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Feast day of St
Ethelburga
(Ζthelburg; Aethelburh; Ethelburge; Edilburge) of
Barking, abbess
(Holly, Ilex aquifolium, is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Born at Stallington, Lindsey, England; died at Barking, England,
c. 675; feast day formerly October 11
(to which day holly, the plant of the day applied); feasts of her
translations are held on March 7, May 4, and September 23
at Barking.
She was the
sister of St Erconwald.
There is another Ethelburga,
sister of St Etheldreda; she was abbess of Faremoutiers-en-Brie and daughter of the king of East Angles.
See also
St Ethelburga of Lyminge,
England, feast day April 5.
In
664, as a plague
ravaged the kingdom of the East Saxons, a light brighter than the
midday sun appeared at the nunnery, hovered and rose up. Of course, the witnesses might have
been barking mad.
The Venerable Bede
relates some unusual events that occurred shortly before her death,
including the death of a three-year-old boy after calling out the
name Edith three times, and the cure of St Tortgith of paralysis
after having a vision of the saint.
Some sources
(such as
Wikipedia's article as retrieved on
April 12,
2008) give her feast day as
October 11.
The medieval
church,
St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, which still stands in London, is
named in her honour.
 Eat
frumenty now
In ancient
times, 'furmity' was "an usual dish" to eat at this time (William
Hone, The
Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and
Co., London, 1878; 1825-26
edition online). Furmity, also known as furmenty but more
commonly as frumenty,
is a porridge-like dish of wheat boiled in milk and usually sweetened and
spiced. Different recipes added milk, eggs or broth. Frumenty was
served as a side-dish to meats, traditionally venison. The name
derives from the Middle English, from Middle French frumentee, from
frument grain, from Latin frumentum, from frui to enjoy.
It was a popular food dish in the Middle Ages in
Europe.
For several centuries, frumenty was part of the traditional Christmas meal in
parts of England, and it was
also common at Lent. Some
sources (example)
state that furmenty was eaten at the first American Thanksgiving
ceremony at some date prior to December 11, 1621 (use
our Search
to see other dates for the first Thanksgiving, as the origins are
disputed). However, in Mourt's Relation
(1622), an account of the 1621 event does not mention it:
"Our
harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling,
that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together
after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one
day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the
company almost a week, at which time amongst other
recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming
amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with
some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted,
and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the
plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and
others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was
at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far
from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty ...
Your loving friend,
E.W. [Edward Winslow]
Plymouth in New England this 11th of December, 1621"
Source
I haven't tried
furmenty yet but I've read that it's served as a dessert and apparently
it's delicious.
Ingredients
1 cup cracked wheat
1/8 tsp. ground mace
1 quart milk
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. salt
additional brown sugar
Directions:
In a large pot, bring the water to a boil and add the wheat. Lower heat to simmer, cover, and continue to cook for 1/2 hour, or until, soft. Drain off all the water and add the milk, cream, salt, mace, cinnamon and sugar. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is absorbed (20 to 30 minutes). In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks and slowly stir 1/2 cup of the wheat mixture into the yolks. Then stir the yolk mixture into the pot, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve sprinkled with brown sugar.
Recipe source
15th Century
frumenty recipe Recipe at Gode
Cookery
"[Curye on
Inglish, Constance B. Hieatt & Sharon Butler (eds.)]: To
make frumente. Tak clene whete & braye yt wel in a morter tyl ώe
holes gon of; seώe it til it breste in water. Nym it vp & lat
it cole. Tak good broώ & swete mylk of kyn or of almand &
tempere it ώerwith. Nym yelkys of eyren rawe & saffroun &
cast ώerto; salt it; lat it nought boyle after ώe eyren been cast
ώerinne. Messe it forth with venesoun or with fat motoun fresch."
Recipe
at Medieval Cookery
Furmenty
Boil an approved quantity of wheat; when soft, pour off the water,
and keep it for use as it is wanted. The method of using it is to
put milk to make it of an agreeable thickness; then, warming it,
adding some sugar and nutmeg.
From the 1881 Household Cyclopedia Source:
Transwiki
More
Ayathrem, Zoroastrianism
"The feast of bringing home the herds. Continues
through Oct. 16th."
Source
Feast day of St Amicus
Feast day of St Camillus Constanzi
Feast day of St Cyprian
Feast day of St Domnina
Feast day of St Edistius
Feast day of St Edwin of
Northumbria, king
Edwin, King
of Northumbria (616 - 633), was
the son of Aella of Deira
and the brother of Aethelric of
Deira. The name 'Eadwine' is Old English
for 'wealthy friend'. He was married to St
Ethelburga of
Kent (Ethelburga of
Lyminge;
Ζthelburg of Kent;
Ζthelburh, Ζdilburh). According to Bede, Edwin
was favourably disposed towards Christianity owing to a vision he
had seen at the court of Raedwald. He died in battle with pagan
Welsh and Mercians,
and after his death, Edwin was regarded as a saint. Edwin was
considered a martyr and Pope Gregory
XIII allowed him to be depicted in the
Venerable English
College church at Rome.
Edwin is a patron of converts,
hoboes,
homeless people,
kings, parents of large families,
and tramps.
"AKA Aeduini or Edwin of Northumbria. Born a
Pagan in 585 at Deira, South Northumbria, England, where he
reigned as king from 616-633, Aeduini lost the support of his
people when he was baptized a Christian in 627 by St. Paulinus,
and died in battle with died in 633 in battle [sic] with
pagan Welsh and Mercians. He is now patron of converts, parents
of large families, hobos, tramps, and homeless people as well as
patron of kings." Source
Feast day of St Felix
Feast day of St Fiace
Feast day of St Herlindis
Feast day of St Maximilian of Lorch
Feast day of St Monas
Feast day of Our Lady
Aparecida
Feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar (Virgin del Pilar),
Spain
Feast day of St Pantalus
Feast day of St Salvinus
Feast day of St Seraphinus of
Montegranaro
Feast day of St Thomas
Bullaker
Feast day of St Wilfrid,
Bishop of York, England
(Wavy fleabane, Inula undulata, is today's plant,
dedicated to this saint.)
He was Abbot of
Ripon, England, largely responsible for adoption of Roman usages in
preference to Celtic, at the Synod of Whitby in the year 664. Wilfrid became
Bishop of York, then of
Hexham.
St Wilfrid's Needle
A narrow passage in the crypt of
Ripon Cathedral,
England. It tests a woman's chastity: only a virgin can squeeze
through.
Shop Saints
Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days
Farmers' Day, Florida, USA
Ram Mating Ceremony, Anatolia,
Turkey (Oct 1
- 20)
Black Walnut Festival, Spencer,
Roane County, West Virginia, USA (Oct 9 - 12)
Switzerland
of Ohio Black Walnut Festival, Colerain Township, Ohio, USA (Oct 11
- 12)
Hispanidad, Hispanic Day, the National Day of Spain, commemorated
in parts of South America
El Dia de la Raza, Latin America
The date of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas is celebrated in Latin America
(and in some Latino communities in the USA) as the Dνa de la
Raza ('day of the race'), commemorating the first encounters of Europe
and the
Americas which would produce the new Mestizo
race, culture, and identity. The day was first celebrated in Argentina
in 1917,
Venezuela
in 1921, Chile
in 1923, and Mexico
in 1928. Discovery Day in the Bahamas,
Hispanic
Day in Spain,
and
Dνa
de la Resistencia Indνgena in Venezuela,
commemorate the same event.
Columbus
Day, Italy Source
Maria
Lionza Day,
Venezuela
"
200-year-old cult of Maria Lionza the basis for
Venezuelan variations of Santeria, a faith that emerged in Cuba
when African slaves began blending Yoruba spiritual
beliefs with Roman Catholic
traditions.
"A beautiful Indian woman from the
western state of Yaracuay, Maria Lionza presides over various
courts of spirits. Original Santeria deities like Eleggua, the
Yoruba god of destiny associated with St. Anthony, belong to the
African court. One court includes Simon Bolivar, who liberated
Venezuela and other South American nations
Spanish rule [sic]
"The Catholic Church frowns on the cult
of Maria Lionza but long ago abandoned efforts to eliminate it.
Her supplicants come from all classes, but especially the poor.
The size of the cult isn't known, though each year hundreds of
thousands of people trek to Maria
Lionza's reputed home Sorte
Mountain, 180 miles west of Caracas." Source
Statue of Iconic Goddess Needs New
Home
"CARACAS, Dec 13 [sic] (IPS) - Marνa Lionza, goddess of the second
leading religion in Venezuela, has emerged
from the depths of the forests and waters that she has protected
since the era of the Spanish Conquest, according to her followers,
to end up smack in the middle of a bitter cultural debate.
"An estimated two million Venezuelans, of a total population of
24 million, are followers of Marνa Lionza, but most also identify
themselves as Roman Catholic, the faith of the vast majority in
this country.
"For the past half a century, a cement statue of this goddess,
protector of nature has dominated a stretch of grass along the
main highway of Caracas. Marνa Lionza is depicted nude and
muscular, astride a tapir and lifting a pelvis bone symbol of
fertility to the heavens ..."
Source Another item via Pagan Prattle,
with thanks
Hatathli Day,
Navajo Source
Feast day of Fortuna Redux, ancient Rome
Roman goddess of successful
journeys and safe returns.
Pennick,
Nigel, The
Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont,
USA, 1992, 117
Deities
of many cultures in the Book of Days
Mothers'
Day, Malawi
Independence
Day, Equatorial
Guinea (from Spain, 1968)
Yom
Kippur begins at sunset
(2005),
Judaism
Dussehra
(Hinduism,
2005)
Children's
Day and the day of Our
Lady of Aparecida, Brazil
On which day of the week were you born? Find out here
1537 King Edward VI of England (d. 1553), son
of Henry VIII and
Jane Seymour
1801 Friedrich Frey-Herosι (d. 1873), member of the Swiss
Federal Council
 1808
Victor Considιrant (d.
December 27,
1893), French utopian socialist; follower of the French
philosopher Francois Marie Charles Fourier
(1772 - 1837).
In 1837, upon the death of Fourier, he became the acknowledged leader of
Fourierism. He edited Fourierist newspapers, including the Philanstθre
and the Phalange, and published works on the subject, notably a digest of
Fourier's writings, Destinιe sociale (2d ed.
1847 - '49), Manifeste
de l'ιcole sociιtaire
(1845), Thιorie du droit ΰ la propriιtι et du droit au travail
(1848).
As a member of the national assembly, he took part in the June Days insurrection
(1848) and was forced to leave Paris and live in Belgium. At the request of
Albert Brisbane, Considιrant tried unsuccessfully to establish (1855 - '57) La
Reunion, a
Fourierist colony in Texas.
La Reunion was a communist community formed in 1855
by French,
Belgian, and Swiss
colonists approximately three miles west of the present Reunion
Arena and Reunion
Tower in downtown Dallas,
and near the three forks of the Trinity
River in Texas,
USA. The community
was led by the Fourier whose followers and associates established over 40
similar colonies in various parts of the United
States of America during the 1800s.
The colony near present-day Dallas soon failed. In 1860,
the area was incorporated into the emerging city of Dallas.
His several books include Principes du socialisme
(1847), an argument favouring Fourierism over other kinds of socialism.
Sources:
Wikipedia, Daily
Bleed, et al
Early
progressives in the Book of Days
1834
George Dibbs (Sir George from July,
1892; d.
August 5, 1904),
Scottish-born
Australian political leader, three times
Protectionist
Premier of New South Wales (Australia), opponent of women's
suffrage
"From October 1891 to December 1893,
with Edmund Barton as his Attorney General advocating
federation, Dibbs supported Barton, despite his own preference
for unification, but severe financial difficulties, a major
strike at Broken Hill, and repeated political obstacles in the
parliament, prolonged the whole federation debate.
"After Barton left the administration
in late 1893 Dibbs outlined a detailed idea for unification of
the colonies which he spelt out in mid 1894.
"Following July 1894 elections
unfavourable to his party, under new electoral laws that
introduced universal male suffrage, Dibbs resigned office on
grounds the Governor refused to accept his advice and appoint 10
new Legislative Councillors. George Reid then became Premier,
called fresh elections in mid 1895, when Dibbs lost his seat.
"Appointed Managing Trustee of the
State Savings Bank of New South Wales by Reid, Dibbs argued
against federation at the 1898 and 1899 referenda, leading the
Anti Federation League in 1899. Although strongly in favour of
Australia united as United Australia he opposed federation as
being bad for New South Wales financially, and because Sydney
would not be the national capital."
Source
"Sir George Dibbs, in voting against
Parkes' Bill in 1891 said 'the bulk of women ... are utterly
incapable of performing the duties of men'. As Dibbs followed
Parkes as Premier from 1891 to 1894, the growing women's
movement faced an inflexible opponent."
Source
Cartoon of Dibbs and the 'shrieking sisterhood'
(PDF) More
Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson
1840
Helena
Modjeska (Helena Modrzejewska), Polish
and American
actress
1860 Elmer Sperry, inventor
1866 Ramsay MacDonald (d. 1937), Scottish-born Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom
1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958),
British composer (Sinfonia
Antarctica;
A Sea Symphony)
 1875 Aleister Crowley (d. December 1, 1947), English
occultist, mystic,
writer,
poet, astrologer,
sexual revolutionary, painter,
mountain climber, and social critic;
self-dubbed "wickedest man alive", author of The
Diary of a Drug Fiend, The
Holy Books of Thelema and creator of the Crowley
Thoth Tarot
"Crowley was a self-proclaimed
drug and sex 'fiend'
a mostly self-published author of books on the occult; a
poet and mountaineer; a leader of a cult called Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO)
whose tenets he detailed in one of his many writings, The Book
of the Law, which contains his version of the Law of
Thelema. Crowley claimed he channeled the book
for a 'praeterhuman intelligence' called Aiwass.
"Do what thou wilt shall be
the whole of the Law is his motto for OTO. In practice, for
Crowley this meant rejecting traditional morality in favor of the
life of a drug addict and womanizer. ('I rave; and I rape and I
rip and I rend' is a line from one of his poems. Diary of a
Drug Fiend is the title of one of his books.) He claimed to
identify himself with the Great
Beast 666 (from the Book of Revelation) and enjoyed the
appellation of 'wickedest man in the world.' He had two wives;
both went insane. Five mistresses committed suicide." Source
"Crowley's health
declined into the 1930s and '40s, in no small part due to a
lifelong heroin habit. After his homosexuality, the only other
thing that ever really shamed Crowley was his inability to quit
the drug, despite repeated attempts. His health declining, the
Beast shambled off to spend his final days mostly alone, at a
boarding house in his native England.
"On December 1, 1947, with a
parting curse on the doctor who refused to prescribe him any
more heroin, Crowley passed on to the great unknown. Depending
on how many of the extravagant claims made about the Beast (by
himself and others) you want to believe, feel free to make your
own calculations about where his karma deposited him on December
2." Source
More And more Biography
1912 Alice Childress (d. 1994), American
playwright
and author
1918 PS Ramakrishna Rao
(d. September
7, 1986), film director
1923 Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers
1932 Dick Gregory, comedian, activist
1935 Luciano Pavarotti (d.
September 6,
2007), Italian opera
singer
1935 Joan
Rivers, comedienne, television
host
1949
Ilich
Ramνrez Sαnchez (Carlos
the Jackal),
Venezuelan-born
self-proclaimed leftist revolutionary and mercenary
1950
Susan Anton, actress
1950 Kaga
Takeshi, Japanese actor, host of Iron
Chef
1953 Serge Lepeltier, French politician
1955 Ante Gotovina, general, Croatia
1968 Hugh Jackman, actor, singer
1968 Adam Rich, actor
1970
Kirk Cameron, actor
Phew!!
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October
11 "You
Go, Girl" Day
11 Sausage
Pizza Day
12 Columbus
Day (USA)
13 Dessert
Day
13 Train
Your Brain Day
14 Honey
Bee Day
14 World
Egg Day
15 Sweetest
Day
15 Grouch
Day
15 Sewing
Lovers Day
15 Mother's
Day (Paraguay)
16 Bosses'
Day
16 Dictionary
Day
16 Oatmeal
Day
17 Pasta
Day
17 Black
Poetry Day
17 Gaudy
Day
18 Chocolate
Cupcake Day
18 Watch
A Squirrel Day
18 Alaska
Day
18 Boost
Your Brain Day
18 Long
Distance Day
18 St
Luke's Feast Day
19 Electricity
Day
19 Change
Your Life Day
19 Look
Back On Your Life Day
20 Shampoo
Day
21 Caramel
Apple Day
21 Electric
Light Day
21 Babbling
Day
21 Can
Can Day
22 Eat
A Pretzel Day
... More
Events
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application. Further details
539
BCE The army of Cyrus
the Great of Persia
took Babylon.
632 Death of Edwin,
king of Northumbria
and Bretwalda.
638
Death of Pope Honorius I.
642
Death of Pope John IV.
1216
King John of England
lost his crown jewels in The
Wash, probably near Fosdyke,
perhaps near Sutton
Bridge.
According
to contemporary chronicles, John was travelling from Spalding
in Lincolnshire to King's
Lynn in Norfolk, but unwisely sent his baggage train, including his crown
jewels, along the coast road, which would only have been passable at certain
times of day. The horse-drawn carts moved too slowly for the incoming tide, and
many were lost. The present-day location is supposed to be somewhere near Sutton
Bridge, on the River Nene.
The
misfortune affected John's physical and mental health, and he succumbed to
dysentery, dying in 1216, at Newark
in Lincolnshire,
to be succeeded by his nine-year-old son as King Henry
III of England. John, the younger brother of Richard the Lionheart, and
known as Evil King John in the Robin
Hood legend, is buried in Worcester
Cathedral in the city of Worcester.
That "King John lost the Crown Jewels in the Wash"
might have been a tragedy for the monarch, but it has long been the source of
many a schoolyard pun.
1492 The
Arawaks discovered Christopher Columbus: Columbus's expedition made landfall in the Caribbean,
with the explorer believing he had reached East Asia.
Columbus and
the 'Flat Earth' perhaps an urban myth
1576 Death of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.
1609 'Three Blind Mice' was published by London teenage
songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft the first secular
song to be published in English.
1681 A London woman was
publicly flogged for the crime of 'involving herself in politics'.
1773 America's first insane
asylum opened for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia.
1792 The first celebration of Columbus
Day in the USA was held in New York.
1793 The cornerstone of
Old East, the oldest state university building in the United
States, was laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
1810
First Oktoberfest:
The Bavarian
royalty invited the citizens of Munich (Mόnchen) to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince
Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess
Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
1822 Brazil became
formally independent of Portugal; Don Pedro was proclaimed emperor.
Bethany.
A village of German Settlers,
George French Angas, 1844 - 45, Art Gallery of South Australia
1838 Australia: Five
hundred and thirty-seven German Lutheran
immigrants arrived in South Australia. Klemzig, Hahndorf,
Birdwood, Springton,
Lobethal, Bethany and Killalpaninna
are just some of the places settled by German migrants in that state. The Barossa Valley
became one of the main centres of Australian wine production.
Charles
Otto of Bethany wrote a comic poem in German about Bethany, probably in the
1860s. Here are two of its nine verses.
|
'Loblied von Bethanien'
Nach Bethanien, nach Bethanien
will ich meinen Weg hinbahnien,
wo gefall'ne Hόtten stehn,
alle Kinder barfuss gehn,
Kuh- und Schweinstall schrecklich stinken,
Leute in den Mud versinken:
wo es dόster rings umher,
dahin sehnt mein Herz sich sehr.
In Bethanien, in Bethanien,
wo die Kinder, die rotwangigen,
eilends hin zur Schule laufen,
unterwegs sich tόchtig raufen,
wo Herr Topp den Prόgel schwingt,
dass es durch die Hose dringt:
Klagetφne werden laut,
wenn er gerbt die blφίe Haut.
|
'Hymn of Praise for Bethany'
To Bethanien, to Bethanien,
I want to make my way,
Where collapsed huts stand,
All the children go barefoot,
Cowshed and pigsty smell dreadfully,
People sink down in the mud:
Where it is gloomy all around,
For that place my heart has deep longing.
In Bethanien, in Bethanien,
Where the children, the red-cheeked,
Run in haste to school,
On the way have real good scuffles,
Where Mister Topp swings the cane
So that it penetrates the pants:
Plaintive sounds become loud
When he tans the bare skin.
|
Source
1845 Death of Elizabeth Fry (b. 1780) English social
reformer and philanthropist noted especially for her work among prisoners,
making efforts to improve the treatment of prisoners deported to Australia.
She
also helped the homeless,
establishing a night shelter in London after seeing the body of a young boy in the winter of 1819/1820. A committee of
women headed by Fry lent their support by trying to find employment for the
jobless. Fry's work was restricted after her husband became bankrupt in 1828. She died at Ramsgate in 1845 and was buried in
the Friends' (Quakers') burial ground
at Barking.
In 2002, she was
depicted on the Bank of England
five
pound note.
1847 German inventor
and industrialist Werner von Siemens founded Siemens AG
& Halske.
1859 Norton I, Emperor
of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico, ordered the United States Congress to dissolve.
1870 Death of Robert E
Lee, United States Civil War general
(Confederate).
1892 To mark the 400th anniversary
of the Columbus
Day holiday, the 'Pledge of Allegiance' was first recited in
unison by students in US public schools.
1899 The
Boer states in
South Africa declared war on Britain, and
besieged Mafeking, which was defended by Colonel Robert
Baden-Powell.
1901 US President Theodore Roosevelt renamed the Executive Mansion
'The White House'.
1915 World War I:
Despite international protests, British
nurse Edith
Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers
escape from Belgium.
1916
Australia: Sydney eccentric William Chidley dowsed himself with kerosene and
died (on December 21)
by self-immolation.
1928 An iron lung
respirator was used for the first time at the Children's Hospital, Boston, USA.
1933 The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz
Island was acquired by the United States Department of Justice.
1935 Adolf Hitler
banned jazz music from German radio, for its alleged
decadence.
1938 Filming started on The Wizard of Oz.
1951 American
Florence Chadwick swam the English Channel in the
record time of 13 hours 33 minutes.
1953
The Caine Mutiny Court Martial
opened at Plymouth Theatre, New York.
 1960 Cold War: Nikita
Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United
Nations meeting, in anger at a
point made by
Lorenzo Sumulong, the Filipino
delegate, about Soviet Union policies regarding Eastern
Europe.
Sumulong asked 'Mr K' how he could protest Western capitalist
imperialism
while the Soviet Union was at the same time rapidly assimilating Eastern Europe.
Khrushchev became enraged and informed Sumulong that he was, "a jerk, a stooge
and a lackey of imperialism," then removed one of his shoes and banged it on
his table.
Or, so it
is said, but it is doubted by some.
The
incident, which in much of the world was one of the most famous of the early
1960s, is rarely questioned in the historical record, as this BBC
webpage exemplifies. The notorious shoe-pounding was a common butt of jokes
in many forms at the time, even making its way parodically into the 1962 Three Stooges
in Orbit film, in which a Martian bangs his shoe on a table in the
United Nations. And the gag continues: as late as February 15, 1998, in Episode
192 of The Simpsons, Principal Skinner similarly bangs his shoe on
the desk in a typical Simpsons cultural reference.
In the New York Times at the time, journalist Benjamin
Welles wrote that Khrushchev "pulled off his right shoe, stood up and
brandished the shoe at the Philippine delegate on the other side of the hall. He
then banged his shoe on the desk".
However,
your almanackist has yet to see a photo or footage of the Soviet premier
actually banging the shoe although a shoe is seen in famous images. Of
course, not having seen something is no indication that the something did not
happen (despite the fact that I actually once amazed a gullible New Age person
by saying that it must be true that there are some people in the world who do
not eat, surviving only on air, as I had seen undoctored pictures of some
Tibetans not eating).
Khrushchev's grandchildren believe in
the shoe banging
Mr K's
granddaughter, Nina Khrushcheva, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute in
New York, apparently accepts that Grandpa banged his footwear, and that it would
have been in character:
"A scandalous shoe-banging so conveniently fit the general
mode of Khrushchev's behavior. He was well-known for interrupting speakers,
banging his fists on the table in protest, pounding his feet, even whistling
in disagreement
"Studying old newspapers as the best record of contemporary
events, I felt as if I were in New York during that fall of 1960 ...
"On Oct. 12, 1960, there it was on the front page of all the
newspapers in the United States: the picture I was looking for so persistently
and yet so dreaded actually seeing.
"The head of the Philippine delegation to the United
Nations, Lorenzo Sumulong, was surprised at the Soviet Union's concerns over
Western imperialism, since the Soviets had swallowed the whole of Eastern
Europe. Khrushchev's reply was angry. He called Sumulong 'a jerk, a stooge
and a lackey of imperialism,' put his shoe on the desk and banged it.
"When Khrushchev left the United States the next day, he was
done with the incident. And when I read about it, I was done with feeling
ashamed.
"In trying unsuccessfully to rehabilitate my grandfather in
the world's eyes, I rehabilitated him in my own eyes by understanding his
behavior. He felt that the Soviet Union was mistreated by the Western powers:
Spy planes flew over Russia; the U.S. imposed an embargo on Cuba; the West
rejected the Soviet Union's new disarmament plan.
"Capitalists thought of him as a vaudeville character. Fine
he would use the United Nations' stage to show them that he should be
taken seriously as a worthy opponent.
"But he would do it in a manner different from the polite
hypocrites of the West with their appropriate words, false niceties and
calculated deeds. A provokingly dramatic (or tragi-comic) act of shoe-banging
was supposed to separate two worlds, not only in terms of their titles and
their politics, but also in their means of making diplomacy.
"As a good performer, Khrushchev needed a strong, convincing
exit from the United Nations and the United States. In the excitement of
fist-banging at Sumulong's words, his watch fell off. Meanwhile, his shoes,
made of durable Soviet leather, were too new and too tight, and he removed
them. He bent down to pick up the watch and saw an empty shoe.
"These insights I learned from my family. Since the 40-year
spell of embarrassment was broken, we were finally ready to talk about those
times.
"I still think that, had the shoe-banging not happened, it
would have been invented." Source
However,
one notes that Granddaughter K seems to have received much of her information
from newspaper articles and photographs. She does imply, though, that her family
believes in the banging. Mr K's grandson, also called Nikita Khrushchev, seems
to accept the received wisdom:
"'one hand was with the shoe and one hand was without the shoe. He was banging
(the table) like a drum.
"'It was
merely for 15 seconds,' Khrushchev concluded, claiming his grandfather was
defending his country's honor, not trying to threaten the Western world."
Source
But where is the photo or film of the banging?
William Taubman
author of Khrushchev:
The Man and His Era (WW Norton, 2003), who has dug into the conundrum,
isn't sure if such evidence will be found:
"Yet another Times man, James Feron, who was at the
United Nations but did not write a story, recalls, 'I actually saw
Khrushchev not bang his shoe.' According to Feron
the Soviet leader 'leaned over, took off a slip-on shoe, waved it pseudomenacingly, and put it
on his desk, but he never banged his shoe'
"When I talked about Khrushchev to veterans of his era in
Washington, one eyewitness confirmed the banging. But another eyewitness
confirmed the nonbanging. A third, who said he'd been standing several feet
behind the premier, insisted that the heel of the hand that held the shoe
slammed the desk but that shoe never actually touched it.
"John Loengard, former picture editor for Life magazine, wrote me that he
was in a General Assembly booth, along with 10 or so photographers from New
York city dailies and national wire services. Loengard is 'certain' that
Khrushchev 'did not bang his shoe on the desk,' but that 'he certainly meant
to do so.' According to Loengard, Khrushchev 'reached down and took off a
brown loafer from his right foot and put it on the desk. He grinned to
delegates from the United Arab Republic who sat across the aisle and mimed
(with an empty hand) that the next time he'd use the shoe to bang. I can
assure you that every camera in the booth was trained on Khrushchev, waiting
for him to use the shoe. He only put it on again and left. None of us missed
the picture which would have been a serious professional error. The event
never occurred.'" Source
Personally,
I am inclined to allow Mr Loengard the last word on the matter, except for this
from Mr Taubman:
"A friend in
Moscow, a distinguished medieval historian, reacted to the shoe controversy
this way, his tongue only partly in cheek: 'If one cannot establish the
truth in an event with hundreds of eyewitnesses many of whom are alive and
talking, what's the point of reconstructing events centuries old?'"
Which is why
almanackists, like historians and journalists, must always be taken with a grain
of salt.
"A few years ago Sergei Khrushchev donated his papers to the John Hay Library. When curator Mark Brown arrived to sort them, the two men came across the shoes in the garage.
'Would you like my father's shoes?' Khrushchev asked.
"'The shoes in John Hay Library are not The Shoes,' he says. 'I found an AP photograph of my father wearing sandals at the United
Nations.' What happened, he thinks, is this: 'My father came from Moscow in ordinary shoes, but when he got to New York it was hot, so he switched to sandals. It was those sandals that he wore to the United Nations that
day.' The sandals'My father had very small feet: size seven or eight, like a
boy'were eventually thrown out."
Source
Why is there no Khrushchev in Russian nesting (babushka) dolls?
1964 The Soviet
Union launched the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first
spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits.
1967 Vietnam War:
US Secretary of State Dean Rusk stated during a news conference that proposals
by the United States Congress for peace initiatives
were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition.
1970 Vietnam War:
US President Richard Nixon announced that the United
States would withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
1972 En
route to her station in the Gulf
of Tonkin, a racial
brawl involving more than 100 sailors broke out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk.
1976
The People's Republic of China announced
that Hua
Guofeng was the successor to the late Mao
Zedong as chairman of Communist Party of China.
1978 Sex Pistols guitarist
Sid Vicious
(1957 - '79), was
arrested in New York and charged with the stabbing murder of his girlfriend, Nancy
Spungen, in Room 100 of the famous Chelsea Hotel. Vicious claimed to have no memory at all of the
previous night's incidents. Bail of $50,000 was put up by Virgin Records at the
request of Malcolm
McLaren.
Some other celebrated residents of
the Chelsea Hotel
Brendan
Behan William
S Burroughs John Cale Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri
Chopin Christo Arthur
C Clarke Leonard Cohen Gregory
Corso Quentin Crisp Robert
Crumb Simone
de Beauvoir Bob Dylan Jane
Fonda Milos Forman Allen
Ginsberg Jimi
Hendrix O Henry Dennis
Hopper Jobriath Jasper
Johns Janis
Joplin Frida Kahlo Stanley
Kubrick Lillie Langtree Robert
Mapplethorpe Arthur
Miller Claes
Oldenburg Robert Oppenheimer Edith
Piaf Dee
Dee Ramone Diego
Rivera Jean-Paul
Sartre Patti Smith Dylan
Thomas Mark
Twain Gore Vidal Brett
Whiteley and Tennessee Williams all stayed or lived at the
Chelsea.
1983 Japan's ex Prime
Minister Tanaka Kakuei was found guilty of taking a $2 million
bribe from Lockheed
and was sentenced to four years in jail.
1984 Brighton hotel bombing: UK Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher survived an IRA bomb, which shredded her bathroom barely two minutes after she
had left it. Most of Mrs Thatcher's cabinet were staying for a
conference.
1994 NASA lost radio contact with
the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descended into
the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the
atmosphere either October 13 or 14).
1998 United States Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
1999 A
military coup led by Pakistani Army
Chief General Pervez Musharraf took control of Pakistan and
ousted the government of Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif.
2000 In Aden, Yemen, the USS
Cole was badly damaged by two suicide
bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
2001 War
on Terrorism: Prompted by a request by US President George
W Bush, an episode of America's Most Wanted aired featuring 22
Most Wanted Terrorists (listed on October 10 in the Book
of Days).
2002 Bali bombing: In Bali, terrorists
detonated bombs in two nightclubs in
Kuta, killing 202 and injuring a further 209. Jemaah
Islamiyah, an Islamist group, was held responsible for the outrage.
The
largest group among those killed were holiday-makers from Australia.
The Bali bombing is sometimes called 'Australia's September 11' because of the large
number of its citizens killed in the attack.
Remember Bali: Indonesian commemorative website
Sydney
Morning Herald memorial site
Australian Broadcasting
Corporation Bali bombing website
The
ABC current affairs program Four Corners Bali website
Photographs
and writings pertaining to the Bali tragedy
Other Bali
bombing memorial sites
Dramatic
photo
2003 Death of Dr Jim Cairns (b. 1914), Australian politician, Deputy
Prime Minister in the Whitlam government. After leaving politics he became a leading light of the Down to Earth movement which organised ConFests attended by
thousands of Australians interested in alternative lifestyles (see December 12, 1976, Cotter ConFest,
in the Book of Days).
"On February 14, 2003, Jim Cairns, who led
100,000 people through the streets of Melbourne against the Vietnam War on 8
May 1970, was on the street again against the war and invasion of Iraq in a
crowd numbering up to 200,000 people."
Source: Obituary
written by Takver
2003 Belarus mental hospital fire: Thirty
patients died in a mental hospital fire in Randilovshchina, Belarus.
2005
The second Chinese
human
spaceflight Shenzhou
6 was scheduled to carry two astronauts for five days in orbit.
Tomorrow: The day the sun danced
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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.
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