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reetings from Australia. 

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Pip Wilson

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Curiosity did not kill this cat.
Studs Terkel, self-chosen epitaph

Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely.
Studs Terkel

More Studs Terkel quotes at Wikiquote

Too much of a good thing is simply wonderful!
Liberace, flamboyant American pianist, born on May 16, 1919

I cried all the way to the bank.
Liberace; (often misquoted as "laughed", but then the clever irony is missed; the musician was referring to an incident in which he sued over a bad review)

You know that bank I used to cry all the way to? I bought it.
Liberace

My whole trick is to keep the tune well out in front. If I play Tchaikovsky I play his melodies and skip his spiritual struggles.
Liberace

Cassie has made me the man I am, the actor I am, the father I am. She's forever embedded in every fibre of my being.
Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor, born on May 16; 1953, about his deceased wife Cassandra

It's a role better suited to someone who is in his 40s, old enough to have the confidence and the sophistication and strength to be able to stand there and just let the moment sit. Bond is a man with the greatest of confidence. And playing that takes practice. In 1986, I think I was 33 or something like that, and I still looked like a baby. Finally, I'm growing into this face of mine. That takes time.
Pierce Brosnan; on why he thinks he would have regretted winning the James Bond role in 1986

May 16 is the 136^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137^th in leap years), with 229 days remaining.
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Feast day of St Brendan the Elder (aka, the Navigator, or Voyager)

This most widely diffused of all legendary saints, St Brendan, is found in manuscripts of all Western European languages, and the travels of St Brendan are the subject of a popular medieval romance, Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (The Voyage of Saint Brendan).

Some say that Brendan sailed from Ireland and found America in the 6^th Century. In the 1970s, Tim Severin showed that it was possible to sail a coracle (a small boat made of wood and leather) to America, so it is possible, if unlikely, that Irish monks might have preceded Christopher Columbus by several centuries.

Founder and first abbot of the monastery at Clonfert, Galway, Brendan went looking for the island that had once contained Adam and Eve's paradise, encountering the monstrous fish named Jascon (Jasconius) along the way. He got a ship victualled for seven years, and for 12 monks, but two more wanted to come. "Ye may sail with me", he said, "but one of  you will go to perdition ere you return".

After 40 days they saw land and sailed around it for three days, when they went ashore. A dog came up and made him welcome "in his manner". The hound took them to a fine hall with a feast spread out, which they ate. There were beds ready for them, so they slept, and the next day they put to sea again and went a long time without seeing land.

After some time they found a beautiful land with green pasture and a flock of the whitest, fattest sheep they'd ever seen, every one as big as an ox. A kind old man came and said "This is the Island of Sheep, and here is never cold weather, but ever Summer; and that causes the sheep to be so big and white". He told them to sail east, whence they would come to the Paradise of Birds, where they could keep their Easter-tide celebrations.

As they soon came to land, they made a fire to cook dinner, but their island began to move and Brendan's intrepid travellers fled to the ship. The sainted leader of this fabulous expedition told his crew that the cause was a great fish called Jasonius, or Jascon, "which laboured night and day to put its tail in its mouth, but for greatness it could not" ...

Read on at the St Brendan page at the Scriptorium

Lives and Legends of St Brendan the Voyager by Denis O'Donaghue    More

Rogation Sunday

On the dating of items in the Almanac

"Rogation Sunday is the Sunday before Ascension Day, the Rogation days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday following Rogation Sunday. Rogation is the Latin equivalent of the Greek litaneia, supplication or litany (Lat. rotatio), and in the Roman Catholic Church on the three Rogation days 'the Litany of the Saints' is appointed to be sung by the clergy and people in public procession.

"The Rogation Days used to be called Gang Days, from the custom of ganging round the country parishes to beat the bounds at this time. Similarly the weed milkwort is called Rogation or Gang-flower from the custom of decorating the pole carried on such occasions with these flowers."
Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988

Also called in Britain Crouchmas, a term that was also applied to May 3, The Invention of the Cross. The coming week was once also called Grass Week, because only salads were eaten. It was also known as Cross Week and Procession week.

Beating the bounds

Rogation days were also called Gange Days, from the Saxon word gangen, to go. In Roman Catholic times in England, this perambulation was a matter of great ceremony. Banners, hand-bells and lights were carried. At one place they would stop and feast, at another they would assemble around a cross for a sermon. After the Reformation, processions were forbidden, but the useful part of this tradition was retained.

Queen Elizabeth I formalised the tradition by ordering it, and the walkers were to be preached to along the way and return to church for common prayers at end. The religious component was largely to give thanks for the bounteous earth they crossed. Psalm 104 was read: Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour.

If a house was built over the parish boundary, the gangers would walk through it. If a canal had been cut across the bounds, at least some of the parishioners had to strip off and wade through it. Once, the story goes, in the parish of St George's, Hanover-square, London, a nobleman's coach was parked across the border. The parishioners asked the driver to move, but he refused. So the churchwarden opened the door on one side of the coach, got in, and left through the other side, followed by the parishioners.

Saint Mamertius or Mamertus was the one who initiated the Rogation rites, or so it is said. However, the practice derives from a similar Roman ritual of the Ambarvalia, among other seasons.

More on beating the bounds at the Ascension page, May 20

Tomorrow, a picture of beating the bounds in old London

Dragon legends

The Rogation days are a prime source of dragon legends in England.

"During these days the clergy, accompanied by the church officers and people, walked round the boundaries of their respective parishes; and at certain prescribed spots offered up prayers, beseeching blessings on the fruits of the earth, and protection from the malevolent spirit of all evil. To a certain extent the custom is still observed in many English parishes."
Robert Chambers

Saints, dragons and serpents in the Book of days

The Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day. It is said that Claudius Mamercus, Bishop of Vienna, about the year 452, ordered these days to be observed as public fasts, with solemn processions and supplications, on the occasion of some great public calamity. The arrangement, meeting with approbation, was imitated and repeated, till at length it became a law in the Latin Church that they should be observed annually, with processions and supplications, to secure a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and the temporal interests of men. These three days are called Rogation Days, the week Rogation Week, and the Sunday preceding, Rogation Sunday, from the Rogations or Litanies chanted in the processions. The Church of England, at the Reformation, discontinued the public processions, but ordered these days to be observed as private fasts. There is no special office, or order of prayer, or even a single collect appointed in the prayer-book for the Rogation Days; but in the book of Homilies we find a Homily, divided into three parts, specially designed for the improvement of these three days.

Gange Days

The Gange Days are the same as the three Rogation Days, and were so called from the ancient custom of perambulating the boundaries of the parish on those days, the name being derived from the Saxon word gangen, to go. In Roman Catholic times, this perambulation was a matter of great ceremony, attended with feastings and various superstitious practices. Banners, which the parish was bound to provide, hand-bells, and lights enlivened the procession. At one place the perambulators would stop to feast; and at another assemble round a cross to be edified with some godly admonition, or the legend of some saint or martyr, and so complete the circuit of the parish. When processions were forbidden, the useful part of these perambulations was retained. By the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth it was required that, in order to retain the perambulation of the circuits of parishes, the people should once in the year, at the time accustomed, with the curate and substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were accustomed, and at their return to the church make their common prayers. And the curate in these perambulations was at certain convenient places to admonish the people to give thanks to God, as they beheld His benefits, and for the increase and abundance of the fruits upon the face of the earth. The 104^th Psalm was appointed to be said on these occasions, and the minister was to inculcate such sentence as, 'Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour.'

The writer recollects one of these perambulations in his earlier days. The vicar of the parish was there; so were the 'substantial men,' and a goodly number of juveniles too; but the admonitions, the psalm, and the sentences, were certainly not. It was a merry two days' ramble through all sorts of odd places. At one time we entered a house by the door, and left it by a window on the opposite side; at another, men threw off their clothes to cross a canal at a certain point; then we climbed high walls, dived through the thickest part of a wood, and left everywhere in our track the conspicuous capitals, It. P. Buns and beer were served out to those who were lucky enough, or strong enough, to get them. And at one spot a large flat stone was pointed out, which had a hole in the middle; and the oracles of the day assured us that the parson used to have his head thrust into that hole, with his heels uppermost, for refusing to bury a corpse found there.

PAROCHIAL PERAMBULATIONS 

The ancient custom of perambulating parishes in Rogation week had a two-fold object. It was designed to supplicate the Divine blessing on the fruits of the earth; and to preserve in all classes of the community a correct knowledge of, and due respect for, the bounds of parochial and individual property. It appears to have been derived from a still older custom among the ancient Romans, called Terminalia, and Ambarvalia, which were festivals in honour of the god Terminus and the goddess Ceres. On becoming a Christian custom, the heathen rites and ceremonies were, of course, discarded, and those of Christianity substituted. It was appointed to be observed on one of the Rogation days which were the three days next before Ascension Day. These days were so called from having been appropriated in the fifth century by Mamercus, Bishop of Vienna, to special prayer and fasting on account of the frequent earthquakes which had destroyed, or greatly injured, vegetation.

Before the Reformation, parochial perambulations were conducted with great ceremony. The lord of the manor, with a large banner, priests in surplices and with crosses, and other persons with hand-bells, banners and staves, followed by most of the parishioners, walked in procession round the parish, stopping at crosses, forming crosses on the ground, 'saying or singing gospels to the corn,' and allowing 'drinkings and good cheer; 'which was remarkable, as the Rogation days were appointed fasts. From the different practices observed on the occasion the custom received the various names of processioning, rogationing, perambulating, and ganging the boundaries; and the week in which it was observed was called Rogation Week; Cross Week, because crosses were borne in the processions; and Grass Week, because the Rogation days being fasts, vegetables formed the chief portion of diet.

At the Reformation, the ceremonies and practices deemed objectionable were abolished, and only 'the useful and harmless part of the custom retained.' Yet its observance was considered so desirable, that a homily was prepared for the occasion; and injunctions were issued requiring that for 'the perambulation of the circuits of parishes, the people should once in the year, at the time accustomed, with the rector, vicar, or curate, and the substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were accustomed, and at their return to the church make their common prayer. And the curate, in their said common perambulations, was at certain convenient places to admonish the people to give thanks to God (while beholding of His benefits), and for the increase and abundance of His fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of the 103^rd Psalm. At which time also the said minister was required to inculcate these, or such like sentences, Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour; or such other order of prayers as should be lawfully appointed.' 

In strict accordance with these directions, we find that 'the judicious Richard Hooker,' who is allowed by all parties to be a faithful exemplar of a true English Churchman, duly observed the custom of perambulation. 'He would by no means,' says his biographer, 'omit the customary time of procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the preservation of love, and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany him in his perambulation, and most did so; in which perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times, and would then always drop some loving and facetious observations to be remembered against the next year, especially by the boys and young people; still inclining them and all his present parishioners to meekness, and mutual kindnesses, and love; because love thinks not evil, but covers a multitude of infirmities.'

Those engaged in the processions usually had refreshments provided for them at certain parts of the parish, which, from the extent of the circuit of some parishes, was necessary; yet the cost of such refreshment was not to be defrayed by the parish, nor could such refreshment be claimed as a custom from any particular house or family. But small annuities were often bequeathed to provide such refreshments. In the parish of Edgcott, Buckinghamshire, there was about an acre of land, let at £3 a year, called 'Gang Monday Land,' which was left to the parish officers to provide cakes and beer for those who took part in the annual perambulation of the parish. At Clifton Reynes, in the same county, a bequest of land for a similar purpose directs that 'one small loaf, a piece of cheese, and a pint of ale, should be given to every married person, and half a pint of ale to every unmarried person, resident in Clifton, when they walked the parish boundaries in Rogation week.' A certain estate in Husborne Crawley, Bedfordshire, has to pay £4 on Rogation Day, once in seven years, to defray the expense of perambulating, and keeping up the boundaries of the parish.

Although perambulations were not to be at the cost of parishes, yet they were justified in maintaining the ancient circuit, though opposed by the owners of property over which they proceeded. Burns cites an instance in which this case was tried against the parishioners of Rudham, who, in their perambulation, had broken down two gates and a fence; and the court decided in favour of the parishioners, stating: 'parishioners may well justify the going over any man's land in the perambulation, according to their usage, and abate all nuisances in their way.' 

This necessity or determination to perambulate along the old track often occasioned curious incidents. If a canal had been cut through the boundary of a parish, it was deemed necessary that some of the parishioners should pass through the water. Where a river formed part of the boundary line, the procession either passed along it in boats, or some of the party stripped and swam along it, or boys were thrown into it at customary places. If a house had been erected on the boundary line, the procession claimed the right to pass through it. A house in Buckinghamshire, still existing, has an oven only passing over the boundary line. It was customary in the perambulations to put a boy into this recess to preserve the integrity of the boundary line.

It was considered a good joke by the village lads, who, therefore, became ambitious of the honour, and, as they approached the house, generally settled by lot who should be the hero for the year. On one occasion, as the procession entered the house, they found the mistress just about to bake, and the oven full of blazing fagots. The boys, on seeing the flame issuing from the oven-mouth, exclaimed 'Tom Smith is the boy to go into the oven!' Poor Tom, expecting to be baked alive, uttered a fearful scream, and ran off home as fast as his legs could carry him. Another boy was made to scramble over the roof of the oven, and the boundary right was thus deemed sufficiently maintained. 

A more ludicrous scene occurred in London about the beginning of the present century. As the procession of churchwardens, parish officers, etc., followed by a concourse of cads, were perambulating the parish of St. George's, Hanover-square, they came to the part of a street where a nobleman' s coach was standing just across the boundary line. The carriage was empty, waiting for the owner, who was in the opposite house. The principal churchwarden, therefore, himself a nobleman, desired the coachman to drive out of their way. 'I won't!' said the sturdy coachman; 'my lord told me to wait here, and here I'll wait, till his lordship tells me to move!' The churchwarden coolly opened the carriage door, entered it, passed out through the opposite door, and was followed by the whole procession, cads, sweeps, and scavengers. 

The last perambulation I witnessed was in 1818, at a small village in Derbyshire. It was of rather a degenerate character. There was no clergyman present, nor anything of a religious nature in the proceedings. The very name processioning had been transmuted (and not inaptly) into possessioning. The constable, with a few labourers, and a crowd of boys, constituted the procession, if such an irregular company could be so called. An axe, a mattock, and an iron crow, were carried by the labourers, for the purpose of demolishing any building or fence which had been raised without permission on the 'waste ground,' or for which the 'acknowledgment' to the lord of the manor had not been paid. At a small hamlet, rejoicing in the name of 'Wicked Nook,' some unfortunate rustic had unduly built a pig-sty. Poor grunty was turned adrift, and his luckless shed levelled to the ground. A new cottage, or mud hut, not much better than the pig's shed, was allowed to remain, on the cottager' s wife proffering the 'acknowledgment.' At various parts of the parish boundaries, two or three of the village boys were 'bumped' —that is, a certain part of the person was swung against a stone wall, a tree, a post, or any other hard object which happened to be near the parish boundary. This, it will scarcely be doubted, was an effectual method of recording the boundaries in the memory of these battering-rams, and of those who witnessed this curious mode of registration.

The custom of perambulating parishes continued in some parts of the kingdom to a late period, but the religious portion of it was generally, if not universally, omitted. The custom has, however, of late years been revived in its integrity in many parishes, and certainly such a perambulation among the bounties of creation affords a Christian minister a most favourable opportunity for awakening in his parishioners a due sense of gratitude towards Him who maketh the 'sun to shine, and the rains to descend upon the earth, so that it may bring forth its fruit in due season.' 
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)

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Feast day of St John Nepomucene (John Nepomucen; John of Nepomuk) (Great star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum umbrellatum, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint)  This 14th-Century Bohemian churchman is the patron saint of Czechoslovakia. He was born at Nepomuk, Bohemia, 1340; some sources say he died in Prague, March 20, 1393, while others say it was on the vigil of the Ascension (May 16 that year), 1383 (some sources say 1393). He was canonized in 1729. John was the confessor of Queen Sophie, consort of Wenceslaus IV, King of Germany and Emperor of Bohemia. The king tried to force St John to reveal to him the secrets of his virtuous wife's confessions, and when John refused, Wenceslaus had the saint tortured and drowned in Prague's Muldaw River. The moment St John's body touched the water, thousands of tiny stars encircled it and a fire burned on the river's surface. A stream of light issued from deep in the river, "reflecting the glory of the martyr's soul". His body drifted slowly downstream throwing off rays of light in all directions. A "troop of light," followed the body, as if to represent a funeral procession. The whole city came alive with excitement and citizens gathered to see the spectacle, while the tyrant, terrified by the news, fled to a house in the country, forbidding any one to follow him. St John's tongue did not rot after his death, and his tomb has been the site of many miracles. Or, so it is said. John Nepomucen is patron saint of confessors, Bohemia, bridge builders, bridges, Czechoslovakia, discretion, running water and silence, and is also invoked against calumnies, against indiscretions, against slander and against floods.   Bees in May If bees swarm and leave in May, you'll get good honey that year. You are allowed by custom to follow them over anyone's land and claim them when they rest. You must, however, make a beating sound on a metal utensil. This will also make the bees stop. Hillman, Tusser Redivivus, 1710 (Charles Kightly, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames and Hudson, London, 1987)     Goddess month of Hera commences (May 16 - Jun 12) In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hêra the Great Goddess of pre-Hellene Minoan culture transmitted to the Greeks through Mycene and other city-states of the Mycenean culture, has been made into the wife and sister of Zeus. She then presides as goddess of marriage, the patriarchal bond of her own subordination. She had a long separate existence before she was incorporated, with considerable difficulty into the pantheon dominated by Zeus. In late anecdotal versions of the myths (see below) she appear to spend most of her time plotting revenge on the other women her husband consorts with. She was called Juno by the Romans. Source: Wikipedia   Related: Juno     Drinking on Wrekin Hill, near Wellington, Shropshire, England Until early in the 19th Century (1820s), people assembled on the four Sundays after May Day to drink the health of "all friends around the Wrekin". There was so much drunkenness and licentiousness that the magistrates banned the custom. "To all friends around the Wrekin", meanwhile, is a toast traditionally used in Shropshire, especially at Christmas and New Year. For several centuries the hill was known as Mount Gilbert, a name given to it by the Normans after a hermit who lived there. More on the Wrekin    The legend of the Wrekin giant   Sunday before Ascension (Sixth Sunday of Easter), Hanswijk Procession, Mechelen, Belgium "One of the oldest civic/religious processions in Belgium, the Hanswijk procession fills the important medieval town of Mechelen, north of Brussels. "The festival is said to have originated in 1272, when Mechelen was saved from an epidemic of the plague through the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Since then the grateful inhabitants of the city have carried a statue of the Virgin on a procession through the city every year ... The parade has three sections, the first of which details the history of Hanswijck. The second one illustrates the life of the Virgin Mary, and the third one focuses on her son Jesus."   Source   Feast day of St Abdas, Bishop of Cascar, martyr Feast day of St Abdjesus, bishop, martyr Feast day of St Adam, hermit on Mount Vissiano near Ferno, Italy Feast day of St Andrew Bobola Andrzej Bobola (1591 - May 16, 1657) was a Jesuit missionary and martyr, known as "an Apostle of Pinszczyzna" and "a hunter of souls". His body was supposed to be incorruptible. More Feast day of St Annobert Feast day of St Carantac Feast day of St Carantoc Feast day of St Domnolus Feast day of St Felix Feast day of St Fidouls Feast day of St Forannan Feast day of St Gennadius Feast day of St Germerius Feast day of St Hilary Feast day of St Honorius (Honoratus; Honoré) of Amiens St Honorius (d. 653), Bishop of Amiens, is the French patron saint of bakers, confectioners, and pastry chefs. St Honorius was remembered by the bakers of Paris on the anniversary of his death with a procession, a high mass, a banquet and a dance. The Saint Honoré cake bears his name. Feast day of St Peregrinus   Feast day of St Simon Stock, confessor, of Kent According to Carmelite traditions, St Simon Stock (c. 1165 - May 16, 1265) was the English Carmelite to whom the Brown Scapular (the scapular – a Roman Catholic devotional artefact in the form of a cloth pendant – of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) was given. All that is historically certain is that in 1247 he was elected the sixth general of the Carmelites, as successor to Alan, at the first chapter held at Aylesford, Kent, England. According to a pious tradition the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St Simon Stock at Cambridge, England, on Sunday, July 16, 1251. In answer to his appeal for help for his oppressed order, she appeared to him with a scapular in her hand ... read on at July 16. More   More    And more   Feast day of St Ubaldus Baldassini, Bishop of Gubbio Ubaldus was a twelfth century Catholic saint, canonized in 1192. Numerous miracles were attributed to him in life and after death. The Office for his feast day describes him as having power over the evil spirits, and the faithful are instructed to have recourse to him "contra omnes diabolicas nequitias". More Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints Rice-Planting Festival, Kochi City, Japan (May 15 - 17) Festivities held at Kochi City, Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine, Kyoto Prefecture. The shrine has a sacred rice paddy where several hundred men take part in a ritual rice-planting. Women are absolute rulers of the community for three days of festivities. The women fling mud from paddies out of wooden buckets at any men they see. Kurofune Matsuri, Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (May 16 - 18) "Many events of both a traditional and an international flavour as this is a festival to mark the coming of the kurofune (black ships) led by Commodore Matthew Perry who arrived here in 1854 to demand that Japanese ports be opened to American trade."   Source Biographers' Day The anniversary of the meeting of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson in 1763 (see below). Considered a good day to begin reading or writing a biography. National Sea-Monkey Day, USA Not From a Sea. Not Monkeys. Discuss.    Sea-Monkeys    Sea-Monkeys homepage       On which day of the week were you born? Find out here 1490 Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia 1611 Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689) 1678 Andreas Silbermann (d. 1734), organ builder 1718