chase (d. 1873),
6th Chief
Justice of the United States
1810 Ernest Rose, utopian socialist (Source: Daily
Bleed; I can't find any more info)
1832
Horatio
Alger, Jr, American clergyman and author of boys' adventure stories (Ragged Dick; From Canal Boy to President); he wrote well for boys because he
loved them so
1866? George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
(GI Gurdjieff; d. October 29,
1949),
Greek-Armenian mystic and 'teacher of dancing' born in Alexandropol,
Armenia (then of the Russian Empire, now Gumri, Armenia).
His students
included US architect Frank Lloyd
Wright, US author Kathryn Hulme,
PL Travers
(Australian author of
Mary Poppins) and New Zealand author Katherine
Mansfield.
"The Way of
Gurdjieff is an oral tradition. The understanding of his work
can only be received by direct contact between teacher and
pupil, and by the work of pupils together in organised groups." Source
More
1884
Sophie Tucker
(born Sophie Kalish), American entertainer billed as the 'Last of
the Red-Hot Mammas' (Gay
Love (1934))
1911 Sir Johannes
Bjelke-Petersen (d April
23, 2005),
New
Zealand-born Premier
of the state of Queensland,
Australia, whose long political career went under after his poor
showing in the Fitzgerald
Inquiry
Joh's
Jury (TV docu-drama)
1919
Robert Stack,
American actor
1926 Michael
Bond, British creator of Paddington Bear
1926 Carolyn
Gold Heilbrun (d. 2003),
American feminist author
1927
Brock
Adams (d. 2004),
American politician
1927 Sydney
Brenner, British Nobel
Laureate
1930
Frances
Sternhagen, American actress
1930
Liz
Anderson, American singer
1931
Charles
Nelson Reilly, American actor
1934
Rip
Taylor, American actor
1938
William
B Davis, Canadian actor
1942
Richard
Moll, American actor
1943
Carol
Cleveland, English actress
1946
Eero
Koivistoinen, Finnish musician
1947
Jacek
Majchrowski, Mayor of Kraków
1948
Gaj
Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur
1949
Brandon
Tartikoff (d. 1997),
American television executive
1954
Trevor
Rabin, South African guitarist (Yes)
1955
Paul
Kelly,
Australian
singer-songwriter, member of the
ARIA Hall of Fame 1955
| reetings from Australia.
How it works
Feast day of St Kentigern (or
Mungo), of Glasgow
