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reetings from Australia. 

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Pip Wilson

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I do not believe that our friends at the South have any just idea of the state of feeling, hurrying at this moment to a pitch of intense exasperation, between those who respect their political obligations, and those who apparently have no impelling power but that which a fanatical position on the subject of domestic Slavery imparts. Without discussing the question of right — of abstract power to secede — I have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur without blood; and if, through the madness of Northern Abolitionists, that dire calamity must come, the fighting will not be along Mason's and Dixon's line merely. It [will] be within our own borders, in our own streets, between the two classes of citizens to whom I have referred.
Franklin Pierce, 14^th President (1853 - '57) of the USA, born on November 23, 1804; from Letter to Jefferson Davis, January 6, 1860

Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.
Franklin Pierce

I wish I could indulge higher hope for the future of our country, but the aspect of any vision is fearfully dark and I cannot make it otherwise.
Franklin Pierce

Remember that time is money.
Franklin Pierce

The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution.
Franklin Pierce

We have nothing in our history or position to invite aggression; we have everything to beckon us to the cultivation of relations of peace and amity with all nations.
Franklin Pierce

Even the rivers flow, clinging to the earth, due to the magnetism of the earth. Even the wind blows due to magnetic power.
Sai Baba, Indian guru, born on November 23, 1926; on magnetism

November 23 is the 327^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (328^th in leap years), with 38 days remaining.
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Feast day of St Clement (Pope Clement I; Clement of Rome), martyr 

(Convex wood sorrel, Oxalis convexula is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

St Clement, the fourth pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the first of the successors of the Apostle St Peter about whom anything definite is known, and the first of the 'Apostolic Fathers', is the patron saint of tanners, as, by tradition, he was one himself. He is also patron of boatmen, marble workers, mariners, sailors, sick children, stonecutters and watermen. In religious art, his symbols are either an anchor or a fish, as tradition says he was thrown into the Black Sea tied to an anchor. Sometimes there is an addition of a millstone; keys; a fountain, which is said to have sprung forth while he said mass; or with a book. He might be shown lying in a temple in the sea.

A Clement is mentioned by St Paul in Philippians, iv, 3, but there is no evidence to assume that he was this Clement, who is said to have been the third or fourth pope (the Vatican's Annuario Pontificio (2003) cites a reign from 92 to 99). A 9^th-Century tradition says he was martyred in the Crimea in 102 for converting many pagans to Christianity, perhaps a victim of the persecutions of Emperor Trajan (who might have sent the saint to a prison camp in Chersonesus, where he was sentenced to work in a stone quarry), but earlier sources say he died a natural death.

According to tradition, St Cyril brought relics of St Clement to Rome in 868 where they are now enshrined at the Basilica di San Clemente. Other relics of St Clement, including his head, are claimed by the Kiev Monastery of the Caves in the Ukraine.

After Clement, or Old Clem as he was known to English blacksmiths, was martyred (if he was), two of his disciples prayed to find his remains: the sea retreated for three miles, and they could walk to where an angel-built chapel was, with St Clement's remains in a chest of stone, beside the anchor. Every year the sea so retreated on St Clement's day and remained dry for seven days.

Children in pre-Reformation England went in procession on this day, and at night, adults went out to beg a drink. Hence this day was marked with a pot on old 'clog almanacs'. (A clog almanac was a primitive almanac or calendar, originally made of a 'clog', or log of wood. The sharp edge of each of its four faces was divided by notches into three months, every week being marked by a large notch. The face to the left of the notched edge contained the saints' days, festivals, phases of the moon, and so on in Runic characters, for which reason the 'clog' was also called a Runic staff. More.)

More    And more

Clog almanac

Clementing

In the Midlands of England, children used to go 'clementing' for fruit and pennies, singing a rhyme about St Clement:

St Clements, St Clements comes once in a year
Apples and pears are very good cheer
Got no apples, money will do
Please to give us one of the two
Father's at work and Mother's at play
Please to remember St Clement's Day.

St Clement is also patron of blacksmiths. Yesterday (November 22) in the Book of Days we looked at St Clement's Eve activities amongst that trade. At the annual blacksmiths' feast held at Burwash, Sussex, St Clement was said to stand protectively above the tavern door.

Effigy of carpenter hung, Tenby, England

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Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! For all my Yule needs Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald The Oxford Dictionary of Saints The Book of Saints The Encyclopedia of Saints Cover-Up Warren Commission Report The Zapruder Film JFK Conspiracy of Silence Zodiac by Degrees All Around the Zodiac The 13th Sign The Secret Language of Birthdays The Oxford Dictionary of Saints The Book of Saints   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 Lempriere's Dictionary Reading Lolita in Tehran Internet Sacred Text Archive CD-ROM The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines Last Animals at the Zoo By Colin Tudge Eats, Shoots & Leaves Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations Life in a Medieval Village 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 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

Old Clem and Wayland the Smith Wayland (far right) works in his smithy, while his brother Egil fights King Nithuth of Nerike (Nidud of Nericia; 'Bitter Hater'). Detail from the lid of the Franks Casket, a chest of carved whale-ivory from Northumbria, England c. 700 CE. There was a king in Sweden named Nithuth. He had two sons and one daughter; her name was Bothvild. There were three brothers, sons of a king of the Finns: one was called Slagfith, another Egil, the third Völund. They went on snowshoes and hunted wild beasts. They came into Ulfdalir and there they built themselves a house; there was a lake there which is called Ulfsjar. Early one morning they found on the shore of the lake three women, who were spinning flax ... read on at Völundarkvitha, The Lay of Völund   St Clement's Day marks the first day of Winter in the Julian (OS) calendar. As patron of blacksmiths and metalworkers, Clement is an aspect of the Saxon and Norse godling Wayland the Smith (Weyland; Weland; Watlende), cognate of the North-Germanic/Norse Völundr, the smith of the gods, who was the son of the giant sailor, Wate, and of a mermaid. We know from the 'Volundarkvida/Volundakvitha', a chapter in the Elder Edda. He is sometimes said to be the ruler of the dark elves (svartalfar). Swords made by Wayland are regular properties of medieval romance. King Rhydderich gave one to Merlin – King Arthur's famous sword Excalibur. Rimenhild made a similar gift to Child Horn. Wayland forged the sword Balmung, and the armour in which Beowulf fought Grendel. In Teutonic legend he is also said to have forged a sword for his son Heime that was wielded by Miming and then by Hodur. In the Dietrich cycle of sagas, Völundr's brother Egill was compelled to prove his skill as an archer by shooting an apple off the head of his three-year-old son; he is thus the prototype of William Tell. The earliest known record of the Wayland legend is the representation in carved ivory on a casket made by Northumbrian craftsmen not later than the beginning of the 8th Century. English local tradition has it that Wayland Smith's smithy (a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering) is in a cave, known as Wayland's Smithy, a long barrow and chamber tomb site located near the Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle in the English county of Oxfordshire ... Read on at the Wayland Smith page in the Scriptorium     Vikings! in the Scriptorium   Leonids meteor showers (Nov 12 - 23 annually) The celestial lightshow peaks on November 17 (qv). Feast day of St Adalbert of Casauria Feast day of St Daniel, bishop and confessor Feast day of St Felicity Feast day of St Gregory of Girgenti Feast day of St Guy of Casauria Feast day of St Miguel Pro Feast day of St Paternian Feast day of St Paulhen Feast day of St Rachildis Feast day of St Trudo (Tron; Trond) Shop Saints Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Old (agricultural) New Year, Tibet Source the Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar   Kinro Kansha no Hi, Japan, (Labor Thanksgiving Day; Kinrō Kansha no hi) The day was established to recognize the importance of labor and rejoices over bountiful production. A major festival is held in Nagano on this day, to encourage people to think about issues affecting peace, human rights, and the environment. "From ancient times, this day has been an observance known as the Shinto Harvest Festival, carried out at the imperial court. For this, the Emperor dedicates that year's new rice to the gods and tastes it for the first time. This observance is held still today in the Imperial Household."   Source   Feast of Qawl (Speech), first day of the 14th month of the Bahá'í Calendar, Bahá'í Faith Isle of Man General Election every five years (most recent 2006) St George's Day, public holiday in Georgia By coincidence, in 2003, the Rose Revolution (see below) reached its peak on St. George's Day, when Eduard Shevardnadze resigned as President of Georgia. St George's Day is generally celebrated in the Western tradition on April 23. Rudolf Maister Day, Slovenia       912 Otto I (Otto the Great; d. May 7, 973), arguably the first Holy Roman Emperor 1749 Edward Rutledge (d. 1800), American statesman 1760 Francois Noel Babeuf (d. 1797), French revolutionary 1804 Franklin Pierce (d. 1869), 14th president of the United States 1819 Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss (d. 1901), American Union general 1820 Isaac Todhunter (d. 1884), English mathematician 1859 Gennaro Rubino (d. March 14, 1918), Italian anarchist who unsuccessfully tried to assassinate King Leopold II of Belgium   1860 Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid (d. July 14, 1881) but also known by the alias William Henry Bonney, 19th-Century American frontier outlaw and murderer. He is reputed to have killed 21 men before being shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett, but the figure is probably closer to nine (four on his own and five with the help of others). He was also a participant in the Lincoln County War. "JULY 13-14, 1881 – At midnight, Sheriff Pat Garrett shoots Billy the Kid dead at Fort Sumner, N.M., when the Kid walks into Pete Maxwell's darkened bedroom. Garrett was squatting alongside the mattress talking with Maxwell as the Kid entered. the Kid saw Garrett but did not recognize him due to the darkness and the fact that Garrett was sitting or stooped down. The Kid cocked his revolver and hoarsely whispered 'Quien es?' ('Who is it?'). Garrett fires twice, one bullet striking the Kid squarely in the heart. The other shot goes wild."   Source Fact vs Myth   Billy who? The Kid's death put to scientific test    More 1860 Hjalmar Branting (d. 1925), Swedish statesman, winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 1869 Valdemar Poulsen (d. 1942), Danish engineer, inventor of the tape recorder 1876 Manuel de Falla (d. 1946), composer 1887 Boris Karloff (William Pratt; d. February 2, 1969), English actor (Frankenstein; The Body Snatcher; The Mummy; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)   1888 Adolphe, or Arthur Harpo Marx (d. September 28, 1964), one of the Marx Brothers (Animal Crackers;  Duck Soup; A Night at the Opera). Brother of Groucho Marx, Gummo Marx, Chico Marx, and Zeppo Marx.  Harpo was good friends with theatre critic Alexander Woollcott and because of this became a regular member of the Algonquin Round Table. Harpo Speaks! 1892 Erté (Romain de Tirtoff; d. 1990), Russian-born, French artist and designer 1902 Victor Jory (d. February 12, 1982), Canadian actor, former wrestling champ known (not exclusively, though) for Hollywood parts as a 'heavy' (A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Shadow; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Gone With the Wind; Cat-Women of the Moon) 1909 Nigel Tranter (d. 2000), Scottish historian, writer 1917 Michael Gough, Malayan-born British actor (The Boys from Brazil; The Go-Between; The Dresser; Batman)  1920 Paul Celan (d. 1970), poet 1921 Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor 1924 Colin Turnbull, Scottish-born anthropologist 1925 José Napoleón Duarte (d. 1990), President of El Salvador   1926 (date undertain) Sathya Sai Baba, controversial Indian guru who claims, among other things, to be able to manifest objects by paranormal means Sai Baba on Winston Churchill "He became a master in the art of repartee. At an election meeting he was railing against the opposition without mincing words. A woman in the audience, who was greatly provoked by Churchill's attack, got up and shouted: 'Shut up.' She remarked: 'If I had been your wife I would have administered poison to put an end to your life.' Churchill coolly replied: 'If I had been your husband, I would have thrust the cup of poison down your throat.' The woman was put to shame and remained silent thereafter." Sai Baba, quoted in Sanathana Sarathi, the official organ of the Sai Baba organisation, February 1989, p. 32 What Churchill actually said "At a weekend party given by the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace, Churchill found himself seated next to Lady Astor. The beautiful American born Nancy had been angered at some of Churchill's savage attacks on the Baldwin government and had fought him in House of Commons debates. When coffee was served, the acid-tongued Nancy said, 'Winston, if I were your wife, I'd put poison in your coffee.' 'Nancy,' Churchill replied to the acid-tongued lady member of Parliament, 'If I were your husband, I'd drink it.'" James Humes, Churchill: Speaker Of The Century, Stein & Day, NY, 1980, p. 284 Australian man alleges Baba paedophilia   Sundry miracles Allegations concerning Sathya Sai Baba    Allegations http://www.exbaba.com/ Sai Baba caught on film cheating   Sai Baba's miracles: an overview     1931 Dervla Murphy, traveller, author 1933 Krzysztof Penderecki, composer 1934 Robert Towne, writer, director, producer, actor 1935 Vladislav Volkov, cosmonaut 1938 Herbert Achternbusch, author and film director 1941 Franco Nero, actor 1944 Joe Eszterhas, producer, writer 1944 James Toback, writer, director 1945 Steve Landesberg, American actor 1954 Bruce Hornsby, musician 1955 Steven Brust, fantasy author 1956 Steve Harvey, actor, comedian 1959 Maxwell Caulfield, actor 1959 Dominique Dunne (d. 1982), actress (Poltergeist) 1970 Zoë Ball TV/radio presenter 1971 Lisa Kushell, American actress 1972 Chris Adler, American musician (Lamb of God) 1980 David Britz, American nanotechnologist 1984 Lucas Grabeel, American actor and singer 1992 Miley Cyrus, American actress and singer   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send free e-cards to friends & family for celebrations & any topic Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards November Flowers [ November ] Birthdays Advent [ Nov 30 - Dec 24 ] Thanksgiving, USA [ Varies ] 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