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If the hart and the hind meet dry and part dry on Holyrood Day, there will be no more rain for six weeks.
Old English weather prognostication proverb

Cleft, fruitful, fruitful, fruitful
Joy of carrots, surpassing upon me
Michael the brave endowing me
Bride the fair be aiding me.
Carmina Gadelica; in the Hebrides, females picked St Michael's wild carrots at this time

On Friday the 26th of September in the year of our Lord 1449, about the hour of Vespers, two terrible dragons were seen fighting for about the space of one hour, on two hills, of which one, in Suffolk, is called Kydyndon Hyl and the other in Essex Blacdon Hyl. One was black in colour and the other reddish and spotted. After a long conflict the reddish one obtained the victory over the black, which done, both returned into the hills above named whence they had come, that is to say, each to his own place to the admiration of many beholding them.
From a Ms in the Library of The Dean and Chapter at Canterbury (Blacdon Hyl is now known as Ballingdon Hill, and Kydyndon Hyl is Killingdown Hill at Keddington. Below the latter is a meadow known as Sharpfight Meadow) Source

Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment
And despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.
'Deteriorata' (not written by Max Ehrmann; not found in Old St Paul's Church)

A man cannot have a pure mind who refuses apple dumplings.
Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834), English poet

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Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret Read MacDonald

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Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD or VHS

Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

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The Da Vinci Code

Breaking The Da Vinci Code

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Internet Sacred Text Archive CD-ROM

The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines

The Spiral Dance
By Starhawk
20th Anniversary Edition

Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations

Life in a Medieval Village

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Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our Lives and What We Can Do About It

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Live with Passion!
Anthony Robbins


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Celtic Daily Prayer

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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

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Feast day of Ss Cyprian the Magician, and Justina, martyrs
(Gigantic goldenrod, Solidago gigantea, is today's plant, dedicated to these saints.)

Old Holy-Rood Day, Britain (now October 11)

Traditionally beginning of mating season for deer.

Satan urinates on blackberries, Scotland

Yesterday was the last day for picking blackberries because the devil poisons them today by urinating and/or spitting on them at about this time of year (Old Michaelmas Day, October 11, in parts of England). Satan had fallen into a blackberry patch and cursed the plant for scratching him. In France, it was thought that the colour of the fruit resulted from when the Devil spat on it.

Sunday preceding Michaelmas (2004)

Gathering St Michael's Carrots
In the Hebrides, on the afternoon of the Sunday preceding Michaelmas, women and girls traditionally gather St Michael's wild carrots in a ritual manner. They dig triangular holes (signifying Michael's shield), with a three-pronged mattock (St Michael's trident), and tie them into bunches with a triple red thread. These are given to visitors on Michaelmas Day (see September 29), and forked roots are considered especially lucky.

In the 19^th Century, Alexander Carmichael, author of Carmina Gadelica, collected many folk customs and prayers (that are more like spells) from the Scottish highlands and islands. Here is a charm that was recited during the gathering of St. Michael's carrots:

Cleft, fruitful, fruitful, fruitful
Joy of carrots surpassing upon me
Michael the brave endowing me
Bride the fair be aiding me

Source: School of the Seasons; Charles Kightly, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames and Hudson, London, 1987

"Trick – write the word 'carrot' on a piece of paper and hide it. Ask some-one to quickly answer your questions, ask 'what is 1 + 1?', 'what is 2 + 2' etc. until the answer is 128, then ask them to name a vegetable, they will almost always answer with 'carrot' – reveal your paper." [sic]   Source

Carrot Trivia 101 things you never knew about carrots

Good Neighbor Day, USA (4^th Sunday in September)

"Good Neighbor Day was started by Mrs. Becky Mattson in Montana with Congressional correspondence to The Honorable Mike Mansfield in 1971. With Mr. Mansfield's enthusiastic support, National Good Neighbor Day was subsequently proclaimed by three United States Presidents: President Carter, President Ford and President Nixon. In addition, governors of many states also issued proclamations of Good Neighbor Day."   Source

Bureflux (Discordianism)

Prickle-Prickle, Day 50 of Bureaucracy, YOLD 3170

Today in the Discordian Calendar

Feast of Zame Ye Mebege, Gabon
God of Narcotics.   Source: The Daily Bleed

Mid-Autumn Day, Scottish Highlands
Considered the start of mating season for the deer. Whatever the weather is today, in Scotland, it will continue as such for another forty days.

Feast day of St Eusebius

Feast day of St Giovanni Mazzucconi

Feast day of St John of Meda

Feast day of St Louis Tezza

Feast day of St Marie Victoire Therese Couderc

Feast day of St Nilus the Younger

Feast day of the North American Martyrs

Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days

Celebration day for Orunmila, Voudon (Voodoo)   Source

Autumn Equinox festival at Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico (Sep 17 - 26)

Oktoberfest (Sep 20 - Oct 5)

On which day of the week were you born? Find out here

1774 Johnny Appleseed (d. March 18?, 1847), born in Leominster, Massachusetts. American pioneer, Swedenborgian Christian missionary, early conservationist and folk hero, John Chapman, was known as Johnny Appleseed for his large number of fruit tree plantings. He is regarded as the 'patron saint' of orchardists in the USA, and this is celebrated as his day. March 11 is considered Johnny Appleseed Day by some, but it is not widely commemorated and many people, your almanackist included, think that today makes a better choice.

Apple folklore links    The Real Johnny Appleseed Story    Last Orchard in Johnny Appleseed's Hometown        About the apple    More    More

Granny Smith and her apple
Your almanackist went to primary school and university near the street where Granny Smith (Maria Ann Smith; 1799 - 1870) produced the famous apple that bears her name. "The farm lay between the present North Road and Abuklea Road, Eastwood, with its northern boundary midway between today's Irene Crescent and Longview Street and its southern boundary crossing Threlfall Street."   Source    Google Maps reference

1833 Charles Bradlaugh (d. January 30, 1891), British freethinker, political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19^th Century.

Early progressives in the Book of Days

1836 (date of baptism) Thomas Crapper (d. January 27, 1910), English plumber who is said to have patented the flush toilet (see Snopes on this)

From Wikipedia: In the United States, the word "crapper" is a dysphemism for "toilet," although it is not clear if this has anything to do with Thomas Crapper. The term first appeared in print in the 1930s, and it has been suggested that U.S. soldiers stationed in England during World War I (some of whom had little experience with indoor plumbing) saw many toilets printed with T. Crapper in the glaze and brought the word home as a synonym for "toilet." Another theory is that the association came from the verb to crap, meaning "to defecate" (recorded since 1846 according to Oxford), and the connection to Thomas Crapper is an unfortunate coincidence of his surname. Yet another explanation is that Crapper's flush toilet advertising was so widespread that "crapper" became a synonym for "toilet" and people simply assumed that he was the inventor. "Crapper" remains an Americanism, but has fallen into disuse.

The noun crap is old in the English language, one of a group of words applied to discarded cast offs, like "residue from renderings" (1490s) or in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale", meanings probably extended from Middle English crappe "chaff, or grain that has been trodden underfoot in a barn" (c. 1440), deriving ultimately from Late Latin crappa, "chaff." The occupational name Crapper is a variant spelling of "Cropper".

Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd

1843 Joseph Furphy (d. September 13, 1912), Australian novelist (Such is Life) and a regular contributor to The Bulletin under the name of Tom Collins (at first, 'Warrigal Jack').

Such is Life is a fictional account of the life of rural dwellers, including bullock drivers, squatters and itinerant travellers, in southern New South Wales and Victoria, during the 1880s.

The book comprises a series of loosely interwoven stories of the various people encountered by the narrator as he travels about the countryside. At times the prose is difficult to understand because of the use of Australian vernacular and the author's attempt to convey the accents of Scottish and Chinese personalities. This novel nevertheless provides an insight into the character of rural dwellers in Australia in the latter half of the 19^th Century.

The title of Such is Life is said to be derived from Ned Kelly's last words when he was hanged in Melbourne on November 11, 1880.

Joseph Furphy's older brother, John, invented the Furphy Water Cart, which provided the origin of the expression 'furphy' (a rumour, urban myth or popular deceit), which came into Australian English as the carts were popular soldiers' meeting-places on World War I battlefields, and around which the soldiers would exchange gossip, rumours and fanciful tales. 'Scuttlebutt' has a similar etymology, a scuttlebutt originally being a cask of drinking water on a ship.

Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson    More on 'furphy'    More    More

1844 Rev. Charles Strong, DD (d. February 12, 1942), Scottish-born Australian dissident Presbyterian minister, anti-conscription activist in WWI (see WWI anti-conscription struggle), social activist and founder of the Australian Church, which continued until 1957. Prime Minister Alfred Deakin was a member of the Australian Church (more here), as was radical lawyer and poet, Bernard O'Dowd.

"Acknowledged as one of the most controversial clergyman in the history of the Victorian Presbyterian Church, Strong was born at Dailly, Ayrshire, Scotland on 26 September 1844 the son of Rev. David Strong and Margaret née Roxburgh. While attending University of Glasgow (Hon. LL.D., 1887) between 1859 and 1864 he came under the influence of Edward Caird, professor of moral philosophy and rejected the scholastic Calvinist teaching as the true and sufficient expression of the evangelical faith, instead following a more liberal theological view. Ordained in 1868, his success as a 'pastor, preacher, liberal theological teacher and social reformer' led to his appointment as head of Scots Church, Collins Street (1875-83) in Melbourne. Yet, 'almost from the hour of his arrival', controversy was never far away and his essays, outspoken criticism of social evils and advocacy of evangelical reform soon led to friction within the presbytery; Strong offered his resignation in August 1881 but instead agreed to take leave and he left to visit Scotland in 1882. But his absence did little to resolve the theological divide and soon after his return he became embroiled in fresh controversy over his failure to denounce George Higinbotham's (q.v.) lecture he chaired titled 'The Relation between Science and Religion' and was threatened with a libel for heresy; in a tense and dramatic sequence of events he refused to attend the General Assembly on 14 November 1883 arguing the action against him as 'unconstitutional and illegal' according to the laws of the Church and defiantly set sail for Scotland the next day. In November 1884, Strong returned to Melbourne and the following year founded the Australian Church – a free religious fellowship – yet it was his controversial views that led to its eventual demise in 1957. Among the many admirers of Strong were the politician Sir James Lorimer (St. Kilda Cemetery), Alfred Felton (St. Kilda Cemetery) of 'Felton, Grimwade & Co', and Alfred Deakin (St. Kilda Cemetery), thrice Prime Minister of Australia. Residing at 7 Barnalo Grove, Armadale he died while holidaying at Lorne on 12 February 1942." [sic]  Source

More

1869 Komitas (d. 1935), Armenian composer

1870 King Christian X of Denmark (d. 1947)

1871 Winsor McCay (d. 1934), American cartoonist. His two best-known creations are the newspaper comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, which appeared in the New York Herald and William Randolph Hearst's New York American newspapers from October 15, 1905 - April 23, 1911 and April 30, 1911 - '13 (under the title In the Land of Wonderful Dreams) respectively and again with little success from 1924 - '26. He also created the pioneer animated cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1914.

"In 1924 he left Hearst and returned to the now Herald Tribune and tried to revive Little Nemo. It lasted for two years, but proved to be out of touch with the public. McCay was allowed to purchase all rights to the character for $1 – a magnanimous gesture that doubled as a sad evaluation of his efforts."   Source

"Robert McCay, the cartoonist's son (and original model for Nemo) tried twice to resurrect the strip, once in the late 1930s and again a decade later. The second attempt ended in 1947, and that was the end of Little Nemo in Slumberland as a newspaper feature.

"But the strip was far from forgotten! In 1966, it was part of an exhibit of McCay's work at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the few such exhibits ever devoted to a comic strip cartoonist. Maurice Sendak, the highly-acclaimed children's author and illustrator, cited McCay as a major influence on his own work. Publisher Woody Gelman reprinted much of the strip's run in the 1940s, and even more in the '70s. In 1995, in company with Toonerville Folks, Brenda Starr, Terry & the Pirates and other 'Comic Strip Classics', it appeared on a U.S. postage stamp. Between 1989 and 1993, Fantagraphics Books reprinted both of the early runs of the strip — Bennet and Hearst — in a six-volume set which stands, today, as the strip's definitive edition.

"Even today, nearly a century after its first appearance, Little Nemo in Slumberland has seldom been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed, as an example of the sheer beauty of which the comics form is capable."
Source: Toonopedia: Little Nemo in Slumberland

Big graphics    Winsor McCay online    Flash views

Sinking of the Lusitania, by McCay    Example    Another    More    Links

1872 Max Ehrmann (d. September 9, 1945), an attorney from Indiana, USA, best known for writing the 'Desiderata' (Latin: something desired as essential) in 1927. Unfortunately, he died some two decades before that poem became popular, and protected by copyright law.

In about 1965, copies of the poem were published in hundreds, or more likely, thousands, of publications with the fraudulent (or perhaps simply mistaken) attribution 'Found in Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore; Dated 1692', and it was widely reprinted on the assumption that it was in the public domain, but it is still under copyright. Although it would seem quite apparent that the poem's concepts and wording belong to the 20^th Century rather than the 17^th, even today the hoax has wide currency.

In the Scriptorium: Hoaxes and frauds through history

1874 Lewis Hine (d. 1940), photographer, social activist

1875 Edmund Gwenn (d. 1959), actor

1876 Edith Abbott (d. 1957), social worker, educator, and author

1888 TS Eliot (d. 1965), American-born poet, playwright and critic ('The Waste Land'; 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock')

From 'Rhapsody on a Windy Night'

By TS Eliot

TWELVE o'clock.
Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of memory
And all its clear relations
Its divisions and precisions,
Every street lamp that I pass
Beats like a fatalistic drum,
And through the spaces of the dark
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium.

1888 J Frank Dobie, Texas folklorist and newspaper columnist

1889 Martin Heidegger (d. 1976), German philosopher

1895 George Raft