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reetings from Australia.
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Where the wind is on Martinmas Eve, there it will be the rest of winter.
If the 10th day be cloudy, it denunciates a wet; if dry, a sharp winter. In the Isle of Man … the first of November,
Old Style, has been regarded as New Year's Day down to recent times. Thus Manx mummers used to go round on
Hallowe'en (Old Style) singing in the Manx language, a sort of
Hogmanay song which began
"To-night is New Year's Night,
Hogunnaa!". Then a clear Companie came soon after closs,
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Lakshmibai (1835 - 1858)
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An absurd belief in the fables of classical antiquity lent an additional feature to the character of the woodland spirits of whom we treat. Greece and Rome had not only assigned tutelary deities to each province and city, but had peopled, with peculiar spirits, the Seas, the Rivers, the Woods, and the Mountains. The memory of the Pagan creed was not speedily eradicated in the extensive Provinces through which it was once universally received ; and in many particulars it continued long to mingle with, and influence, the original superstitions of the Gothic nations. Hence we find the elves occasionally arrayed in the costume of Greece and Rome, and the Fairy Queen and her attendants transformed into Diana and her nymphs, and invested with their attributes and appropriate insignia
(Delrius, pp. 168, 807). According to the same author, the Fairy Queen was also called
Habundia. Like Diana, who in one capacity was denominated Hecate, the goddess of enchantment, the Fairy Queen is identified in popular tradition with the Gyre-Carline, Gay Carline, or mother witch of the Scottish peasantry. Of this personage, as an individual, we have but few notices. She is sometimes termed
Nicnevin, and is mentioned in the Complaynt of Scotland, by Lindsay in his
Dreme, p. 225, edit. 1590, and in his Interludes, apud Pinkerton's Scottish Poems, vol. ii, p. z8. But the traditionary accounts regarding her are too obscure to admit of explanation. In the burlesque fragment subjoined, which is copied from the Bannatyne MS., the Gyre Carline is termed the Queen of Jowis
(Jovis, or perhaps Jews), and is, with great consistency, married to Mohammed.
Sir Walter
Scott (1771 - 1832),
Scottish writer; 'Minstrelsy
Of The Scottish Border'
In Tyberius tyme, the trew imperatour,
Quhen Tynto hills fra skraiping of tour-henis was keipit,
Thair dwelt ane grit Gyre Carling in awld Betokis hour,
That levit upoun Christiane menis flesche, and rewheids unleipit ;
Thair wynit ane hir by, on the west syde, callit Blasour,
For luve of hir Iauchane lippis he walit and he weipit ;
He gadderit ane menzie of modwartis to warp doun the tour;
The Carling with ane yren club, quhen yat Blasour sleipit,
Behind the heil scho hat him sic ane blaw,
Quhil Blasour bled ane quart
Off milk pottage inwart,
The Carling luche, and lut fart
North Berwik Law.
The King of Fary than come, with elfis many ane,
And sett ane sege, and ane salt, with grit pensallis of pryd;
And all the doggis fra Dunbar wes thair to Dumblane,
With all the tykis of Tervey, come to thame that tyd ;
Thay quelle doune with thair gonnes mony grit stane,
The Carling schup hir on ane sow, and is her gaitis gane,
Grunting our the Greik sie, and durst na langer byd,
For bruklyng of bargane, and breiking of browis ;
The Carling now for dispyte
Is mareit with Mahomyte,
And wall the doggis interdyte,
For scho is quene of Jowis.
Sensyne the cockis of Crawmound crew nevir at day,
For dule of that devillisch deme wes with Mahoun mareit,
And the henis of Hadingtoun sensyne wald not lay,
For this wild wibroun wich thame widlit sa and wareit ;
And the same North Berwik Law, as I heir wyvis say,
This Carling, with a fals cast, wald away careit ;
For to luck on quha sa lykis, na langer scho tareit;
All this languor for love before tymes fell;
Lang or Betok was born,
Scho bred of ane accorne ;
The laif of the story to morne,
To you I sall telle.
Anonymous; quoted in Sir Walter
Scott (1771 - 1832),
Scottish writer; 'Minstrelsy
Of The Scottish Border'
It is not a unique, unheard-of thing for the Devil to thump about and haunt houses. In our monastery in Wittenberg I heard him distinctly. For when I began to lecture on the Book of Psalms and I was sitting in the refectory after we had sung matins, studying and writing my notes, the Devil came and thudded three times in the storage chamber [the area behind the stove] as if dragging a bushel away. Finally, as it did not want to stop, I collected my books and went to bed. I still regret to this hour that I did not sit him out, to discover what else the Devil wanted to do. I also heard him once over my chamber in the monastery.
Martin Luther, German church reformer, born on November 10, 1483
"Ship, ahoy! Hast seen the White Whale?"
So cried Ahab, once more hailing a ship showing English colours, bearing down under the stern. Trumpet to mouth, the old man was standing in his hoisted quarter-boat, his ivory leg plainly revealed to the stranger captain, who was carelessly reclining in his own boat's bow. He was a darkly-tanned, burly, good-natured, fine-looking man, of sixty or thereabouts, dressed in a spacious roundabout, that hung round him in festoons of blue pilot-cloth; and one empty arm of this jacket streamed behind him like the broidered arm of a hussar's surcoat.
"Hast seen the White Whale!"
'The Pequod, of Nantucket, Meets the Samuel Enderby, of London', Ch. 100,
Moby
Dick, by Herman Melville; Samuel Enderby commenced the whaling industry in Australia on November 10, 1791
When sailing up the coast within 3 leagues of the shore, I saw more whales at one time around my ship than in the whole of the six years which I have fished the coast of Brazil.
Herman Melville, writing in 1791, on the Britannia off the coast of
New South Wales, Australia
The Ranee was remarkable for her bravery, cleverness and perseverance; her generosity to her subordinates was unbounded. These qualities, combined with her rank, rendered her the most dangerous of the rebel leaders.
General Sir High Rose, the officer commanding the force that took Jhansi and Gwalior, of Lakshmibai, who was born on November 10, 1835
There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven, but this is not among them.
Walt Whitman, American poet, on seeing survivors of Major Henry Wirz's prison camp at Andersonville; Wirz was hanged on November 10, 1865
I know what orders are, Major. I am being hanged for obeying them.
Major Henry Wirz, on the scaffold, to his superior officer
Doctor Livingstone, I presume?
Famous words of Henry Morton
Stanley, spoken on November 10, 1871 when he found Dr David Livingstone at Ujiji, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika
Yes, and I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you.
David Livingstone's reply to Stanley
Cable from Laurence Olivier to Richard Burton at the height of the Cleopatra
movie scandal: "Make up your mind, dear heart. Do you want to be a great actor or a household word?" Burton replied:
"Both."
Richard Burton, Welsh actor, born on November 10, 1925
When I played drunks I had to remain sober because I didn't know how to play them when I was drunk.
Richard Burton
I've done the most awful rubbish in order to have somewhere to go in the morning.
Richard Burton
My father considered that anyone who went to chapel and didn't drink alcohol was not to be tolerated. I grew up in that belief.
Richard Burton
The minute you start fiddling around outside the idea of monogamy, nothing satisfies anymore.
Richard Burton; on adultery, 1963
I've played the lot: a homosexual, a sadistic gangster, kings, princes, a saint, the lot. All that's left is a Carry On film. My last ambition.
Richard Burton
I have to think hard to name an interesting man who does not drink.
Richard Burton
Perhaps most actors are latent homosexuals and we cover it with drink. I was once a homosexual, but it didn't work.
Richard Burton
I rather like my reputation, actually, that of a spoiled genius from the Welsh gutter, a drunk, a womanizer; it's rather an attractive image.
Richard Burton
You may be as vicious about me as you please. You will only do me justice.
Richard Burton
American Indians are caught in the same dilemma as libertarians. We're neither left nor right. We're just for freedom.
Russell Means, Native American activist, born on November 10, 1939
Freedom is for everyone, whatever lifestyle they choose, as long as it's peaceful and honest – from high-tech entrepreneur to hippie in a commune and everyone in between ...
Russell Means
Kesey's belly was hurting and the docs did a scan and found a black spot on his liver. It was cancerous but encapsulated which meant there was no cancer anywhere else. They decided to cut it out and the surgery went okay. He had sixty percent of his liver left to carry the load but in one of those dirty tricks the body can play on you everything else went to hell and this morning at 3:45 AM his heart stopped beating.
A great good friend and great husband and father and grand dad, he will be sorely missed but if there is one thing he would want us to do it would be to carry on his life's work. Namely to treat others with kindness and if anyone does you dirt forgive that person right away. This goes beyond the art, the writing, the performances, even the bus. Right down to the bone.
Ken Babbs on Ken Kesey,
American author and Merry Prankster who died on November 10, 2001
I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is on trial here, and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learned here may prove useful to it, for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war the company has waged in the delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the company's dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.
On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and all those who assist them. I am not one of those who shy away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected of a military regime. The military do not act alone. They are supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, judges, academics and businessmen, all of them hiding under the claim that they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of their urine.
We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our country and jeopardised the future of our children. As we subscribe to the subnormal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms, degrade our hospitals, and make ourselves the slaves of those who subscribe to higher standards, who pursue the truth, and honour justice, freedom and hard work.
Ken Siro-Wiwa, Nigerian environmental activist; statement made just before his execution on November 10, 1995
November 10
is
the 314th
day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (315th
in leap years), with 51
days remaining.
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Martinmas Eve, Germany
Bonfires for the Eve of St Martin are still found along the Rhine and Moselle rivers, and these are pagan in origin. It was believed that one can be cleansed and protected by dancing around a fire, just as domestic beasts such as cattle were cleansed of vermin by driving them through blazing fires.
Moselle, song sung while dancing around fire:
Vine branches, vine branches, wood shavings,
Give us something for our
Martinmas fire.
Here with the wine,
Here with the apples,
Beer will be brewed,
Wine will be drunk,
Holy St Martin.
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Dave