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In the Grove of the Druids
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Celtic Prayers from Iona
Celtic Folklore Cooking
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The Sheela-na-gigs of Ireland and
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Celtic Daily Prayer
The Rule of Four
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Leon Battista Alberti's Hypnerotomachia
Worse Than Watergate
John
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Immanuel Velikovsky - The Truth Behind the Torment
8 Weeks to Optimum
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Women's Activism and Globalization
In the Night Kitchen
Maurice Sendak
Where the Wild Things Are
Stand and Deliver
Hip Hop activism
Salam Pax
The
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Against All Enemies: Inside
America's War on Terror
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What
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By Thom
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When Corporations Rule the World
Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on
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Highly recommended DVD
Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate
Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy
By Robert F Kennedy, Jr
The Skeptic's Dictionary
Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of
Investigative Journalism in America
By Bruce Shapiro
A Dictionary of Saints Days, Fasts, Feasts and
Festivals
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
Word Origins
Seeds of Deception
Gaian
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Environmental Activism
Gaia's Garden
Spear of Destiny
The Mark of the Beast
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Permaculture
Introduction to Permaculture
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Mother Earth Spirituality
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The Book of Saints
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Francis
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|
 Mad
Hatter Day
Inspired by
the character of the Mad
Hatter as depicted in Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis
Carroll, Mad Hatter Day (also frequently appearing without spaces, as
'MadHatterDay') is a semi-official holiday
created to be a 'second Silly Day', bridging the gap between each
occurrence of April
Fool's Day.
In the USA, it falls
on October 6 each year, due to illustrations where the Hatter's
oversized hat is labelled "In this style 10/6"; it is considered
an amusing coincidence that this date is almost a half year away from
April Fool's Day. However, due to differing systems of dating, in the UK,
Australia and many other countries it occurs on June
10.
Originating in Boulder,
Colorado, USA, the holiday reportedly gained some local recognition during
the late 1980s.
"Some astute observers have noted that the
paper in the Mad Hatter's Hat was really an order to make a hat in the
style shown, to cost ten shillings sixpence. However, it is well known
that Time Is Money, and therefore Money Is Time, and therefore 10/6 may as
well be the sixth of October." Source
Mad Hatter Day is one of numerous Discordian
'Holydays'
[sic; see the Discordian
calendar in the Wilson's Almanac Scriptorium].
Source:
Wikipedia More
Thursday after Trinity Sunday,
Corpus Christi
Known as Fête-Dieu in
Southern France and Belgium
A note about the dating of
items in Wilson's Almanac
The
Sunday following Trinity Sunday
(Trinity being the Sunday following Pentecost, or Whitsunday),
is known as Corpus
Christi (Feast of the Body of Christ) and is celebrated in
Catholic countries, as it was in Britain before the Reformation. For
six centuries it was celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity.
Traditionally
in these countries, the sacred host (bread representing the body of
Jesus) was carried in procession. People costumed as favourite
saints would follow in highly decorated streets. Saints such as
Catherine and her wheel, and Sebastian stuck with arrows were
represented. As the pyx, or vessel
containing the Eucharist,
approached, people would often fall prostrate. Following the
procession, miracle
plays were often performed. In England, the entertainers who did
this were called mummers.
"This
feast is
celebrated in the Latin Church
on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday
to solemnly
commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist.
"Of Maundy Thursday,
which commemorates this great event, mention is made as Natalis
Calicis (Birth of the Chalice) in the Calendar of Polemius (448)
for the 24th of March, the 25th of March being in some places
considered as the day of the death of Christ. This
day, however, was in Holy Week, a
season of sadness, during which the minds of the faithful are
expected to be occupied with thoughts of the Lord's Passion.
Moreover, so many other functions took place on this day that the
principal event was almost lost sight of. This is mentioned as the
chief reason for the introduction of the new feast, in the Bull
'Transiturus.'
"The instrument in the hand of Divine Providence
was St. Juliana
of Mont
Cornillon, in Belgium. She
was born in 1193 at Retines near Liège. Orphaned at an
early age, she was educated by
the Augustinian
nuns of Mont
Cornillon. Here she in time made her religious
profession and later became superioress. Intrigues of various
kinds several time drove her from her convent. She
died 5 April, 1258, at the House of the Cistercian nuns
at Fosses, and was buried at
Villiers."
Source:
Catholic Encyclopedia
"This day is kept by Roman Catholics as one of
their highest festivals; it is held as a celebration of the name of
God, when the people bring their offerings to him as the King of
Heaven. The consecrated host is carried through the open air, the
whole population turning out to do honour to it, and kneeling as it
passes by.
"Such
processions as we see in the streets on this day are evidently
borrowed from heathen times: the paintings which cover the Egyptian
temples show us how that people worshipped their god Isis in
procession; and the chisel of Phidias, on the bas-reliefs of the
Parthenon, has preserved the details of the Greek great festival in
honour of Minerva, established many hundred years before Christ.
First came the old men, bearing branches of the olive tree; then the
young men, their heads crowned with flowers, singing hymns; children
followed, dressed in their simple tunics or in their natural graces.
The young Athenian ladies, who lived an almost cloistral life, came
out on this occasion richly dressed, and walked singing to the notes
of the flute and the lyre: the elder and more distinguished matrons
also formed a part of the procession, dressed in white, and carrying
the sacred baskets, covered with veils. After these came the lower
orders, bearing seats and parasols, the slaves alone being forbidden
to take part in it. The most important object, however, was a ship,
which was moved along by hidden machinery, from the mast of which
floated the peplus, or mantle of Minerva,
saffron-coloured, and without sleeves, such as we see on the statues
of the goddess; it was embroidered, under the direction of skilled
work-women, by young virgins of the most distinguished families in
Athens. The embroideries represented the various warlike episodes in
heroic times. The grand object of the procession was to place the peplus
on Minerva's statue, and to lay offerings of every kind at the foot
of her altar.
"From these customs the early Christians
adopted the practice of accompanying their bishop into the fields,
where litanies were read, and the blessing of God implored upon
their agricultural produce. Greater ceremonies were afterwards
added; such as the carrying of long poles decorated with flowers,
boys dressed in sacred vestments, and chanting the ancient church
canticles. In the dark ages of superstition we find they advanced
still further, and processions 'en chemise' were much in fashion: it
was a mark of penitence which the people carried to its utmost limit
during times of public calamity. Such were those in 1315, when a
season of cold and rain had desolated the provinces of France: the
people for five leagues round St. Denis marched in procession –
the women barefoot, the men entirely naked – religiously carrying
the bodies of French saints and other relics.
"St. Louis
himself, in the year 1270, on the eve of his departure to the last
crusade he shared in, and which resulted in his death, went
bare-foot from the palace to the cathedral of Notre Dame, followed
by the young princes his children, by the Count D'Artois, and a
large number of nobles, to implore the help of heaven on his
enterprise. Our king, Henry the Eighth, when a child, walked
barefoot in procession to the celebrated shrine of Our Ladye of
Walsingham, and presented a rich necklace as his offering. In later
days he was only too glad to strip this rich chapel of all its
treasures, and dissolve the monastery which had subsisted on the
offerings of the pious pilgrims. That such processions became
anything but religious, we may easily gather from the sermons that
were preached against them: 'Alack! for pity!' says one, 'these
solemn and accustomable processions be now grown into a right foul
and detestable abuse, so that the most part of men and women do come
forth rather to set out and shew themselves, and to pass the time
with vain and unprofitable tales and merry fables, than to make
general supplications and prayers to God. I will not speak of the
rage and furore of these uplandish processions and gangings about,
which be spent in rioting. Furthermore, the banners and badges of
the cross be so irreverently handled and abused, that it is marvel
God destroy us not in one day.'
To pass on now
to a description of the modern procession of the Fete Dieu, such as
may be seen in any of the cities of Belgium, or even in more
splendour in the south of France, Nismes, Avignon, or Marseilles. On
rising in the morning, the whole scene is changed as by magic from
the night before: the streets are festooned and garlanded with
coloured paper, flowers, and evergreens, in every direction. Linen
awnings are spread across to give shelter from the darting rays of
the sun. The fronts of the houses are concealed by hangings,
sometimes tastefully arranged by upholsterers, but more frequently
consisting of curtains, coverlids, carpets, and pieces of old
tapestry, which produce a very bizarre effect. The bells are ringing
in every church, and crowds are meeting at the one from which the
procession is to start, or arranging themselves in the rows of
chairs which are prepared in the streets; others are leaning out of
the windows, whilst the sellers of cakes and bonbons make a good
profit by the disposal of their tempting wares.
"But the
distant sound of the drum is heard, which announces the approach of
the procession: first come some hundreds of men, women, and children
belonging to various confreries, which answer in some degree to our
sick and burial clubs, each preceded by the head man, who is adorned
with numerous medals and ribbons. The children are the prettiest
part: dressed in pure white muslin, their hair hanging in curls,
crowned with flowers, and carrying baskets of flowers ornamented
with blue ribbons. Some adopt particular characters; four boys will
carry reed pens and large books in which they are diligently
writing, thus personating the four evangelists; there are many
virgins, one in deep black, with a long crape veil, a large black
heart on her bosom, pierced with silver arrows: those boasting of
the longest hair are Magdalens. The monks and secular clergy follow
the people, interspersed with military bands and other music.
"Near the end
appears, like a white cloud, a choir of girls in long veils, crowns,
and tarlatan dresses – satisfying, under a pretext of devotion,
the most absorbing passion of women – love of the toilette; then,
lastly, comes the canopy and dais under which the priest of the
highest Tank walks, carrying the Holy Sacrament, 'Corpus
Christi.' This is the most striking part: silk, gold, velvet, and
feathers are used in rich profusion. The splendid dresses of the
cardinals or priests who surround it; the acolytes, in white,
throwing up the silver censers, filling the air with a cloud of
incense; the people coming out of the crowd with large baskets of
poppies and other flowers to throw before it, and then all falling
on their knees as it passes, while the deep voices of the clergy
solemnly chant the Litany, form a very picturesque and striking
scene. After the principal streets have been visited, all return to
the church, which is highly decorated and illuminated: the incense
ascends, the organ resounds with the full force of its pipes;
trombones, ophicleides, and drums make the pillars of the nave
tremble, and the host is restored to its accustomed ark on the high
altar.
"As you walk
through the streets during the week you will see at every corner,
and before many porte-cocheres, little tables on which poor children
spread a napkin and light some tapers, adding one or two plaster
figures of the Virgin or saints; to every passer-by they cry, 'Do
not forget the little chapel.' These are a remnant of the chapels
which in former days were deco-rated with great pomp to serve as
stations for the procession, where Mass was said iii the open air.
The religious tolerance which has been pro-claimed by the French
laws has much lessened the repetition of these ceremonies in Paris
since 1830; and perhaps the last great display there was when the
Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles the Tenth, walked in the
procession to the ancient church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois carrying
a lighted taper in his hand."
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's Book of
Days)
Corpus
Christi Homepage
More on miracle
plays
Devil Dancers of Corpus Christi,
Naiguatá,
State of Vargas,
Venezuela
"Although usually only men promise the Virgin to be devil dancers in
exchange for divine intervention, in this village, female devils
dancers perform for the health of their children."
Source
Festival of Skirophoria, ancient Greece
Agricultural festival of Athens.
Source: The Phoenix and
Arabeth 1992 Calendar
Festival of Vestalia,
in honour of Vesta, goddess of fire and hearth, Roman Empire (Jun 7 - 15)
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.)
Feast day of St Amata
Feast day of St Amelberga
Feast day of St Aresius and Companions
Feast day of St Astericus
Feast day of St Bardo
Feast day of St Basilides and Companions
Feast day of St Bogumilus
Feast day of the Translation of St Brigid
(Bridget; Bride) of Ireland (translation of relics)
Feast day of St Caspar Sadamazu
Feast day of St Censurius
Feast day of St Crispulus
Feast day of St Edward
Poppe
Feast day of Ss Getulius
and companions, martyrs
Feast day of St Gezelin
Feast day of Blessed Henry of
Treviso, confessor
Feast day of St Illadan
Feast day of St Ithamar
Feast day of St John
Dominic
Feast day of St John of
Tobolsk
Feast day of St Landry, or Landericus,
Bishop of Paris, confessor
Feast day of St Margaret, queen of
Scotland
(Yellow Fleur-de-lis, Iris
pseudacorus, is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Feast day of St Maurinus
Feast day of St Maximus
Feast day of St
Olivia
Olivia was the beautiful daughter of a
noble
Sicilian family. When she was 13 years old
she was kidnapped by
Muslims
and taken as a slave to
Tunis.
Impressed by her virtue and beauty her abductors permitted her to
live as a
hermitess in a cave.
Feast day of St Restitutus
Feast day of St Timothy
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Shop saints
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reetings from Australia.
How it works
Day of Anahita,
Goddess of Love, ancient Persia
Celtic tree month of Duir (Oak) commences (Jun 10 - Jul
7)
