Gunnar

I regret that there will be very little Almanac activity for the rest of the day, if any - the Blogmanac, Facebook and the daily ezine. My old mate, and Facebook friend, Gunnar Kennedy, formerly from Sydney, has died, and I just found out. My condolences to Ted, Nuddy, Eric, Celia, Markham, Carm, and the whole family. I know that some say, especially in Australia, that boys don't cry, especially big boys like me, but I've been weeping quite a lot. I hadn't known Gunnar was ill, if illness took him from us. I'll be back online soon. People often falsely say they are mourning, but I really am about this man. Vale, Gunnar.

December 28: Poor Richard's Almanac

1732 Benjamin Franklin, aged 26, first published Poor Richard: An Almanack, Philadelphia, USA.

Poor Richard's Almanac, as it is commonly called, was a yearly almanac published by Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of 'Poor Richard' for the purpose of this work in the title. It appeared continuously from 1732 to 1757. The almanac was a best seller for a pamphlet published in the American colonies; print runs typically ran to 10,000 per year. Thus young Franklin soon became a wealthy man, able to give up work and concentrate on his interests.

It contained the typical calendar, weather, and astronomical and astrological information that an almanac of the period contained. It is chiefly remembered, however, for being a repository of Franklin's aphorisms and proverbs, many of which live on in American English. These maxims typically counsel thrift and courtesy, with just a dash of cynicism ...

December 27: Joanna Southcott

Joanna Southcott

1814 Death of Joanna Southcott (b. April, 1750), failed English prophetess.

Southcott, originally an English Methodist, represented herself as a spiritual leader and prophetess, gathering a côterie of followers. She said she was the "woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation xii, 1). There was no religious leader more discussed in 19^th-Century Britain than Southcott. Her political views appear to have been quite reactionary, and she opposed Tom Paine, penning a tract called An Answer to Thomas Paine’s Third Part of the Age of Reason.

 

When she was 64 she declared she would give birth to a child who would become a great spiritual leader on October 19, 1814. The appointed day came and went, Joanna Southcott fell into a trance, died soon after, and was buried in St John's Wood Chapel.

She left a mysterious locked wooden box which was not to be opened until England was in a crisis, and then only in the presence of all 24 bishops of the Church of England (there were only 24 at the time), who were to spend a fixed period of time beforehand studying Southcott’s prophecies.

Her followers unsuccessfully tried to get the bishops to do so in both the Crimean War and World War I. When 'Joanna Southcott's Box' was finally opened in the presence of a solitary, reluctant prelate (the Bishop of Grantham) in 1927, it was found to contain a few inconsequential items and papers, a lottery ticket and a horse-pistol ...

Let's not, in all our Yuletide festvities, forget the imprisoned nation of Tibet, and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

1950 The Dalai Lama fled the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, following October's invasion of Tibet by the Communist Chinese forces.  

The Potala Palace

When Tibet's spiritual and political leader fled, he was forced to leave behind one of the world's most magnificent buildings, the Potala, winter palace of the Dalai Lama since the 7th century (with the Norbulingka being the summer residence).

Pictured: The Potala Palace, HH The Dalai Lama's former residence and one of a few monasteries not destroyed by the Chinese Communists. There were more than 6,000 monasteries in Tibet where over 20 per cent of the male population was resident. The Chinese invasion destroyed all but a handful of these monasteries and allowed only some of the most famous to remain, for the purposes of propaganda and tourism income.

The Potala consists of the White and the Red Palaces with their ancillary buildings, and is built on the Red Mountain in the centre of the Lhasa valley, at an altitude of 3,700 m. At the time of the invasion, many of its treasures were looted by the Communists.

It is now a popular tourist attraction and an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Chinese government is believed to have taken active interest in its preservation, as it is a tourist attraction bringing much-needed foreign income to the regime ...

Twas the Night Before Christmas

1823 Publication of 'A Visit from St Nicholas' (aka 'The Night Before Christmas'), allegedly written by Clement Moore.

Authorship of 'Moore's' poem in question

A smoking gun? You decide ...

 

Festival of Isis, ancient Egypt

These were Winter Solstice celebrations in which worshippers led the goddess in the form of a golden cow, covered by a black veil, seven times round the shrine of the dead Osiris in the temple of Helios in a perambulation called 'the seeking for Osiris'. This represents the wanderings of Isis who journeyed over the world mourning for his death and searching for the scattered parts of his body.

Legend of Osiris and Isis    Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days

The birth of the divine child, whether he bears the name of Horus, Osiris, Helios, Dionysus or Aeon, was celebrated in the Koreion in Alexandria, in the temple dedicated to Kore, on the day of the winter solstice.
Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother, Princeton Univ Press, 1972, p. 312

More about the birth of ancient gods and saviours at Winter SolsticeTerence McKenna, Mayan calendar and Timewave Zero 2012
If you have come to this page looking for these subjects, they are at December 21 in the Book of Days, and at the Calendar Convergence page in the Scriptorium.

Thomas à Becket killed

1118 Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, England, who was killed on the orders of King Henry II of England.

The uncanny parentage of Thomas à Becket

Thomas's father, Gilbert, went in a Crusade to the 'Holy Land' (Israel/Palestine), where he was captured by a Saracen of high rank. The Moslem's daughter found Gilbert attractive and helped him to escape, on the proviso that when he arrived in England he would send for her and make her his wife ...

December 20, 1192: Richard the Lionheart captured

1192 Richard I of England (Lionheart) was captured in Vienna by Duke Leopold – whom he had publicly insulted in the course of his crusade – and was handed over as a prisoner to the Emperor Henry VI.

 
Richard I (1157 - '99) was King of England from 1189 - '99. He was often referred to as Richard the Lionheart, Coeur de Lion and Oc et No by the French, and Melek-Ric by the Saracens (his name in Arabic used to frighten children: "King Rick will get you if you don't watch out!")

The Ridge Who Stole Christmas

The Ridge Who Stole Christmas
 by Patricia Taylor

 'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the land,
 The ports were all quiet, the guardshacks unmanned.

 The children were duct-taped all snug in their beds,
 While visions of paratroopers danced in their heads.

 And pa in his flightsuit and I in flak vest,
 Had just settled down to take a nice rest.

 When up on the roof there arose such a clatter,
 I jumped from my bed thinking "terrorist chatter."

 I looked out my barred window and what did I see,
 But good old Tom Ridge looking straight back at me.

 He was solid and big with a head like a bull,
 He held in his hand a grenade, pin to pull.

 "Now just remain calm," he said with a grin,
 When he started to smile, his lips got real thin.

 "We've heard some bad chatter and we want to make sure,
 Our homeland's protected and our women stay pure."

 With a wink and a nod and a chuck to my chin,
 He swung through my window and let himself in.

 With his FBI friends he poked here and sneaked there,
 Making sure to take pictures and bottle stray hair.

 When he was finished he gave me a frisk,
 And a sly little pinch and a twist of my wrist.

 Back up to the rooftop he nimbly swaggered,
 And I heard him bark out as he quickly re-daggered.

 "Now Georgie, now Condie, now Wolfie, now Libby,
 On Colin, on Bremer, on Cheney, and Baker.

 In the eyes of the world, through the fear of the masses,
 Who cares if we're starting to seem like big asses?

 Who cares if their Christmas has become something crummy,
 As long as the contracts keep flowing through Rummy?!"

 And I heard him proclaim as he drove off his car,
 Terror Christmas to all and to all Endless War.

 Patricia Taylor
 Christmas, 2003 (via Buzzflash)

December 18: An Alchemical Wedding

1968 At a Christmas party called 'An Alchemical Wedding', put on by Arts Lab at the Albert Hall in London, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared – or not – inside a large bag. This was the start of what Ono termed 'bagism', the intent of which was to satirize prejudice and stereotyping.

 

From Wikipedia: Bagism is mentioned twice in Beatles songs. The first time is in 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' where Lennon refers to "eating chocolate cake in a bag", which was at the Vienna press conference, and the second is in the song 'Come Together' where he sings "He bag production." This is referring to Bag Productions Ltd, Lennon's public relations company, which derived its name from Bagism. Bagism is also alluded to in Lennon's own composition, 'Give Peace a Chance', with the line, "Everybody's talkin' about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism, This-ism, That-ism, ism, ism, ism".

 

Bagism website    Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list
John Lennon: Saint or sinner?        CounterCulture Wiki

Was Walt Disney frozen for posterity?

Was Walt Disney frozen for posterity?

Cryonics is the science and practice of freezing recently deceased people, often so that in the future they might be brought back to life by medical science, if possible. When people discuss cryonics, or Disney, they very often mention that the famed animator was frozen. The story goes as far as to say that Walt's body is stored under the Pirates of the Caribbean exhibition at Disneyland.

This, however, is almost certainly a modern myth. Disney's own family denies that he was frozen, and insists that he was cremated on December 17 (official records confirm this) and his ashes left at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles County, California.
So where did the rumour come from? Steve Bridge, President of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based nonprofit company that researches, advocates for and performs cryonics, believes that Disney's death happened to be announced in the media on the same day as a new cryonics company received publicity when it began, and possibly the two news items got conflated. The grand imagineer was fried, not frozen ...

On this day in 1546: Tycho Brahe

1546 Tycho Brahe (d. October 24, 1601), Danish astronomer and almanackist.

King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway, impressed with Tycho's 1572 observations, financed the construction of two observatories for Tycho on Ven – Uraniborg and Stjerneborg. Brahe's data provided the basis for the work of Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630). The appearance in 1572 of a "new star" (in fact a supernova) prompted Tycho's first publication, De nova stella. He appears to have accepted astrological prognostications on the principle that the heavenly bodies influenced (yet did not determine) terrestrial events. He was interested in alchemy, particularly the medical alchemy associated with Paracelsus (1493 - 1541). Brahe was also something of a poet ...

Dec 13: St Lucy of Syracuse

Feast day of St Lucy of Syracuse

(Cypress arbor vitae, Thuja cupressoides, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

 

It's December 13 and we see that the solstice is close, whether we speak of the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, or the Winter Solstice in the Northern. As today is one of the shortest days of the year in Sweden (and was, in fact, the Winter Solstice prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1753 – see Swedish calendar), the locals celebrate a festival of light (which is appropriate because the root for 'Lucy' in Latin, lux, means 'light'). On this day an elected girl in many households, dressed in white as 'Sankta Lucia', wearing a headdress of evergreen leaves and a crown of lit candles, wakes the rest of the family with coffee, rolls, and a special song. Swedes begin their Christmas celebrations with this day, and traditionally her patronal day marks the end of harvest.

Nessie's 1933 appearance, at the Book of Days (May 2, 1933)

Happy birthday, ex-Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

1931 Osho^® (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; d. January 19, 1990), controversial Indian guru, many of whose followers (sannyasins, or 'Orange People') believe he was poisoned by US government agents while imprisoned. According to his autobiographical discourses, he was born in the village of Kuchwara, Madhya Pradesh, and attained 'enlightenment' at 2 a.m. on March 21, 1953, "while sitting beneath a maulshree tree in a garden at Bhanvortal, Jabalpur, India.
 
His movement was, for a time, commandeered by his personal secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, from whom he eventually disassociated himself, amid claims that she had been involved in massive fraud against Rajneesh's organization, as well as a bioterrorism conspiracy. Ma Anand Sheela was charged with attempted murder, first and second degree assault of public officials, immigration fraud, wiretapping, product tampering.
 
On October 23, 1985, a US federal grand jury issued a thirty-five-count indictment charging Osho and several other disciples with conspiracy to evade immigration laws.

John Lennon murdered

 

1980 Former Beatle John Lennon (b. October 9, 1940) was shot dead in New York by deranged 25-year-old fan, Mark David Chapman.

John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project (JLAIP™) is recreating the personality of the late Beatle, John Lennon, by programming an Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine with Lennon's own words and thoughts.

December 3: Interesting stuff today at wilsonsalmanac.com

I had a very interesting day, a remarkable day. That seems to be what my life is all about. Now you’re probably wondering by now, just what this stuff is all about. What’s probably got you baffled more, is what this thing here is for. It’s nothing. It’s something I learned over in England. Eureka! I've found it

December 1 was the Day of Pallas Athena

 

It's a big day, here in Australia. We call it the first day of Summer. You can read about our unique way of naming the four seasons at December 1, at wilsonsalmanac.com. But for the ancients, it was also a special day. Read on:

Day of Pallas Athena or Minerva, ancient Greece/Rome

Maiden Goddess of Knowledge and Truth. 
(Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar)

The city of Pallas Athena

The goddess Pallas Athena was fond of building towns. One day she said to the people of a fishing village, "Raise me a temple on the hill and I will be your protector forever". This they did, until the god of the sea, Poseidon, called out that as he was the only one who had watched the town being built, he should have the honour of naming rights (Poseidon had a savvy public relations consultant), or else he would unleash such tempests that the whole Earth would be swallowed up (PR was even more evil and destructive in those days, if that can be possible). 

But Pallas Athena answered him: "If this place is destroyed, it will not belong to either of us. Let each of us give a gift to the citizens, and let them decide on the naming honour." 

Poseidon struck the sea with his trident (the pitchfork, not the missile), and a fine horse galloped out from the waves, at which sight the people marvelled. In response, Pallas touched a blade of grass, whereupon an olive tree grew up suddenly.

The people cried out blessings on the olive tree, because it would provide food and oil for their lamps. "More precious than the horse is the olive!" they cried. Thus the new town was named Athens, in honour of the wise goddess. And to this day, Athens produces far better oil from the olive than the horse ...