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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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I married Isis
on the fifth day of May, Job endured everything -
until his friends came to comfort him, then he grew impatient. That is the road we all have to take -
over the Bridge of Sighs into eternity. The history of all hitherto existing society is
the history of class struggles. I used to say of him that his presence on the
field made the difference of 40,000 men. Mon Dieu – La Nation Française – Tête d'armée. Josephine. |
Nellie Bly |
The government of
the republic will fulfill its duty to defend its independence, to repel
foreign aggression, and accept the struggle to which it has been
provoked, counting on the unanimous spirit of the Mexicans and on the
fact that sooner or later the cause of rights and justice will triumph.
Benito Juárez
(1806 - '72);
proclamation to the Mexican people, shortly before the
Battle of Puebla
of May 5, 1862 (which is commemorated by the 'Cinco
de Mayo' celebrations)
Now we can cross the Shifting Sands.
Last words (to his
wife, Maud) of L Frank
Baum, Wizard of Oz author, who died on
May 5, 1919
If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair ...
There's a whole generation
With a new explanation ...
Scott
McKenzie's song San Francisco,
entered US charts on May 5, 1967
This fifth day of May,
Being airy and gay,
To hip not inclined,
But of vigorous mind,
And my body in health,
I'll dispose of my wealth;
And of all I'm to have
On this side of the grave
To some one or other,
I think to my brother.
But because I foresaw
That my brothers-in-law,
If I did not take care,
Would come in for a share,
Which I noways intended,
Till their manners were mended
And of that there's no sign
I do therefore enjoin,
And strictly command,
As witness my hand,
That naught I have got
Be brought to botch-pot;
And I give and devise,
Much as in me lies,
To the son of my mother,
My own dear brother,
To have and to hold
All my silver and gold,
As th' affectionate pledges
Of his brother,
JOHN HEDGES.
The will of John Hedges, England
May 5
is
the 125th
day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (126th
in leap years), with 240
days remaining.
Calendar converter Almanacs,
calendars, time, dedicated weeks, etc
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When 'Source'
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.
Old
Beltane
Beltane, the old pagan day of
spring rituals, is
normally celebrated on May 1 as May Day,
but the astronomical date is usually about May 5. British witches refer to
this date as Old Beltane, while folklorists call it Beltane OS (Old
Style).
In the Christianization of the old pagan, Nature-worshipping spring festival of May, the goddess of spring became Mary. Side by side, however, with this transmigration of the soul of the goddess, is the May Queen. Even today, young women compete in British beauty pageants in which the winner is crowned May Queen.
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrating the defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Outside Mexico, people with
Mexican roots celebrate it in places such as Olvera Street, Los Angeles.
Over, the years the day has become very commercialized
and many people see this holiday as a time for fun and dance. Strange to
relate, Cinco de Mayo has become more of a Chicano holiday than a Mexican
one.
The celebration does not mark Mexican Independence Day,
which is celebrated on Dieciséis de septiembre, from
the evening of September 15 through to the early morning hours
of September 16 with a re-enactment of the
Grito de Dolores – the formal call for an
end to Spanish rule in 1810 – at all executive government branch
offices' courts (from the President down to the municipal governments).
Dieciséis de septiembre commemorates September 16, 1810 when the priest Miguel Hidalgo initiated the Mexican War of Independence, calling for revolution from the church in Dolores. Hidalgo invoked the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe against the Spanish Virgin of the Remedies; the India Virgin defying the white Virgin.
Today in Puebla there are bullfights, mariachi musicians, parades of townspeople costumed as French and Mexican soldiers and as the Mexican women who aided the soldiers.More
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Highly recommended:  The Edible Mexican Garden
(Food and Festivals)
 Spellcraft
To support this project
By Thom Hartmann
By Robert Fisk
Photo of the day
|
 Tango
no Sekku (Boy's Day) or
Kodomo no hi
(Children's
Day), JapanPictured at right: Koinobori, courtesy of chaojikazu/Kazunori Matsuo, with thanks. Creative Commons licence Some Rights Reserved. This is a relatively new holiday, honouring all the children of the country and wishing them happiness and prosperity. The emphasis is both on respect for children and also children's duty and privilege to have gratitude to parents. Originally today was called Shobu no Sekku after the Japanese iris plant, shobu (Iris sanguinea), whose name is a Japanese homonym for the ultimatum 'win or lose'. The shobu has sword-shaped leaves with medicinal uses. Shobu are placed under the eaves to fend off evil, and shobu leaf baths are taken to protect boys' health and render them fearless. This festival expresses the hope that all the boys in each household will grow up healthy and strong. Warrior figures with helmets and suits of armour are set up in the house, and today people display the koi no bori (koinobori; pictured) a windsock shaped as a carp, which is emblematic of strength as the carp can swim up even the largest waterfall. The biggest of these, up to five metres, represent the oldest sons. Foods of the day include special rice cakes (kashiwa mochi) wrapped in oak leaves, and chimaki – glutinous rice soaked then steamed in bamboo leaves, tied with straws, which are sold today by vendors at railway stations. When, after WWII, militaristic customs were banned, today became Kodomo no hi, Children's Day. On this day, Japanese boys display fierce, armoured samurai dolls, harking back to this day's origins as a militaristic day. May 5 is generally known these days as Kodomo no hi (Kodomo-No-Hi), or Children's Day. The holiday was traditionally called Boys' Day Festival until 1948. Activities for teachers and children More More
Ancient Egypt's day of Truth Festival of Delia, ancient Greece, Purification of Athens (May 5 - 6)
On
the dating of items in the Almanac
Rose festival, Capua, Roman Empire (see Rosalia, May 23) 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.) Rain
Ceremonies, Guatemala, for Goddess of Rain and Fertility Feast day of St Angelus of
Jerusalem (Angelo) , Carmelite friar, martyr
Feast day of St Aventinus Feast day of St Caterina Cittadini Feast day of
Blessed Edmund Rice Feast day of St Geruntius of Milan Feast day of St Hilary,
Archbishop of Arles
Feast day of St Hydroc Feast day of St Irenaeus Feast day of St Irene Feast day of St John Haile Feast day of St Jovinian Feast day of St Jutta
Kulmsee (Judith of Kulmsee; Jutta of Sangershausen) Feast day of St Nuntius Sulprizio Feast day of St Pius
V, Pope St Pius V (1505 - '72), was pope from 1566 to '72 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. Early on involved in the Inquisition, as Pope he resisted the influence of Protestants. Today's plant is also deciated to St Angelus of Jerusalem (see above). According to Wikipedia, after his election to the papacy, Pius V continued to wear white, the colour of his Dominican habit. Every pope since him has also worn white clothing. Prior to Pius V, popes, like cardinals, wore red. This is why some papal accessories, such as the papal shoes, camauro, mozzetta, and cappello romano, are red. Pius V died on May 1, 1572, and was buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. He was succeeded by Pope Gregory XIII (reigned 1572 - '85). Pius V was canonized by Pope Clement XI (reigned 1700 - '21) on May 24, 1712. Today is his feast day, according to Chambers (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' Book of Days). However, modern sources give April 30. Feast day of St Sacerdos of Saguntum Feast day of St Theodore of Bologna Takoage
(Big Kite-Flying), at the
Suwa shrine,
Hamamatsu,
Shizoka
Prefecture, Japan (May 1 - 5) Ageuma
Shinji, or
Steeplechase Event,
Kuwana,
Mie Prefecture, Japan Sagami Giant Kite Festival,
Sagami River,
Kanagawa Prefecture,
Japan Kachiya Festival, Katori Shrine,
Kōtō,
Tokyo, Japan Dainembutsu Kyogen, Shinsen-en Shrine, Kyoto, Japan (May 1 - 5) Dontaku Matsuri, or Holiday Festival, at Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (May 3 - 5) Himeji Oshiro (Castle) Matsuri, at Himeji Castle, in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan (May 3 - 5) Fuchu Kurayami Matsuri (Night Festival), at Okunitama Shrine, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan Kamo Horse Race, at Kamigamo Shrine, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan Kurayami Matsuri (Darkness Festival), Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan (May 3 - 6) Feast of the Dragon, China
Children's Day,
South Korea Coronation Day,
Thailand Napoleon's Day,
France Liberation
Day (1945),
Denmark Liberation Day (1941), Ethiopia Indian Immigration Day (1838), Guyana Day of the Lusophone, CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries)
Cartoonists Day
1210 King Afonso III of Portugal 1813 Søren Kierkegaard (d. 1855), Danish philosopher 1818 Karl
Marx (d. 1883), German philosopher and social
theorist 1826 Empress Eugenie of France (d. 1920), empress as wife of Napoleon III 1829 Shusaku Honinbo (d. 1862), Go player 1846 Henryk Sienkiewicz (d. 1916), author, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1905
On January 25, 1890, Bly bettered Phileas Fogg's fictional feat in Around the World in Eighty Days by doing it in just 72 days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds after her departure from Hoboken, New Jersey, on November 14, 1889. Born to Judge Michael Cochran and Mary Jane Kennedy Cochran, part of the large Cochran family of Apollo, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Cochrane revolutionized journalism for women. In September
1887, Bly talked her way into the office of John Cockerill, managing
editor of Joseph Pulitzer's New York
World. Cockerill hired the unknown journalist and gave Bly her
first assignment – to be committed to the Women's Lunatic Asylum
on Blackwell's Island. Impersonating an insane woman, Nellie Bly
came back from the asylum ten days later with stories of cruel
beatings, ice cold baths and forced, rancid meals. This adventurous
and daring stunt propelled Bly into the limelight of New York
journalism, and, at only 23, Nellie Bly had become a pioneer of a
proud tradition that was well known in the West until the early 21st
Century: investigative journalism. On November 14,
1889, Nellie Bly began her worldwide journey on the
Hamburg-American Company liner Augusta Victoria from the
Hoboken Pier at precisely 9:40:30 a.m. Shop
Nellie Bly
1869 Hans Pfitzner 1882 (Estelle) Sylvia Pankhurst (d. September 27, 1960), campaigner in the suffragette movement. She was born in Manchester, England, a daughter of Dr Richard Pankhurst and Emmeline Pankhurst, members of the Independent Labour Party and much-concerned with women's rights. Her sisters Christabel and Adela were also activists. In 1906, she started to work full-time with the Women's Social and Political Union with her sister Christabel and her mother. But in contrast to them she retained her interest in the labour movement.
Early progressives in the Book of Days A world chronology of women's suffrage 1882 Sir Douglas
Mawson (d. 1958),
English-born Australian
Antarctic
explorer,
the man the Australian one hundred dollar banknote. He was one of the first to
ascend Mount Erebus and get close to the South magnetic pole. Mawson luckily turned down
an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's last fatal
expedition. His exploration resulted in
Australia claiming forty-two percent of Antarctica as Australian
Territory – an area roughly the size of Australia without
Queensland, or the USA without Texas and Alaska. 1890 Christopher Morley (d. 1957), American editor and author, co-founder of the Saturday Review of Literature 1901 Blind Willie McTell 1903 James
Beard 1906 Mary Astor (born Lucille Langehanke), Academy Award-winning American actress 1915 Alice Faye (d. 1998), Hollywood leading lady (George White's Scandals) 1913
Tyrone Power (d. 1958), Hollywood actor
( 1940 Eric Burdon, rock and blues singer (The Animals)
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