LEFT-HANDERS' DAY

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For all my fellow southpaws, cack-handers, gauche and sinister people,

It is International Left-Handers’ Day. 

Huzzah!

Left-handed

Right thinking

It is a day for finding lots of articles explaining who we are.  In one article, I found:

On the one hand:
     We’re more likely to drink (alcohol)           (check)
     We’re more likely to be shy and easily embarrassed         (check) 
     We’re more prone to negative feelings      (check)
     We aren’t likely to get over those negative feelings anytime soon    (definite check)
     We scare easily     (check)
     We’re more likely to be dyslexic  (check)  and ADHD types  (check)
     We’re more likely to be schizophrenic  (we’re not sure)
     We’re more likely to have mood disorders    (check)

On the same hand:
     We are supposedly more artistic.
     We are better at divergent thinking. 
     We are less at risk for ulcers.
     We are more likely to outlast rightie-tighties.   

So say it loud and say it proud – 

Lefties rule,

Righties drool.

 

28 October - Saint Simon and Saint Jude

Today we celebrate Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles.  The traditions of the day can be found here.

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Weather:

Simon and Jude is almost certain to be rainy (and that is for certain today for many of us along the East Coast.  There is an unwelcome and very messy visitor named Sandy on her way)

There is oft times a tempest on St. Jude.  (Well, this time it is the beginnings of a tempest)

Winter comes on the day of St. Simon and St. Jude.

If it doesn’t rain on SS. Simon and Jude, it won’t rain until Saint Cecilia’s day (Nov 22)  (That’s knocked right out.  Stand by for le deluge.  We should get enough to last us until St. Cecilia)

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And this being the fourth Sunday in October, it is Mother-in-Law Day.

25 January - Conversion of Saint Paul; Robert Burns

Weather:  On St. Paul’s day, half of winter is past, and half is yet to come.

If Saint Paul's Day be fair and clear, it doth betide a happy year;
But if it chance to snow or rain, then will be dear all kinds of grain;
If clouds or mists do dark the sky, great store of birds and beasts shall die;
And if the winds do fly aloft, then wars shall vex the kingdom oft.

If the sun shines on Paul’s day, it betokens a good year;
If rain or snow, indifferent;
If misty, great dearth
If thunder, heavy winds and large numbers of people will die.

If Paul’s day be fair, it will be a pleasant year;
If it be windy, there will be wars;
If it be cloudy, there will be a plague that year.

If the day is fair and clear, it betokens plenty in the year
If cloudy or misty, much cattle will die;
If rain or snow falls, it presages a dearth;
If windy, there will be wars.

Saint Paul’s day clear
Brings a good year.

If Paul’s day is clear and the sun shines, there will be a great abundance of grain and wine.

Tradition says that the winds battle for supremacy tonight, and the wind which proves victorious at midnight will be the prevailing wind for the year.

Let's hope it is sunny and clear.

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“The conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, which happened the second year after the Ascension of our Lord.  At Damascus, the birthday of St. Ananias, who baptized that apostle.  After he had preached the Gospel at Damascus, Eleutheropolis, and elsewhere, he was scourged under the judge Licinius, had his flesh torn, and lastly being over whelmed with stones, ended his martyrdom.”

Today is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles - 'a perfect model of a true conversion' - as he met Our Lord on the road to Damascus.

“St. Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, originally called Saul… though a Jew and a Pharisee, he was by birth a Roman citizen. He was present at the martyrdom of St. Stephen, A. D. 34, and was then a young man.  He was highly educated in the learning of the times, when tot Jerusalem to study the laws, and being a man of great talent, ardent mind, and inflexible resolution, and devotedly attached to the institutions of his country, he viewed with alarm the new religion.  Accordingly, he took an active part against the Christians and pursued them, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter.”  While on his journey to Damascus, authorized to bring to Jerusalem whomsoever of the disciples he might find there, his miraculous conversion took places…

His conversion, which involved the loss of all his brilliant prospects, has, next to the miracles and resurrection of Our Lord, been justly contemplated as one of the most striking and memorable events connected with Christianity…” John Timbs, 1866.

As a convert who saw all of the things that she thought she believed in turned upside down, and the modernist philosophies which she had embraced exposed in a blinding light for the culture of death that it is, I have a strong affection for Saint Paul.

O glorious Saint Paul, who from a persecutor of Christianity, did become a most ardent apostle of zeal,
and who to make known the Savior Jesus Christ to the ends of the world,
Did suffer with joy imprisonment, scourging, stonings, shipwrecks and persecutions of every kind,
And in the end did shed your blood for His sake,
Obtain for us the grace to receive, as favors of the Divine Mercy,
Infirmities, tribulations, and misfortunes of the present life,
So that the vicissitudes of this our exile will not render us cold in the service of God,
But will render us always more faithful and fervent.

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On this day is also commemorated the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, in 1759.

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!"

It is called a 'second national day', but seems to be more celebrated that the first national day, Saint Andrew.  (Well, Saint Andrew does belong to other countries, like Russia and Greece, but Rabbie Burns belongs to Scots alone.)

Scotland.org has a listing of the different celebrations connected with Burn's Night, and an interactive video to meet Robert Burns and learn more about his life and times (it is good just to listen to that man talk).

See the Burns Night web-site for menus for a Burns Supper (and the protocol - including piping in the haggis - that goes with it).

A good day to celebrate with your Scots friends.  Even with your 1/32 Scots friends.  Even with friends who haven't a drop of Scottish blood in them, but love to listen to the pipes and drums.  Oh, heck, just break out the Scotch and celebrate!



Artwork: Caravaggio, 1601. Conversion on the Way to Damascus. Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

24 January - Paul's Pitcher Day

It was a custom today for the miners and tinners in parts of Cornwall to set up a water-pitcher as a target and then pelt it with stones until it was demolished.  After that, they would repair to the nearest public house and buy a new pitcher, which was successively filled and emptied for the remainder of the increasingly jolly evening.

Another tradition was for gangs of boys to gather potsherds and, going from door to door, cast them into every house whose doors they could open. The only warning to the householder was the yell “Paul’s eve, and here’s a heave” before the pieces came flying in.  According to custom, the first ‘heave’ could not be objected to, but with any subsequent tries, the offenders – if caught – could be punished.

[Starting with sweeping up the mess they made of the living room floor.]

13 October - US Navy Birthday

"Resolved, That a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible despatch, for a cruise of three months, and that the commander be instructed to cruize eastward, for intercepting such transports as may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies, and for such other purposes as the Congress shall direct.

That a Committee of three be appointed to prepare an estimate of the expence, and lay the same before the Congress, and to contract with proper persons to fit out the vessel.

Resolved, that another vessel be fitted out for the same purposes, and that the said committee report their opinion of a proper vessel, and also an estimate of the expence."  Source.
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Today in 1775, the Continental Congress authorized, by the above resolutions, "the procurement, fitting out, manning, and dispatching of two armed vessels" along with a committee to oversee the same.   The United States Navy dates its founding from that day.

You'd think that something as reasonable as ships to protect our shores would be at the forefront of any discussion, especially considering how much coastline the original 13 colonies (and their neighbors) had, but this was still 1775.  Independence was a hotly-contested issue, and certainly not a foregone conclusion, especially by those who hoped that showing the British Crown we were serious about defending our rights as British subjects would lead to a reconciliation (and life returning to normal).  There were privateers occasionally doing some damage, but their actions could be disavowed as needed. An authorized Navy could not be disavowed, and the whole thing smacked of real provocation, with no hope of reconciliation.

You can read here a detailed essay on the background and situation which led to this legislation, and find links to images and histories of some of the vessels of the Revolutionary War here.

And for your enjoyment, check out this 1777 map of Narragansett Bay, done for the British army by a helpful Loyalist to show, among other things, "the works and batteries raised by the Americans".   (Yep.  Little Rhody was right at the forefront of agitating for a Navy, because we knew those British ships had to be stopped out there away from our coastline.  Unfortunately, too little, too late, as Newport, Bristol, and Warren found to their cost.)

This is a screen capture.  You can see the whole map in great detail at the David Rumsey Map Collection website.

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When the Widow wore a uniform, such as that pictured here - yes, children, ichthyosaurs roamed the seas, to the detriment of our wooden dugouts - we were still called WAVES - Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service.  That transitioned (along with an update in uniform) to WIN (Women In the Navy), making the old joke "Join the Navy and ride the Waves" obsolete.  Sailors are an inventive bunch, though, and a little change in acronym doesn't stop them.  I won't sully your ears.

But barring that, and too many funerals, and too many goodbyes, and WAY too many times getting shot at - this sailorette enjoyed her tours.

--------------    GO NAVY!    --------------

16 March - Ember Day; Liberalia; Raspberry Wine

Weather: Ember Day - the weather today foretells the weather of April.

Cloudy, overcast, rainy.
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The ancient Roman festival in honor of the god Bacchus - Liberalia - was celebrated today [and if that isn't a reason for a party, I don't know what is].  According to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1875) (found here at Lacus Curtius, part of Bill Thayer's website), Roman youths who had attained their 16th year received their toga virilus (the white toga of an adult man) today.

Ovid, in his Fasti, says that the Liberalia was held on the third day after the Ides (the 15th), which, if counted inclusively, translates to the 17th of March.

There’s a popular festival of Bacchus, on the third day

After the Ides: Bacchus, favour the poet who sings your feast...

The task of this verse is to set out the reasons,

Why a vine-planter sells his cakes to the crowd.

Liber, before your birth the altars were without offerings,

And grass appeared on the stone-cold hearths.

They tell how you set aside the first fruits for Jupiter,

After subduing the Ganges region, and the whole of the East.

You were the first to offer up cinnamon and incense

From conquered lands, and the roast entrails of triumphal oxen.

Libations derive their name from their originator,

And cake (liba) since a part is offered on the sacred hearth.

Honey-cakes are baked for the god, because he delights in sweet

Substances, and they say that Bacchus discovered honey...

Ovid, Fasti, Book III

So celebrate that which gladdens men's hearts and fogs their minds on the 16th or 17th (or both days, if you are so inclined).  To help, here is a recipe from the early 18th century for "RASBERRY (sic) WINE":

"Take ye frute full ripe, brus and strain ym, and to every gallan of juce put 2 pound of sugar.  Put it in a barrill or pot and boung it close up.  Let it stand a month or 5 weeks yn bottel it.  Put in every bottel a lump of sugar.  You may make chirey wine ye same way." 

[Take the fruit full ripe, bruise and strain them, and to every gallon of juice put 2 pounds of sugar.  Put it in a barrel or pot and bung it close up.  Let it stand a month or 5 weeks, then bottle it.  Put in every bottle a lump of sugar.  You may make cherry wine the same way.]


Then drink heroically.  Or go the easy route and uncork an elixir from California.

2 February - Presentation; Candlemas; Groundhog Day

Weather: 

If Candlemas is fair and clear

There'll be two winters in the year.

If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Winter will have another flight.

But if it is dark with clouds and rain,

Winter is gone and will not come again.

Well, today in the smallest state, it is clouds and rain and snow and sleet - what the weather-guessers call 'a wintry mix'.  Does that mean that "Winter is gone and will not come again"?  Ha!  Don't count on it.  Keep your winter woolies out for another month at least.
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Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, also known as Candlemas, because candles are blessed today.

This is the 40th day of Christmas, and traditionally the day in which Our Lady fulfilled the Mosaic Law of being purified after the birth of her Son and of presenting Jesus to the service of God.  The old calenders considered the first to be the cause for celebration today, while the new Catholic calendar, following Henry VIII and his reformed church, emphasizes the latter:

"On Candelmas Daye it shall be declared that the bearynge of Candels is done in the memorie of Christe, the spirituall lyghte whom Simeon dyd prophecye, as it is redde in the Churche that daye."

30 Henry VIII

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AHEM!  And for everyone who hasn't already ended their Yule-tide festivities on either the 12th or the 20th Day of Christmas - this is the LAST DAY of CHRISTMAS!

This is it!

It is over!

The decorations should have been put away yesterday. [Although those people whose outside lights are still covered by the major amounts of snow we have received since St. Stephen's Day have a pass for now.]
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The candles blessed today would be carried in processions and then taken home, where they would be lit as protection for the house and its occupants against storms and lightning, against the snares of the devil and things that go bump in the night, and as protection for the crops against destruction by hail or frost.

It is from this episode in Our Lord's life that we have the beautiful prayer of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis, which we say at the completion of the day:

Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord,

In peace, according to Thy word;

For mine own eyes have seen Thy salvation,

Which Thou hast prepared in the sight of all people,

A light to reveal Thee to the nations,

And the glory of Thy people, Israel.

There was a tradition once of making several large goose-pies on St. Stephen's Day (December 26), all of which were given away to the needy - except for one pie which was carefully put away and saved to be eaten today. [Just thinking about a 4-1/2 week-old meat pie is wreaking havoc with my digestion]

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And of course, today is Groundhog Day.

If the ground hog sees his shadow on February second, there will be six more weeks of cold weather.

It is between eleven and one o'clock on February second that the ground hog's shadow is significant.

Well, up here the groundhog has always managed to see his shadow, whether the sun is out or not, because winter lasts through mid-April and sometimes to mid-May (forget three months to a season.  Winter lasts six months almost to the day!)

And since I am less-than-fond of Puxatawny Phil and his numerous easily-startled-by-shadows brethren, here is a recipe contributed by Mrs. Ennis Ownby, which I found in a wonderful cookbook called Mountain Makin's in the Smokies (you can buy a copy here), published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association:

"GROUND HOG"

"Dress and cut it up.  Put in pot, then bring to boil.  Break up spicewood branches, and put in pot with meat.  Boil until the meat is tender.  Remove; then salt and pepper; then roll in flour; put in 1/2 cup shortening, preferably bacon grease.  Then put in oven and bake until it is brown."

Read the recipe outside of a groundhog hole.  It might induce the occupant to a proper frame of mind.

  "Shadow?  What shadow?"

25 January - Conversion of Paul; Robert Burns

Weather:
If Saint Paul's Day be fair and clear, it doth betide a happy year;
But if it chance to snow or rain, then will be dear all kinds of grain;
If clouds or mists do dark the sky, great store of birds and beasts shall die;
And if the winds do fly aloft, then wars shall vex the kingdom oft.

Let's hope it is sunny and clear.
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Today is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles - 'a perfect model of a true conversion' - as he met Our Lord on the road to Damascus.

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On this day is also commemorated the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, in 1759.

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!"

It is called a 'second national day', but seems to be more celebrated that the first national day, Saint Andrew.  (Well, Saint Andrew does belong to other countries, like Russia and Greece, but Rabbie Burns belongs to Scots alone.)

Scotland.org has a listing of the different celebrations connected with Burn's Night, and an interactive video to meet Robert Burns and learn more about his life and times (it is good just to listen to that man talk).

See the Burns Night web-site for menus for a Burns Supper (and the protocol - including piping in the haggis - that goes with it).

A good day to celebrate with your Scots friends.  Even with your 1/32 Scots friends.  Even with friends who haven't a drop of Scottish blood in them, but love to listen to the pipes and drums.  Oh, heck, just break out the Scotch and celebrate!

24 October - Saint Raphael, Archangel; Mother-in-Law Day

In the traditional calendar, today is chosen to honor the archangel, Saint Raphael, patron of lovers, happy meetings, travelers, and those engaged in the healing arts; he is invoked against blindness and other eye problems.  In the General Calendar, he and Gabriel are honored on Saint Michael's Day, now known as the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.

His name means "Healing of God" or "God Heals".  Much of his story is found in the Book of Tobit, where Raphael, disguised, accompanies Tobias on his travels, helping the young man by delivering his wife, Sara, from a demon and curing his father, Tobit, of blindness.  Raphael is also thought to be the angel which 'troubled the waters' of the healing pool of Bethesda.

Saint Raphael is usually shown holding a fish, as it was the heart and liver of the fish that delivered Sara from the demon, and its gall which restored Tobit's sight.  So dinner tonight should be one of fish.

There is always Fish and Chips, although that would probably make you think of Fish Friday, and this is a Feast Day!  Let us have something elegant, and/or substantial.  Lobster isn't the only thing that can wear a Newburg Sauce.

One of my favorite fish dishes is the Portuguese BACALHAU A BRAS (Salt Cod with Potatoes and Scrambled Eggs):

Take 1 to 1-12 pounds of dried salt cod, rinse it and put it in a bowl with enough water to cover; let stand overnight.  Rinse and drain [recipes will tell you to change the water several times, at least every six hours.  I merely rinse the fish well, bathe it overnight, and rinse it again.  Of course, I don't add any salt to the recipe!]

Put drained fish in a large saucepan with enough water to cover.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.  Drain.  Cool.  Flake fish.  Discard bones [I've never found any, yet, but there's always a first time.]

While your fish is boiling/simmering, thinly chop 1 to 2 cloves of garlic [I like garlic; I use 2 cloves] and slice 1 large onion.  Cut 3 to 4 frying potatoes (like russets) into matchsticks.

Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and cook until garlic starts to brown.  Then add potatoes in batches, sauteing them until golden and crisp.  Remove each batch of potatoes to drain on paper towels and add the next batch.

When potatoes are done and draining, reduce heat to medium and add onion slices and 1 bay leaf, cooking until the onion is golden (you can add another tablespoon of oil if it looks like there is not enough in the pan.)  Discard bay leaf.  Stir flaked fish into skillet with onions.

In a bowl, whisk together 8 beaten eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper; add to skillet, stirring to mix.  Cook for about 1 minute, or until the eggs are starting to set.  Now add the potatoes to the skillet and cook for another couple of minutes or until eggs are fully set, stirring as needed.

Spoon the entire lovely mess onto a platter, sprinkle chopped parsley on top, and garnish with black olives (sprinkle with olive halves or pieces; line whole olives down the middle of the platter; or whatever suits your fancy.)

"Blessed Saint Raphael, Archangel, we beseech you to help us in all our needs and trials of this life, as you, through the power of God, didst restore sight to Tobit and gave guidance to young Tobias. We humbly seek your aid and intercession, that our souls may be healed, our bodies protected from all ills, and that through divine grace we may become fit to dwell in the eternal Glory of God in heaven. Amen."
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Today is also Mother-in-Law Day.  Raise the Battle-Axe Flag!

(Yes, there actually is one!)