April: Holidays & Days of Note

April 1. April Fools Day / Palm Sunday / Day of Hathor (Ancient Egypt) / Veneralia (Ancient Rome) Held in honor of Venus. / It was on this day in 1621 that the first peace treaty was signed between the American Colonists and the Indians, making that the cruelest and most ironic April Fool's joke of all time.

April 2. International Children's Book Day / The Battle of Flowers (France) / According to the Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft, the day in 1926 that the dread Cthulhu awoke from where he lay dead but dreaming in R'lyeh only to have a boat driven though his head encouraging him to do some more dead dreaming until later.

April 3. Festival of Demeter (Ancient Rome) / Sizdah be dar (Iran) "Outdoor 13," Day to play jokes on each other.

April 4. Megalesia (Ancient Rome) / International Day for Land Mine Awareness and Assistance. / Children's Day (Taiwan and Hong Kong) / Ching Ming Festival (China & Korea) also know as Tomb Sweeping Day, a day to honor ones ancestors by cleaning their graves. / on this day in 1877 the first home telephone was installed.

April 5. Paraprofessional Appreciation Day, (U.S.) sure... tell me what the heck a paraprofessional is and I'll see what I can do. / Thank Your School Librarian Day. (U.S.) Arbor Day (South Korea)

April 6. Passover (Judaism) Starts at Sun down / Good Friday / Tartan Day (Scotland) Day set aside for the celebration of Scottish influence... somebody tell Willie, there really IS a Scotober Fest! / Date of the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph Smith, Jr. and the date, according to them, that Jesus was born.

Lot of big holidays this month, Easter, Passover, Tomb Cleaning Day, Buddha's Birthday, Earth Day and yet I STILL don't get a day off from work! What's up with that?

April 7. Blajini Day (Romania) A festival to thank the "Kindly Ones" hidden spirits of water and the underworld./ World Health Day (the 191 members of the World Health Organization) No Homework Day (U.S.) / Festival of Pure Brightness (China) / Buddha's Birthday in Japan.

April 8. Easter (Christianity) / Hanamatsuri, “Spring Flower Festival” (Japan)

April 9.  Valour Day (Philippines) also known as Bataan Day, a national holiday wherein groups of Filipino citizens solemnly re-walk parts of the death route and pay homage to those who died on it.

April 10. National Siblings Day (U.S.) / Women's Day (Mozambique)

April 11 Heroes Day (Costa Rica) / Shan-et-Nissin (Egypt) / Fast & Prayer Day (Liberia) I have looked for the meaning of Shan-et-Nissin and while I found dozes of places that list it, along with the one following it here, none however will explain it, and let's say it means "hey, there's a fast & prayer day in Liberia" in Egyptian until further notice.

April 12 Cerealia (Ancient Rome) which goes until the 19th and was the primary festival of Ceres the Goddess of growing plants. / Take a Walk on Your Wild Side Day (U.S.) / Cosmonautics Day or Yuri's Night, (Russia) celebration of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin. / Drop Everything And Read Day (U.S.) This along with Children's Book Day & School` Librarian Day are all part of `Reading in the Schools month, however a school librarian has told me that as these take place just before the start of the heaviest testing time in American schools and so are almost all totally ignored while everything is concentrated on preparing for the test.

April 13 New Year's Day (Thailand & Cambodia)

Here is something for everyone eating black noodles today

April 14. Black Day (South Korea) If you are single and no one gave you anything on Valentine’s day, or White day then go have yourself a bowl of black noodles and feel sorry for yourself, it's OK to do it today. / Sanno Festival (Japan) / Dia De Las Americas (Honduras) Day of the Americas. / National Day of Climate Action in the United States.

April 15. Plowing Festival (China) When my father was 12 he had to plow, with the plow hooked up to an actual mule... he said there's nothing festive about plowing. Nothing at all. / Tipsa Diena (Ancient Latvia) / Father Damien (Hawaii Day) / Fordicia (Ancient Rome) Held in honor of Terra.

April 16. Tax Day in American / Bicycle Day (U.S.) / According to the cartoon "One Froggy Night" (1955) the day in date in 1898 that the singing frog that came to be called Michigan J. Frog was buried in the Acme building.

April 17 Yayoi Matsuri Festival of Futarasan Shrine (Nikko Tochigi Prefecture, Japan)

April 18. Sumardagurinn Fyrsti (Iceland) At first I thought it was Choke my spell checker day. However it turns out to be Happy Summer Day in Iceland. Sure its still just Spring, but they're just happy to get out of the house is my guess.

                           See April 6th

April 19. Garlic Day (U.S.) / Primrose Day (England) - primroses are placed on the statue of Benjamin Disraeli in Parliament Square, on the anniversary of his death in 1881 See, America isn't the only country with silly arse holidays.

April 20. Drum Festival (Japan) / Pineapple Up-Side Down Cake Day (U.S.) / Ridván (Bahá'í Faith) / Four Twenty (Potheads) Started in Northern California it has grown to other states and counties, day for tokers to light up at 4:20 am & pm. They need an excuse?

April 21 Tiradentas Day (Brazil) / Grounation Day (Rastafarin) Mon. / Parilia (Anicient Rome) Held in honor of Pales. / Speaking of which, happy birthday Rome.

April 22. Earth Day. / National Jelly Bean Day (U.S.)

April 23. St. George's Day. Patron Saint of England, Policemen & the Boy Scouts. Somehow the Patron Saint of England just doesn't have the same ambiance as St. Patrick's Day, however I've still got my "Don t Kiss Me, I Disapprove of Public Displays of Affections" button ready. / Lover's Day (Catalonia) Yeah... I had to look up what it is too, it's day for men to give women roses while women give men a book. No really. / National Beer Day (Germany) Riiiiight, wouldn't it be easier to note when it's NOT beer day in Germany? Ohhhh, it's never not beer day in Germany, alright, then the point of this day is what again?

April 24. Children's Day (Iceland) / Armenian Martyr's Day.

No card card on Valentine's day? No candy on White day? Ahhh Then this day is for you, have some black noodles the 14th

April 25. Robigalia (Ancient Rome) Day the Romans prayed to Robigalla the god (or Robigo the goddess, information I have found on Robigalia varies) of mildew and rust to ask him to spare their homes...... Don't look at me that way, I'm not kidding! Nobody makes a fuss about Vulcanalia in August when they prayed to Vulcan for protection from volcanoes & home fires, and while Vulcan is better known and still gets "the big props," can you think of one Roman city destroyed by mildew? Yet there were some biggies where Vulcan let them down!

April 26. Arbor Day. Use to be a day for everyone to go out and plant a tree, it was a real big deal in it's day, so all you other holidays that think you have it made, Sic transit gloria mundi.

April 27. Matazas Mule Day. Day that the first Naval bombardment in the American - Cuban war took place is noted. Seems the only casualty was a mule. HAY! somebody do something so we have a better holiday for this day! / World Penguin Day. Sorry, nice try but that's not quit what I was looking for.

April 28 Buddha’s Birthday (Hong Kong) like Easter and Passover this is a moveable feast that falls on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, also known this year as today / National Day of Mourning (Canada) To commemorate workers killed, injured, or suffering illness due to work place hazards and accidents. / World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day / Floralia (Ancient Rome) / National Hairball Awareness Day. (Veterinary) Day to spread awareness about hairball treatment in cats, If you don't have a cat what's the point? And if you're around a cat trying to get rid of one lets see you try to NOT be aware of it! / Hairstylist Appreciation Day. semi ironic.

April 29. International Dance Day / National Shrimp Scampi Day (U.S.) / National Sense of Smell Day (U.S.) No… Really…

So go out and smell something.

April 30. Walpurgis Night, Walpurgisnacht, or Beltane Eve. Said to be a night when the veil between the worlds is at it's most thin. / Liberation Day (Vietnam) / Children's Day (Mexico) / Carodejnice (Czech Republic) Witches' Night

                               And for Walpurgis Night some comic book Witches

Opening the Mystery Beach Box Mystery

Looks like the saga of the "humming" Mystery Beach Boxes is over, and it’s not aliens, nor for that matter is it mean old Mister Grimly trying to scare everybody off so he can making a killing real estate.

It’s… well see below

                                                           Jinkies!

March: Holidays & Days of Note

March 1 Beer Day (Iceland) To commemorate the return of beer to Iceland in 1989, what was Bjork's excuse before then? Matronalia (Ancient Rome) in honor of Juno. / Feriae Marti (Ancient Rome) in honor of Mars. / New Year (Ancient Rome) and the day the sacred fire of Rome was renewed / Saint David's Day, who really could have used a better PR man, like the one that Saint Patrick had say / Peanut Butter Lover's Day (U.S.) Back in the 20's the most popular soup in America was Peanut Butter soup, see if you can find a can of it today, you can't, I checked.

March 2 Omizu-okuri Festival (Obama, Japan) "Water Carrying"

March 3 Hinamatsuri (Japan) Doll Festival, a special day for girls observed in Japan. / Labour Day (West Australia) / NEA Read Across America Day (U.S.)

March 4 Feast day of Rhiannon (Wales) /Church of All Worlds incorporates in Missouri, in 1968, Becoming the first Pagan church to do such in the U.S. / Holy Experiment Day. (Christian) Has something to do with two fellows in Numbers (3:4) who tried to please the Bible God with "strange" (common) fire instead of "Holy" fire and were struck dead for their trouble. See, you experiment and the next thing you know stuff like enlightenment or even science breaks out and people go get all a twitter! Best to stop it right at the beginning.

March 5   Learn from Lei Feng Day. (China) Lei was an example of a guy willing to do anything for the state, usually a day to clean things up. / Multiple Personalities Day (U.S.) I'm Going to celebrate it. But I'm not.

March 6  Dentists' Day (U.S.) / Frozen Food Day (U.S.) / Alamo Day (Texas) / Oreo cookies go on sale for first time one hundred years ago today!

March 7 Walk a Mile in Another's Shoes Day (U.S.) Day when it is encouraged that we try to think like another person, gender, race, nationality or any combination of the above.

March 8 Holi (Hinduism) " The festival of colors," Starting yesterday and taking up the whole of today Holi is a boisterous Hindu festival. that's an occasion for all sorts of merriment and of course, lots of bright colors! During Holi, practices, which at other times could be offensive, are allowed. Squirting colored water on passers-by, getting drunk on bhaang and cavorting with companions is perfectly acceptable while you get away with it by saying, Bura na mano, Holi hai, "Don't mind, it's Holi!" / International Working Women's Day.

March 9 Baron Bliss Day (Belize) Not nearly as interesting as it sounds, just named after a benefactor of Belize. / Employee Appreciation Day (U.S.) I won't be holding my breath. / Barbie introduce 1959, How about that Barbie is 53.

March 10 Tibet Day / Jousting the Bear (Pistoia, Italy) Don't worry, they only use things shaped like bears..... Now / Life Between the Cracks Day (U.S.) / Middle Name Pride Day (U.S.) Mine is Keith..... never really cared for it, and I didn't really have anything to do with getting did it? So what have I got to be “proud” about?

March 11 Daylight Saving Times Starts. / Johnny Appleseed Day (U.S.)

March 12 Receiving the Water (Buddhist) / Arbor Day (China) Plant a tree, it's what Lei Feng would do! / Girl Scouts founded one hundred years ago today! / Coca Cola first sold in bottles, 1894. However back then it had the for real genuine addictive stuff in it .......... SUGAR! Not that gawd awful corn sweetener stuff they use now.

March 13 Purificattion Feast (Balinese) / Ronmass... Okay it's not called that, but it is the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard, / and it's the day that Uranus was discovered in 1781. Though what Uranus (said with a Bart Simpson emphasis on the word) was doing around so long before the rest of you showed up I can't explain.

March 14 White Day (Japan & Korea) Similar to Valentine's Day, but only men give the gifts..... wait a minute..... women give gifts on Valentine's Day? / Equirria (Ancient Rome) horse races in honor of Mars were held on this day. / Pi Day Do scientists know how to party or what? Pi day is held on the 14 because Pi is 3.14159, (and on into infinity,) so on the 3 month, the 14th day, and starting exactly at 1:59 P.M. the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco stops everything and serves pie, (no, I don't know what kind,) then they stop and sing Happy Birthday to Albert Einstein who shares his B-Day with this, then they eat more pie. Yeah, go ahead and try to stop those party hardy scientists! / Head of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay burned at the stake 1314. Conspiracy theorists the world over thank him for having that done to himself,they however do not get any pie.

March 15 Hounen Matsuri (Japan) Phallus Fertility Festival. / Feast of St Longinus (Catholic) Said to be the Roman soldier who stabbed Jesus with his spear on the cross, he has gained a lot of fame of late mainly due to a book by a man named Ravencroft who claims that Hitler was hot to get the still existing spear because of the occult power it's suppose to have. However in a trial in the 80's when he sued a novelist who used his book extensively, Ravencroft had to admit he made it all up.

March 16. Freedom of Information Day (USA) I'd say send a card to Julian Assange, but I don't know what his address is, must be secret. / Bacchanalia (Ancient Rome) first day of a 5 day festival.

March 17 Saint Patrick's Day. A day to pee green to celebrate a story about some guy driving the Druids `errrrr snakes out of Ireland, or to drink until the snakes come back. / Kustonu Diena (Ancient Latvia) "Return of the larks." / Liberalia (Ancient Rome) in honor of Liber. / Rubber band introduced 1845.

March 18 Sheelah's Day (Ireland) / Expropiación Petrolera day (Mexico) "Oil expropriation" day celebrating when the president of Mexico declared that all oil reserves found in Mexican soil belonged to the nation. Let's see Hallmark come up with a card for that! / Day given by the company as the birthday of the Pillsbury Dough Boy in 1961, though the character didn't show-up until 1965 and the whole March date is also in question, so take it with a pinch of salt. It helps the biscuits rise.

March 19 Mohammed's Birthday / Feast of Minerva (Ancient Rome)

March 20 Spring Equinox / Ostara / International Astrology Day / Extraterrestrial Abductions Day / Happy birthday Big Bird / Or is it autumn? Depends on where you are on the globe.

March 21 Norooz (Zoroastrian New Year's Day) or as the Baha'i call it Nau-Roz.

March 22 Emancipation Day (Puerto Rico)

March 23 Chamaya Vilakku Festival (Quilon, India) The Exact reason for the festival is lost to time, but it's been going on for ages. At some time in the past a religious devotion to the Goddess Bhagavati (a form of Durga), that the women performed was stopped, (invading army? plague? flood?) while some say it has something to do with some cow tending boys that found favor with Bhagavati, the stories vary, whatever the case the men kept the rite going, and for this Bhagavati recognizes them as women for the two days. Now men in the town, with the aid of wives, mothers, sister and even shops set up just for the purpose, dress as women and take special lamps to the temple where Durga is guaranteed to hear their prayers.

March 24 Day of Blood (Ancient Rome) Say what you will about the Romans of old, but they liked to throw festivals! This one however sounds like it might be one to miss. / Ashuraa (Islamic) Something about a battle and Jihad being in full bloom.

March 25 Independence Day (Greece) / Ladies Day, New Year's Day in England from 1155 to 1752 / Pecan Day (U.S.) / International Waffle Day in Sweden. Just for fun have a waffle and put some pecans on it.

March 26 Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianole Day (Hawaii) A day for the second delegate to congress from Hawaii.

March 27 Smell the Breezes Day (Egypt) / Prophet Zoroaster's Birthday (Zoroastrianism) / National "Joe" Day (U.S.)

March 28 Teacher's Day (Czechoslovakia) / Evacuation Day (Libya) evacuate what, where? They know something we don't?

March 29 Festival of Ishtar / Youth Day (Taiwan) / Commemoration Day (Madagascar) Eventually in the spring almost the whole of Madagascar starts to smell of vanilla due to most of the world's supply of that commodity coming from there.

March 30 Festival of Salus. (Ancient Rome) Daughter of Asclepius and Goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation. / National Doctor's Day (U.S.) / John Reid opens the 1st US golf course in 1889, I kid you not, if this were any more ironic it would hurt.

March 31 The Borrowed Days (Ethiopia) I have no idea what it's about, but it's got a darned evocative sound to it ain't it? Sort of like an old Merchant Ivory film or something.

             Enjoy those March Winds!

And a happy 100 years of frozen death to you too!

                                                                            Image by  harry_nl

This April the 15, along with marking the day some folks in the U.S. might find themselves sinking, also marks the one hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and no doubt there will be a lot of comments, tributes and other such items as that date draws near. (Oh please tell me they are NOT going to release that move in 3-D!)

For instance the Royal Mint has already released a 5 Pound uncirculated coin under the authority of the Channel Island of Alderney.

The coin, designed by engraver Lee Robert Jones, depicts Thane the Goddess of death looking down on the boat from above, which I personally find a bit morbid. However it is not without president as the image on the coin is based on the Titanic Memorial by Sir Thomas Brock, which shows the same goddess of death, called by some Thane and other Fortuna, receiving the body of a seaman from two sea nymphs. (Oh those daffy Victorians!)

Hey Kids, Let's Learn about Fortuna!

The thing is, Fortuna wasn’t the goddess of death, she was the goddess of luck, who eventually would come to be called Lady Luck. While I have been unable to find anything about a goddess “Thane,” are they thinking Thanatos the Greek god of death?

Either way, Lady Luck and the Titanic, sorry I don’t see it. 

And Speaking About Gods and Goddesses of Death

Nazi in Spaaaaaace!

For years there has been an obscure little believed conspiracy theory found mainly is poorly written and cheaply printed books in the back pages of Fate Magazine, that even the more willing to willing to believe just about anything parts of the conspiracy theory community laughed at (there's a conspiracy theory community? Probability, but my clearance isn't high enough to access it.)

It says that Nazi Germany invented the UFO, and may have even made it to the Moon as early as 1942, “evidence” consisting of items such as Barney Hill saying that UFO occupants he say reminded him of Nazi officers, along with a few other scant pickings here and there, that however has done nothing to stop people from speculating and making artwork based on the idea.

Nazi UFOs

Well apparently there is no conspiracy so obscure and crackpot that it won't eventually get a movie made based on it.

Yow!

Well I know what I'll be doing that weekend!

Catching up on my laundry and yard work.

Saraswati, new Goddess of Canada?

Advice from the National Post of Canada on how to get ahead: ‘Worship at the feet of the goddess Saraswati’

Well, really it's really more the advice from a reader.

Success by Worshiping Saraswati

For more about Saraswati check below

Sarasvati

Humming boxes that can't be moved?

Mystery Boxes?

Well, that's the story I've been seeing, and yet I have to wonder, if these mystery boxes are popping up along the West Coast... and humming! Then why isn't Flickr, and Picasa and Facebook and Youtube full of pictures and even sound recordings and yes video of said boxes?

I've only seen two not very interesting pictures, and until I see something more concrete, lets say something as hard to move as these alleged boxes, (Or I or someone I trust spends a day at the beach!) I'm calling internet hoax on this.