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Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret
Read MacDonald
The Great Goddesses of Egypt
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient
Egypt
The Tutankhamun Prophecies
The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun
The Complete Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun the Exodus Conspiracy
The Oxford Dictionary of Saints
The Book of Saints
The Encyclopedia of Saints
Daily Everything
Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Lord of the Rings
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
Adventures in a TV Nation
Michael
Moore
Drawing Down the Moon
Globalization/Anti-Globalization
Body Wisdom
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By Linda Woodrow
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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
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 Men Who Stare at
Goats
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
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Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Uluru
Life in a Medieval Village
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American Folklore
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Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature
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Sun Goddess
Massacre at Myall
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Daily Everything
A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore
The Edible Asian Garden
The Secret Language of Birthdays
Live with Passion!
Anthony Robbins
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Bahá'í Day
of the Covenant,
Bahá'í
Faith
Bahá'í founder, Bahá'u'lláh, a
Persian nobleman who became one of the early, prominent followers of
the Báb, made a
covenant
with his followers in order to prevent division of the faith into
sects and denominations. Day of the Covenant commemorates this
covenant.
Bahá'ís, moreover, claim that the covenant is not
only for members of their faith, but for all the world, designed, unlike any religious system of
the past, to preserve the unity of all humanity through the organic
workings of a social order based on spiritual principles. "So firm and mighty"
is this covenant, Bahá'u'lláh's son 'Abdu'l-Bahá affirmed, "that from the beginning of time
until the present day, no religious Dispensation hath produced its
like." (Shoghi Effendi, The World
Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters, Wilmette: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1991, p. 136)
Bahá'ís observe 11 Holy Days in their
calendar,
with abstinence from all work on nine of these. The Day of the Covenant is also in a sense a
celebration of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's life.
The Bahá'í calendar
"The Bahá'í calendar was established by
the Báb. The year consists of 19 months of 19 days, and 4 or 5
intercalary days, to make a full solar year. The New Year occurs on
the vernal equinox, March 21, at the end of the month of fasting.
"Bahá'í communities gather at the
beginning of each month at a meeting called a 'feast' for
worship, consultation and socializing. While the name may seem to
suggest that an elaborate meal is served, that is not necessarily
the case. Sometimes refreshments are plentiful, but they can be as
simple as bread and water."
Source
Spring in the Valley of the Mitta Mitta with the Bogong Ranges,
1866,
Eugene von Guérard
 Late November,
the Bogong Moth
Dreaming, Australia
North-East and Upper Murray River region of Victoria
A note about the
dating of items in Wilson's Almanac
Bogong moth
image courtesy Arthur's Clip Art
"The Bogong Moth Agrotis infusa
is common throughout southern Australia. These brown to blackish
moths have a wingspan of approximately 45 millimetres. Adults make
lengthy migrations to spend summer months in large congregations in
caves and crevices of rocks in the Australian
Alps notably to the region of Mount
Bogong and the Bogong High Plains in Victoria. They are
attracted to lights, such as those in the Canberra area, at night.
Large numbers may enter houses or other buildings to rest during the
day. In winter, adults disperse to pastures across inland New
South Wales and Queensland
to lay their eggs. This subfamily are characterised by their stoutly
built bodies covered with long dense scales. The larvae,
collectively known as cutworms, are also stoutly built. They
feed on a wide variety of low growing plants. The name cutworm come
from the larvae's habit of cutting off plant parts during the night
which they drag back to their burrows in the soil as food. Bogongs
moths are univoltine (i.e. it has one generation per year). The Lepidopteran life cycle
consists of four stages; ova (eggs), several larval instars
(caterpillars), pupa
(cocoon), and imagines
(adults)." Source
Six aboriginal clans used to meet at
Mungabareena ('the gathering place'), east of Albury, for the
Bogong moth (Agrotis
infusa) feast. At the end of November, the healthiest in these clans made this annual journey, while the elderly and babies stayed behind. Six of the seven clans met; the seventh, Minjambutta (or Minjamurra) the
Echidna totem
people stayed behind on their own lands.
The clans:
|
Circle colour
|
Name
|
Clan
|
Region
|
|
Green/blue
|
Yiatmathang
|
Wombat
|
Kiewa/Mitta Mitta
Valley
|
|
Tan
|
Waradjuri
|
Kangaroo
|
Lower NSW
|
|
Green
|
Dora Dora
|
Possum
|
Jindabyne
|
|
Mauve
|
Duduroa
|
Tasmanian Tiger
|
Wodonga
|
|
Yellow
|
Minjambutta
|
Echidna
|
Ovens/King Valley
|
|
Blue
|
Pangerang
|
Koala
|
Goulburn Valley
|
|
Brown
|
Kwatt Kwatta
|
Emu
|
Rutherglen Plains
|
Each clan had its own lands
and language, but one thing in common was this annual alpine meet
which was occurring long before European settlement in 1788.
At the end of November,
the healthiest individuals in these clans made this annual journey, while the
elderly and babies stayed behind. Six of the seven clans met, the
seventh, Minjambutta the Echidna stayed
behind on their own lands.
At the meeting, they
performed a welcoming ceremony and settled all disputes, including
trade disputes; the youths were given their first initiation
ceremonies; young betrothed women were given in ceremony to
husbands; requests and invitations were made from each of the clans
to the Yiatmathang; permission was requested to cross the Murray and
journey up the Kiewa Valley through their territory "to Towonga
and climb to the Bogong High Plains to celebrate the spirit of the
mountains and feast on the Bogong Moth".
The Kiewa/Mitta Mitta
Valleys and the Victorian Alps on the Murray side belong to the
Yiatmathang but they shared with all. At end of Summer they saw the
mists rising and knew this was the great Spirit awakening from
within the mountain and it was time to leave.
My
source is largely 'The
Bogong Moth Dreaming' (pamphlet), by Eddie 'Kookaburra' Kneebone
c. 1995 (courtesy Francis Firebrace)
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Family: Noctuidae
- Genus: Agrotis
Species: infusa (bogong moth)
"These congregations of moths provide
nutritious food for many Australian native animals such as the
mountain pygmy-possum Burramys parvus. Bogong moths were also
consumed by the Australian Aborigines who inhabited the
area."
Agrotis
infusa (bogong moths)
Alpine
- Bogong High Plains
Last Saturday in
November, Ngan Girra Festival
"Early summer barbeques along the
east coast of Australia wouldn't be the same without a visit from
one of our most amazing insects. Bogong Moths, Agrostis [sic] infusa,
migrate over 1000km each year from the black soil plains of
Queensland and western NSW to the Australian Alps, seeking refuge
from the summer heat. Along the way, they travel by night and then
in the morning, drop down to the ground to rest in the shade during
the day ...
"Where:
Darling Downs, Queensland, and the Bogong Plains,
Victoria ( near the town of Mt Beauty). The moth's breeding grounds
stretch from inland southern Queensland and northern NSW right down
to the Hay plains.
"When:
Bogong moths fly south from Queensland every spring
to wait out the heat of summer in alpine caves. They return in
autumn to Queensland to mate. The Ngan Girra Festival (formerly
the Bogong Moth Festival) is held on the last Saturday in
November, 2002."
Source
 Mungabareena Ngan-Girra Festival
(formerly Bogong Moth Festival)
"Mungabareena Ngan-Girra Festival is an Indigenous community run
event, run in conjunction with Albury city Council, Charles Sturt
University and Australians for Reconciliation Albury Wodonga.
Ngan-Girra will be held on Saturday 30th November 2002 at
Mungabareena Reserve, Albury.
"Mungabareena is a significant Indigenous site,
where many Indigenous tribes came to trade, exchange information,
perform ceremonies and Corroboree. The theme of Ngan-Girra is the
putting aside of differences and coming together in the spirit of
reconciliation, just as the traditional people of the region did
when they gathered at Mungabareena.
"The Ngan-Girra is an annual Indigenous cultural
day that will attract both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, not
only from the local community, but from communities far and wide.
Ngan-Girra encourages young and old to share and experience
Indigenous culture, both modern and traditional.
"Ngan-Girra also provides an
opportunity for Indigenous people to demonstrate and display their
skills. It is a place where they can interact and learn from each
other as well as introducing others to the richness of Australia's
Indigenous cultures."
Source
Sad
footnote: End of Bogong Moth Dreaming
These days, the lowlands where the Bogong moths grow
up as caterpillars is so polluted from agricultural chemicals such
as insecticides, that the Bogong moths that arrive in the highlands
are too toxic for human consumption. Even worse, the soil around
where they die is also being polluted from their now-toxic bodies,
as the moths unwittingly have become transport
vessels for arsenic over vast distances, even from as far away
as Queensland, over
1,000 kilometres.
Australian Aboriginal Weather
Database is linked in the blogroll at the Blogmanac (L-H
column)
Bogongs Migrating South - Photos
More on the Bogong moth
Feast day of St Albert of
Haigerloch
Feast day of St Alypius
Feast day of St Amator of Autun
Feast day of St Conrad,
Bishop of Constance, confessor
(Linear wood sorrel, Oxalis linearis, is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Feast day of St Dominic Doan
Xuyen
Feast day of the
Espousals of
Mary
(to St Joseph), Roman Catholic Church in Spanish countries (celebrated
January 23 in the
Latin Catholic Church)
Feast day of St Faustus
Feast day of St Gaetana Sterni
Celebration of the Excellence of St
Genevieve, Paris
Feast day of St Giacomo Alberione
Feast day of St Hesychius
Feast day of St Leonard of Port
Maurice
Feast day of St Peter of Alexandria
Feast day of St Siricius
Bishop of Rome from
December 17,
384
until his death on November 26,
399,
Siricius was successor to
Damasus
and was himself succeeded by
Anastasius I. He was also the first
Bishop of Rome to use the title of
Pope.
More
Feast day of
Stylianus of
Adrianopolis, Hermit
He
was a stylite, or pillar saint, one of a number of medieval
Christian holy men who chose to live such a harsh life. At the age
of 30 he was called to a life of perfection and became a hermit,
first in an isolated cell, fasting and mortifying himself; he was
then led by visions to the top of a column, where he stayed for the
rest of his life, which lasted almost 100 years. On his pillar, like
St Simeon (Simon) Stylites he was persecuted by demons and accomplished many
miracles both before and after his death.
Feast day of St Sylvester Gozzolini, abbot of Osimo,
instituter of the Sylvestrin monksShop Saints
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days
Onion Market Day (Berne,
Switzerland)
autumn festival
Manhood rites,
Senegal
"Senegal: approximate date of the
annual manhood initiation rites in Basari villages of Senegal. The
centuries-old ceremonies are followed by a joyous celebration of
dancing, singing, and athletic competition."
Source:
Earth, Moon and Sky
Fire festival, Tibet
"Tibet: fire festival, dedicated
to the goddesses who rule over light and fire."
Source:
Earth, Moon and Sky
Proclamation Day, Mongolia
1607 John Harvard
(d. September
14, 1638),
cleric
1731
Some sources give today as the birth date of William
Cowper (d. April
25, 1800),
English poet, co-author with John
Newton of Olney Hymns (main entry in BoD, November
15)
1792
Sarah
Grimké (d. 1873), American slavery abolitionist and women's rights
advocate
1827
Ellen G White
(née Harmon) (d.
July 16,
1915), American
Christian leader whose
prophetic ministry was instrumental in founding the Sabbatarian
Adventist movement that led to the rise of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Skeptical website on
Ellen G White
1832 Mary Edwards
Walker (d. 1919), feminist, physician
1867 (or 1869?)
Roderic Quinn,
Australian poet ('The
House of the Commonwealth'; 'The Lotus-Flower';
'Stars in
the Sea'), one of The
Bulletin school of poets and friend of Henry Lawson;
with Victor
Daley he was a poet of the 'Celtic Twilight'. (Brother of Patrick
Quinn.) From
'The Hidden Tide'
By Roderic Quinn Within the world a second world
That circles ceaselessly:
Stars in the sky and sister stars —
Turn in your eyes and see!
Tides of the sea that rise and fall,
Aheave from Pole to Pole —
And kindred swayings, veiled but felt,
That noise along the soul.
Yon moon, noon-rich, high-throned, remote,
And pale with pride extreme,
Draws up the sea, but what white moon
Exalts the tide of Dream?
The Fisher-Folk who cast their nets
In Vision's golden tide
Oft bring to light misshapen shells,
And nothing worth beside ...
Lawson
& Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson
1869 Maud,
Queen of Norway (d.1938) 1876 Willis Carrier
(d. 1950),
engineer, inventor 1877 Alfred Cortot
(d. 1962),
Swiss pianist 1885
Heinrich Brüning (d. 1970),
German Reichskanzler
1930 - 1932 1894 Norbert Wiener (d. 1964),
mathematician, founder of Cybernetics 1895 William
Griffith Wilson (Bill Wilson; William Wilson; Bill W; d. January 24,
1971), co-founder of
the self-help group Alcoholics
Anonymous (see May 12
and June 12,
1935).
The other co-founder was Dr Bob Smith.In 2002, the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous
reported that there were more than 100,000 AA groups worldwide, with a combined
membership of approximately two million alcoholics.
The first documented recovery meeting
of AA's 'daughter' organisation, Narcotics
Anonymous, was held on October 5 (qv), 1953.
An atheist critique of AA
Bill W's story on YouTube More
1899 Bruno Hauptmann
(d. 1936),
kidnapper of Charles
Lindbergh III
1909 Eugčne Ionesco
(d. 1994),
French-Romanian dramatist of the Theatre of the Absurd 1910 Cyril Cusack
(d. 1993),
Irish actor 1912 Eric Sevareid
(d. 1992),
journalist 1915
Earl
Wild, pianist 1922 Charles M
Schulz (d. 2000), cartoonist
(Peanuts) 1924 George Segal,
sculptor
1925 Eugene Istomin
(d. 2003),
pianist 1933 Robert Goulet,
American singer, actor
1934
Barry
Coe, actor
1937 Boris Yegorov,
cosmonaut
1938 Rich
Little, comedian, actor
1939
Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock), singer, actress ('We
Don't Need Another Hero';
'The Best'); elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with ex Ike Turner) in
1991 1943 Bruce Paltrow
(d. 2002),
producer, director 1945 Daniel Davis,
actor (The Nanny) 1945 John
McVie, rock musician (Fleetwood Mac)Wilson's
Almanac Book of Days hip list 1951 Ilona
Staller, aka Cicciolina,
Italian pornographic
film actress, politician 1959
Jamie
Rose, actress 1972 Arjun Rampal, Indian actor 1981 Aurora
Snow, pornographic film
actress
1985
Lil' Fizz, American singer Phew!!
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day in history section
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Buy Nothing Day
 
November
21
World Hello Day
22
Independence Day (Lebanon)
22
Stop The Violence Day
23
Eat A Cranberry Day
23
Jukebox Day
24
Espresso Day
25
Saint Catherine's Day
25
You're Welcome Day
25
Winter Wonderland And Parade Of Lights (California, USA)
26
Cake Day
26
Good Grief Day
26
College Fraternity Day (USA)
26
Lighted Christmas Parade (NM, USA)
27
Electric Guitar Day
27
Pie In The Face Day
27
Freckle Pride Day
27
John F Kennedy Day (Massachusetts, USA)
28
Auto Race Day
28
Red Planet Day
28
Camera Day
28
Independence Day (Albania)
29
Throw Out Your Leftovers Day
30
Computer Security Day
30
St Andrew's Day
30
Independence Day (Barbados)
30
Clear Up The Clutter Day
December
1
World AIDS Day
1
Eat A Red Apple Day
1
Pie Day
1
Rosa Parks Day
...
More
Events
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application. Further details
399 Death of Pope Siricius.
885 Vikings attacked Paris.
1252
Death of Blanche of Castile,
wife of Louis VIII of France.
1326
Death of
Hugh the younger Despenser
(b.
1286),
English knight.
1379
New College,
Oxford, was founded by
William of Wykeham.
1504
Death of Isabella,
Queen of Castile and Aragon, wife of Ferdinand II and patron of Christopher Columbus.
She and her husband founded
the Spanish Inquisition and expelled
Jews and Muslims from Spain.1688 France's King Louis XIV declared war on the Netherlands.
1703 Britain and Ireland:
The Great Storm of 1703
continued (began
November 24; most intense between
November 25 - 26).
1716 The first
lion was exhibited in America (in
Boston).
1778 In the Hawaiian Islands,
Captain James Cook and his men
became the first Europeans to see Maui.
1805 Official opening of Thomas
Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
1825 At Union
College in Schenectady, New York
a group of college students formed Kappa Alpha Society
as the first American college social fraternity.
1832 The beginning of New York's public transport system:
horse-drawn streetcars went into operation.
1838 Australia: The Myall Creek Massacre culprits were found guilty of murder.
On Saturday, June 9, 1838, twelve
European stockmen in Australia rounded up approximately 28 Kwiambal
Aborigines
at Myall Creek (a branch of the Gwydir River, near Narrabri), and killed them
with knives and guns. The stockmen, who had accused the Aboriginal people of
pilfering, were acquitted at a trial on November 15, but,
following a public uproar, faced trial again on November 26 and were found
guilty. Seven of the twelve murderers were executed under Governor Sir George
Gipps's authority.
Massacre at Myall Creek
Indigenous Portal
More
More And
more
Myall
Creek Massacre Memorial Vandals
deface Australia's Myall Creek memorial
1836
Death of John MacAdam, Scottish engineer, father of macadamised road surfacing.
1855
Australia: The decision
was made by the authorities to change the name of
Van Diemen's Land to
Tasmania.
1857 Death of Joseph von
Eichendorff (b. 1788), lyricist and narrator.
1862
Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) sent the
handwritten manuscript of Alice's
Adventures Underground to 10-year-old Alice Liddell.
1863 American Civil War:
Union forces under General
George
Meade positioned against troops led by Confederate
General Robert E Lee. 1872 The San
Francisco Evening Bulletin exposed one of the most notorious mining scandals in
US history, The
Great Diamond Hoax. Philip
Arnold (1829 - 1878)
was a confidence
trickster from Elizabethtown,
Kentucky,
who was the brains behind a legendary 1872
scam to fool people into investing in western diamond
mining operations. He managed to walk away from the hoax with more than half a
million dollars. Clarence
King (1842 - 1901)
was the geologist who uncovered the swindle.
" Arnold and Slack
played their con perfectly. They arrived in San Francisco in 1872 and tried to
deposit a bag of uncut diamonds at a bank. When questioned, the two men quickly
disappeared, acting as if they were reluctant to talk about their discovery.
Intrigued, a bank director named William Ralston tracked down the men. Assuming
he was dealing with unsophisticated country bumpkins, he set out to take control
of the diamond mine. The two cousins agreed to take a blindfolded mining expert
to the site; the expert returned to report that the mine was indeed rich with
diamonds and rubies ...
"Back in San Francisco, King exposed the fraud in
the newspapers and the Great Diamond Hoax collapsed. Ralston returned $80'000 to
each of his investors, but he was never able to recover the $600'000 given to
the two cousins. Arnold lived out the few remaining years of his life in luxury
in Kentucky before dying of pneumonia in 1878. Slack apparently squandered his
share of the money, for he was last reported working as a coffin maker in New
Mexico. King's role in exposing the fraud brought him national recognition —
he became the first director of the United States Geological
Survey." Source
1901 Britain agreed with Italy on a frontier between Eritrea and the
Sudan.
1906 US president
Theodore Roosevelt returned to America, having
become the first US president to travel abroad while in office. He had been in
Panama to inspect construction progress on the
Panama Canal.
1917 Australia: The
prominent Sydney brewer, Edmund Resch, was rounded up with other
Germans and interned at
Holsworthy,
NSW, under war powers of the government.
 1922 Egypt: Archaeologist Howard
Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon peeked through a hole in the door of
Tutankhamun's
tomb and became the first modern people to see the treasures.
From
Carter's
diary
Sunday, November 26.
"Open
second doorway
about 2pm.
Advised Engelbach.
"After clearing
9 metres of the descending passage, in about the middle of the afternoon, we
came upon a second sealed doorway, which was almost the exact replica of the
first. It bore similar seal impressions and had similar traces of successive
reopenings and reclosings in the plastering. The seal impressions were of
Tut.ankh.Amen and of the Royal Necropolis, but not in any way so clear as those
on the first doorway. The entrance and passage both in plan and in style
resembled almost to measurement the tomb containing the cache of Akhenaten
discovered by Davis in the very near vicinity; which seemed to substantiate our
first conjecture that we had found a cache.
"Feverishly we
cleared away the remaining
last scraps of rubbish on the floor"
"Feverishly we
cleared away the remaining last scraps of rubbish on the floor of the passage
before the doorway, until we had only the clean sealed doorway before us. In
which, after making preliminary notes, we made a tiny breach in the top left
hand corner to see what was beyond. Darkness and the iron testing rod told us
that there was empty space. Perhaps another descending staircase, in accordance
to the ordinary royal Theban tomb plan? Or may be a chamber? Candles were
procured - the all important tell-tale for foul gases when opening an ancient
subterranean excavation - I widened the breach and by means of the candle looked
in, while Ld. C., Lady E, and Callender with the Reises waited in anxious
expectation.
"It was
sometime before one could see, the hot air escaping caused the candle to
flicker, but as soon as one's eyes became accustomed to the glimmer of light the
interior of the chamber gradually loomed before one, with its strange and
wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful objects heaped upon one another.
"There was
naturally short suspense for those present who could not see, when Lord
Carnarvon said to me 'Can you see anything'. I replied to him Yes, it is
wonderful. I then with precaution made the hole sufficiently large for both of
us to see. With the light of an electric torch as well as an additional candle
we looked in. Our sensations and astonishment are difficult to describe as the
better light revealed to us the marvellous collection of treasures: two strange
ebony-black effigies of a King, gold sandalled, bearing staff and mace, loomed
out from the cloak of darkness; gilded couches in strange forms, lion-headed,
Hathor-headed, and beast infernal; exquisitely painted, inlaid, and ornamental
caskets; flowers; alabaster vases, some beautifully executed of lotus and
papyrus device; strange black shrines with a gilded monster snake appearing from
within; quite ordinary looking white chests; finely carved chairs; a golden
inlaid throne; a heap of large curious white oviform boxes; beneath our very
eyes, on the threshold, a lovely lotiform wishing-cup in translucent alabaster;
stools of all shapes and design, of both common and
rare materials; and, lastly
a confusion of overturned parts of chariots glinting with gold, peering from
amongst which was a mannikin. The first impression of which suggested the
property-room of an opera of a vanished civilization. Our sensations were
bewildering and full of strange emotion. We questioned one another as to the
meaning of it all. Was it a tomb or merely a cache? A sealed doorway between the
two sentinel statues proved there was more beyond, and with the numerous
cartouches bearing the name of Tut.ankh.Amen on most of the objects before us,
there was little doubt that there behind was the grave of that Pharaoh.
 "We
closed the hole, locked the wooden-grill which had been placed upon the first
doorway, we mounted our donkeys and return home contemplating what we had seen."
The curse of Tutankhamun
"The press followed the deaths
carefully attributing each new one to the 'Mummy's Curse' (even
though nobody can find the inscribed curse anywhere in the tomb today). By 1935
they had credited 21 victims to King Tut. Was there really a curse? Or was it
all just the ravings of a sensational press?
"Herbert E Winlock, the director
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, made his own calculations
about the effectiveness of the curse. According to Winlock's figures of the
22 people present when the tomb was opened in 1922, only 6 had died by 1934.
Of the 22 people present at the opening of the sarcophagus in 1924, only 2
died in the following ten years. Also ten people were there when the mummy was
unwrapped in 1925, and all survived until at least 1934."
King
Tut curse debunked
"The Curse of
Tutankhamen, which is supposed to have started when King Tut's tomb was
discovered, and is supposed by some to have resulted in the mysterious deaths
of many who participated in the discovery, has been shown to have originated
in early works of science fiction that predated the discovery of the tomb by
100 years ..." Source
1922
Toll of the Sea, directed by Chester M Franklin, debuted as the
first general release film
to use two-tone Technicolor (The
Gulf Between in 1918
was the first film to do so but it was not widely distributed).1928 The first
twins born by caesarian section in Britain were born in
Manchester,
England.
1941
US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving
Day in the United States.1941 World War II: Attack on Pearl
Harbor – A fleet of six aircraft carriers
commanded by Japanese
Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo left Hitokapu
Bay for Pearl Harbor under strict radio silence. 1941 World War II: The Hull note ultimatum was
delivered to Japan by the United States. 1942 Soviet troops ended the German siege of Stalingrad.
1942 The Michael Curtiz-directed film,
Casablanca,
premiered at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.1944
Death of Florence
Foster Jenkins (b. 1868),
American
soprano who
became famous for her complete lack of singing ability as well as her
unassailable belief in her own
talent.
More
'Playing
the diva of din' article from The Guardian
1949 The
Indian
Constituent Assembly adopted India's constitution. 1950 Korean War: Troops from the People's Republic
of China moved into North Korea and launched a
massive counterattack against South Korean and American
forces (Battle of Chosin
Reservoir), ending any thought of a quick end to the conflict. 1965 In the Hammaguira
launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launched a
Diamant-A
rocket with its first satellite,
Asterix-1
on board, becoming the third country to enter space. 1968 Vietnam War: United States Air
Force helicopter pilot James P Fleming rescued
an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire and was later
awarded the Medal of Honor. 1968 France's President Charles
de Gaulle opened the world's first tidal power
station near Saint-Malo,
Brittany.
1968
The rock group Cream played their farewell concert at London's
Albert Hall.
 Midi files:
'White Room' and other Cream hits
Pictured: Cream's
famous 'Disraeli Gears' album cover, designed by Sydney artist Martin Sharp, one
of the Oz
Trial defendants
Cream
to re-form (2004)
Wilson's
Almanac Book of Days hip list
1983
Brinks Mat robbery:
In London,
6,800 gold bars
worth nearly UKŁ26 million were taken from the Brinks
Mat vault at Heathrow Airport.1984 Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock
took part in Australia's first nationally televised election campaign debate.
1985
US President Ronald Reagan signed
over rights to his autobiography to Random
House for a record US$3 million.1986 Iran-Contra scandal:
US President Ronald Reagan announced the members of what would become known as
the Tower
Commission. 1990 President
Lee Kuan Yew of
Singapore resigned after 26 years at
the helm.
1998
Tony
Blair became the first Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's
parliament.
2003 The last ever flight by
Concorde.
Tomorrow: Women's
first national vote
Main
calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search
Wikipedia
and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed
are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft'
and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright
policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.
Read more about today at Wilson's
Blogmanac
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reetings from Australia.
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