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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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November 5 |
The execution of the
Gunpowder Plotters, 1606 |
Jesse
had a wife to mourn him for all her life,
the
children they are brave.
'Twas a
dirty little coward that shot Mister Howard,
And laid
Jesse James in his grave.
It was
Robert Ford, the dirty little coward,
I wonder
how he does feel,
for he
ate of Jesse's bread and he slept in Jesse's bed,
Then he
laid Jesse James in his grave.
'Jesse James',
American traditional ballad;
Robert Ford, who
killed
American outlaw
Jesse James
on April 3,
1882, was born on January 31, 1862
... rather slender, not very
robust, yet wiry and evidently capable of great endurance, as well as
being shrewd and brave. His eyes are sunken, of a hazel color,
and are large, restless, and piercing. His forehead is high, and his
hair is thin, short, and of a light brown color. He is about 5 feet 8
inches high, and wears a nut-brown suit. He would never be singled out
of a crowd as a youth of qualities worthy of especial notice.
New
York Times, April
5, 1882,
description of Robert Ford, killer of Jesse James
Bob Ford I don't trust; I think he
is a sneak; but Charlie Ford is as true as steel.
Jesse
James as (allegedly) quoted by Frank Triplett
He pulled off his pistols and got up
on a chair to dust off some picture frames, and I drew my pistol and
shot him.
Bob Ford quoted by Triplett at the inquest into the death of Jesse James
The Bulletin for twenty years
or more not only helped shaped Australian literature but in some respects practically was Australian literature. And it was not all bush, by any means:
it published early poems and criticism by the pioneer modernist Chris
Brennan, ransacked English and American publications for what it considered new
and strong, peered occasionally into continental European literature, conducted
arguments over style, analyzed art exhibitions, developed an oracular literary
'Red Page' (so named from the color of the newsprint cover-sheet; the Red Page
still appears), hammering all the while at late Victorian and early modern
stuffiness. There came, in fact, to be two literary worlds co-existing in
The Bulletin: oneself-consciously, blatantly parochial; the other cosmopolitan, keen-witted, sharp-tongued.
[Henry] Lawson belonged to both.
From a tribute to The Bulletin
of Sydney, which was founded on January 31, 1880 Source
It was not mere anecdotage. It was the sheer
momentous life of the continent. There was no consecutive thread. Only the
laconic courage of experience.
DH Lawrence;
referring to The Bulletin of Sydney, founded on January 31,
1880
Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists. … half of what is published is probably 50 % incorrect. The rest is 75 % wrong.
Norman Mailer, American writer, born on January 31, 1923, Esquire, June 1960
I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.
Norman Mailer
The difference between writing a book and being on television is the difference between conceiving a child and having a baby made in a test tube.
Norman Mailer
Growth, in some curious way, I suspect, depends on being always in motion just a little bit, one way or another.
Norman Mailer
Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision. The more a man can achieve, the more he may be certain.
Norman Mailer
The least of learning is done in the classrooms.
Thomas Merton, American mystic and activist, born on January 31, 1915
The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.
Thomas Merton
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton; No Man Is an Island
Attachment to spiritual things is ... just as much an attachment as inordinate love of anything else.
Thomas Merton
Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.
Thomas Merton; quoted by Monica Furlong Merton
In all things humility is silent and at rest and even the labor of humility is rest.
Thomas Merton
When I am liberated by silence ... my whole life becomes a prayer.
Thomas Merton
... to find our spiritual being we must travel down the path made by our spiritual activity.
Thomas Merton
The whole of life is to spiritualize our activities by humility and faith ...
Thomas Merton
Only pure love can empty the soul perfectly of the images of created things and elevate you above desire.
Thomas Merton
The proud man loves his own illusion and self-sufficiency. The spiritually poor man loves his very insufficiency. The proud man claims honor for having what no one else has. The humble man begs for a share in what everybody else has received.
Thomas Merton
Maybe we should not have humored them when they asked to live on reservations. Maybe we should have said,
"No, come join us. Be citizens along with the rest of us."
US President Ronald Reagan during a trip to Moscow, when a student asked about US treatment of Native Americans (who were ordered onto reservations on January 31, 1876)
January 31 is the 31st
day of the year in the Gregorian
calendar, with 334
days remaining (335 in leap years).
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Feast day of Hekate (Hecate), ancient Greece
"In Greece, this day was celebrated as the Feast of Hecate, known to the Romans as Diana Lucifera. Diana had three manifestations, Luna in the Heavens (the moon), Diana the Huntress on earth, and Diana Ludifera in Hades, the Underworld. Diana was the goddess of the moon and was called Diana Lucifera which means the Bringer of Light. The name Lucifera was also applied to the morningstar Venus. The Christians gave the name negative connotations in their systematic attempts to discredit the Roman gods. The Greeks knew Diana as Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo, and daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was born under Mount Cynthus in Delos and hence was also called Cynthia and Delia. She was the goddess of hunting, carried a bow and quiver like her brother, and was especially fond of music and dance. Diana was never conquered by love, and submitted to no man, hence she was the goddess of a 'chaste' moon and, except for her family, tolerated only female companions. Her priestesses were all chaste." Source
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
In Greek mythology, Hecate (Roman equivalent: Trivia 'of the three ways') was the goddess of witchcraft and sorcery, as well as crossroads. She still pops up in the rituals of Wicca and other magic-practising groups.
She was usually portrayed as having three heads: one dog, one snake and one horse. She also had two ghostly dogs as servants by her side.
Hecate haunted three-way crossroads, where each of her heads faced different directions. She appeared when the 'ebony moon' (new moon) shone.
In some versions of the myth, Hecate rescued Persephone from the underworld. Indeed, in the earliest records of her, Hecate bears little resemblance to the night-walking crone.
Medea was said to be a priestess, or avatar, of Hecate.
"The last day of each month is sacred to the Goddess Hekate. In ancient times, worshippers would leave a 'Hecate's Supper' with specially prepared foods as offerings to Hecate. The offerings were also gifts to appease the restless ghosts, called apotropaioi by the Greeks. These offerings are best prepared for the goddess on the eve of the new moon, to be left behind at crossroads at night, without looking back." Source
Hecate in Shakespeare
Macbeth
Now o'er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, toward his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
The very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Macbeth speaks after seeing the dagger before him; Act II, Sc. I
King Lear
Lear: So young, and so untender?
Cordelia: So young, my lord, and true.
Lear: Let it be so; thy truth then be thy dower:
For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist and cease to be,
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever.
King Lear, Act 1, Sc. i
Eve of Brigantia, festival of St Brighid
(Bridget; Brigid; Bride; Briid), Ireland
Celtic goddess of fire and crops
People once believed that the good saint travelled about the countryside on the eve of her feast day (February 1), bestowing her blessing on the people and their livestock. Token gifts of a cake or pieces of bread and butter were left on the window-sill outside. A sheaf of corn was often placed beside the cake, as refreshment for the saint's white cow which accompanied her on her rounds.
In Ireland it was believed that Bridget would 'touch
the brat' (a woman's article such as a ribbon or mantle) and imbue it
with healing powers. The brat was a ribbon or a piece of linen or other
cloth, or any item of clothing. The ribbon, cloth or garment would
possibly be laid on the doorstep or the window sill, or thrown on a low
roof; in Munster it was often tied to the door latch so that the saint
would touch it when entering the house. A sash, scarf or handkerchief thus
touched by the saint would keep the wearer safe from harm. Once touched by
the saint, it kept its power forever, and many believed that the older it
was, the more potent it became. Men, on the other hand, often put out a
belt, a tie or a pair of braces to gain this protection.
The brat also gave omens for the future: its length was carefully measured, and when it was brought in again next morning it was again carefully measured against the marks made on the eve. If its length had increased during the night, this was a good sign that foretold of a long life, freedom from accident, illness and misfortune and success with crops and cattle.
In Ireland on the Eve of Brigantia the people prepared an
image of Bride, fashioned out of corn straw. This effigy was supposed to
come alive with the spirit of Bride during the night. They left out
offerings of food and drink overnight for Bride to partake of as she
journeyed around the land on her Eve.
Frazer (Sir
James George Frazer
(1854 - 1941),
British folklorist; The
Golden Bough, 1922)
tells us that in
the Hebrides islands off the west coast of Scotland, the mistress and servants of each
family took a sheaf of oats, and dressed it up in women's apparel, put it
in a large basket and lay a wooden club next to it. They called this
Briid's bed; and then the mistress and servants would cry three times,
"Briid is come, Briid is welcome." They did this just before retiring
to bed, and when they rose in the morning they looked among the ashes,
expecting to see the impression of Briid's club. If they did, they took it
to be a true presage of a good crop and prosperous year, and the contrary
they take as an ill omen. Frazer continues:
"The same custom is described by another witness thus: 'Upon the night before Candlemas it is usual to make a bed with corn and hay, over which some blankets are laid, in a part of the house, near the door. When it is ready, a person goes out and repeats three times, … "Bridget, Bridget, come in; thy bed is ready." One or more candles are left burning near it all night.' Similarly in the Isle of Man 'on the eve of the first of February, a festival was formerly kept, called, in the Manks language, Laa'l Breeshey, in honour of the Irish lady who went over to the Isle of Man to receive the veil from St. Maughold. The custom was to gather a bundle of green rushes, and standing with them in the hand on the threshold of the door, to invite the holy Saint Bridget to come and lodge with them that night. In the Manks language, the invitation ran thus: "Brede, Brede, tar gys my thie tar dyn thie ayms noght Foshil jee yn dorrys da Brede, as lhig da Brede e heet staigh." In English: "Bridget, Bridget, come to my house, come to my house to-night. Open the door for Bridget, and let Bridget come in." After these words were repeated, the rushes were strewn on the floor by way of a carpet or bed for St. Bridget. A custom very similar to this was also observed in some of the Out-Isles of the ancient Kingdom of Man.' In these Manx and Highland ceremonies it is obvious that St. Bride, or St. Bridget, is an old heathen goddess of fertility, disguised in a threadbare Christian cloak. Probably she is no other than Brigit, the Celtic goddess of fire and apparently of the crops."
Housewives always provided a festive supper or at least
tasty dishes on St Brighid's Eve. Sowans, apple-cake, dumplings and colcannon
were favourite food. They also made a fruit cake called Bairin-breac.
The neighbours were invited, and they drank ale together, the evening
carrying on with mirth and festivity.
Butter was always part of the meal so fresh butter was
churned on this day. Wealthier farmers gave gifts of butter and buttermilk
to poor neighbours.
The Brideog
In much of Ireland on St Bridget's Eve
young people went about from house to house carrying a symbol of the
saint. It was sometimes a well-dressed doll borrowed from a little girl;
often such a doll was re-dressed or decorated for the occasion. Usually
the image was specially made from a sheaf of straw, suitably dressed, or
garments might be stuffed with straw or hay to appear like a human figure.
The basis of the figure might be a broom or a churn-dash, or some sticks
or pieces of lath fastened together, padded and dressed. The head and face
were sometimes made from a mask or a carved turnip, or else a piece of
white cloth suitably painted.
The effigy was supposed to represent the saint/goddess
herself. Sometimes no effigy was carried, but a chosen girl, dressed
wholly or partly in white, and carrying a finely made St Brighid's cross,
impersonated the saint. These crosses varied in pattern from place to
place.
In the Ulster Journal of Archaeology (1945, p. 46), TGF Paterson recalls:
"On the Louth-Armagh border I have heard of 'Brigid's Shield' and 'Brigid's Crown', and was informed of a tradition that in days gone by, the most modest and most beautiful girl of a particular area, wearing a crown of rushes, a shield on her left arm, and a cross in her right hand, was escorted by a group of young girls from house to house on Brigid's Eve or Brigid's Morning."
Crios Bride
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