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reetings from Australia.
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I could never see any part [of the bunyip]
except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a
dusky-grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full-grown
calf … When alone, I several times attempted to spear a Bun-yip; but
had the natives seen me do so it would have caused great
displeasure. And again, had I succeeded in killing, or even wounding
one, my own life would probably have paid the forfeit; they
considering the animal … something supernatural. I had
nearly forgotten to give the reader a short personal description of
our famous adventurer. Buckley must have been a splendid young man,
being nearly seven feet high; even at the present moment there is
something original, but quite sedate about him. His features have been
rather darkened by 32 years exposure to the sun of Australia, and
there is certainly something stern and 'savage' in them, however
thoroughly softened by a moral and intelligent composure, if I shall
call it so. He told me that amongst the 'savages' also, men of
superior mind and understanding are to be found. Well then, Buckley
was one of such. ... a
tall, ungainly man, about six feet four inches in height, and
altogether his looks were not in his favour; he had a shaggy head of
black hair, a low forehead with overhanging eyebrows nearly concealing
his small eyes, a short snub nose, a face very much marked by
smallpox, and was just such a man as one would suppose fit to commit
burglary or murder. |
Bunyip |
Sasa no ha sara sara
Nokiba ni yureru
Ohoshi-sama kira kira
Kin gin sunago.
The bamboo leaves, rustle, rustle
Shaking away in the eaves
The stars go twinkle, twinkle
Gold and silver grains of sand.
Traditional children's song for Tanabata, Japan
Elementary, my dear Watson.
Sherlock Holmes did not say this in any of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
stories to Dr John H Watson (born on July 7, 1852), literary creation of Doyle (died
July 7, 1930). He did, however, say "Elementary!", for example, in The Crooked Man.
Only
the upright heart that has its own logic and its own reason is free.
Marc Chagall, Russian artist, born
on July 7, 1887
Carry
my bones before you on your march, for the rebels will not be able to
endure the sight of me, alive or dead.
Edward I's last words, to his
troops as they prepared to meet the Scottish army of Robert the
Bruce,
July 7, 1307
The press should be unfettered,
that its freedom should be, as indeed it was, commensurate with the
freedom of the people and the well-being of a virtuous State; on that
account even one hundred libels had better be ushered into the world than
one prosecution be instituted which might endanger the liberty of the
press of this country.
English dramatist Richard
Brinsley Sheridan (School for Scandal) who died in poverty on this day, 1816
I
am absolutely undone.
Last words of RB Sheridan
In Memoriam C.T.W.
Sometime Trooper of
The Royal Horse Guards.
Obit H.M. Prison, Reading, Berkshire,
July 7th, 1896
Oscar
Wilde; dedication, 'The Ballad of Reading
Gaol', published on July 7, 1896
And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
Oscar
Wilde; ibid
I didn't like the look of
Rory [Storm]'s
drummer myself. He looked the nasty one, with his little grey streak of
hair. But the nastier one turned out to be Ringo, the nicest of them
all.
George
Harrison on Ringo Starr, The Beatles drummer born on July 7, 1940
It was just like
Butlins.
Ringo Starr after returning from a meditation camp in India.
I like Beethoven,
especially the poems.
Ringo Starr
So this is America. They must be out of their minds.
Ringo Starr, c. 1964, arriving in America for the first time.
I guess I'll just sit out on my yacht and sulk about it.
Ringo Starr, responding to a reporter who asked him what he would do some day
when he was no longer a rock star and the fans were not screaming his name
July
7 is
the 188th
day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (189th in leap years), with 177
days remaining.
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Wayback Machine might help you
locate the original.
Tanabata Star Festival (Hoshi Matsuri; Weaving Loom Festival; Festival of the Seven Evenings) Japan
[Tanabata may be translated
as 'weaving with the loom (bata) placed on the shelf (tana)'.
Wikipedia's
translation is 'seven evenings'.]
Tanabata,
inspired by a romantic legend,
is the name for Japanese version of the Chinese star
festival (Qi Qiao Jie or Qi Xi, sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day,
which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar and thus is also known as
'Double Seven Day'). It is thought to date back to the 8th century
in Japan; in fact, 755 is
given as the year that the Empress-regent Koken (718 - 770) instituted Tanabata. On this day two
stars (Vega, in the Lyra constellation, and Altair, in the in the Aquila constellation
– see below) that are
usually separated from each other by the Milky Way, come
together.
The festival celebrates
the meeting of Orihime (personifying the star Vega), a skilful weaver, and
Hikoboshi, or Kengyu
(Altair), a herdsman and breeder of cattle, mythological lovers who were separated by
the Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky. They were
allowed to meet only once a year, on Double Seven Day, which the Japanese
have placed at 7/7 in the Gregorian
Calendar, namely, July 7.
At this time of year, Lyra and Aquila are prominent in the evening sky with their major stars, Vega and Altair, separated by the Milky Way. The seventh day of the lunar month has a waxing crescent moon reaching its first quarter, representing the boat piloted by the boatman on the sacred river of the Milky Way.
The romantic myth of Orihime and
Hikoboshi
There was once a beautiful Princess of Heaven named Orihime, daughter of the Emperor of
Heaven (or the Jade
Emperor in the Chinese tradition). Orihime loved to weave all day at her
loom, creating the cloth of stars worn by her honoured father. For many
years, weaving this wondrous fabric was all that her heart desired.
One day, a peasant boy named Hikoboshi passed by, leading an ox from
star to star. When Orihime
and Hikoboshi's eyes met, loved suddenly filled both their hearts and
from that moment on, Orihime
cared no more for her weaving.
When the Emperor of Heaven learned of this, he came to her and said
that he would send for the ox boy, that they might wed, and Orihime and Hikoboshi were
soon married. However, so great was their love that they could not stand
to be apart for even one hour. Hikoboshi neglected his duties and his ox
roamed among the stars. Orihime
continued to neglected her weaving.
Before long, this became so became intolerable to the emperor that he
passed a harsh sentence on the two. Orihime and Hikoboshi, he said, must
live separately on opposite shores of the great River of Heaven. However,
the emperor knew of young love and he did have some compassion: he decreed
that Hikoboshi would be permitted to cross the River of Heaven one night a
year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, to be with his beloved
bride.
Celebrating Tanabata
People in Japan
celebrate Tanabata by planting bamboo on this day. Carvings of miniature
cattle might be placed under bamboo in order to honour the cattle breeder.
People wear yukata
and, first making ink with the morning dew, some write their wishes on the
tanzaku (parchments of five colours) and hang them on the
leaves of bamboo
plants. Wishes for romance and for improved skills in calligraphy
and needlecraft are especially favoured. It is said that Orihime and Hikoboshi will
make their dreams come true, unless the evening of July 7 be rainy,
in which case Hikoboshi will be unable to cross the flooded River of
Heaven to get to his beloved, so wishes will have to wait for the
following year.
Having been decorated , on
this day or around midnight the previous night, with tanzaku, origami, talismans
and coloured threads, the
bamboo tree is thrown into a river or burned to make the wishes come true.
Sometimes the best-quality noodles will be offered to these stars today to
ward off disease.
The Shounan Hiratsuka Tanabata Matsuri (matsuri=festival) goes from July 4 - 8, in Shounan City, Kanagawa Prefecture and is one of Japan's largest Tanabata celebrations, attracting more than 3 million people each year. Colourful decorations and illuminations brighten up the entire downtown area.
In former times, Tanabata was the first ceremony of the O-Bon Festival
(Festival of Souls, or the Days of the Dead) in the middle of summer,
either July 13
- 15 or August 13 - 15 (we will look
at O-Bon on August 13). O-Bon became gradually absorbed into Buddhist
traditions, while on the other hand, Tanabata combined Chinese tradition
with ancient beliefs peculiar to Japan.
"Following Shinto practice and ancient values, the concept of purification (generally including use of water) before the Bon festival (centered on the 15th day of the 7th month) was also added to the Tanabata festival. Before the legend was brought from China, a ritualistic festival had been held to welcome the water kami at this time of year; infusion of the legend of Orihime and Kengyuu added a motif of the ritual celebration of the marriage of a weaving lady and the water god (Okada and Akune, 1993). In eastern parts of Japan, an associated ritual called Nebuta was celebrated. On the early morning of Tanabata, bamboo would be set afloat in the river, and people would brush their bodies with leaves from 'silk' trees. By doing so, they were said to take their sleepiness (nebuta) away, another form of purification and preparation for Bon (Yoshinari, 1996). The close relation of Tanabata to the indigenous Bon Festival has obviously led to a number of adaptations of the imported Chinese mythology. In short, one makes the coming of the Bon festival sacred by excluding impure spirits from the body at the first quarter moon, thus being pure for the coming of Bon at full moon. It is interesting that in some regions of Japan, Tanabata is accompanied by a taboo forbidding swimming or bathing in a river. Noting the relation with the celestial 'river' or milky way, the taboo is based on the idea that a Kappa or water deity resides in the river, and one should not make the pure water dirty by entering the water deity's home."
Orihime, Kengyuu, and Tanabata: Adapting Chinese Lore to Native Beliefs and Purposes
The Milky Way (NASA photo)
The Chinese story of Cowherd and
Weaver Girl, from Wikipedia
On Qi Qiao Jie eve in late
summer the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky and the Chinese tell the
following love story, of which there are many variations:
A young cowherd named Niu Lang (the star Altair) happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen next. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhi Nü (weaver girl, the star Vega) to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niu Lang sees her naked she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niu Lang a good husband, and they are very happy together. But the Goddess of Heaven (in some versions Zhi Nü's mother) finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and she's furious. (In another version, the goddess forced the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colourful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to the mortal.) Taking out her hairpin, the goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way separating Altair and Vega).
Zhi Nü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly clouds weaving on her loom, while Niu Lang watches her from afar and takes care of the two children (his flanking stars Aquila -β and -γ).
However, once a year all the magpies in
the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (Que Qiao) over the star Deneb in the constellation
Cygnus so
the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the
seventh moon. This is the night of Qi Qiao Jie!
[If it rains on that day,
it is said to be
Zhi Nü crying tears at being reunited with her husband.
Source]
Western mythology and the constellations Lyra and
Aquila (from Wikipedia)
Older maps of the sky show
a bird, especially a vulture (Vultur cadens). Together with
Cygnus and Altair this constellation then represents the Stymphalian Birds killed by the Greek hero Heracles
(Roman Hercules) during his Sixth Labour.
Lyra is better known as
the lyre, however, the musical instrument invented by the Greek god Hermes.
Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo who
passed it on to Orpheus. Orpheus went into the Underworld to find and
rescue his bride Eurydice who had been killed by a snake-bite. Hades (Roman
Pluto) was deeply moved by Orpheus' music, so much in fact that he agreed
to let Eurydice leave with Orpheus. On one condition, however: Orpheus
must walk in front of his bride and not look back while still in the
Underworld. At the last moment Orpheus could no longer restrain himself
and did what had been prohibited thus condemning Eurydice. After Orpheus'
death his lyre was placed among the stars.
Aquila is Latin and means eagle. The constellation is said to represent
the eagle which, in classical Greek mythology, carried the thunderbolts of Zeus and was
sent by him to carry the shepherd boy Ganymede, represented by the neighbouring
Aquarius,
to Mount
Olympus where he became the wine-pourer for all the gods. This
explains why the largest moon of Jupiter was called Ganymede, Jupiter being the Roman name of
Zeus.
Japanese
festivals
"Orihime" and "Hikoboshi" Succeed in Last Rendezvous
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His
altar was also placed near the 