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! 7 Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search Open links in a New Window

Today is

Long haired preachers come out every night, 
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right; 
But when asked how 'bout something to eat, 
They will answer with voices so sweet: 
You will eat, bye and bye, 
In that glorious land above the sky: Work and pray, live on hay, 
You'll get pie in the sky when you die. 

Workingmen of all countries unite; 
Side by side we for freedom will fight. 
When the world and its wealth we have gained 
to the grafters we'll sing this refrain: 

You will eat, bye and bye, 
When you've learned to cook and fry; 
Chop some wood, t'will do you good, 
and you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.
Joe Hill, US labor organizer and poet/songwriter, born on October 7, 1879

I firmly believe that if the whole material medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be better for mankind-and all the worse for the fishes.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, American physician and writer who died on October 7, 1894; quoted in The Culture of Professionalism, Burton J Bledstein, 1976, p. 33

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered bulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
Oliver Wendell Holmes; from 'Old Ironsides' (1830), Written on September 16, 1830 in response to reports that the USS Constitution was to be scrapped, it is generally credited with arousing public sentiment sufficient to save the ship, which remains a commissioned ship of the US Navy to this day

A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times. It has come to you over a new route, by a new and express train of associations.
Oliver Wendell Holmes; from The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Don't ever think the poetry is dead in an old man because his forehead is wrinkled, or that his manhood has left him when his hand trembles! If they ever were there, they are there still!
Oliver Wendell Holmes; ibid

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked. Good mental machinery ought to break its own wheels and levers, if anything is thrust among them suddenly which tends to stop them or reverse their motion. A weak mind does not accumulate force enough to hurt itself; stupidity often saves a man from going mad.
Oliver Wendell Holmes; ibid

I still lack to a considerable degree that naturally superior kind of manner that I would dearly like to possess.
Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official and leader of the SS, born on October 7, 1900; from diary entry (November 1921), quoted in Derek Raymond, The Hidden Files (1992)

Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA — ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State.
Heinrich Himmler

The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear.
Heinrich Himmler

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.
Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist, born on October 7, 1931; from The Christian Science Monitor, December 20, 1984

For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too.
Desmond Tutu; from the New York Times, January 3, 1985

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.
Desmond Tutul; from Today, NBC TV, January 9, 1985

Israel reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa ... I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about ... Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice.
Desmond Tutu; from 'Apartheid in the Holy Land', April 29, 2002

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, 
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, 
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night ...
From 'Howl', by Allen Ginsberg; his famous poem was first read publicly on October 7, 1955

You feel like you are going through the gutter when you have to read that stuff. I didn't linger on it too long, I assure you.
An elocution teacher, at the obscenity trial for 'Howl'

Six poets at the Six Gallery. Kenneth Rexroth, M.C. Remarkable collection of angels all gathered at once in the same spot. Wine, music, dancing girls, serious poetry, free satori. Small collection for wine and postcards. Charming event.
From a postcard printed by Allen Ginsberg to publicize 1955 Six Gallery Reading

October 7 is the 280^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (281^st in leap years), with 85 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.

The nones of October, ancient Rome

In the Roman calendar, the nones of a month were the fifth day of the months January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December, and the seventh day of March, May, July, and October; traditionally the day of the Half Moon. The nones were nine days before the ides (depending on the month, these could be the 13^th and 15^th day; traditionally the day of the Full Moon), reckoning inclusively, according to the Roman method.

The term none came into Christian liturgical use, meaning 'the fifth of the seven canonical hours' (no longer used) or 'the time of day appointed for this service, usually the ninth hour after sunrise'.

"While the Lares and Di Penates are honored every day in the pious Roman household, the Nones (celebrated on either the 5th or 7th day of the month; see the Calendar) are days when a more elaborate ceremony should be observed. The Nones are sacred to Iuno Covella (Iuno of the Hollow Moon).

"The Nones ritual is usually celebrated early in the morning at sunrise by the head of the household (usually the eldest male). If circumstances (or family tradition) dictate, it may be performed at noon or before sunset. No sexual activity is permitted prior to the rite. The performer of the rite does not break his fast prior to performing the rite (if celebrated at sunrise); only a little tea or coffee is permitted.

"Before the rite the Paterfamilias washes his hands (having also previously bathed or showered beforehand) while saying the prayer for ablution …"
Nones Ritual

Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    Almanacs calendars time links

Links to calendar history    Early Roman Calendar - History    Roman festivals

Roman Dates (Chris Bennett's site)    Seyffert's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities   

LacusCurtius    Smith's Dictionary calendar article    More from Smith

Feast day of Ss Sergius and Bacchus – gay saints?

According to legend, they were two military martyrs, officers of the Roman Army on the Syrian frontier during the reign of Galerius Maximianus, Roman emperor from 305 to 311. They are said to have been converted to Christianity by the miracles of St Peter the Apostle. There is at least a hint of transvetism and perhaps homosexuality in the cultus, and sometimes they are referred to as patrons of gay marriage.

When they refused to enter the temple of Jupiter, they were sent to Rhesapha (Resapha; Rosafa) in Mesopotamia, where they were scourged so severely that Bacchus died; Sergius later was beheaded, but not before they were both made to cross-dress:

The emperor's countenance was transformed with anger; immediately he ordered their belts cut off, their tunics and all other military garb removed, the gold torcs taken from around their necks, and women's clothing placed on them; thus they were to be paraded through the middle of the city to the palace, bearing heavy chains around their necks.
Ed. Van den Gheyn, ch. 7, 380   Source

Sergius survived his beloved Bacchus, although he had to endure more suffering, having been first forced to run 18 miles in shoes that were covered on the soles with sharp nails that pierced his feet.

"Oh, my other half"

Sergius waivered in his faith, because Bacchus has been removed from him. He wept and cried out, "Oh, my other half, never will we sing together the hymns and songs we used to sing. Unyoked from me, you have left me here on earth, lonely and disconsolate." Then Bacchus appeared to him, the biographer says, "radiantly and beautiful", asking "Why do you mourn and grieve, beloved? I have been taken from you bodily, but in the bond of our love, I am with you still. Hurry now so that through your good and perfect fidelity, you may be worthy to earn me as the reward of the race. For my crown of justice is you."

Their Acts are uncannily similar to those of Saints Nereus and Achilleus. Gregory of Tours (c. 538 - 594?) writes of a miracle associated with this feast day:

"Once there was an old woman who … had a few chickens among her fowl that she entrusted to the authority of the church because of a vow [she had made] to bring them to the saint's (Sergius's) house when circumstances demanded. When many people gathered for the festival of the saint, two men who had once seen these chickens made an agreement and secretly stole one. They cut off its head, plucked its feathers, cut off its feet, and put it in a pot with water that they hung over a fire and rapidly heated. The water boiled furiously, but the stolen meat was not cooked. Even though the water boiled away, this chicken did not become tender at all. They repeatedly tested it with their hands and tried to break a claw, but they discovered that what they had put [in the water] was even tougher. Meanwhile the guests they had invited to dinner were arriving. These guests were about to receive nothing from the preparations. The table was ready, covered with white napkins and decorated with an embroidered cloth. But the food had been transformed into an unexpected toughness. Although the pot was often filled with water, nothing they put in it was found to be cooked. So, because of this unexpected miracle, the dinner was turned into stone, the hosts were dismayed, the guests were embarrassed, and everyone left the meal in shame."   Source

Gregory also writes that Sergius's relic thumb could work miracles, such as turn a superior army to flight. Pope Adrian I rebuilt the deaconry of Ss Sergius and Bacchus within the walls of Rome.

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 Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism Read Outfoxed review   Wisdom, Madness and Folly By RD Laing   The Divided Self By RD Laing   RD Laing   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 Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America By Bruce Shapiro 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 Tell Me No Lies By John Pilger Medieval Celebrations Women's Activism and Globalization The Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites Secrets and Lies The Clash of Civilizations The Raven Book Raven CD Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection 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

Feast day of Pallas Athena, ancient Greece Patroness of Athens, she was later worshipped in Rome as the goddess Victoria and later still Christianised to St Victoria, or Mary as Our Lady of Victories. Her image was placed on top of ceremonial arches, such as the Marble Arch in London and the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.  Thesmophoria, ancient Greece (Oct 5 - 7) Third and final day: Return of women to Demeter's temple in Athens. Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days   Feast day of St Gerold Feast day of St Helanus Feast day of St Julia Feast day of St Justina of Padua, virgin and martyr Her legend is probably confused with that of St Scholastica. Feast day of Ss Marcellus and Apuleius, martyrs at Rome Feast day of St Mark, pope (Indian chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum indicum, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) Feast day of St Matthew Carreri   Feast day of St Osyth (Osith; Othith; Ositha), virgin Osyth (d. 653) was an English saint. Though she may be entirely legendary, she is commemorated in the village of St Osyth, Essex near Colchester. Born in Quarrendon, Buckinghamshire (at that time part of Mercia), she was the daughter of Frithwald, a sub-king of Mercia in Surrey, and was the niece of St Edith and Saint Edburga of Bicester. Her mother was Wilburga, the daughter of the pagan King Penda of Mercia and therefore a relative of St Rumwald. She was murdered by Danish Viking marauders in 653. Her death was accounted a martyrdom by some, but Bede makes no mention of St Osyth. The 13th-Century chronicler Matthew Paris repeats some of the legend that had accrued around her name. The site of her martyrdom became transferred to the holy spring at Quarrendon. The spring, mentioned in the time of Osyth's aunts, now became associated with her legend, in which Osyth stood up after her execution, picking up her head like St Denis in Paris and walking with it in her hands, to the door of a local convent, before collapsing there. Osyth's burial site at St Mary's Church in Aylesbury was a site of great pilgrimage. However, following a papal decree in 1500, the bones were removed from the church and buried in secret. The Catholic Encyclopedia gave St Osyth no mention. Undeterred, according to the 17th-Century antiquary, John Aubrey (1626 - '97), author of the Brief Lives), "in those days, when they went to bed they did rake up the fire, and make a X on the ashes, and pray to God and St Sythe (that is, St Osyth) to deliver them from fire, and from water, and from all misadventure." A house in Aylesbury is still called St Osyth's House in her honour. She is represented as a nun carrying her head, or as a nun with a stag nearby (see Christian saints and the Horned God, in the Scriptorium). St Osyth, Essex: Official site    Encyclopaedia Britannia 'Lives'    More   Feast day of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Feast day of Our Lady of Victories Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Nagasaki Kunchi, Suwa-Jinja Shrine, Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki, Japan (Oct 7 - 9) "Lively festival with a cosmopolitan atmosphere reflecting Nagasaki's history of international contact. Features parades of colourful floats and unique dances, all with a strong Chinese influence. Regularly attracts over 350,000 visitors."   Source Kermesse, 15th-Century Germany "In the fifteenth century, peasants in Germany celebrated a week-long festival called the Kermesse. A Pagan icon (or some other sacred object) would be unearthed from its yearlong burial spot and then paraded through the village on top of gaily decorated pole. After a week of feasting, dancing, and games, the villagers would dress up in their mourning attire and rebury the icon in its grave, where it would remain until the next year's Kermesse."   Source Republic Day, East Germany World Space Week (Oct 4 - 10) Composer Day, Brazil       On which day of the week were you born? Find out here 1573 William Laud (d. January 10, 1645), Archbishop of Canterbury and a fervent supporter of Charles I of England whom he encouraged to believe in the Divine Right of Kings 1748 King Charles XIII / Carl II of Sweden-Norway (d. 1818) 1769 Solomon Sibley (d. 1846), Delegate, Michigan Territory, 1820-1823 1835 Felix Draeseke (d. 1913), German composer 1841 King Nicholas I of Montenegro (d. 1921) 1849 James Whitcomb Riley (d. July 22, 1916), American writer and poet. Riley was born in Greenfield, Indiana. He wrote poems about lazy summer days and idleness. He was popular in his day and even appeared with Mark Twain at Carnegie Hall. He was the creator of the character Little Orphan Annie, originally in a poem entitled 'Little Orphant Annie'. He was elected to the Academy of Arts and Letters and received the gold Medal for Poetry in 1912. 1853 James Whitcomb Riley (d. 1916), poet 1879 Joe Hill (d. November 19 [qv], 1915), American labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies. He was executed for murder after a controversial trial, and after his death became the subject of a famous folksong, Joe Hill. His last words, to his supporters, were "Don't mourn for me. Organize!"   'Joe Hill' By Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson, 1936   I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night Alive as you and me Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead," "I never died," says he, "I never died," says he. "In Salt Lake, Joe, by God," says I Him standing by my bed, "They framed you on a murder charge." Says Joe, "But I ain't dead," says Joe, "But I ain't dead." "The copper bosses shot you, Joe, They killed you, Joe," says I. "Takes more than guns to kill a man," Says Joe, "I didn't die," says Joe, "I didn't die." And standing there as big as life And smiling with his eyes Joe says, "What they forgot to kill Went on to organize, went on to organize." "Joe Hill ain't dead," he says to me, "Joe Hill ain't never died. Where workingmen are out on strike Joe Hill is at their side, Joe Hill is at their side." "From San Diego up to Maine In every mine and mill Where workers strike and organize," Says he, "You'll find Joe Hill," says he, "You'll find Joe Hill."  Hear Paul Robeson sing Joe Hill (mp3) Midi: Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger often performed this song and are associated with it. But the best known performance and recording of "Joe Hill" was done by Joan Baez at Woodstock in 1969.   Songs of Joe Hill and tributes   1885 Niels Bohr (d.1962), Danish physicist 1888 Henry A Wallace (d. 1965), American politician and Vice President of the United States 1894 Del Lord (d. 1970), pioneer Hollywood director 1897 Charles Chauvel, pioneer Australian film maker (The Rats of Tobruk; Jedda) 1897 Elijah Mohammed (approx. date of birth; d. 1975), Black Muslim leader 1900 Heinrich Himmler (d. 1945), Nazi official and leader of the SS 1905 Andy Devine (d. 1977), American actor 1911 Vaughn Monroe (d. 1973), singer 1914 Alfred Drake (d. 1992), actor 1917 June Allyson, American actress (Best Foot Forward; The Glenn Miller Story) 1927 RD (Ronald David) Laing (d. August 23, 1989), Scottish radical 'anti-psychiatrist' and author (The Divided Self; Wisdom, Madness and Folly; Eros, Love and Lies; Politics of Experience) 1927 Al Martino (b. Alfred Cini), Italian-American singer and actor 1931 Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist 1934 Ulrike Meinhof (d. May 9, 1976), German radical left-wing militant, one of the founders of the Red Army Faction (in German: Rote Armee Fraktion), which is also known as the 'Baader-Meinhof Group'. She died of hanging in a German prison; some believe that it was not suicide. 1934 Amiri Baraka, playwright, poet (born LeRoi Jones) More 1935 Thomas Keneally, Australian  author (The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith; Schindler's Ark, which became Schindler's List, the movie; The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World) Shop Thomas Keneally   1939 John Hopcroft, American theoretical computer scientist 1939 Harold Kroto, British chemist 1939 Clive James, AM, expatriate Australian writer, poet, essayist, critic, and commentator on popular culture 1943 Oliver North, United States Marine and White House aide involved in Iran-Contra affair 1951 John Cougar Mellencamp, American rock star 1952 Vladimir Putin, <