This page is big! If it fails to load fully, please click Refresh on your browser menu.
It's fully loaded when you see the purple menu bar at the foot of the page.

reetings from Australia. 

Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.

First time here?  See the Index for How it works

Celebrate each and every day with a free subscription to the daily ezine. You can apply by form or send a blank email. Read what the 'Almaniacs' (members) say about Wilson's Almanac.

I request your support if this website pleases and informs you, as this is my livelihood. Thank you, from the bottom of my fridge. 

Inquiries from publishers are welcome, but, dear reader, please don't use my work without my written permission. If I've inadvertently used something of yours that you consider not to fall under the fair use doctrine, please tell me and I'll remove it.

Carpe diem! (Seize the day!)

Pip Wilson

Our news on your homepage (that is, if you use My Yahoo, which we recommend for your start-up page)

Carpe diem! 2 Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search Open links in a New Window

Today is

Most people seem to think I'm the kind of guy who shaves with a blowtorch. Actually I'm bookish and worrisome.
Burt Lancaster, American actor, born on November 2, 1913

It's the best job in picture business because when you're a director, you're God. And you know that's the best job in town.
Burt Lancaster

Life is to be lived within the limits of your knowledge and within the concept of what you would like to see yourself to be.
Burt Lancaster

Tits and sand – that's what we used to call sex and violence in Hollywood.
Burt Lancaster (1983)

I don't know why Airport was nominated for any Oscars – it's the biggest piece of junk ever.
Burt Lancaster (he played in Airport)

We're all forgotten sooner or later. But not films. That's all the memorial we should need or hope for.
Burt Lancaster

I woke up one day a star. It was terrifying. Then I worked hard toward becoming a good actor.
Burt Lancaster

Sister, you're trying to keep me alive as an old curiosity, but I'm done, I'm finished, I'm going to die.
Last words of George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, who died on November 2, 1950   Source

God bless ... God damn.
Last words (attrib.) of James Thurber ), American humorist who died on November 2, 1961

November 2 is the 306^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (307^th in leap years), with 59 days remaining.
On the dating of items in the Almanac  Translate this page  Birthday star  Your birth day  Daily Everything  NNDB  Time/Date  Google
Calendar converter  Almanacs, calendars, time, dedicated weeks, etc  Almanac screensavers  On this day  Dictionary  I recommend
IMDB days  IMDB years  Wikipedia days  Wiki decades  Wiki centuries  Timelines  Conversions  Calendrica  Lunabar  Birthday calculator
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.

All Souls Day (Solemnity of All Souls; Commemoration of the Faithful Departed), Catholicism

All Souls Day (Commemoratio omnium fidelium defunctorum) is the day set apart in the Roman Catholic Church for the commemoration of the faithful departed. The celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful which at death have not been cleansed from venial sins, or have not atoned for past transgressions, cannot attain the Beatific Vision, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the mass.

The feast falls on the 2nd of November; or on the 3rd if the 2nd is a Sunday or a festival of the first class ...

Certain popular beliefs connected with All Souls Day are of pagan origin and immemorial antiquity. Thus the dead are believed by the peasantry of many Catholic countries to return to their former homes on All Souls Night and partake of the food of the living. In Tirol, cakes are left for them on the table and the room kept warm for their comfort. In Brittany, the people flock into the cemeteries at nightfall to kneel bare-headed at the graves of their loved ones, and to toll the hollow of the tombstone with holy water or to pour libations of milk upon it, and at bedtime the supper is left on the table for the soul's refreshment.

Wikipedia

Celebrated much more in former days, on All Souls Day (the day following All Saints or All Hallows' Day), people pray for the souls of the dead, particularly those believed to be in Purgatory.

It is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church which has set it aside for a service for the repose of the deceased. Roman Catholic doctrine holds that after death, human spirits might spend time in a punishing place called Purgatory, which the Catholic Encyclopedia defines thus: "Purgatory (Lat., 'purgare', to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions … since our prayers and our sacrifices can help those who are still waiting in purgatory, the saints have not hesitated to warn us that we have a real duty toward those who are still in purgatorial expiation." Apparently, purgatorial punishment can be for seemingly minor sins: a long time after his death, Saint Severin, Archbishop of Cologne, appeared to a friend and told him that he had been in purgatory for having postponed until evening a prayer that he should have said in the morning.

In England it used to be observed by the ringing of the soul bell, the eating of soul cakes (flat, round, spicy cakes), and the blessing of beans.

(A bell, the 'passing bell' was also rung when a person was in extremis, to scare away evil spirits. [Similarly, the ancient Athenians used to beat on kettles at the moment of one's death, to frighten away the Furies.] )

The English would distribute soul cakes to the poor who went a-souling at the church door. The poor would say:

Soul, soul, for soul cake,
Pray you, good mistress, a soul cake.

Papers called Soul-papers were given away with these cakes. They contained requests for prayers for the souls of the departed.

Before 998, All Souls' was marked with celebrations from the festival of Woden (Odin) as god of the dead, "parading the Hodening wild horse and other guising including mummers' plays enacting the mysteries of life, death and rebirth". (Pennick, Nigel, The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, USA, 1992) Hodening is a custom which used to be found in Wales, and locally in Kent, Lancashire, and other English counties, at various dates during the Christmas and New Year seasons, and seems to be a survival of the hobby-horse tradition once common during the Christmas season in the British Isles.

"This is a festival celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, on behalf of the souls in purgatory, for whose release the prayers of the faithful are this day offered up and masses performed. It is said to have been first introduced in the ninth century by Odilon, abbot of Cluny; but was not generally established till towards the end of the tenth century. Its observance was esteemed of such importance, that in the event of its falling on a Sunday, it was ordered not to be postponed till the Monday, as in the case of other celebrations, but to take place on the previous Saturday, that the souls of the departed might suffer no detriment from the want of the prayers of the church. It was customary in former times, on this day, for persons dressed in black to traverse the streets, ringing a dismal-toned bell at every corner, and calling on the inhabitants to remember the souls suffering penance in purgatory, and to join in prayer for their liberation and repose. 

"At Naples, it used to be a custom on this day to throw open the charnel-houses, which were lighted up with torches and decked with flowers, while crowds thronged through the vaults to visit the bodies of their friends and relatives, the fleshless skeletons of which were dressed up in robes and arranged in niches along the walls. At Salerno, also, we are told, that a custom prevailed previous to the fifteenth century, of providing in every house on the eve of All-Souls-Day, a sumptuous entertainment for the souls in purgatory who were supposed then to revisit temporarily, and make merry in, the scene of their earthly pilgrimage. Every one quitted the habitation, and after spending the night at church, returned in the morning to find the whole feast consumed, it being deemed eminently inauspicious if a morsel of victuals remained uneaten. The thieves who made a harvest of this pious custom, assembling, then, from all parts of the country, generally took good care to avert any such evil omen from the inmates of the house by carefully carrying off whatever they were unable themselves to consume. A resemblance may be traced in this observance, to an incident in the story of Bel and the Dragon, in the Apocrypha."
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)

Soul Cakes

Ingredients:
Two sticks butter
3 and 3/4 cups sifted flour
1 cup fine white sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or mace
1 teaspoon each, cinnamon, ginger, allspice
2 eggs
2 teaspoons malt vinegar (or cider vinegar)
Oven:
350 degrees; bake 20-25 minutes
Method: Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender
(or a large fork). Blend in the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and
spice and mix to a stiff dough with the beaten eggs and
vinegar. Knead thoroughly and roll out, 1/4 inch thick. Cut
into 3-inch rounds and set on greased baking sheets. Prick
cakes with a fork and bake. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar

"During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church tried to replace the idea of ghosts wandering around the night sky with that of souls who went straight to Heaven, Hell or Purgatory upon death and thus could not be contacted by those spiritual practitioners whose role it was to pass along messages from one world to another.

"With this development, the link was broken between people and their ancestors, who could no longer be prayed to or invited to return to provide advice."
School of the Seasons, from a good article on All Souls Day

Find an error or dead link? 
Like to make a suggestion, or just say "G'day"?
Meet me at Corrigenda

Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! Our store Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald Fahrenheit 9/11   Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry By Prof. Peter W Singer Lempriere's Dictionary Reading Lolita in Tehran Internet Sacred Text Archive CD-ROM The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines The Spiral Dance By Starhawk 20th Anniversary Edition Eats, Shoots & Leaves Uluru Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations Life in a Medieval Village   To support this project Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.     Search for posters An Inconvenient Truth By Al Gore; DVD & book The Permaculture Home Garden By Linda Woodrow The Big Buy - Tom Delay's Stolen Congress The Corporation Highly recommended DVD How to Kill a Country Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our Lives and What We Can Do About It What Would Jefferson Do? By Thom Hartmann How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World Pagan Christianity Hello Laziness! By Corrine Maier For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire By James Yee Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy By Robert F Kennedy, Jr The Price of Loyalty The Torture Debate in America The Culture of the New Capitalism Lawless World The Great War for Civilisation By Robert Fisk The God Who Wasn't There A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy When Corporations Rule the World Alternatives to Economic Globalization Feminism Without Borders Commercializat of Intimate Life By Arlie Russell Hochschild The Skeptic's Dictionary Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy By Robert F Kennedy, Jr For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire By James Yee Medieval Celebrations Women's Activism and Globalization The Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites Secrets and Lies The Clash of Civilizations Imperial Crusades Aborigine Dreaming The Medieval Cookbook The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe The Murray Bookchin Reader Environmental Activism Astro pic of the day American Folklore Permaculture Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature & Art (Seyffert) Sun Goddess African Folklore Daily Everything A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore The Edible Asian Garden The Secret Language of Birthdays Live with Passion! Anthony Robbins More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at   Cafe Diem! Celtic Daily Prayer Hidden Agendas Poor Richard's Almanack By Benjamin Franklin Photo of the day Mother Earth Spirituality Wheel of the Year The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable The Survival of the Pagan Gods Click to promote  your blog or website  another excellent  way we do

Dveselu Diena, ancient Latvia   Dveselu Diena ('day of souls'), also called Visu Sveto Diena ('all holy day'). Families (supposedly, both living and dead members) gathered at their burial plots during the evening to commemorate the continuation of life. Latvian holidays The Isia, to the goddess Isis, ancient Egypt; the Zetesis and Heuresis, sixth day (Oct 28 - Nov 3) The Good Spirit, ancient Greece "Greek: The 2nd day of each month is sacred to the Agathos Daimon, the "Good Spirit" (roughly equivalent to a combination of the Will and the guardian angel of each person).   Source El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Mexico and the United States (Nov 1 - 2) A Mexican and Mexican-American celebration of dead ancestors. Feast day of St Eustachius Feast day of St George of Vienne Feast day of St Hermes Feast day of St John Bodey Feast day of St Jorandus of Kergrist Feast day of St Justus of Trieste Feast day of St Marcian, anchoret and confessor (Winter cherry, Physalis, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) Feast day of St Victorinus of Pettau, bishop and martyr Shop Saints Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days The Rhyne Toll, Chetwode Manor (Oct 30 - Nov 7) The coronation of Haile Selassie (1930) Celebrated by the Rastafari movement. Kitano Odori, Kyoto, Japan (Nov 1 - 15) Bamboches for guédé mystères, Voudon (Nov 1 - 2) The dead who come out of the cemeteries, possess their "horses", and come into the oum´phors to amuse themselves in the form of souls incarnated or reincarnated; Voudon (Voodoo).   Source First Tuesday after the first Monday in November: US election day An optional holiday in 23 of the 50 states, in years of general and presidential elections. Admission day (1889) of North Dakota and South Dakota as 39th and 40th states, USA       On which day of the week were you born? Find out here 1667 James Sobieski (d. 1737), Crown Prince of Poland 1699 Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (d. 1779), French painter 1734 Daniel Boone (d. 1820), American pioneer and hunter whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the USA. Boone was born on October 22, 1734. Because the Gregorian calendar was adopted during Boone's lifetime, his birth date is sometimes given as November 2, 1734 (the 'New Style' date), although Boone used the October date. John Filson's 'The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon', part of his book The Discovery, Settlement And present State of Kentucke (1784), established Boone as one of the first popular heroes of the USA. Folklore has it that when he met his wife-to-be, Rebecca Bryan, he thought she was a deer in the dark woods, but couldn't shoot her because he had never seen a deer with blue eyes before. He tracked her to her home and was smitten when he saw her. He continued to follow Rebecca around until she consented to marry him. 1739 Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (d. 1799), composer 1755 Marie Antoinette (d. 1793), Queen of France, wife of King Louis XVI "Marie Antoinette, born in Vienna, Austria (1755). At age 15 she was married to the crowned prince of France, who became King Louis XVI four years later. He was quiet and kept a low profile, but she was outgoing and flamboyant, and people came to resent her extravagant ways. She tended to do her own thing with her friends, and thereby alienated a lot of the people in the court. They distributed satirical pamphlets criticizing her as immoral and wasteful. Antoinette supported the Old Regime when the French Revolution began, and when the National Convention established the First French Republic in 1792, she and the King were imprisoned. On October 16, 1793, she was executed on the guillotine."   Source 1795 James Knox Polk (d. 1849), 11th President of the United States 1815 George Boole, mathematician and philosopher. As the inventor of Boolean algebra, which is the basis of all modern computer arithmetic, Boole is regarded in hindsight as one of the founders of the field of computer science, although computers did not exist in his day. 1844 Mehmed V (d. 1918), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1865 Warren G Harding (d. August 2, 1923), 29th President of the United States 1877 Aga Khan III (Sultan Mahommed Shah; d. July 11, 1957), Muslim chief, stupendously rich 48th Imam of the Ismailis, descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, grandson of the Shah of Persia, and president of the League of Nations. Khan was president of the All-India Muslim League and an important player in the London Round Table Conferences on Indian constitutional reform in the early 1930s. He was also an owner of thoroughbred racing horses, including five winners of the Epsom Derby. His "followers weighed him in public, once on his golden jubilee (1936), when they gave him his weight in gold, and once on his diamond jubilee (1946), when they gave him his weight in diamonds. (He presented both gifts to charitable and public works.)" (Source) Mark Twain met him in 1895 and described him as "a most courteous and charming gentleman", who "wears his immense honors with tranquil grace, and with a dignity proper to his awful calling". 1894 Alexander Lippisch (d. 1976), German aerodynamicist 1913 Burt Lancaster (d. October 20, 1994), American actor (From Here to Eternity; Elmer Gantry; Birdman of Alcatraz), voted the 39th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. His production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster produced the such films as Paddy Chayefsky's Marty (Oscar winner, 1955). "Known for his liberal political sympathies, he was one of the Hollywood movie stars, along with Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr., Charlton Heston, Sydney Poitier and Paul Newman, who participated in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s March on Washington in August 1963."   Source 1914 Ray Walston (d. 2001), actor 1927 Steve Ditko, artist 1929 Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, former President of Pakistan 1938 Pat Buchanan, journalist, politician 1942 Shere Hite, author 1942 Stefanie Powers, actress 1944 Keith Emerson, British keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of The Nice, he went on to start Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), one of the first supergroups, in 1970. 1946 Giuseppe Sinopoli (d. 2001), Italian conductor and composer 1961 kd lang (Kathryn Dawn Lang), Canadian singer and songwriter 1965 Shah Rukh Khan, actor 1991 Victoria Climbié (d. 2000), murder victim   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send a free e-card to friends and family for today's celebrations and any topic Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Diwali [ Varies ] Birthdays All Saints' Day [ Nov 1 ] Guy Fawkes Day [ Nov 5 ] Varies Full Moon Day Varies Friday the 13th Varies Buddhist e-cards Varies Christian e-cards Varies Hindu e-cards Varies Jewish e-cards Varies Muslim e-cards Varies Pagan e-cards Varies Peace e-cards Varies Friendship e-cards Varies Bhai Dooj Varies Eid ul-Fitr Varies Hari Raya Varies Sukkot Varies Navratri Varies Karva Chauth Varies Simchat Torah Varies Durga Puja Varies Daylight Saving Time Begins / Ends