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When
amatory
poets sing their loves Kings are wont to
pardon wicked persons, not innocent men. We have done nothing to
deserve such a pardon. We have been guilty of no crime. Cast hedge and
ditch in the lake I am ready, and
will be ready at all times, to do whatever, not only to repress, but
to subdue the power of great men. Whatsoever lands I have enclosed
shall again be made common unto ye and all men, and my own hands shall
first perform it. |
A la Saint Wilgefortis? |
They spell it Vinci
and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they
pronounce.
Mark Twain, The
Innocents Abroad (Ch. 19), published on July 20, 1869
In some ways I
believe I epitomise the average New Zealander: I have modest abilities, I
combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to
succeed.
Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, born on July 20, 1919
Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In
reality he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only "knocked off"
Everest but lived a life of determination, humility and generosity.
Jenny Shipley, New
Zealand prime minister, on Edmund Hillary
Well George, we finally knocked the bastard off.
First
words of Edmund Hillary to his lifelong friend, George Lowe, upon his
descent from Everest. Lowe had climbed up to meet Hillary and Norgay
with hot soup.
It was a measure of
the men [Hillary and Tenzing] that over the years they truly grew into the
[heroic] condition. Perhaps they thought that just being the first to
climb a hill was hardly as qualification for immortality; perhaps they
instinctively realised destiny had another place for them. For they
became, in the course of time, representatives not merely of their
particular nations, but of half of humanity. Astronauts might justly claim
that they were envoys of all humanity; Hillary and Tenzing, in a less
spectacular kind, came to stand for the small nations of the world, the
young ones, the tucked away and the up-and-coming.
TIME magazine, 100 People of the Century, 2000
I have no wish to be
the victim of the Fraud of a black world.
My life should not be devoted to drawing up the balance sheet of Negro
values.
There is no white world, there is no white ethic, any more than there is a
white intelligence.
There are in every part of the world men who search.
I am not a prisoner of history. I should not seek there for the meaning of
my destiny.
I should constantly remind myself that the real leap consists in
introduction invention into existence.
In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.
Frantz Fanon, Algerian revolutionist, born on July 20, 1925; from Black
Skin, White Masks, 1952
I walk on white
nails. Sheets of water threaten my soul on fire. Face to face with these
rites, I am doubly alert. Black magic! Orgies, witches' sabbaths,
heathen ceremonies, amulets. Coitus is an occasion to call on the gods of
the clan. It is a sacred act, pure, absolute, bringing invisible forces
into action. What is one to think of all these manifestations, all these
limitations, all these acts? From very direction, I am assaulted by the
obscenity of dances and words.
Frantz Fanon; ibid
(p 126; parody of constructions of 'blackness')
I made myself the
poet of the world. The white man had found a poetry in which there was
nothing poetic. The soul of the white man was corrupted, and, as I was
told by a friend who was a teacher in the United States, 'The presence
of the Negroes beside the whites is in a way an insurance policy on
humanness. When the whites feel that they have become too mechanized, they
turn to the men of color and ask them for a little human sustenance.' At
last I had been recognized, I was no longer a zero.
Frantz Fanon; ibid
Is not whiteness in
symbols always ascribed in French to Justice, Truth, Virginity?
Frantz Fanon
The national
bourgeoisie will be greatly helped on its way toward decadence by the
Western bourgeoisies, who come to it as tourists avid for the exotic, for
big game hunting, and for casinos. The national bourgeoisie organizes
centers of rest and relaxation and pleasure resorts to meet the wishes of
the Western bourgeoisie. Such activity is given the mane of tourism, and
for the occasion will be built up as a national industry.
Frantz Fanon
In guerrilla war the
struggle no longer concerns the place where you are, but the places where
you are going. Each fighter carries his warring country between his toes.
Frantz Fanon
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July
20 is
the 201st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (202nd
in leap years), with 164
days remaining.
Calendar converter Almanacs,
calendars, time, dedicated weeks, etc
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On this day
Dictionary
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recommend
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days
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Conversions
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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.
Feast day of
St Margaret of
Antioch
Margaret was an aprocryphal
virgin and martyr of the third century, a
dragonslayer known
to the Greeks as St Marina. The father of the beautiful Margaret was a
pagan priest in Pisidian Antioch, Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
Olybrius, governor
of Antioch, was smitten by her beauty when he saw her tending sheep, and he tried to woo her into his bed.
Being
rejected by her, and because she refused to worship pagan gods,
Olybrius denounced her as a Christian, and she was brought to trial. She was imprisoned
in a dungeon where the Devil came to her in the form of a dragon, but she
held up the cross which irritated the dragon's
belly
(accounting for Margaret's association with pregnancy, labour, and childbirth) and the serpent
fled. Those who had imprisoned her tried to burn her,
then boil her in a large cauldron, but each time her prayers kept her
unharmed. She was finally martyred by beheading.
Folklorist Waverly
Fitzgerald writes that the plant, Wheatfield poppy, supposedly sprang
from the blood of the dragon she slew. Long before, it was dedicated to
Diana and Demeter as the source of healing sleep and death. Her other
flower, the daisy, is also called in France La belle Marguerite.
Margaret's
patronage includes against sterility,
childbirth, dying people, escape from devils,
exiles, falsely accused people,
kidney disease,
loss of milk by nursing mothers,
martyrs, nurses, peasants, people in exile, pregnant women and women.
She was one of the saints who appeared to Saint Joan of Arc, and is one of the Catholic Church's Fourteen Holy Helpers. Her flower, according to the folklorist Hone, is the Virginian dragon's head, Dracocephalus virginianum.
Today is Margareta name day in Sweden. In England, where she was nicknamed St Peg, people believed that honouring Peg would bring them God's protection against illness and evil spirits. In Gloucestershire, UK, her day was celebrated with a plum pudding known as 'Heg Peg Dump'.
Of saints and serpents*
Many Christian saints are known to have been associated with dragons; some are dragon-slayers, while some are depicted in art with dragons for various other reasons, such as a representation of Satan (dragons and serpents are quite numerous in the Bible).
Saints Anatolia and Audax, Andrew Abellon, Adelphus, Armel (Armagillus) of Brittany, Armentaire (Armentarius of Antibes) of Draguignan, Attracta, Barlaam, Cadoc, Catherine, Celestine I, Clement, Columba, Donatus, Dometius of Phrygia, George, Germanus, Gilbert of Caithness, Godehard of Hildesheim, Guthlac, Hilarion of Gaza, Hilary of Poitiers, John the Divine, John of Reomay, Julian of Le Mans, Juliana of Nicomedia, Keyne, Liphardus (Lifard) of Orléans, Magnus of Füssen, Marcellus of Avignon, Marcellus (Marceau) of Paris, Margaret of Antioch, Margaret of Scotland, Martha, Michael, Paul the Apostle, Perpetua, Philip, Samson of Dol, Brittany, Simeon Stylites, Sylvester, Theodore Sratelates, Theodore Tiro, Victor of Marseille, Victoria, Virgin Mary.
Saints associated with snakes or snakebite: Dominic of Sora • Hilary of Poitiers • Magnus of Füssen • Patrick • Paul the Apostle • Pirmin • Vitus
*Know any more info? You might like to tell me at Corrigenda.
More fun for dragon hunters
The Rogation Days are a prime source of dragon legends in Britain.
Pickled dragon hoax Feast of the Dragon, China Snap the Dragon
Day of the Fire Dragons Dragon and Japan's Suwa Shrine Dragon in Slovenia
Geronimo's dragon tale Beating the dragon, England Ladon the dragon Dragon boat fest
Hindu goddess Sarasvati and dragon Dragons over London, 1222 Dragons battle, England, 1449
D.R.A.G.O.N.S. Dragons of the British Isles List of dragons European dragon
Dragon bestiary Dragon Hill Here Be Dragons! Angels, saints and fantasy links

Find an error or dead link?
Like to make a suggestion, or just say "G'day"?
Meet me at Corrigenda
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Wilgefortis (Comera; Cumerana; Dignefortis; Eutropia; Hulfe; Komina; Kummernis; Kümmernis; Liberata; Librada; Lisvrade; Livrade; Ontcommene; Ontcommer; Ontkommena; Reginfledis; Uncumber; Virgo-Fortis), daughter of the King of Portugal, made a vow of chastity. When her father tried to make her marry she prayed for deliverance and immediately grew a copious beard. Her suitors fled and her father had her crucified. Known in England as Uncumber or Liberata, she was
invoked by women who wanted to 'uncumber' themselves of suitors
or troublesome husbands.
The story and feast day of St Uncumber might derive from the stories of the Corinthian Aphrodite who grew a beard and impregnated women. Another theory is that the legend explained ancient church icons that showed a long-haired, bearded Christ crucified while wearing what appeared to be a dress. Later versions of the image assumed she was a woman, and dropped the beard. The Roman Catholic Church in the liturgical reform of 1969 removed Wilgefortis from its calendar of feast days, but your almanackist is doing his best to keep her on his.
Adonia, ancient Greece (Jul 19 - 20) Dog Days,
ancient Rome (Jul 3 - Aug 11) Lucaria,
Roman Empire
(Jul 19
- 21) Yamaguchi Gion Matsuri, Japan (Jul 20 -
27)
Fiesta at Monastery of Profitis Ilias, Cycladic island of Thera or Santorini A great annual religious fiesta when all visitors are invited to join the islanders in a meal of a traditional dried pea and onion soup, followed by dancing of the traditional Syrto and Repati folk dances. In 1628 BCE there was a huge volcanic eruption on Santorini that was estimated to have had three times the force of the 1883 Krakatoa explosion. (Krakatoa was heard over 7.5 per cent of the world's surface.) Some authorities believe the Santorini explosion might have given rise to the Atlantis legend.
Feast day of St Ansegisus Feast day of St Aurelius Feast day of St Barhadbesciabas Feast day of St Elias Feast day of St Flavian Feast day of St Gregory Lopez Feast day of St John of Pulsano Feast day of St Joseph
Barsabas (Joseph Justus) Feast day of St Paul of Saint Zoilus Feast day of St Sabinus Feast day of St Severa
Perun's Day,
Ukraine From Wikipedia: In Slavic mythology, Perun (also Parom [in Slovak, sometimes]) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. His other attributes were the mountain, oak, eagle, firmament (in Indo-European languages this was joined with the notion of the sky of stone), horses and carts, weapons (the hammer, axe and arrow), war, and fire. He was first associated with weapons made of stone and later with those of metal.
A bull was also sacrificed and it was eaten
as a communal meal.
During the Grand Festival several dozen blind female
shamans (itako) act as the mediums of communication with the
other side, clicking their strings of beads as they enter a
trancelike state and convey messages from the spirits to grieving
relatives. More Yasaka Jinja Festival, Yasaka
Shrine, Shimane
Prefecture, Japan (Jul 20, 24, 27) Nagasaki Peiron Senshukan,
Matsugae International Pier, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture,
Japan, (Jul 20 - 21) Uchiwa Matsuri, Yasaka Shrine,
Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, Japan (Jul 20 - 22) Gion Matsuri, Kyoto, Japan (all of July) Peace and Freedom Day, Northern CyprusMarine Day, Japan (Umi-no-hi, currently it falls on the third Monday in July) Día del Amigo, Argentina (Friendship Day) Friendship Day, Brazil
On which day of the week were you born? Find out here 1304 Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca; d. July 19, 1374), scholar, poet, and humanist, who is credited with having given the Renaissance its name. He was crowned poet laureate in Rome on April 8, 1341. Petrarch meets Laura, April 6 in the Book of Days1847 Max Liebermann (d. 1935), painter and graphic artist 1873 Alberto Santos-Dumont (d. July 23, 1932), important early pioneer of aviation. Although he was born, grew up, and died in Brazil, his contributions to aviation were made while he was living in France. From Wikipedia: Santos-Dumont described himself as the first "sportsman of the air." He designed, built, and flew a variety of balloons before developing the first practical dirigible balloons (i.e. airships.) In addition, he made the first fully public flight of an airplane, in Paris in October of 1906 (In comparison, the secretive Wright brothers did not make any public flights until 1908.) That aircraft, designated 14 Bis or Oiseau de proie (French for "bird of prey"), is considered by many to be the first to take off, fly, and land without the use of catapults, high winds, or other external assistance. Thus, Brazilians, as well as many other admirers of Santos-Dumont, consider him to be the "Father of Aviation" as well as the inventor of the airplane. (Much controversy persists around the many competing claims of early aviators. See first flying machine for more discussion.) 1889 Sir John Reith, influential BBC
head 1890 Theda
Bara (Theodosia Burr Goodman; d. 1955), American silent movie actress 1894 Errett Cord, automobile entrepreneur 1895 László Moholy-Nagy (d. 1946), painter, photographer, sculptor 1915 Mary Martin (d. January 25, 1973), Australian bookseller; business partner of bookseller and publisher Max Harris (1921 - '95)
1920 Elliot Richardson (d. 1999), American politician 1925 Jacques Delors, former President of the
European Commission 1925 Frantz Fanon,
Martinique-born Algerian psychiatrist, author (The Wretched of the Earth; Black Skin,
White Masks)
and revolutionist who scorned non-violence 1928 Pavel Kohout, writer 1929 Hazel Hawke, Australian who has worked in social policy areas; former wife of Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke 1932 Otto
Schily, politician 1933 Cormac McCarthy, author 1934 Uwe
Johnson, writer 1936 Elizabeth Dole, American politician 1938 Natalie Wood (d. 1981), actress: From Here to Eternity, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story 1938 Dame Diana
Rigg, English
actress (1960s TV series The Avengers) 1945 Kim
Carnes, American
singer (1981 hit: Bette Davis
Eyes) 1946 Randal Kleiser, film director 1947 Carlos Santana, guitarist, singer (Black Magic Woman; She's Not There) 1953 Marcia Hines,
American-born Australian singer (You; I Just Don't Know What to Do
with Myself) 1973 Haakon Magnus, Crown
Prince of Norway
Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section
Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year.
Varies Friday the 13th Varies Hindu holidays Varies Graduation Early August Friendship Day July 19 Bloomer
Day August 1
Respect
For Parents Day ... More Events Visit
the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live'
514 Pope Hormisdas assumed the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church. 1031 Death of Robert II, king of France. 1304 Fall of Stirling Castle: Edward I of England took the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence. 1402 Battle
of Ankara. Timur,
ruler of Timurid
Empire, defeated forces of the Ottoman
Empire sultan Bayezid
I
At Mousehold, England, a herald of
child King Edward VI
was turned
away, his message of conciliation from the monarch to some 16-20,000 rural
insurrectionists rejected. The herald had promised the king's pardon to all who
would depart quietly to their homes. The
rebellion of farmers and farm workers was aimed at bringing attention to the
economic problems faced by agricultural workers in East Anglia.
Like the Diggers
(founded exactly one century later, in 1649 by Gerrard Winstanley)
and even the rather more conservative Levellers,
the rebels demanded the abolition of land enclosures, the end of private ownership of land, and
the dismissal of counsellors. A commonwealth
was established on Mousehold
Heath. The 'commotion' was led by Robert Ket (or Kett), a
fairly prosperous landowner (he held the manor of Wymondham
– pron. 'Windum' – in Norfolk) and
tanner, and he and his followers occupied the city of Norwich, but were defeated
on August 25 by the overwhelming military power of
John Dudley, the Earl
of Warwick. They had met daily under
'the Oak of Reformation', upon which many of them were later hanged. Robert
Ket was
executed at Norwich, and his body was hanged on the top of the castle on
December 7, 1549. Land and Freedom Pages Wikipedia on the Diggers Tree of Knowledge (Barcaldine, Australia) Wikipedia on the Levellers
Modern Diggers
1588 The
Spanish Armada set sail for England from Corunna. 1605 French cartographer
Samuel de Champlain arrived at Cape Cod, America. 1618 Pluto reached, according to sophisticated mathematical calculations, its second most recent aphelion. The next one occurred in 1866, and the following one will occur in 2113. 1629 Sir David Kirke took
Quebec from the French. 1662 A tornado blew through
Lancashire and Cheshire, England. A lot of property damage was incurred but no
people were killed. 1738 North America: French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reached the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1801 A 560kg (1,235-pound) cheese ball was pressed at the farm of Elisha Brown, Jr. The huge ball of cheese was later loaded on a horse-driven wagon and presented to President Thomas Jefferson at the White House. 1808 Napoleon's brother
Joseph Bonaparte entered Madrid. Whether Madrid was satisfied by this is not
known. 1810 Colombia
declared independence from Spain. 1833 An Anti-Mormon mob destroyed the press for the Book of Commandments, now among the most
valuable 19th-Century books. 1837 Euston, the first London
railway station, was opened. 1861 Australia: The Sydney Morning
Herald
reported anti-Chinese riots by gold miners at Lambing Flat, New South Wales. 1864 American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek – Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attacked Union troops under General William T Sherman. 1871 British Columbia joined the confederation of Canada as the sixth Canadian
province. 1874 USA: General George
Armstrong Custer and
the first official exploring expedition entered the Black Hills with 110 wagons
and 1,000 men, in direct violation of treaty of 1868 that barred whites from
sacred hills. Source: The Daily Bleed 1877 Rioting in Baltimore, Maryland, USA by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers was
suppressed by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths. 1881 US Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting
Bull led the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United
States troops at Fort Buford in Montana. 1917 The Corfu
Declaration that enabled the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the
Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia 1917 IWW Class War Picnic in Seattle, Washington, USA. 1940 Billboard magazine published its first 'Music
Popularity Chart 1940 The first British 'Hit
Parade' was published. Tommy Dorsey's 'I'll Never Smile Again' was Number 1. 1944 Adolf
Hitler survived the July 20 Plot an assassination attempt led by Claus von Stauffenberg. A bomb exploded at
Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg, but the Führer escaped injury, which he
took as a sign of Providential support for his program. 1948 Cold War:
President Harry S Truman issued the first peacetime military
draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet
Union. 1951 King Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated while
attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1954 Hostilities between North
and South Vietnam ceased under the Geneva Agreement. 1960 Sri Lanka
(then Ceylon) elected Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the
world's first female head of government. 1964 Vietnam
War: Viet
Cong forces attacked the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South
Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom were children). 1968 British Actress Jane Asher broke
off her engagement with Paul McCartney on BBC radio, before telling the
Beatle personally. Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list
1969 (USA time): Apollo
Program – Apollo
11 landed on the Moon
and Neil
Armstrong and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin became the first humans to walk on
its surface.
1973 Kung fu
movie superstar Bruce Lee was found dead in a
bathroom in Hong Kong, possibly due to an allergic
reaction to aspirin. 1974 War of July 1974: Forces from Turkey invaded Cyprus. 1976 Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully landed on Mars and broadcast pictures back to Earth. 1979 While still presenting a
non-Marxist-Leninist façade,
the Sandinistas established one-party rule in Nicaragua. 1982 The Provisional IRA detonated two bombs in central London, killing
eight soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses. 1984 "On July 20 in the Baku
mountains of Azerbaijan, a UFO was seen to crash into the mountains." Source 1985 The main ship wreck
site of the Spanish
galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank
in 1622) was found
about 70 km (c. 40 miles) off the coast of Key
West, Florida, USA, by treasure hunters who soon began to raise $400 million
in coins and silver. 1985 "A UPI report in 1985
concerned a cat called Muddy Water White, so called because of his black coat
sprinkled with white. He had jumped out of a van being driven by his owner,
Barbara Paule, in Dayton, Ohio on 23/24 June 1982. On 24 June 1985 he returned
to his home in Dauphin, Pennsylvania, 450 miles from Dayton. 'He came in and
just flopped down like he was home,' said Ms Paule. She fed him for three days
before realising he was Muddy Water White. A vet who examined him as kitten was
confident it was the same cat, with its very leathery lower lip." Source 1992 Václav
Havel resigned as president of Czechoslovakia.
1993 Bill
Clinton friend and
confidant Vince Foster committed suicide during the height of the
Whitewater investigation. Clinton's
lamentable record as President 1997 US: The launch of the USS
Seawolf,
flagship for a new series of attack submarines of the same name, was accompanied
by protests and 25 arrests. 1999 Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 was raised from the Atlantic Ocean. 2000 The leaders of Salt Lake City's bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics were indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering.2000 In Zimbabwe, Parliament opened its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade. 2000 Terrorist Carlos the Jackal sued France in the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly torturing him. 2000 American President Bill Clinton arrived on Okinawa, Japan, for the G8 summit and pledged to the islanders that the United States would reduce the impact American military bases have on their lives.
2001 Vanessa Legget was found in contempt by a USA Federal
Court for refusing to release notes made for her book on the Doris
Angleton murder. 2001 The London Stock Exchange goes public. 2002 Italy: The 27th Annual G8 summit opened in Genoa. An Italian protester in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police. 2002 The United States Senate confirmed Roger L Gregory as the first black to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 2002 South America: A fire in a discotheque in Lima, Peru killed more than twenty-five. 2003 Liberia: Fighting between militias controlled by the country's president, Charles Taylor, and rebels continued in Monrovia. 2003 Illegal invasion of Iraq: Richard Sambrook, the Director of BBC News, revealed that David Kelly was the source of claims that Downing Street had "sexed up" the 'Dodgy Dossier'. 2003 France: Sixteen people were injured after two bombs explodes outside a tax office in Nice. 2005 Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the bill C-38 received its Royal Assent. 2005 In China's Shaanxi province, a coal mine explosion killed two dozen. 2005 In Yemen, several people died during demonstrations against oil price increases. 2006
World
Jump Day – the first global flash
mob event.
Tomorrow: What did Neil Armstrong really say?
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