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May 16
Today is the anniversary of the Farakka Long March in 1976. The march protested the construction of the Farakka dam, aka the Farakka Barrage. The dam is located just 11 miles from the border of Bangladesh, and it diverts up to 200,000 gallons of water per second from the Ganges River that would have flowed to Bangladesh. “If ever there was a lesson in the unintended effects of damming rivers, the Farakka Barrage …Read more 
May 15
Just when Madrid sobers up from back-to-back celebrations of Labor Day and Dos de Mayo, it pulls out all the stops for the week-long celebration of San Isidro. San Isidro (1070-1130) is Madrid’s patron saint, whose feast day falls on May 15. A simple farm worker, Isidro never had much money, never led a diocese or congregation, never fought in a war, and was not martyred or notably persecuted for …Read more 
May 14
We here in the United States get cranky at our politicians for the slightest misstep, like plunging our country into bankruptcy or sending our children into misguided opportunistic wars. Yet our stalwart Liberian cousins put up with 14 years of civil war before finally giving their leaders the boot in 2005. The rallying cry of the president to-be? “All the men have failed Liberia. Let’s try a woman this time!” In …Read more 
May 13 When midnight comes and drops silence for sleep, and dogs and dappled birds are hushed, The man who remembers the ancient rite and fears the gods, rises up (barefoot) And makes a thumb sign between his closed fingers to avoid some ghostly wraith in the quiet. When he has washed his hands clean with fountain water, he turns around after taking black beans, Glances away and throws, saying: ‘These I release; I redeem me …Read more 
May 13 Our Lady of Fatima Sightings of the Virgin Mary date all the way back to 40 AD when the Virgin Mary first appeared to the Apostle James in Spain. They’ve occurred all over the world, in communities big and small, and the sightings continue to this day. In fact… “Just last week, the Virgin Mary appeared in the form of a stain on a griddle at Las Palmas restaurant in Calexico, California. More than 100 …Read more 
May 12
Today is Day of Finnishness in you-guessed-it: Finland. It’s also known as Snellman Day, named after the Finns’ national hero Johan Vilhelm Snellman, but referred to as Day of Finnishness (perhaps because ‘Snellman’ sounds like that teacher in high school whose nostrils screamed when he breathed through his nose). Snellman was in fact a teacher (but no word on his nasal exhalations). He was also a statesman, journalist and philosopher, who crusaded to make Finnish …Read more 
May 11 Born in Thessaloniki in the 820′s, Cyril and Methodius are considered ‘Equals with the Apostles’ in the Eastern Orthodox Church, but were overlooked by the Roman Catholic Church for nearly a thousand years. Sts. Cyril & Methodius Cyril & Methodius were two missionary brothers with a gift for language. In the 860′s the Prince of Great Morovia (in Eastern Europe) entrusted them with the task of translating Biblical texts into the Slavic tongue of Great …Read more 
May 10 “Had Jackson lived to command the right or left wing at Gettysburg, the Confederacy might be approaching its 150th year of independence today.” - General Wesley Clark, “Stonewall Jackson“, by D. Davis Two years ago, I was informed by a reader and friend that it is the duty of Every Day’s a Holiday to warn unsuspecting visitors to South Carolina not to bother going to the DMV on May 10. Any such excursions …Read more |
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