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reetings from Australia.
Welcome to
this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations,
birthdays and events.
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At Flodden Field the Scots came in,
Which made our English men faine;
At Bramstone Greene this battaile was seene,
There was King Jamie slaine.
His bodie never could be found,
When he was over throwne,
And he that wore faire Scotland's crowne
That day could not be knowne. Old English ballad
I have not earned what I have already enjoyed.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), US philosopher, author, naturalist; letter, September 9, 1857, to Daniel Ricketson, in
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 6, p. 313, Houghton Mifflin,
1906
If there never had been a war, I would have been a very good architect. Ahmed Shah Masoud, Afghan freedom fighter, killed by Al Qaeda on September 9,
2001; The Times, London, 1999
Massoud is the greatest of Afghan war heroes. He was a magnificent fighter and not a butcher. He was a devout Muslim and not a fanatic. He not only survived the Soviets, he beat them. Robert Oakley, former US Ambassador to Pakistan
We know they [al-Qaeda] will come soon.
But, with God's help, they will cause us few problems. Ahmed Shah Masoud; The Observer, 2001
The Taliban are not a force to be considered invincible. They are distanced from the people now. They are weaker than in the past. There is only the assistance given by Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and other extremist groups that keeps the Taliban on their feet. With a halt to that assistance, it is extremely difficult to survive.
We hope that the future policy of the US will exert pressure on Pakistan and also help Afghanistan achieve peace.
Massoud's last interview to Newsweek, two weeks before his
assassination on September 9, 2001. The USA indirectly supported the
Taliban dictatorship by its support of Pakistan which backed the
Taliban.
From your heart washed pure in self-denial sprang the flow of bounty,
For yourself you asked nothing except the strength to bear your sufferings.
The sacred words took root in your soul, enlightened it with translucent piety,
Transfiguring your sweet and tormented face with a halo of brilliant dew. Monia; from 'The Garden of
God', about Massoud
As a lonely stranger in the strange land,
Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.
Knowing that my brothers have reached the peak,
All but one is present at the planting of ZhuYu. Wang
Wei (Tang Dynasty); 'Double
Ninth, Missing My Shantong Brothers'; today is Double Nine Day
An
Australian remedy for the attack of the highly territorial nesting magpies
is to
wear a helmet with false eyes attached to the back, as the birds often
attack the face.
Craig Whiteford, manager of flora and fauna with the
Department of Sustainability and Environment in the south west region of
Victoria, advised that during breeding season the birds might feel
threatened and act aggressively.
The Australian birds
have become naturalised
in New Zealand, where they were first released by
acclimatisation societies in 1864 to combat pasture insects. In the "Shaky
Isles" they are often seen as a pest and they continue the swooping
behaviour for which they are well known in their home country.
"Formerly "maggot-pie", maggot representing Margaret (cf Robin redbreast, Tom-tit, and the old Phyllyp-sparrow, and pie being pied, in allusion to its white and black plumage.
The magpie has generally been regarded as an uncanny bird; in
Sweden it is connected with witchcraft; in Devonshire it was a custom to
spit three times to avert ill luck when the bird was sighted; in Scotland
magpies flying near the windows of a house foretold death. The old rhyme
about magpies seen in the course of a walk says:
One's
sorrow, two's mirth.
Three's
a wedding, four's a birth'
Five's
a christening, six a dearth,
Seven's heaven, eight is hell' And nine's the devil his
ane sel'. Ivor
H Evans, Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988
Season
of harvest-end
festivals drawing to a close in southern Britain
I've bin to Plymouth and I've bin to Dover
I've bin a-rambling, boys, all the world over
Over and over and over and over
Drink up your liquor and turn yur cup over
Over and over and over and over
The liquor's drink'd up and the cup is turned over.
"For a popular Sussex harvest-dinner game, a cup of beer was
placed on the flat crown of a top hat. Holding this by the brim
with both hands, the player had to raise the cup to his lips and
drink the contents before the fourth line of the song: and
thereafter he had to flick the cup up, reverse the hat, and
catch the cup in it. If he failed, or spilt any beer, he had to
try again." Charles
Kightly, The
Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames and Hudson, London,
1987
(But harvest time is not fully over. Stay
tuned, because on September 24
we will be looking at the folklore of Britain's fascinating
harvest-home festivities.)
Feast day of
St Bettelin
(Beccelin), hermit and confessor
This saint is patron of Stafford, England, where his relics were
kept. He lived as an anchoret (hermit) in the forest nearby.
Feast day of Blessed Frédèric Ozanam
Born in Lyons, France, in 1813; died 1853; beatified in 1997 by Pope
John Paul II; he was Founder of the Society of Saint
Vincent de Paul.
Feast day of
Blessed Jacques
Laval(Father Laval Day, Mauritius) "Slavery
had only recently been outlawed in Mauritius, and many of Jacques'
potential parishioners were freed slaves,
poor,
uneducated, often unemployed, and always treated as second class
citizens. Jacques lived with them, learned their language, fasted
when supplies were short, slept in a packing crate, used his medical
training to heal them, and explained that to God there were no
unimportant people, that no one was second class." Source
"Every September 9, Mauritians of all faiths walk or drive towards the tomb of the Blessed Jacques Désiré Laval, the 'Apostle of the Black People' at Ste-Croix, Port-Louis. The belief in Père Laval, to whom powers of healing are attributed, reminds us of the Lourdes Pilgrimage in France."
Source
(see Lourdes
pilgrimage)
Feast day of
St Kieran the
Younger (Ceran; Ciaran; Ciaran of Conmacnoise; Kieran of Clonmacnoise;
Kyran; Kiaran;Kierian; Queran;
Queranus; one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland), abbot in
Ireland Founder of the Conmacnois abbey in West Meath (known for
centuries as a centre of Irish scholarship), and served as its
first abbot. Reported miracle worker.
'Saint
Kierians City'
By Angus O' Gillan
In a quiet water'd land, a land of Roses
Stands Saint Kierians City fair;
And the warriors of Erin
in their famous generations
slumber there.
There beneath the dewy hillside
sleep the noblest of the clan of Conn
Each below his stone
with name in branching Ogham
And the sacred knot thereon.
There they laid to rest the seven Kings of Tara.
There the sons of Caibre sleep –
Battle banners of the Geal
that in Kierans plain of Crosses.
Now their final hosting keep.
And in Clonmacnoise they laid to rest the man of Taffia.
And right many a Lord of Breagh:
Deep in the sod above Clan Creide and Clan Conail.
Kind in hall and fierce in Frai.
Many and many a son of Conn,
the hundred fighter,
in the red earth lies at rest
Many a blue eye of Clan Colman
the turf covers,
Many a swan white breast.
Feast day of
St Omer (Audomarus) of
Thérouanne, bishop and confessor
(Canadian golden rod, Solidago
Canadensis is
today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
Feast day of
St Osmanna
(Osmana) virgin, of Ireland
According to
the I Ching, nine
is a yang
number, ninth day of the ninth lunar month or double nine, has too
much yang and is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day
is also called 'Double Yang Festival'. To
protect against the danger, it is customary to climb a high
mountain, drink chrysanthemum
wine, and wear a plant named zhuyu.
Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are considered to have cleansing
qualities and are used to air out houses and cure illnesses.
Double Ninth may have started out as a day
to drive away danger, but, like the Chinese New
Year, over time it became a day of celebration. Today it is an
occasion for hiking and chrysanthemum appreciation. Stores sell rice
cakes inserted with mini colourful flags to represent zhuyu.
Most people drink chrysanthemum tea, a few old schools drink
homemade chrysanthemum wine. School children learn poems about
chrysanthemums, and many cities will host a chrysanthemum exhibit.
Mountain climbing races are also popular, winners get to wear a
wreath made of zhuyu. (Source:
Wikipedia)
In a Chinese
legend, a witch warned Sun Go to go to a mountaintop refuge to
escape a disaster that would happen on the 9th day of the
9th moon (the date of commemoration has been adjusted to
conform with the Gregorian
calendar). Today people go to high places, where there is kite
flying (kites take misfortune to the skies), offerings to ancestral
spirits; family dinners. This ritual is called the 'festival of
High Places' in China.
Go was a Chinese villager with a small farm. A witch
looked at his face and saw the circulation of his blood, then warned
him that on 9/9 there would be death on his farm. He fled with his
whole family and returned from the mountain to find all his animals
and fowls were dead. People go to high places today, to repair
graves of ancestors and prune away dead branches from trees. NY Folklore Quarterly, XXVIII
(1972), 238-39
"The festival is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, the two opposing principles in nature. Yin is feminine, negative principle, while Yang is masculine and positive. The ancients believed that all natural phenomena could be esplained by this theory. Numbers are related to this theory. Even numbers belong to Yin and odd numbers to Yang. The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is a day when the two Yang numbers meet. So it is called Chongyang. Chong means double in Chinese. Chongyang has been an important festival since ancient times."The festival is held in the golden season of autumn, at harvest -time. The brght clear weather and the joy of bringing in the harvest make for a festive happy atmosphere.The Double Ninth Festival is usually perfect for outdoor activities. Many people go hiking and climbing in the country, enjoying Mother Nature's final burst of color before she puts on her dull winter cloak. Some will carry a spray of dogwood.
"It is hard to say when these customs were created. But there are many stories which are closely related. The bookXu Qi Xie Ji ,written by Wu Jun in the sixth century has one such story. In ancient times, there lived a man named Huan Jing. He was learning the magic arts from Fei Changfang, who had become an immortal after many years of practicing Taoism. One day, the two were climbing a muntain. Fei Changfang suddenly stopped and looked very upset. He told Huan
Jing, On the ninth day of the ninth month, disaster will come to your hometown. You must go home immediately. Remember to make a red bag for each one of your family members and put a spray of dogwood in every one. Then you must all tie your bags to your arms, leave home quickly and climb to the top of a mountain. Most importantly, you must all drink some chrysanthemum wine. Only by doing so can your family avoid this disaster.
"On hearing this, Huan Jing rushed home and asked his family to do exactly as his teacher said. The whole family climbed a nearby mountain and did not return until the evening. When they got back home, they found all their animals dead, including chickens,
sheep, dogs and even the powerful ox. Later Huan Jing told his teacher, Fei Changfang, about this. Fei said the poultry and livestock died in place of Huan Jing's family, who escaped disaster by following his
instructions. And so it happened that climbing a mountain, carring a spray of dogwood and drinking chrysanthemum wine became the traditional activities of the Chongyang Festival.
"The dogwood is a plant with a strong fragrance, and is often used as a Chinese herbal medicine. People in ancient times believed it could drive away evil spirits and prevent one from getting a chill in lalte autumn. So its history as a medicine goes back many centuries. But the custom of carrying a spray of dogwood during the Double Ninth Festival is slowly dying out and many people, especially young people in the cities, do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like.
"Even thouht the tradition of carrying a few sptigs of dogwood dies out, that of climbing mountains is reaching new heights.
"Early in the Western Han Dynasty, about 2,000 years ago, people used to climb a high platform outside the capital city of Chang'an on the occasion of the Chongyang Festival. For many, it was the last outing of the year before the onset of winter. The custom evolved into its present form, when people go climbing to get some exercise as well as enjoy the autumn scenery.
"But what about those people who live in flat regions far from any mountain? The problem is solved by going for a picnic and eating cakes. The Chinese word for cake is Gao, a homonym of the Chinese word for high. Mountains are high, so eating cake can, by a stretch of the imagination, take the place of going for a
climb.
"Since nine is the highest odd digit,
people take two of them together to signify longevity.
Therefore, the ninth day of the ninth month has become a special
day for people to pay their respects to the elderly and a day
for the elderly to enjoy themselves. It has also been declared
China's day for the elderly."
1911Sir John
Gorton (John Grey Gorton; d. 2002), nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia,
1968
- 71. Known for hard drinking, smoking, womanising, longevity and
a face that looked like the rough end of a pineapple (it was smashed
up in a plane crash in WWII), 'Jolly John' gave hope to all the
ugly and dissipated men of the nation. He was leader of the misnamed
Liberal Party, one of the most progressive it ever had.
reetings from Australia.
How it works
Season
of harvest-end
festivals drawing to a close in southern Britain
