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reetings from Australia.
Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.
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Writing free verse is like playing tennis
with the net down. All of a
half-century ago-when I was a little boy on the farm in my native New
England – I remember asking all kinds of questions. What is the
Earth made of? Why is the sky blue? Why is the sunset red? How does a
bird soar? Why does a brook gurgle? How does an earthworm crawl? Why
is a dewdrop round? Why does corn pop? Why does a wood fire crackle?
And a thousand like questions. To a few I got the answers in reading.
To some I got the answers in dialogue with my Mama and my Papa and
with my teachers. Some I thought out – not too well, to be sure –
but I was learning to think. By this device – ever questioning –
ever uncertain – I gathered up a rather massive body of knowledge. The
schools destroy the holy spirit of curiosity. I'm all
for having the leaders of nations meet on the open field with a sword. Why is it so? Look it up! Enthusiasm.
Without it we are dead. |
Beating the bounds is a
Rogation custom (see yesterday). |
Oh, yes! I
find this place where I get the mostest light – the mostest light. The
mostest. That's the superlative of 'most'. I'm reciting something of
Euclid. Beautiful – you should read it!
Professor Julius Sumner Miller Source
My wife engages in some imaginative
adventures, and she put that together from turkey bones. Isn't that
fantastic? Look at that. Look at that creature. Out – born out of her
mind.
Professor Julius
Sumner Miller Source
Planet Earth about to be recycled. Your only chance to survive – leave with us.
Marshall Applewhite (leader of Heaven's Gate suicide cult), born
on May 17, 1931
May 17
is
the 137th
day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (138th
in leap years), with 228
days remaining.
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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.
Rogation Monday (2004), The Bezant, Shaftesbury, UK
On the dating of items in the Almanac
On Rogation Monday (see May 16 for the meaning of the Rogation Days), the town of Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire, England, had a festival called the 'Bezant'. It started in antiquity, and there are no records extant.
It was named
after a bezant, a trophy constructed of ribbons, flowers and
peacocks' feathers, fastened to a frame, about four feet high, around
which were hung jewels, coins, medals, and so on. Shaftesbury is on top of
a hill, overlooking the vale of Blackmore; in olden days, its water was
taken from the valley town of Enmore Green, on donkey back up the hill.
The Bezant was a festival in acknowledgement of Enmore Green's
contribution to the well-being of Shaftesbury.
The Borough of Shaftesbury stands upon the brow of a lofty hill, having an extensive view over the vale of Blackmore. Until lately, from its situation, it was so deficient in water, that its inhabitants were indebted for a supply of this necessary article of life to the little hamlet of Enmore Green, which lies in the valley below. From two or three wells or tanks, situate in the village, the water with which the town was provided was carried up the then precipitous road, on the backs of horses and donkeys, and sold from door to door.
The Bezant was an acknowledgment on the part of the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough, to the Lord of the Manor of Mitcomhe, of which Enmore Green forms a part, for the permission to use this privilege; no charter, or deed, however, exists among their archives, as to the commencement of the custom, neither are there any records of interest connected with its observance, beyond the details of the expenses incurred from year to year.
On the morning of Rogation Monday, the Mayor and Aldermen accompanied by a lord and lady, appointed for the occasion, and by their mace-bearers carrying the Bezant, went in procession to Enmore Green. The lord and lady performed at intervals, as they passed along, a traditional kind of dance, to the sound of violins. The steward of the manor meeting them at the green, the mayor offered for his acceptance, as the representative of his lord,—The Bezant,—a calf's head, uncooked,—a gallon of ale, and two pennyloaves, with a pair of gloves edged with gold lace, and gave permission to use the wells, as of old, for another year. The steward, having accepted the gifts, retaining all for his own use, except the Bezant, which he graciously gave back, accorded the privilege, and the ceremony ended. The procession returned as it came, and the day, which was one of universal enjoyment to all classes of the population, was brought to a conclusion, according to the hospitable fashion of our country, in a dinner given by the Corporation to their friends.
The Bezant, which gave its name to the festival, is somewhat difficult to describe. It consisted of a sort of trophy, constructed of ribbons, flowers, and peacock' s feathers, fastened to a frame, about four feet high, round which were hung jewels, coins, medals, and other matters of more or less value, lent for the purpose by persons interested in the matter, and many traditions prevailed of the exceeding value to which, in earlier times, it sometimes reached, and of the active part which persons of the highest rank in the neighbourhood took in its annual celebration.
Latterly, however, the festival sadly degenerated, and in the year 1830, the Town and the Manor passing into the hands of the same proprietor, it ceased altogether, and is now one of those many ancient observances, not without their interest to the antiquary, which are numbered with the past. If this had not happened, however, the necessity for it no longer exists. The ancient Borough is no longer indebted to the lord of the manor for its water, for, through the liberality of the Marquis of Westminster, its present owner, the town is bountifully supplied with the purest water, from an artesian well sunk at his expense.
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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Meet me at Corrigenda
This
holiday commemorates the May 17, 1968, amendments to the
constitution of this tiny Pacific nation, which established a
republic with a parliamentary system of government.
