It's Okay, Mama

I'll watch the babies.  After all, I'm a big girl now.


Today is:

Be Bald and Be Free Day

Blessing the Fish Harvest -- St. Oswald's Church, Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, England (the blessing is this month, and it was on this date in 2009, cannot confirm that it is the same date each year)

Bonn Phchum Ben -- Cambodia (Ancestors' Day)

Chisinau Day -- Chisinau, Moldova

Cirio de Nazare -- Belem, Brazil (two week Feast of Cirio begins in Belem [St. Mary of Bethlehem])

Clergy Appreciation Day

Dessert Day -- another one?

Doburoku Matsuri -- Shirakawago, Japan (unrefined sake festival and harvest festival; through the 19th)

First Fiddle of the Month -- Fairy Calendar

Festival for the Penates -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gods of the storeroom)

Flag Day -- Madagascar (flag adopted this day in 1958)

Grandmother's Day -- FL, US

Liberation Day -- Yemen

Mega Kenka Matsuri -- Hyogo, Japan (Roughhouse Festival, wrestling for a blessing; through tomorrow)

Mother's Day -- Belarus

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Day -- Tanzania (climax of the Uhuru Torch Race)

National Chocolate Covered Insect Day -- i'll pass, sorry

National Education Day -- Poland

National Frump Day -- National FRUMPS of America (to honor the frugal, responsible, unpretentious, and mature people everywhere)

Pulaski Day Parade -- Philadelphia, PA, US (honoring the Polish patriot who was "Father of the American Cavalry")

Republic Day / October Revolution Day -- Yemen

St. Callistus' Day (Patron of cemetary workers)

St. Donatian of Rheims's Day (Patron of Bruges, Belgium; Rheims, France; West Flanders, Belgium)

St. Petca Paraskeva's Day (Patron of embroiderers, needle workers, spinners, weavers, and all who do needlework of any kind)related observance
     Petkouden -- Bulgaria

Svetitskovloba/Living Pillar Cathedral -- Georgia (celebration of the first Christian church in Georgia)

Vinternatsblot, a/k/a Haustblót -- Asatru (to bid Winter welcome; at the approximate date of the start of winter in the Old European Calendar of the Norse

White Sunday -- Samoa and American Samoa (children wear white to church and run the church services, are served a special meal, and recieve new church clothes for the upcoming year)

Windsor Pumpkin Regatta -- Windsor, NS, Canada (racing giant pumpkin boats [PVCs -- Personal Vegetable Crafts] across Lake Pezaquid, plus a parade and other festivities)

World Standards Day -- International

Youth Day -- Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo)



Birthdays Today:

Harry Anderson, 1952
Sir Cliff Richard, 1940
Ralph Lauren, 1939
Roger Moore, 1927
John Wooden, 1910
e.e. cummings, 1894
Lillian Gish, 1893
Dwight Eisenhower, 1890
William Penn, 1644


Today in History:

William the Conqueror wins England in the Battle of Hastings, 1066
Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence, 1322
Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England, 1586
Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), 1656
Rabbi Judah Hasid & Chayim Molocho arrive in Jerusalem, 1700
Henry Blair receives a patent for a corn planter, becoming the first black to obtain a US patent, 1834
The 15th and the last military Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate resigns in Japan, returning his power to the Emperor of Japan and thence to the re-established civil government of Japan, 1867
George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film, 1884
Theodore Roosevelt is shot while campaigning in Milwaukee on the "Bull Moose" ticket, 1912
The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, is first published, 1926
Ethel Merman makes her Broadway debut in "Girl Crazy", 1930
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian Untouchable caste leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 of his followers, 1956
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian Monarch to open up an annual session of the Canadian Parliament, presenting her Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada, 1957
The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when a U.S. Air Force U2 Reconnaissance pilot takes pictures of Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba, 1962
The city of Montreal, Quebec, begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid-transit system, 1966
The first live telecast from any manned spacecraft, the Apollo 7, 1968
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, The Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Foreign Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords , 1994
Indonesian rights groups applaud the end of a Suharto-era law that bans books deemed 'offensive' or a 'threat to public order,' 2010
A colony of stromatolites is discovered at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, 2011