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St Distaff's Day
About the 20th year of Henry
VII, Anthony Bonvise,
an Italian, came to this land, and taught people to spin with a
distaff, at which time began the making of Devonshire kersies and
Coxall clothes.
John
Stow
(c. 1525
- April
6, 1605),
English
historian
and antiquarian;
Stow's Chronicle (Stow's Annales, or a General Chronicle
of England from Brute unto this present year of Christ, 1580,
published in 1580, with other editions in 1592, 1601 and 1605)
Today
was named by some medieval English comedian after an imagined saint,
Distaff, and honours the
distaff, a sort of yarn-spinning device.
It was also called
'Rock Day' in England until the 19th Century, the custom being
for women to return (after the Christmas holidays) to this
attachment to the
spinning
wheel (which was also called a 'distaff', or 'rock'). Men
went back to work on Plough
Monday, the first Monday after
Twelfth Day (Epiphany).
Today is the first day after the 'twelve days of Christmas' which began on Boxing Day
(the Feast of St Stephen), December 26.
The women having gone back to the distaff, or rock, the men would
play the prank of setting the flax on fire; in retaliation the women
would drench the men from their water pails.
Most women would spin
whenever they had nothing else to do. Thus, women were associated
with the distaff. Because
an unmarried woman was likely to do a lot of this work rather than
caring for children and other domestic duties associated with
marriage and motherhood in those days, she was known as a spinster, a term that was commonly used
in Australia until about the 1960s and until more recently could
still be found in some official documents.
The spear side and the distaff
side were legal terms for male and female children with regard to
inheritance. There is a French proverb "The crown of France never
falls to the distaff".
The distaff is mentioned
by the Biblical King Solomon in Proverbs 31:19. It's
also mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. This simple yarn-spinning
tool was replaced by the spinning wheel, though the wheel was around
before the days of Henry
VIII, as early as the 14th
century.
In a very unkind couplet,
the 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote:
Deceit, weeping,
spinning, God hath given
To women kindly, while they
may live.
In 1745, a woman at East
Dereham, in Norfolk, England spun from one pound of wool, 84,000
yards of thread, earning a mention in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
By the time of Chambers
(1881), the spinning wheel had almost vanished.
Good day for
beekeepers, according to Mayan chronological estimation. Source: The
Daily Bleed
Egyptian
day (dies egypticus, dies ægypticus or dies
mala), unlucky day in Medieval Europe. ("But, notwithstanding
I will trust the Lord" was the associated saying.)
Grandmothers' Day,
Bulgaria
Fasching
festivities begin, Munich,
Germany
Feast day of St Aldric,
Bishop of Mans
Feast day of St Anastasius
of Sens
Feast day of St Cedd,
Bishop of London
St Cedd was an Anglo-Saxon saint who evangelised heathen countrymen
in the English midlands. He lived at monastery at
Lindisfarne and
was appointed bishop of the East Saxons. Cedd built a monastery at
Tilbury, near the mouth of the
Thames.
Feast day of St
Charles of Sezze
Feast day of St Clerus of
Antioch
Feast day of St Crispin I
of Pavia
Feast day of St Crispin II
of Pavia
Feast day of St Felix
Feast day of St Januarius
Feast day of St Joseph Vaz
Feast day of St Julian of
Cagliari
Feast day of St Kentigerna,
widow
(Portugal Laurel,
Prunus
Lusitanica, is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Feast day of St
Lucian of
Antioch, priest and martyr
St Lucian revised the Bible and was an influential theologian and
teacher of Christianity, particularly for the
Eastern
Orthodox and
Eastern
Catholics. He was born at
Samosata,
Kommagene,
Syria (now
Samsat,
Turkey). He was
for a while disaffected to orthodox doctrine, but afterwards
conformed to it. His death is uncertain. He might have been starved
to death. Another, more likely, possibility is that he was executed
by the sword. The traditional date ascribed to his execution is
January 7, 312, in
Nicomedia. He is in the
Church
of England calendar on
January 8.
More
Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Eastern
Orthodox)
Christmas
Day in the Julian
calendar, the day on which Christmas is celebrated in most Eastern
and Oriental
Orthodox Churches. Today is the celebration of the divine liturgy of
Christmas as celebrated on this day in Eastern churches, including
the Russian and Ethiopian
Orthodox, which still use the Julian Calendar.
The Ethiopian Christians call today 'Ganna'.
Julian day calculator (popup)
Julian/Gregorian
calendar basics
Feast day of St Nicetas of
Remesiana
Feast day of St Raymond of Peñafort
This 13th-Century Spanish saint was an early member of the order of St
Dominic.
Spain had been
in possession of the Moors,
Muslims from
northern Africa, and
Raymond restored Christianity to much of the country. He established
friaries in
Tunis and
Murcia and schools in which Dominicans were
trained in the languages of the East – Arabic and Hebrew. Later,
he engaged his fellow Dominican, St
Thomas Aquinas, to write Summa
contra gentiles. Raymond had himself preached a
crusade against
the Moors.
Taken by King James of Aragon to the
Spanish island of Mallorca,
Raymond was successful in converting the natives, but the king's
immorality made him desire to leave. King James would not permit
this, so Raymond walked boldly to the sea, spread his cloak on the
waters, tied up one corner of it to a staff for a sail, and standing
on this was transported in six hours to
Barcelona. A chapel was
built where he landed, and the king was converted to Raymond's
faith.
In art, St Raymond is portrayed as a middle-aged Dominican crossing the sea on his cloak or as a Dominican holding a book and magister's wand, or with the Virgin and Child appearing to him. He may be pictured holding a key, the symbol of confession.
St Raymond is greatly venerated in Spain and Mallorca, and by the
Mercedarians. He is the patron saint of lawyers, including canon lawyers, and schools and faculties of
law; also
medical record librarians. He died at the age of one hundred years, in 1275.
More
Feast day of St Reinhold
Feast day of St Theodore of
Egypt
Feast day of St Tillo (Thillo)
of Solignac
Feast day of St Valentine
Feast day of St Wittikund
of Westphalia
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Shop saints
Pioneers' Day,
Liberia
Shusho-E Matsuri,
Japan (Jan 1
- 14)
Jinjitsu
(Festival of Seven Herbs), Japan
Seven-herb rice soup (nanakusa-gayu) is prepared on the
seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu, literally 'Human
Day'. It is also called
Nanakusa no
sekku. On the morning of January 7, or the night before,
people place the nanakusa (seven
edible wild herbs of
spring),
rice scoop, and/or wooden pestle on the cutting board and, facing
the good-luck direction, chant "Before the birds of the continent
(China) fly to Japan, let's get nanakusa" while cutting the herbs
into pieces.
Traditionally, the seven herbs are: Water
dropwort (seri, Oenanthe javanica); Shepherd's purse (nazuna);
Cudweed (gogyo, Gnaphalium affine); Chickweed (hakobera,
Stellaria media); Nipplewort (hotokenoza, Lapsana
apogonoides); Turnip (suzuna); Daikon (suzushiro).
"The Nana-kusa, Festival of the Seven Grasses, is held in Japan.
In early times, the Court and people went out to gather parsley and
six other edible herbs. These are traditionally powdered into stew
called the nanakusa-gayu, which is eaten as part of the New Year's
rituals. It is a type of rice-gruel or congee flavored with greens." Source
Shorinzan
Daruma-Ichi, Japan (Jan 6 - 7)
Frigg's day
Frigg was the chief goddess of old England,
associated with the distaff. Her followers were known as the
Freefolk.
Compulsory Christian sermon to the Jews of Rome,
17th Century
If you were Jewish and lived in Europe in previous centuries, life was particularly hard. For example, during Lent, the forty days preceding Easter, in many places it was customary, and permitted by the authorities, to throw stones at Jewish people.
On this day in 1645, a certain Mr John Evelyn was present at what seemed to be an annual event in Rome. Large numbers of Jewish people were forced to sit in a cathedral and listen to a sermon designed to convert them to Christianity.
"They are constrained to sit till the hour is done, but it is with so much malice in their countenances, spitting, humming, coughing, and motion, that it is almost impossible they should hear a word from the preacher. A conversion is very rare."
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)
Izanagi no-Mikoto
and Izanami no-Mikoto, Arima, Japan
The
inhabitants of Arima in Kumano worship the spirit of this goddess.
Each participant, priest, miko or layman, offers a branch of
plum-tree (peach was formerly
donated) on which he (or she) has attached a slip of paper with his name and age (or date of birth). After the
ceremony, every person retrieves the offering they have made, as
"a souvenir from Izanagi and Izanami, for protection throughout
the year". The goddess is also worshipped with the music of flutes
and drums, and with flags, singing and dancing.
1768 Joseph Bonaparte (d. 1844), eldest brother
of Napoleon, King of Naples
and Spain
1800 Millard Fillmore (d. 1874), 13th President of the United
States, from 1850 - '53
1831
Heinrich von Stephan (d. 1897), organizer of
the German
postal union and founder of the Universal postal union
 1844
Marie-Bernarde Soubirous
(St
Bernadette of Lourdes; d.
April 16,
1879), French shepherdess and
visionary who claimed to have experienced some of the most famous apparitions in
Christian history.
On February 11, 1858, at Lourdes
in southern France, the
13-year-old farm girl saw the first of 18 visions of a woman who was later accepted by the
Roman Catholic Church as being the Virgin Mary.
(Bernadette's visions led to Lourdes becoming the world most
celebrated place of Christian
pilgrimage.)
During the
17th and
second-last of
these visions, Mary announced her presence with the words,
"I am the
Immaculate Conception" (not "I am the Immaculately Conceived"
as perhaps one might expect).
On the ninth vision, the lady told
Bernadette to drink from the spring that flowed under the rock.
Although there was no known spring there, and the ground was hard
and dry, Bernadette did as she was told and dug into the dirt, and a
spring appeared which continues flowing to this day. The water of
the spring is claimed to have miraculous healing properties; in the
many decades since then, about 70 cures have been verified by the
Church as miraculous, but only after extremely rigorous scientific
and medical examinations failed to find any other explanations.
The other content of Bernadette's visions
was simple, and focused on the need for prayer and penance.
Her 17th
vision, which went for over an
hour, was on March 25, 1858.
During this vision, the second of two "miracles of the
candle" occurred. Bernadette was holding a lighted candle;
during the vision it burned down, and the flame was in direct
contact with her skin for over 15 minutes but she showed no sign of
experiencing any pain. This was witnessed by many people present,
including a doctor who timed it. Despite the flame, there was no
sign that her skin was in any way affected, so the doctor monitored
Bernadette closely but did not intervene. After the vision ended,
the doctor examined her hand but found no evidence of any burning,
and she was completely unaware of what had been happening. The
doctor then briefly applied a lighted candle to her hand and she
reacted immediately.
Since the appearances of the Virgin to
young Bernadette, more than 200 million people have visited
the shrine of Lourdes. Bernadette died of asthma on April 16,
1879, which is her feast day. Her body is said to be incorruptible; that is, it does not
decompose (more at April 16 in the Book of Days). Bernadette was canonized by Pope
Pius XI in
1933; she is also
honoured on February 18 in France.
Her patronage includes bodily ills,
illness,
Lourdes, France,
people ridiculed for their piety,
poverty,
shepherdesses,
shepherds,
sick people,
and sickness.
Today Lourdes has a population of around
15,000 inhabitants but is able to take in some 5,000,000 pilgrims
and tourists every season.
Sources: Wikipedia
et al
"Oldest of 6 children in a very poor family headed by Francois and Louise Casterot. Hired out as a servant from age 12 to 14. Shepherdess. On 11 February 1858, around the time of her first Communion, she received a vision of the Virgin ... She received 18 more in the next 5 months, and was led to a spring of healing waters. She moved into a house with the sisters of Nevers at Lourdes where she lived, worked, and learned to read and write. The sisters cared to the sick and indigent, and at age 22 they admitted Bernadette into their order since she was both. Always sick, and often mistreated by her superiors, she died with a prayer for Mary's
aid. Body is incorruptible.."
Source
"The events of 1858 resulted in Lourdes becoming one of the most important pilgrim shrines in the history of Christendom, ending with the consecration of the basilica in 1876. But Saint Bernadette took no part in these developments; nor was it for her visions that she was canonized, but for the humble simplicity and religious trust that characterized her whole life."
Source
Lourdes Grotto webcams A
selection of the words of Pope John-Paul II at Lourdes in 2004
Lourdes Apparitions
Art Gallery Gallery
1912
Charles Addams (d. 1988), US cartoonist, creator of
The Addams Family
"In 1964, Charles Addams was approached by the television
producer, David Levy, to do a comedy show, based upon the
characters in his famous drawings. Charles had to finally give the
characters names, and identifiable personalities. On September 18,
1964 the TV show 'The Addams Family' was born.
"While only lasting a few short years, It was a forerunner to many
of the special effects seen in movies today. The show was
consistently in the top 25 shows." Source
Addams
bibliography
1925 Gerald Durrell,
OBE (d.
January 30,
1995), Indian-born
English naturalist,
zookeeper,
author
(My Family and
Other Animals) and
television presenter. He is best
remembered for writing books based on his life as an animal
collector and enthusiast. He was the brother of novelist
Lawrence
Durrell. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and
the Jersey Zoo (now renamed Durrell Wildlife) on the Island of
Jersey.
1928
William Peter Blatty, American
author
(The Exorcist) and screenwriter.
He was a friend of Groucho
Marx.
"Years before he
became famous for writing 'The Exorcist', Blatty appeared on Groucho
Marx's quiz show, 'You
Bet Your Life' (1950), posing as an Arab sheik with so many
wives that he could not recall how many he had. Groucho was
completely taken in. When Blatty revealed that it was a hoax after
a couple of minutes, he told Groucho that he did it because George
Fenneman had said that Groucho was an expert at spotting
phonies. Groucho replied, 'That is incorrect, because I've had
Fenneman in my employ now for 14 years.'
"When he won a
substantial amount of money on Groucho
Marx's Quiz Show, Marx asked what he intended to do with his
winnings. He replied that he would take a year off from his job
and write a novel. That novel was 'The Exorcist'."
Source
1936
Ben Cropp, Australian
underwater film maker and fisherman, member of the International
Scuba Diving Hall of Fame
Ben Cropp's website
1942 Paul Revere, singer, musician
(Paul Revere
& the Raiders), and
conscientious objector
 1945
Jay Lynch, American underground
comix artist (Nard 'n' Pat), co-founder (with Robert
Crumb and Skip
Williamson) of Bijou Funnies
"While dreaming of
becoming a comic artist, Jay Lynch noticed that American
mainstream comics in the 1960s were dull and on their way back. So
Lynch decided to become an underground artist and helped set up a
distribution system for those underground
comix. But he has made a considerable amount of comics as
well, including famous works like 'Nard 'n' Pat' comics starring
the hip and horny Pat the cat. Also he has contributed to various
magazines and other projects (like the Wacky Packages by
Art
Spiegelman, for whom he did some sketches). Also, he has
contributed to several popular comic series like 'The Simpsons',
'Archie', 'Duckman', 'X-men' and Mad magazine. Recently he has
been working on twenty new Wacky Packages."
Source
Comix,
comics and cartoons in the Book of Days
More
More
1947
Jann Wenner, founder
and publisher of Rolling Stone
magazine
1948 Kenny Loggins, American singer
1956 | reetings from Australia.
How it works
Birthday of Sekhmet (Sokhit, Sakhet, Sakhmet, Sachmet),
who, in Egyptian mythology, was the goddess
of the healing arts. She was a deity of the Memphis triad; sometimes
depicted in art as a lion-headed woman with the sun disk and uraeus
serpent headdress, and was often shown with lionesses, with which she was associated. Sekhmet ('the powerful one') was also a war and disease
goddess – in spite of being a cause of disease, she was also prayed to
for help in healing. The center of her cult was in Memphis,
and her husband was Ptah (later, as Ptah-Seker);
their son himself was a healing god Nefertem
(though whether he was her son was in dispute – Bast and Wadjet were
touted as his mother in their respective cities).
