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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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The Centaur, Sagittarius, am I, Born of Ixion's and the cloud's embrace; With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly, A steed Thessalian with a human face. Sharp winds the arrows are with which I chase The leaves, half dead already with affright; I shroud myself in gloom; and to the race Of mortals bring nor comfort nor delight. HW Longfellow (1807 - '82); The Poet's Calendar for November
If on All Saints' Day the beech nut is dry, we shall have a hard winter; but if the nut be wet and not light, we may expect a wet
winter.
If on All Saints' Day the beech acorn is dry we will stick behind the stove in winter, but if it is wet and not light the winter will not be dry, but wet. All Saints' Summer lasts three hours, three days or three weeks. |
Calavera de la Catrina, by José Guadalupe
Posada (1854
- 1913),
radical Mexican
engraver
and illustrator,
sometimes known as 'the Artist of the Day of the Dead' (more below) |
If All Saints' Day will bring out the winter, St Martin's Day will bring out Indian
summer.
American traditional proverb
On All Saints' Day hard is the grain,
The leaves are dropping, the puddle is full;
At setting off in the morning
Woe to him that will trust a stranger.
From The Heroic Elegies of Llywarch Hęn (6th-Century Welsh), translated by Dr W Owen
Pughe, 1792 (William Hone, The
Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co.,
London, 1878, 711 - 712; 1825-26
edition online)
All Saints' Day, a time of pleasant
gossiping,
The gale and the storm keep equal pace,
It is the labour of falsehood to keep a secret.
Ibid
On All Saints' Day the stags are
lean,
Yellow are the tops of birch; deserted is the summer dwelling.
Woe to him who for a trifle deserves a curse.
Ibid
On All Saints' Day the tops of the branches are
bent;
In the mouth of the mischievous, disturbance is congenial:
Where there is no natural gift there will be no learning.
Ibid
On All Saints' Day blustering is the weather.
Very unlike the beginning of the past fair season:
Besides God there is none who knows the future.
Ibid
On All Saints' Day 'tis hard and dry,
Doubly black is the crow, quick is the arrow from the bow,
For the stumbling of the old, the looks of the young wear a smile.
Ibid
On All Saints' Day bare is the place where the heath is
burnt,
The plough is in the furrow, the ox at work:
Amongst a hundred 'tis a chance to find a friend.
Ibid
Fairies – sometimes banshees or females, sometimes
fershees or males – often kept company with mortals, and became greatly attached to them. Every Samain a
banshee used to visit Fingin Mac Luchta, king of South Munster in the second century, and bring him on a round of visits to the
shees, to see all the precious things therein. A banshee follower of a mortal was usually called a
lennan-shee ('fairy-lover'), and instances of such attachments are
innumerable.
Joyce, Soc. Hist. Ireland, Vol. 1. p. 265; today continues Samhain
Now plough up thy headland, or delve it with spade;
If garden require it now trench it ye may.
Green peason or Hastings at Hallontide sow;
Grey peason or runcivals at Candlemas
Set garlike and beans at St. Edmond the King.
At Hallontine, slaughter-time entereth in;
And then doth the husbandman's feasting begin.
From thence unto Shrovetide kill now and then some;
Their offal for household the better will come.
The fewer thou keepest, keep better ye may;
For Easter at Martilmas hang up a beef.
Foul privies are now to be cleansed and fy'd
Let night be appointed, such baggage to hide;
Which buried in garden, in trenches a-low,
Shall make very many things better to grow.
...
Let hogs, once fat, lose nothing of that,
When mast is gone, hog falleth anon.
Now pork and souse bears tack in house.
...
Some corneth, some brineth, some will not be taught.
Where meat is attainted, their cooking is naught.
Thomas Tusser
(1524 - 1580), Five hundreth pointes of good husbandrie: as well for the champion or open countrie, as also for the woodland or severall ; mixed in everie month with huswiferie, over and besides the booke of
huswiferie, London: 'Printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie Denham in Aldersgate Street at the signe of the starre', 1586
The feis of Tearnur each third year,
To preserve laws and rules,
Was then convened firmly
By the illustrious Kings of Erin.
Cathaoir of sons-in-law convened
The beautiful Feis of regal Temur,
There came with him – the better for it –
The men of Erin to one Place –
Three days before Saman always,
Three days after it – it was a goodly custom
The host of very high passion spent,
Constantly drinking during the week,
Without theft, without wounding a man
Among them during all this time;
Without feats of arms, without deceit,
Without exercising horses.
Whoever did any of these things
Was a wretched enemy with heavy venom;
Gold was not received as a retribution from him,
But his soul in one hour.
Eochaidh O'Flinn, 10th century
A sort of the richest of them being shipped with their treasure, in a mighty tall ship which they had hired, when the same was under sail, and got down the Thames, towards the mouth of the river, the master-mariner bethought him of a wile, and caused his men to cast anchor, and so rode at the same, till the ship, by ebbing of the stream, remained on the dry sand. The master herewith enticed the Jews to walk out with him on land, for recreation; and at length, when he understood the tide to be coming in, he got him back to the ship, whither he was drawn up by a cord. The Jews made not so much haste as he did, because they were not aware of the danger; but when they perceived how the matter stood, they cried to him for help, howbeit he told them that they ought to cry rather unto Moses, by whose conduct their fathers passed through the Red Sea; and, there-fore, if they would call to him for help, he was able to help them out of these raging floods, which now came in upon them. They cried, indeed, but no succour appeared, and so they were swallowed up in the water. The master returned with his ship, and told the king how he had used the matter, and had both thanks and rewards, as some have written.
Raphael Holinshed (died
c. 1580), English chronicler, writes of a tragic incident during the expulsion of the Jews from England, which commenced on November 1, 1290
That which controls you has only two eyes, has only two hands, has only one body and but one thing which the least of men in all the cities has, but more than you all, it is the advantage which you give him to destroy you.
Étienne de La Boétie (d. August 18, 1563), French author, born on November 1, 1530
It is incredible how as soon as a people become subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and willingly that one is led to say that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement.
Étienne de La Boétie
Next was November; he full grown and fat
As fed with lard, and that right well might seeme;
For he had been a fatting hogs of late,
That yet his browes with sweat did reek and steam;
And yet the season was full sharp and breem;
In planting eeke he took no small delight,
Whereon he rode, not easy was to deeme
For it a dreadful centaure was in sight,
The seed of Saturn and fair Nais, Chiron hight.
Edmund Spenser (c.
1552 - January 13, 1599), English poet; Faerie Queen,
'The Cantos of Mutabilitie'
No sun – no moon! No morn – no noon –
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day ...
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, –
November!
Thomas Hood, English poet, 1799 - 1845; 'No!'
November, though her fields are drear and cold
Still holds for searching eyes some glints of brightness;
A faded thread from autumn's cloth of gold
Is gemmed with foreflakes of the winter's whiteness.
Nixon Waterman, in the Old Farmer's Almanac for 1904
And it is All Souls' Night
And two long glasses brimmed with muscatel
Bubble upon the table. A ghost may come;
For it is a ghosts' right,
His element is so fine
Being sharpened by his death,
To drink from the wine-breath
While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.
WB Yeats, 'All Souls' Night'; Yeats is referring to All Souls' Eve
customs in Ireland, November 1, for tomorrow is All Souls'
Day; today is All Saints' Day. Like its pagan predecessor, Samhain, the
Roman Catholic season of the dead lasted several days.
… the living reached out to them [i.e. the dead], and hoped by the pressure of their willing to break down for one night the frontier between the two kingdoms, and enable those on the far side to return. On All Souls Eve families sat up, and little cakes, known as Soul Cakes, were eaten by everyone. There were still a few children in 1938, going from door to door
'souling' for cakes or money, by singing a song.
Whistler, English Fest.; on the festivals of All Saints and All Souls
(tomorrow we have a recipe for soul cakes)
As the clock struck twelve there was silence, for at this hour the souls of the dead would revisit their earthly homes. There were candles burning in every room to guide them … and there was a glass of wine on the table to refresh them. But even though the room became crowded with urgent invisible faces, no one looked for the wine to diminish by even a hair's breadth during the vigil.
Wright and Lones, British Calendar Customs, England
Cheiro has exposed my character to me with
humiliating accuracy. I ought not to confess this accuracy, still I am moved to
do so.
Mark Twain
(1835
- 1910)
on palmist Cheiro, who was born on November 1, 1866
November
1
is
the 305th
day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (306th
in leap years), with 60
days remaining.
Calendar converter Almanacs,
calendars, time, dedicated weeks, etc
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November birthstone: Yellow ('golden') topaz, signifying fidelity; citrine.
Who first comes to this world below,
With dear November's fog, and snow,
Should prize the Topaz's amber hue,
Emblem of friends, and lovers true.
Traditional English rhyme
November
November is the eleventh month of the year in the Gregorian
calendar, with 30 days. From the Latin
novem for 'nine' (it was originally the ninth month of the year, before
January and
February were inserted).
It was the ninth month in the ancient Roman calendar, when the year began in March. The old Dutch name was
Slaghtmaand (slaughter-month, the time when the beasts were killed and salted down for winter
use; the name might also have referred to human sacrifice); the old Saxon Wind-monath (wind-month, when the
fishermen took their boats ashore, and put aside fishing till the next spring); it was also called
Blot-monath – the same as Slaghtmaand. In the French Republican Calendar it was called
Brumaire (fog-month,
c.
October 22 to November 20).
Frankish name: Herbistmanoth, or harvest (of animals) month. Ásatrú: Fogmoon. American backwoods: Beaver Moon.
Almost the whole month coincides with the goddess-calendar month of Samhain (pronounced sow-wen – sow as in pig), the feminine personification of the Nove. She is an aspect of the Cailleach (crone, or old woman).
Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days November poetry and folklore
Solemnity of All Saints
(All Saints' Day; All Hallows' Day)
(See also October 31, Halloween, Samhain, the Eve of All Saints' Day)
Today is half-way between the equinox and the solstice. Odile, the 10th-Century abbot of Cluny, Ireland, changed the name of November 1 from Samhain (the Celtic feast) to All Saints' Day (All Hallows' Day). The Catholic Church instituted this day as All Hallows' Day because of the sheer numbers of saints, not all of whom could be given their own day. Today is a holiday in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Seychelles, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, The Philippines, Hungary and Croatia.
"1 November, instituted to honor all the saints, known and unknown. It owes its origin in the Western Church to the dedication of the Pantheon in honor of the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs by Pope Boniface IV, 609, the anniversary of which was celebrated at Rome, 13 May. Pope Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Vatican basilica in honor of All Saints, designating 1 November as their feast; Gregory IV extended its observance to the whole Church. It has a vigil and octave and is a holy day of obligation. The eve is popularly celebrated as Hallowe'en." Source
Goffine's
Devout Instructions Catholic
Encyclopedia
An All Saints chapel decorated with human bones
Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice) is a small Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to All Saints and decorated with human bones, at Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. See the galleries.
All-Hallow-Tide revels, Middle Temple, London
"In the reign of Charles
I, the young gentlemen of the Middle Temple were accustomed at All-Hallow-Tide, which they considered the beginning of Christmas, to associate themselves for the festive objects connected with the season. In 1629, they chose Bulstrode Whitelocke as Master of the Revels, and used to meet every evening at
St Dunstan's Tavern, in a large new room, called 'The Oracle of Apollo,' each man bringing friends with him at his own pleasure. It was mind of mock parliament, where various questions were discussed, as in our modern debating societies; but these temperate proceedings were seasoned with mirthful doings, to which the name of Revels was given, and of which dancing appears to have been the chief. On All-Hallows-Day,
'the master [Whitelocke, then four-and-twenty], as soon as the evening was come, entered the hall, followed by sixteen revellers. They were proper handsome young gentlemen, habited in rich suits, shoes and stockings, hats and great feathers. The master led them in his bar gown, with a white staff in his hand, the music playing before them. They began with the old masques; after which they danced the Brawls, and then the master took his seat, while the revellers flaunted through galliards, corantos, French and country dances, till it grew very late.
"'As might be expected, the reputation of this dancing soon brought a store of other gentlemen and ladies, some of whom were of great quality; and when the ball was over, the festive-party adjourned to Sir Sydney Montague's chamber, lent for the purpose to our young president. At length the court-ladies and grandees were allured – to the contentment of his vanity it may have been, but entailing on him serious expense – and then there was great striving for places to see them on the part of the London citizens … To crown the ambition and vanity of all, a great German lord had a desire to witness the revels, then making such a sensation at court, and the Templars entertained him at great cost to themselves, receiving in exchange that which cost the great noble very little
– his avowal that
"dere was no such nople gollege in Ghristendom as
deirs"'."
Memoirs of Bulstrode Whitelocke, by RH Whitelocke, 1860, p 56; in 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)
Some customs
Perthshire, Scotland: Druid priests distributed consecrated fire, the virtues of which would last a year.
William
Hone,
The
Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co.,
London, 1878, 707;
1825-26
edition online
Eve of All Souls, parts of England: A ceremony called a tinley. Bonfires were lit to light souls out of purgatory.
Ibid, 707
Ireland: People used to drink lamb's-wool, ale mixed with bruised roast apples. The first day of November was dedicated to the angel presiding over fruits, seeds, and so on, and was called
La Mas Ubhal, ie, the day of the apple fruit, pronounced lamasool, which the English corrupted to lamb's wool.
Ibid, 708
Wales/Ireland: A bonfire called a Beal teinidh was burned ceremoniously. The meaning of tan (in Welsh) is, like the Irish
teinidh, fire. Bal means a projecting springing out or expanding – budding of leaves, the same as
balant. Welsh tan bal or bal dan means rejoicing fire for the vegetation, or for the crop of the year.
Ibid, 711
Teanlay
Night
The vigil (eve) of All
Souls' Day (November 2) when bonfires were lighted and revels held
for succouring souls.
Ivor H
Evans, Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
All-Hallows' Summer
(In England.) Another name for St
Martin's Summer or an Indian Summer, so called because it set in about All-Hallows; similarly there is a St
Luke's Summer (from
October 18).
Ibid
Ancient Wales: considered the conclusion of
Summer, celebrated with bonfires.
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