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reetings from Australia.
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Then
comes the day when Christ ascended to his
Father's seat
Which day we celebrate, with store
of drinke and meate. Barnabe
Googe
(1540 -
'94),Foure Bookes of Husbandrie,
collected by M. Conradus Heresbachius, Counseller of Cleue; Contayning
the whole arte and trade of husbandry, with the ambiguitie, and
commendation thereof;
quoted inHone,
William, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year,
Vol., 1, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878.
Because
the skies were opened to receive Christ on Ascension Day, any rain
which falls then comes straight from Heaven: so it has special
curative properties, being particularly good for bathing sore eyes.
Water from holy wells is also uniquely efficacious if collected early
on 'Holy Thursday' morning: and Ascensiontide or Whitsun are the
favourite seasons for 'well-dressing'. John
Aubrey(1626
-
1697), Englishantiquary
and writer;
Remains of Gentilism, 1688
Yet if you asked my opinion I should say that Cola di
Rienzo is very eloquent, possessed of great powers of persuasion, and
ready of speech; as a writer also he is charming and elegant, his
diction, if not very copious, is graceful and brilliant. I believe,
too, that he reads all the poets that are generally known; but he is
not a poet for all that, any more than one is a weaver who dons a
garment made by another's hands. Even the writing of verses does not
suffice by itself to earn the title of poet. Italian poetPetrarch, on his friend, Cola di Rienzo, who
briefly overthrew the government of the Pope and barons of Rome, on
May 20, 1347; from a letter to Francesco NelliSource
Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Christopher Columbus's last words,
May 20, 1506
Christopher Columbus is a symbol, not of a man, but of imperialism. ... Imperialism and colonialism are not something that happened decades ago or generations ago, but they are still happening now with the exploitation of people. ... The kind of thing that took place long ago in which people were dispossessed from their land and forced out of subsistence economies and into market economies – those processes are still happening today. John Mohawk, Seneca, 1992
... to emphasize the heroism of Columbus and
his successors as navigators and discoverers, and to de-emphasize their
genocide, is not a technical necessity, but an ideological choice. It
serves - unwittingly - to justify what was done. Howard
Zinn, American historian
One day, in front of Las Casas, the Spanish
dismembered, beheaded, or raped 3000 people. 'Such inhumanities and barbarisms
were committed in my sight,' he says, 'as no age can parallel. ...' The Spanish
cut off the legs of children who ran from them. They poured people full of
boiling soap. They made bets as to who, with one sweep of his sword, could cut a
person in half. They loosed dogs that 'devoured an Indian like a hog, at first
sight, in less than a moment.' They used nursing infants for dog food. Source
Lo, therefore, on the First
day of the Month Prairial, 20th of May 1795, sound of the generale once
more; beating sharp, ran-tan, To arms, To arms! Sansculottism has risen, yet
again, from its death-lair; waste wild-flowing, as the unfruitful Sea. Source: Carlyle, Thomas, The
French Revolution: A History, 3.VII.v
What Napoleon
could not do with the sword, I shall accomplish with the pen. A youthful and ambitious Honoré de Balzac, French novelist, born on May 20, 1799, inscribed this under a picture of the former emperor
Solitude
is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine. Honoré de Balzac
It
is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason that it is
more difficult to be witty every day than to say pretty things from time
to time. Honoré de Balzac
Conservatives
are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
John Stuart Mill, born on May 20, 1806
The
extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social progress. Charles Fourier;Four Movements; the Wisconsin Phalanx,
based on his utopian ideas, was founded on May 20, 1844
I
will plead the most ridiculous of all causes; nothing is more flouted in
civilization than sentimental love. Charles Fourier
Sometimes
I wonder if I'm doing a Jimmy Stewart imitation myself. James Stewart, American actor, born on May 20, 1908
I'd like people to remember
me as someone who was good at his job and seemed to mean what he said. James
Stewart; speaking in 1983
Still,
Dovedale, yield thy flowers to deck the fountains
Of Tissington upon its holyday;
The customs long preserved among the mountains
Should not be lightly left to pass away.
They have their moral; and we often may
Learn from them how our wise forefathers wrought,
When they upon the public mind would lay
Some weighty principle, some maxim brought Home to their hearts, the healthful
product of deep thought. Edwards
Ascension is the end of the Easter season, when
almanackists can take things a bit easier for a while. During the 40-day
period beginning with Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the time when Jesus
Christreappeared to
some of His followers. This period ends on Ascension Day, or Ascension
Thursday. The Ascension is one of the great feasts in the Christian
calendar, and commemorates the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven forty
days after His resurrection from the dead, which
is recorded in the New Testament in Acts Chapter 1.According to Saint Augustine, the observance of the feast is of Apostolic origin.
Ascension Day is always a Thursday;
in some churches (especially in the United
States) it is commemorated on the following Sunday (the Sunday before Pentecost).
The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation
days (and the previous Sunday as Rogation Sunday). In some countries (e.g. Scandinavia
or Germany)
it is a public holiday.
On Ascension Day in Tissington,
England,
wells
are traditionally dressed with flowers, and sometimes Bible verses are
made out in letters of flowers. Well-dressing, practised in many other
places throughout Britain, is the art of decorating springs and wells with
scenes, usually made from local plant life. The dressings are set in
clay-filled wooden trays, mounted on a wooden frame and take up to seven
days to complete.
Some believe the custom arose during a drought in
Derbyshire in 1615, but it is known that the custom of well-dressing began
in Celtic times. The wells of Tissington flowed throughout this time, and
people from ten miles around drove their cattle there to drink, so at
Ascension Day a thanksgiving custom came about.
We know that these kinds of traditions go back to
antiquity, and the Romans also practised well-dressing. Seneca
wrote "Where a spring rises or a river flows, there should we build
altars and offer sacrifices". English kings Edgar and Canute had to
issue edicts prohibiting the worshipping of wells.
Wells are symbolic of purity, and May was
always considered the best time to visit curative springs. Silence was to
be kept going there and coming back, and the vessel used to take the water
was not allowed to touch the ground. After the Reformation these customs
were forbidden.
In another custom associated with today, farmers
hung in their roof, an egg laid on Ascension Day, in order to protect
against lightning and fire.
Thursday
was named after the Viking god, Thor, and to the Vikings today was also theFestival of Mjollnir,
Thor's hammer, on a Thursday, at around the time that Christians
celebrate Ascension Day (more below).
"No
two villages dress their wells in exactly the same way, but here's what they do
at Holymoorside. First they cut along each line of the picture with a sharp
knife, then gently press small pieces of wood (called `barking') through into
the clay. Once the outline is finished the picture is `coloured in'. Some
villages call this state `petalling', but in Holymoorside it's called
`flowering'. Why? Because rather than using individual petals, they use whole
flower heads."Source
"An old custom still kept up in a few English
parishes, of going around the parish boundaries on Holy Thursday [an
alternative English name for Ascension – PW] or Ascension Day. The
schoolchildren, accompanied by the clergymen and parish officers, walked
around the boundaries, which the boys struck with peeled willow-wands. The
boys were sometimes 'whipped' at intervals and water was sometimes poured
on them from house windows 'to make them remember' the boundaries.
Chickweed.—When the flower expands boldly and fully, no rain will happen for four hours or upwards: if it continues in that open state, no rain will disturb the summer's day: when it half conceals its miniature flower, the day is generally showery; but if it entirely shuts up, or veils the white flower with its green mantle, let the traveller put on his great coat, and the ploughman, with his beasts of drought, expect rest from their labour.
Siberian sowthistle.—If the flowers of this plant keep open all night, rain will certainly fall the next day.
Trefoil.—The different species of trefoil always contract their leaves at the approach of a storm: hence these plants have been termed the husbandman's barometer.
African marygold.—If this plant opens not its flowers in the morning about seven o'clock, you may be sure it will rain that day, unless it thunders.
The convolvulus also, and the pimpernel anagalis arvensis, fold up their leaves on the approach of rain: the last in particular is termed the poor man's weather-glass.
Besides the above, there are several plants, especially those with compound yellow flowers, which nod, and during the whole day turn their flowers towards the sun: viz. to the east in the morning, to the south at noon, and to the west towards evening; this is very observable in the sowthistle
sonchus arvensis: and it is a well-known fact, that a great part of the plants in a serene sky expand their flowers, and as it were with cheerful looks behold the light of the sun; but before rain they shut them up, as the tulip.
The flowers of the alpine whitlow grass draba alpina, the bastard feverfew
parthenium, and the wintergreen trientalis, hang down in the night as if the plants were asleep, lest rain or the moist air should injure the fertilizing dust.
One species of woodsorrel shuts up or doubles its leaves before storms and tempests, but in a serene sky expands or unfolds them, so that the husbandman can pretty clearly foretell tempests from it. It is also well known that the mountain ebony bauhinia, sensitive plants, and cassia, observe the same rule.
Besides affording prognostics, many plants also fold themselves up at particular hours, with such regularity, as to have acquired the particular names from this property. The following are among the more remarkable plants of this description:—
Goatsbeard.— The flowers of both species of tragopogon open in the morning at the approach of the sun, and without regard to the state of the weather regularly shut about noon. Hence it is generally known in the country by the name of go to bed at noon.
The princesses' leaf, or four o-clock flower, in the Malay Islands, is an elegant shrub so called by the natives, because their ladies are fond of the grateful odour of its white leaves. It takes its generic name from its quality of opening its flowers at four in the evening, and not closing them in the morning till the same hour returns, when they again expand in the evening at the same hour. Many people transplant them from the woods into their gardens, and use them as a dial or a clock, especially in cloudy weather.
The tamarind tree parkinsonia, the nipplewort lapsana communis, the water lily
nymphaea, the marygolds calendulae, the bastard sensitive plant
aeschynomene, and several others of the diadelphia class, in serene weather, expand their leaves in the daytime, and contract them during the night. According to some botanists, the tamarind-tree enfolds within its leaves the flowers or fruit every night, in order to guard them from cold or rain.
The flower of the garden lettuce, which is in a vertical plane, opens at
seven o'clock, and shuts at ten.
A species of serpentine aloe, without prickles, whose large and beautiful flowers exhale a strong odour of the vanilla during the time of its expansion, which is very short, is cultivated in the imperial garden at Paris. It does not blow till towards the month of July, and about five o'clock in the evening, at which time it gradually opens its petals, expands them, droops, and dies. By ten o'clock the same night, it is totally withered, to the great astonishment of the spectators, who flock in crowds to see it.
The cerea, a native of Jamaica and Vera Cruz, expands an exquisitely beautiful coral flower, and emits a highly fragrant odour, for a few hours in the night, and then closes to open no more. The flower is nearly a foot in diameter; the inside of the calyx, of a splendid yellow; and the numerous petals are of a pure white. It begins to open about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, and closes before sunrise in the morning.
The flower of the dandelion possesses very peculiar means of sheltering itself from the heat of the sun, as it closes entirely whenever the heat becomes excessive. It has been observed to open, in summer, at half an hour after five in the morning, and to collect its petals towards the centre about nine o'clock.
Linnæus has enumerated forty-six flowers, which possess this kind of sensibility: he divides them into three classes.—1. Meteoric flowers, which less accurately observe the hour of folding, but are expanded sooner or later according to the cloudiness, moisture, or pressure of the atmosphere. 2. Tropical flowers, that open in the morning and close before evening every day, but the hour of their expanding becomes earlier or later as the length of the day increases or decreases. 3. Equinoctial flowers, which open at a certain and exact hour of the day, and for the most part close at another determinate hour.
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To
the Vikings, today was theFestival of Mjøllnir,
Thor's short-handled war hammer, on a Thursday, coinciding more or less with Ascension
Day. Today was marked by ritual contests such as trial by combat.
Today, some see it as a day on which hexen, witches,
vølvas, and
sorcerers can contest their powers.
Mjøllnir
was made by Brok
and Eitri
and had enormous destructive abilities; it was associated with lightning.
When thrown, it would return like a boomerang after hitting its target,
and only Thor and Magni, his son, could manage to lift it.
Thor
Thor, Þórr (ON),
Þunor (OE), Donar
or Donner (German) is
the red-haired and bearded god of thunder and lightning
in Germanic
and Norse Mythology,
the son of Odin
and Jord.
While Odin is the god of the powerful
and aristocratic,
Thor is much more the god of the common man, often siding with
mortals against other gods. Thor was an outright hero for mankind,
powerfully defeating his enemies, though he lost a wrestling match
to an old woman named Elli (old age). During Ragnarok,
Thor will kill and be killed by Jormungand. He
lived in the hall of Bilskirnir in
Thrudheim.
Thor features strongly in the Eddas of Snorri
Sturluson, where Thor's many conflicts with the race of giants
are a main source of plots. As Snorri portrays him, Thor is a
straightforward god, not necessarily the wisest or most intelligent;
for instance, he is thoroughly made a fool of by the mysterious Utgardaloki
and his magic spells.
'Tor's Day' or 'Thor's Day' became
Thursday in English, Donnerstag in German (meaning 'Thunder's
Day'), and Torsdag in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.
'Thor's Oak' was an ancient tree near Fritzlar
in northern Hesse (Germany) and one of the most sacred of sites
of the old Germans. In 722 or 723, St Boniface of
Crediton cut down the tree to demonstrate the superiority of
the Christian god over Thor and the other Germanic/Nordic
deities, building
a chapel from its wood at the site. This event commonly marks the beginning of the
Christianization of the non-Frankish Germans. This was at the
forest of Geismar,
Saxony,
near the present-day town of Fritzlar in
northern Hesse. (Some sources say
that the tree might have been sacred to Odin/Woden.)
Thor's Oak and the Christmas tree
" ... as the tree split, a beautiful young fir tree sprang from
its center. Saint Boniface told the people that this lovely
evergreen, with its branches pointing to heaven, was indeed a holy
tree, the tree of the Christ Child, a symbol of His promise of
eternal life. He instructed them henceforth to carry the evergreen
from the wilderness into their homes and to surround it with gifts,
symbols of love and kindness." Source:
Legends of the First Christmas Trees
Plynteria, ancient Greece Solemn cleansing of the
image of Athena Polias in the sea. Source: The Phoenix
and Arabeth 1992 Calendar
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.)
Napoleon
Bonaparte abolished it and restored the Gregorian
calendar on January
1, 1806 (the day after 10 nivôse an XIV), a little over twelve
years after its introduction. However, it was used again during the
brief Paris
Commune in 1871
(year LXXIX).
It was designed
by the politician and agronomistCharles
Gilbert Romme, although it is usually attributed to
Fabre
d'Églantine, who invented the descriptive names of the months.
Instead of most days having a saint
as in the Catholic Church's calendar, each day has a
plant, a tool or an animal associated with it. Some enthusiasts
in France still use the calendar.
Each month
lasted 30 days and was divided into three decades. Every day had the
name of an agricultural plant, except the 5th (Quintidi)
and 10th day (Decadi) of every decade, which had the name
of a domestic animal (Quintidi) or an agricultural tool (Decadi).
Spring Germinal
(from Latin germen, 'seed'), begins Mar
20 or 21 Floréal
(from Latin flos, 'flower'), begins Apr
20 or 21
Prairial (from French prairie, 'meadow'), begins May
20 or 21
Sansculottides The Sansculottides
(also Epagomenes; French Sans-culottides, Sanculottides,
jours complementaires, jours épagomènes) are the end
of the calendar. They follow Fructidor
and precede Vendémiaire
of the next year, belonging to the summer quarter of the year.
The Sansculottides, named after the Sansculottes,
amend the 360 days of the calendar so that the beginning of the next
year is on the autumnal
equinox. There were five Sansculottides in a common year and six
in a leap year (from this derives the French name of the leap year année
sextile). The Sansculottides start on September
17 or 18
and end on September
22 or 23.
Feast day of King St
Aethelbert
(St Ethelbert; St
Æthelbert; Æthelberht II of East Anglia), king of the
East
Angles
On May 20,
794, he was put to
death by Offa
of Mercia under unclear circumstances. Not to be confused with
St Ethelbert
of Kent.
"Died near Hereford, England, in 793
[sic]. King Ethelbert had a considerable cultus during the middle ages, although some, such as William of Malmesbury, have misgivings about the continuance of his veneration. He was murdered at Sutton Walls in Herefordshire, apparently for dynastic reasons at the instigation of the wife of Offa of
Mercia ...
"His body was secretly buried at Maurdine of Marden, but miracles revealed its hiding place. Soon it was moved to a church at Fernley (Heath of Fern), now called Hereford. The town grew around the church bearing Ethelbert's name after King Wilfrid of Mercia enlarged and enriched it.
"Quendreda died miserably within three months after her crime. Her daughter Alfreda became a hermit at Croyland. Offa made atonement for the sin of his queen by a pilgrimage to Rome, where he founded a school for the
English ..." Source
"He would castigate vice and then hold up a placard with the sign of the name of Jesus, "IHS," written on it, urging the congregation to turn to the one symbolized by those letters. People became so enthused that they even had IHS painted on houses. Throughout Italy people spoke of the wonderful benefits of his preaching. Once a man whose livelihood came from making playing cards complained that Bernardino had so successfully fought against gambling that the trade was ruined. Bernardino gave him a new, even more profitable trade, printing cards with the sign
IHS." Source
Lucifer, or Lucifer Calaritanus
(d. 370
or 371),
the saint with the unfortunate name,
was a bishop
of Cagliari
in Sardinia
and Christiansaint
known for his passionate opposition to Arianism,
which caused him even to cut off his friendship with St
Eusebius of
Vercelli.
His followers, who formed something of a sect, were called Luciferians.
His name demonstrates that 'Lucifer'
(meaning 'light-bearer') was not yet in the
4th Century
merely a synonym of 'Satan'.
From
Wikipedia: In
modern and late
Medieval
Christian thought, Lucifer is usually
a
fallen angel commonly associated with
Satan,
the embodiment of
evil
and enemy of
God.
Lucifer is generally considered, based on the influence of
Christian literature and legend, to have been a prominent
archangel
in
heaven
(although some contexts say he was a
cherub or a
seraph), prior to having been
motivated by
pride
to rebel against God. When the angel failed, Lucifer was cast
out of heaven, along with a third of the
heavenly host, and came to reside on
the
world.
Lucifer is a
Latin
word meaning 'light-bearer' (from lux, lucis, 'light',
and ferre, 'to bear, bring'), a Roman
astrological term for the 'Morning
Star', the planet
Venus.
The word Lucifer was the direct translation of the
Greek
eosphorus ('dawn-bearer'; cf
Greek
phosphorus, 'light-bearer') used
by
Jerome in the
Vulgate, having mythologically the
same meaning as
Prometheus who brought fire to
humanity. In that passage,
Isaiah
14:12, it referred to one of the popular honorific titles of a
Babylonian king; however, later interpretations of the text, and
the influence of embellishments in works such as
Dante's
The Divine Comedy and
Milton's
Paradise Lost, led to the common
idea in
Christian mythology and
folklore that Lucifer was a poetic
appellation of Satan.
The Holy
Blood Procession, Bruges (Brussels), Belgium
"Annually
since the year 1150, the historic city of Bruges has been
attracting thousands of visitors to one of the great religious
pageants in Europe, the Holy Blood Procession. For eight centuries
the relic has been venerated by a mile-long procession of 1,500
Bruges citizens, many in the colorful medieval garb of Crusader or
knight. The relic of the Holy Blood was brought to Bruges by
Thierry d'Alsace, Count of Flanders in 1149, presumably given to
him by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in recognition of his
contribution to the First Crusade in the Holly [sic] Land.
"The
procession during which the relic is paraded through the town for
veneration dates to 1303. Except for being in hiding during the
two World Wars it has never left Bruges and is kept in the
Basilica of St. Basil in the Burg Square.
"There are two parts to the procession : the first
by tableaux and floats enacts scenes from the Bible up through
the coming of Christ and His Resurrection. The second part
depicts the return of the Count of Flanders to Bruges."Source
Cameroon Constitution Day Public holiday (national day). The constitution
was ratified on May 20, 1972.
Mecklenburg Day, holiday, North Carolina, USA Anniversary of the May 20, 1775
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence by citizens of that town in
North Carolina; a holiday in that state.
Weights and Measures Day Anniversary of the May 20, 1875,
signing of a treaty establishing the International Bureau of Weights
and Measures.
Okinaga-Tarashi-Hime,
Sakata, Japan
"The Empress JINGO. (Herbert, Shinto) on Japanese Festivals: 'May 20th. On the same day in Sakata, the Hie-Jinja, during the
Sannomatsuri, also paraded huge dolls, by which they represent
JimmU-Tenno and JinguKogo'."Source
Takekiri-E, Bamboo Cutting Ceremony, Kamakura Temple,
Kyoto, Japan
"This festival originated in the 8th century when a pair of large
male and female snakes harassed the villagers of Kamakura. The
famous priest killed the male snake and pacified the female snake by
preaching . 2 groups of 4 men rush out to cut bamboo poles,
representing the snakes which are incarnations of evil, into 8
pieces."Source
1364
/ 1366
Sir Henry Percy,
also called Harry Hotspur (d. July
21, 1403),
English warlord, eldest son of Henry
Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th
Lord Percy of Alnwick.
His mother was Margaret Neville, daughter of Ralph
Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby (c. 1291
- 1367)
and Alice de Audley. His nickname is suggestive of his impulsive
nature. His date of birth is known but not the exact year of birth.
1743
François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture (Toussaint Bréda;
Toussaint-Louverture; d.
April 8,
1803), an important
leader of the
Haitian
Revolution. In a long struggle against the institution of
slavery, he led the blacks to victory over the Europeans, freed the
blacks, and secured native control over the colony in
1797 while nominally
governor of the colony.
1799Honoré de Balzac(d. 1850),
French novelist (La Comédie
humaine) born in Tours, France. In 1819 he left his law clerk's
job to return home to announce that he was going to be an author. He
then added 'de' to his name and pretended to be of noble birth.
1806John Stuart Mill (d. 1873),
London-born philosopher and radical reformer; he learned Greek at
the age of three, Latin and arithmetic at eight, and logic at twelve
"…
Joe Cocker isn't a top-rank artist by any means. He writes
very little of his own material, plays no instruments, and finds
himself completely at the mercy of whatever producer and backing
musicians he lands with. Over the years he's had sporadic success,
without a solid hit album since 1970. Despite this, Cocker
deserves credit for his gravelley, soulful, and distinctive
singing - his phrasing and stage antics were lifted straight from Ray Charles, but he
always managed to put his own stamp on the proceedings.
Furthermore, he was closely tied in to the late-60's British
rock scene, and during that period he brought together a lot of
its best elements to produce a few fine records."Source
1946Cher, (born Cherilyn Sarkisian),
American singer and actress
Your family and friends will get a kick when they
hear their own name being sung in 'Happy Birthday'!!
You can schedule your singing cards in advance, and even add your own face to
funny animations. (Pay cards)
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325The early Christian church opened the First Council of
Nicaea which decided which books would form the Gospels and the New
Testament.
Among the books excluded was
the Gospel of Thomas (St
Thomas, Apostle, see July
3 and December 21).
Although predating the other four gospels, Thomas's Gospel made no mention of
any miracles, as though they had never happened. The Council of Nicaea also voted
to add the Torah and certain other books of the Old Testament to the newly named
Bible, to bolster its authority.
The
council dealt with the problems raised by the Arian
controversy, concerning the nature of
Jesus
Christ, deciding against the Arians in favour of Trinitarianism.
Another
result of the council was an agreement of all the churches to celebrate Easteron the same day. However, the issue of how to
establish the date of Easter was not settled until long afterwards and is still
a matter which divides Christian churches.
"On May 20, 1347, Cola di Rienzo overthrew without
violence the turbulent rule of Rome's barons and the absentee popes. A young
visionary and the best political speaker of his time, Cola promised Rome a
return to its former greatness …A man of modest origins, Cola gained a
reputation as a talented professional with an unparalleled knowledge of
Rome's classical remains. After earning the respect and friendship of
Petrarch and the sponsorship of Pope Clement VI, Cola won the affections and
loyalties of all classes of Romans."Source
1506Christopher Columbus, explorer, died in poverty in Valladolid,
Spain at 55, neglected and almost forgotten, never fully realizing the
importance of his explorations.
Columbus
and the 'Flat Earth'
– perhaps an urban myth
It's commonly
asserted that Columbus proved that the Earth is spherical, not flat, by sailing
from west to east, thus dispelling the superstition of his contemporaries.
This, however, might
not stand scrutiny, and scholars are divided on the matter. In the Middle Ages,
that the Earth is a sphere was certainly a widespread view, one that went back
to pre-Christian times.
The
Greek philosopher, Aristotle(384 BCE -
322 BCE), believed Earth to be a sphere (De
Caelo II.13-14), although he wrongly guessed that our planet is at the
centre of the Universe. (However, by the 900s or 1100s the geocentric
model had supplanted it in the minds of the learned people of Europe.)
Aristotle's sway over medieval thought was
widespread and medieval scholars – even in orthodox religious circles –regularly and approvingly cited the
Greek's statement that the Earth is round; for example, Adam de Wodeham wrote "terra rotunda est" – simply,
"the earth is round".
A
century after Aristotle, Eratosthenes(276 BCE -
194 BCE)
calculated the Earth's circumferencec.240 BCE, using trigonometry
and information on the altitude of the Sun at noon in Alexandria and Syene (now Aswan, Egypt). Sphericality was a part of his calculations.
Owen Gingerich, in an article, 'Astronomy in
the Age of Columbus, in the November, 1992 Scientific American, suggested
that the myth of the pre-Columbus belief in the flat Earth was invented by
American author Washington
Irving(1783 - 1859).
The myth that Columbus's sailors feared they
would fall off the edge of the world is also without historical foundation. They
were fearful, but mainly that Columbus had not stocked adequate supplies for a
journey to the East. And they were right: In fact Columbus did not provide sufficient
supplies to reach China
or the East
Indies, his original destination, and if America
had not existed then those on the voyage would have died of starvation.
There is a book devoted to the subject of the
myth of the pre-Columbian flat earth: JB Russell's Inventing
the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians, New York, 1991.
Russell's theory, it must be said, is not accepted by all. There is also
evidence of scholarly opposition to the 'rotundity' of the Earth:
England's Saint Boniface(c. 672 - June 5, 754 or 755), for
example, accused St Virgil
of Salzburg (d. 784) of teaching a doctrine in regard to the rotundity of the Earth, which
was "contrary to the Scriptures".
Let
us allow Wikipedia the
last word: "The question whether average people in the Middle Ages believed in a
flat Earth may yet be completely separate from the surviving manuscripts, given
the low literacy of the time and the fact that it was probably the priests in
the churches, not the few noted theologians, who defined public opinion on the
matter."
"The Spaniards 'thought nothing of
knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices
off them to test the sharpness of their blades.' Las Casas
tells how 'two of these so-called Christians met two Indian
boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots
and for fun beheaded the boys'."
"One day, in front of Las Casas,
the Spanish dismembered, beheaded, or raped 3000 people.
'Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my
sight,' he says, 'as no age can parallel. ...' The Spanish
cut off the legs of children who ran from them. They poured
people full of boiling soap. They made bets as to who, with
one sweep of his sword, could cut a person in half. They
loosed dogs that 'devoured an Indian like a hog, at first
sight, in less than a moment.' They used nursing infants for
dog food."
"In 1570 (May 20) was issued, by Gilles Coppens de Diest at Antwerp,
Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the 'first modern atlas' (of 53
maps). Three Latin editions of this (besides a Flemish,
a French and a German
edition) appeared before the end of 1572; twenty-five editions came out before
Ortelius' death in 1598; and several others were published subsequently, for
the vogue continued till about 1612."Source
Sonnet CXVI Let
me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man
ever loved.
1795The Uprising
of Prairial (date in the French Revolutionary Calendar:
Prairial 1, Year III): An uprising took place against the revolutionary
government of France, demanding "bread and the 1793 Constitution".It was the last outbreak of popular
activism during the Revolution and led to the almost complete suppression of the
sans-culottes
activists and the execution of several popular leaders.
The sans-culottes
were for the most part members of the poorer classes, or leaders of
the populace, but during the Reign of Terror, public
functionaries and persons of good education styled themselves citoyens
sans-culottes.
Deputy Feraud was killed in
the mêlée and his head put on a pike. "Deputy Feraud," wrote Carlyle, "stretching out his
hands, baring his bosom scarred in the Spanish wars, obtests vainly: threatens
and resists vainly. Rebellious Deputy of the Sovereign, if thou have fought,
have not we too? We have no bread, no Constitution! They wrench poor Feraud;
they tumble him, trample him, wrath waxing to see itself work: they drag him
into the corridor, dead or near it; sever his head, and fix it on a pike."
"His system, known as
Fourierism (a form of idealistic "Utopian" socialism), is based on the idea
that there exists a universal principle of harmony, displayed in four
departments, the material universe, organic life, animal life, and human
society. This harmony can flourish only when the restraints which
conventional social behavior places upon the full gratification of desire
have been abolished, allowing man to live a free and complete life. His
ideas were similar to those of Sir Thomas More."Source
"In 1844, seventy-one
Wisconsin residents established a company to finance an experimental
community, or phalanx, called Ceresco, near the present-day site of Ripon. The
following year, the residents secured a charter from the Territorial
legislature that established a governing body to manage the business
operations of the community. This incorporation act details the rules and
organizational structure in place at Ceresco." Source
"Of the numerous social
philosophers of the 19th Century, Charles Fourier stands
as one of the most unknown, yet potentially prophetic visionaries of a liberated
world. Similar in spirit to the individualist anarchism of Max Stirner, yet
devoid of the alienated egotism, Fourier provides a radical philosophy of
liberty which posits the evolution of social, global, and cosmic harmony through
the liberation of desire."Source
"The Wisconsin Phalanx
was breaking up in squabbles and recriminations just as we arrived. You will be
interested to hear however, that, unlike some of the Eastern communities, our
Wisconsin Phalansterians were economically successful. Utopias you see come in
differing shapes and forms."
Source: "Dear Dr Marx": A letter (imaginary) from a socialist feminist
in 1851
1845 English poet,
Robert Browning, paid his first visit to poet (and later his wife) Elizabeth
Barrett, an invalid confined to a room by her despotic father.
1867British Parliament rejected John Stuart
Mill's bill to permit women to vote, so it was not a happy birthday for him.
(Mill was born on this day in 1806.)
"In 1872, Strauss
received a letter from Jacob Davis, a customer and tailor who worked in the
mining town of Reno, Nevada. Davis reported that he had discovered canvas
pants could be improved if the pocket seams and other weak points that tended
to tear were strengthened by copper rivets.
"Davis' riveted pants had
proven popular in Reno, but he needed a patent to protect his invention.
Intrigued by the copper-riveted pants, Strauss and his partners agreed to
undertake the necessary legal work for the patent and begin large-scale
production of the pants. Davis' invention was patented on this day in 1873.
In exchange for his idea, Strauss made the Reno tailor his production
manager. Eventually, Strauss switched from using canvas to heavyweight blue
denim, and the modern "blue jeans" were born. Since then, Levi Strauss &
Company has sold more than 200 million pairs of copper-riveted jeans."Source
1895
Australian boxer Young
Griffo (Albert Griffiths; 1871 - 1927) starred
in Young Griffo vs. Battling Charles Barnett
(filmed on the roof of Madison Square Garden, May 4,
1895), the first
motion picture to be screened before a paying audience, on this day at 153
Broadway in New York City.
It premiered more than seven
months before the Lumière brothers showed their film at the Grand Cafe on the
Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, on December
28 – the event usually said to be the first movie-by-ticket screening in
the world.
Young Griffo's
brilliant boxing career in America came to a grinding end in New
York City in 1895, at the peak of his international fame, after he
was convicted of raping William Gottlieb, an 11-year-old boy. He
spent the last three decades of his life drinking himself to death.
Lindy's monoplane was so
loaded down with fuel that it barely cleared the trees at the end of the runway.
He was participating in a competition with a $25,000 prize for whoever could fly
non-stop from New York to Paris.
1929Australia's first airmail stamp was issued, costing threepence.
1966Pete Townshend and
Roger Daltrey of the Who, tired of waiting for
John
Entwistle and Keith
Moon, who were running late, went on stage and played a set
with guys from a local band. When Moon and Entwistle showed up, Townsend
smacked Moon on the head with his guitar. Moon quit the band, for a week.
1989 China's Communist government declared martial law in Beijing
as student
protests in Tiananmen Square continued. The dictatorship called in troops
and tanks to suppress the dissidents protesting for democratic reforms.
"In a historic victory
for the 'gay' and lesbian civil rights movement, the US Supreme Court
voted six to three to strike down an amendment to Colorado's state
constitution that would have prevented any city, town, or county from taking
any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of
homosexuals."Source
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