every day's a holiday!

April 15, 2011March 31, 2011

Father Damien: Patron Saint of Outcasts

April 15

Here it’s been over a year and we’ve yet to celebrate any holidays devoted to Belgians. Today, April 15, ends all that. No, the Belgians didn’t invent taxes, but they did produce a priest by the name of Father Damien, and not the demon-exorcising priest of horror movie fame.

Our Father Damien was a very real, breathing human being from Flemish Brabant. He was born in 1840 and became a Picpus Brother in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1860. In 1864 he was sent to the far off Kingdom of Hawaii where he served on the island of Oahu. And it’s in Hawaii, not in Belgium, that people celebrate Father Damien Day.

In the mid-18th century Hawaii underwent a horrible epidemic of several diseases, brought to the islands by foreigners—diseases to which the Hawaiian islanders had no immunities. Chief among these illnesses was the devastating and very contagious disease of leprosy.

King Kamehameha V established a colony on the island of Molokai where all those suffering from leprosy were quarantined. “Kalaupapa” was designed by necessity to be a self-sustaining colony, for few healthy people would go near it. However, because of the debilitating effects of leprosy, many of the inhabitants had difficulty farming and fending for themselves, and word spread of a Lord of the Rings society—wait, no—Lord of the Flies society developing there. (More anarchy, less hobbits.) The Church knew a priest should be sent to the island, but also knew such an assignment would effectively be a death sentence because of contagious nature of the disease.

In 1873 the 33 year-old Father Damien asked to be transfered to Kalaupapa and be priest to the lepers. There, Father Damien did more than pray:

“He washed their bodies, bandaged their wounds, tidied their rooms and made them as comfortable as possible. He encouraged those who were well to work alongside him by building cottages, coffins, a rectory, an orphanage for the children and repairing the road. He also taught them to farm, play musical instruments, and sing…Even before he was diagnosed as having leprosy he used the term “we lepers” in his sermons for he wished to identify with them as a means of bring them to Christ.” — Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

Father Damien felt the first symptoms of leprosy in 1884. He continued working with the people of Kalaupapa another five years. As word spread of his deeds across the Christian world, much-needed donations and supplies finally flowed into the colony.

Father Damien died on April 15, 1889.

Despite all his deeds, Father Damien was not your steroetypical hero. He was derided by his detractors as “a coarse, dirty man, head-strong and bigoted.” (Reverend C.M.Hyde, 8/2/1889) In short, they say, he was no saint.

However, this October those detractors will be proven wrong. On October 11, 2009, 120 years after his death, Father Damien will officially become a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He is the patron of those with leprosy and HIV/AIDS, and of ‘outcasts’.

April 15, 2011March 31, 2011

Tax Day: Know Your 16th Amendment Rights

April 15

Beware the Ides of April.

Okay, actually, technically, April 15th isn’t the Ides; April 13 is.

But the 15th of April is a day all Americans dread. It is, of course, Kim Il-Sung’s birthday. This guy was leader of North Korea from the time Truman was President all the way through to the Clinton Administration, and transformed North Korea into the thriving open-minded society it is today.

Ahem.

In addition to that, it’s Tax Day. That means if you’re headed to the post office—forget it, you should’ve left yesterday.

And if you’re filing online today expect DSL gridlock well through midnight.

You’ll be glad to know you’re following in a well-established American tradition.

The first U.S. income tax was levied in 1861 to help finance the Civil War. It taxed 3% of net incomes over a whopping $600 a year. The income tax was dismantled eleven years later.

Harper’s ran this prophetic cartoon in 1878 during one of several proposals to reinstate the income tax:

The Ron Paul Revolution of 1878

Income taxes were intermittently levied over the next three decades until the 1894 Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act attempted to claim a 2% tax on incomes over $4000. Opponents declared the act “unDemocratic, inquisitorial, and wrong in principle.” And the Supreme Court agreed, declaring the federal income tax unconstitutional.

Then came good ol’ Amendment 16:

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without appointment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

ie. Yours is Mine.

Yes, you have no 16th Amendment rights.

It took over two years (from 1911-1913) for the amendment to rack up the required 2/3’s majority–from 36 of the 48 states, and finally passed in 1913.

So whatever your taxes amount to, you can’t blame Connecticut, Florida, Rhode Island, Utah, Pennsylvania or Virginia. They’re the only states (of the 48 at the time) that never ratified the amendment.

Oh and what was state #36?

New Mexico.

Yeah, and New Mexico was not a state until 1912. Thanks New Mexico, thanks for your brilliant contribution. Really, we’re not bitter.

Can we get a recount?

April 14, 2011March 31, 2011

Vaisakhi

April 13 or 14

In the month of Vaisaakh, how can the bride be patient? — Guru Granth Sahib p133, Sikh holy book

Vaisakhi has long been celebrated as the New Year by the cultures of Punjab in northwest India and eastern Pakistan. But for Sikhs, Vaisakhi is one of the most important holidays of the year.

Celebrated every year on April 13 or 14, for Sikhs Vaisakhi (also Baisakhi) commemorates the founding of the Khalsa Pantha (Order of the Pure) by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.

Guru Gobind Singh, as you may recall, is the last of the ten mortal gurus. He’s worshiped for, among other things, upon his death handing over the title Guru not to a person, but to the Sikh holy book itself, Guru Granth Sahib, a collection of divinely inspired writings by the first ten Gurus.

But he is also known for transforming Sikhs into a family of holy warriors, or soldier saints, known as the Khalsa Pantha.

On this day in 1699, at the Vaisakhi Festival in Anandpur Sahib, Gobind Singh called together some of his most devoted followers outside his tent. In front of a crowd of thousands, he asked who was willing to give their life to Sikh cause. A man volunteered. Gobind Singh took him into the tent and reappeared moments later alone, blood dripping from his sword.

To the crowd’s astonishment Gobind Singh asked again who was willing to give their life. Another man volunteered. Gobind Singh led the man to his tent and again came out alone with his bloody sword. This happened three more times.

Gobind Singh founds the Khalsa, Vaisakhi 1699

After the fifth time Gobind Singh returned to his tent and brought out the five men unharmed, with turbans around their heads. He baptized them with a sacred nectar of immortality called amrit and declared them the Panh Piara, the Five Beloved Ones. These were the first five of the Khalsa, the elite group of holy warriors who would ensure the survival of the Sikh religion over the next three centuries.

Even today, though Sikhs are a minority in India, they still traditionally hold a disproportional number of military posts as commanders and officers.

Vaisakh is the first month in the Nanakshahi calendar. It coincides with April and May. The Vaisakhi festival is celebrated with processions and parades throughout Punjab as well as in Sikh communities throughout the world. The largest Vaisakhi parade outside India is in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“The month of Vaisaakh is beautiful and pleasant, when the Saint causes me to meet the Lord.” — Guru Granth Sahib p134

April 13, 2011March 31, 2011

Songkran – Thai New Year

April 13-16

Songkran is believed to have originated with the Dtai people (now in northern Thailand, Vietnam and Laos) as a fertility festival. Like the Hindi festival Sankranti, the word Songkran derives from the Sanskrit “Sankranti” comes from to the sun’s transition from one zodiac sign to another, in this case Pisces into Aries, and from the Pali word (of Theraveda Buddhist texts) “Sankhara“.

According to http://www.beachpatong.com/photogallery/songkran:

“Songkran is a Public Spring Cleaning Day, supported by the religious belief that anything old and useless must be thrown away or it will bring bad luck to the owner.”

[Ed.: My mother would love this holiday.]

Another tradition of Songkran is the formulation of predictions about the year to come:

“…the predictions come in the presence and posture of the divine, mythical ladies that are Nang Songkran. How will the weather be? Will the economy prosper? Will a fatal pandemic strike? How will crops yield? These common concerns for the largely agriculture-based Thai society will be answered by a simple calculation of the time the sun enters Aries – which indicates which one of the seven Songkran goddesses descend to Earth and in what posture she comes.”

— The Muses of Songkran

But the most notable traditions of the festival are those involving water. Songkran season is the hottest time in Thailand. Originally the ritual of lightly sprinkling one’s elders with water was a sign of respect during the last days of the festival. Nowadays however, water activities have taken over every day of the festival, and in places like Chiang Mai, Thais celebrate by waging water battles on a scale unseen in the Northern Hemisphere.

Songkran - Chiang Mai water fight — Chiang Mai water fight

“Packed into the back of the utes were about 9 or 11 people, a big plastic tub full to the brim of water, and our array of weapons – plastic buckets, plastic half buckets used to flush the toilets, and water pistols with special water tanks strapped onto backs. As we headed into town, people and children were clustered at points along the way in formidable armies with hoses, buckets and big tubs of water. Our driver would slow down and we were ruthlessly soaked about five minutes into our journey. We retaliated, scooping water out of the tub, yelling ‘LEFT!’ and ‘RIGHT!’ depending on where the next group of people were.”

Emily Enjoying Songkran in Thailand – Antipodeans Abroad

Some are less thrilled about the festival’s recent evolution:

The overenthusiastic water play in which visitors to Chiangmai heartily participate on their first experience in Chiangmai represents a development of customs relating to the celebration of the Thai lunar new year…In the past people might sprinkle a bit of scented water on your shoulder to wish you a happy new year, but this has deteriorated to getting dowsed with a bucket of ice water by an individual on the back of a moving pickup truck.” “In some people’s viewpoint it has become excessive and many prefer to remain at home with a good book or a video rather than expose themselves to a daily drenching.”

Songkran Traditions

The festival lasts several days, the first day being April 13, or Wan Songkran Lohng. This is the last day of the year, during which people clean their homes in preparation for the holiday. Towns hold large parades involving images of the Buddha, which are sometimes bathed with special water.

The second day, Wan Nao, is the day between the old and new year. People prepare the traditional food to be used in the following day’s ceremonies.

Day three, Wan Payawan, is the officially the first day of the new year, when celebrants offer the previously prepared food to the monks.

On day four, Wan Paak Bpee, celebrants pay respect to their ancestors and elders, as well as important members of the community. In a ceremony known as rod naam daam hua, participants pour special scented water over the hands of their elders, who then bestow a blessing on them.

The water tradition may come from the ancient belief that rain was created by mythical serpents known as Nagas who spouted water from the sea. Regardless of its origin, the water fights are now a ubiquitous sign of Songkran and an annual symbol of rebirth for the whole community.

Songkran Traditions

How to Throw Water During Songkran

April 12, 2011March 31, 2011

Cosmonaut’s Day – Yuri’s Night

April 12

The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows
Where her son flies in the sky

—Russian song whistled by Yuri Gagarin during the first manned space flight

For thousands of years, humans stared at the skies wondering about the composition of the stars, lights that shined through pinpoints in the banner of heaven. It took millennia for our knowledge of the skies to coalesce. And it wasn’t until 1903 that Wilber and Orville Wright appeared to have conquered gravity, albeit briefly.

Yet only six decades after that first flight, a human being transcended into outer space. That man was Yuri Gagarin. The day was April 12, 1961—now celebrated as Cosmonaut’s Day.

The 27 year-old Russian pilot stood only 5’2″, an advantage for the world’s first cosmonaut, crammed into the tiny cockpit of the spacecraft Vostok 3KA. The Vostok launched from Baykonur, Kazakhstan, at 9:07 am Moscow Time. The flight lasted only 108 minutes, but in that time Yuri Gagarin circled the globe, a feat that had taken Magellan’s crew three years.

As late as early April there had been six contenders for the first cosmonaut. Gagarin wasn’t finalized as the pilot of the craft until just two days before the flight. And if some officials had their way, we would be celebrating “Herman’s Night” today instead of “Yuri’s Night.” Herman Titov was Yuri’s backup.

According to Gagarin, the flight went mostly smoothly. He didn’t report an emergency during the mission, but:

“As soon as TDU (breaking engine) shot down, there was a sharp jolt. The spacecraft started spinning about its axis with a very high speed…Everything was spinning. One moment I see Africa — it happened over Africa — another the horizon, another the sky. I barely had time to shade myself from the sun, so the light did not blind my eyes.”

The 20th century Icarus faired better than his Greek predecessor. Gagarin ejected from the crafted at 10:44 am and landed safely.

His post-flight report wasn’t published until decades after the flight.

By beating the first American into space (Alan Shepard) by one month, Gagarin helped the Soviet Union emerge as the apparent leader in aeronautic technology, and the space race was on. Yuri went from complete obscurity to a national hero—perhaps THE national hero for two generations of Russians.

Gagarin legacy far outlasted his life. He died in 1968 in a training flight crash. He was only 34 years old.

Cosmonautics Day was established by the Soviet Union in 1962. Today April 12 is also known as Yuri’s Night, celebrated around the world in honor of the 5’2″ giant who first touched the heavens.

April 11, 2011March 31, 2011

Juan Santamaría Day – Battle of Rivas

April 11

If you grew up in El Norte, chances are your history books skipped the chapter on William Walker and Juan Santamaría. The two men could not have been more different.

Juan Santamaría was a poor laborer, an illegitimate son raised by a single mother in the impoverished district of Alajuela, Costa Rica. He joined his country’s army as a drummer boy in the 1850’s.

William Walker was born to a well-to-do family in the American South and graduated from college summa cum laude at age 14. He went on to study at some of the most prestigious universities in Europe before earning his doctorate in medicine at age 19. He briefly practiced law in New Orleans before moving to San Francisco where he explored the field of journalism.

Despite their different upbringings, the fates of these two men would become inextricably woven at Rivas, Nicaragua in April 1858.

While in San Francisco, Walker had conceived of a political opportunity south of the border—he gathered a group of pro-slavery supporters to help him establish slavery-friendly zones in Mexico and Central America.

For whatever reason, the government of Mexico had issues with Walker’s notion. When they didn’t capitulate, Walker raised an army and took Baja California by force. He proclaimed it part of a larger pro-slavery region that would be called the Republic of Sonora. Later defeats caused Walker to retreat. He was put on trial in the United States for inciting an unsanctioned war. And was acquitted by a jury in eight minutes.

The William Walker story doesn’t end there. It worked so well in Mexico, he figured why not spread the love to Central America.

Walker set his sites on Nicaragua. Before the Panama Canal, Lake Nicaragua was the gateway between the Atlantic and Pacific. The overland route could chop months of a trip around the Tierra del Fuego. Nicaragua had just undergone a serious period of destabilization—15 presidents in six years—making it ripe for exploitation.

With an invitation from one of the feuding Nicaraguan political parties, the Democrats, Walker and 57 men invaded Nicaragua. They captured the city of Granada. With the support of the Democrats, Walker set himself up as de facto ruler of the country.

At this time, the President of Costa Rica, Juan Rafael Mora, sensing Walker’s future ambitions, made a pre-emptive decision—to cross over into Nicaragua and attack, not on the country of Nicaragua itself but Walker and his forces.

The climactic battle between Walker and Mora was the Second Battle of Rivas. The inexperienced Walker made multiple military blunders prior to the battle, forcing the small army to hole up inside a thatched-roof hostel.

Enter Juan Santamaria. There couldn’t be a more compelling antidote to the overeducated and overprivileged Walker. At the time of the Battle of Rivas, the day laborer was a 25 year-old drummer boy in the Costa Rican army.

Though Walker’s forces were outmanned at Rivas, their position in the hostel gave them a distinct shooting advantage. Costa Rican General José María Canas called on a volunteer to approach the hostel and light the roof on fire with a torch. It was a suicide mission. Santamaría stepped forward, asking only that should he die, someone look after his mother.

Under heavy fire, Santamaría reached the hostel and threw the torch, igniting the roof. Santamaría was struck dead by enemy fire; however Walker’s men were forced to flee. Santamaría’s last act was the beginning of the end for Walker, and marked a symbolic turning point in the repulsion of foreign forces from Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Walker was executed by firing squad in 1860.

Sadly, the heroics of the Battle of Rivas were overshadowed by a devastating cholera epidemic that killed a tenth of the population of Costa Rica. But in the decades that followed, Santamaría’s legend emerged as the leading heroic figure symbolizing the unity of the Costa Rican people against imperialist forces. Because Costa Rica hadn’t fought for independence from Spain, the battle against William Walker became event that solidified the nationalist spirit.

Even today, the young drummer boy from Alajuela is the only Costa Rican to be honored with his own national holiday—April 11, the anniversary of his death and of the Battle of Rivas.

Juan Santamaría statue, Costa Rica — Juan Santamaria statue

William Walker: King of the 19th Century Filibusters – historynet.com

Independence of Nicaragua

Costa Rica in 1856: Defeating William Walker while creating a national identity

The Saga of William Walker

April 10, 2011March 31, 2011

Pulitzer’s Birthday

April 10

Most folks recognize the name Pulitzer from the journalism awards announced every April. But the tradition didn’t begin until years after the death of newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer in 1911.

Pultizer was born in Budapest, Hungary, on this day (April 10) in 1847. As a young man he tried to join the army, but was rejected due to “a defect in one of his eyes”. (NY Times Obit) After failing to be admitted into the armies in France and England, Pulitzer crossed the Atlantic, and found better luck in the one country that wasn’t so fickle about physical requirements. The U.S. was in the midst of the Civil War and the Union Army needed fresh recruits, regardless of their ability to speak English or see their target.

Pulitzer served in the Lincoln Cavalry during the tail end of the war. After the war, he and a fellow Austrian pooled their money and caught a train as far West as their meager resources would take them. Landing in East St. Louis, Pultizer earned a living as a stevedore, a boat fireman, and even a grave digger during a great cholera epidemic.

The job that changed his life was traveling around the state of Missouri filing papers with each county clerk for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. The job “gave him a knowledge which no other man then possessed of the land conditions of every county in the State, and real estate men found his services invaluable.” (NY Times Obit., Oct. 30, 1911) In his free time, Pulitzer studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1868.

Quickly bored with law, Pulitzer found work as a reporter for the German newspaper the Westliche Post. Another reporter recalled Pulitzer as “exasperatingly inquisitive.”

“In one hand he held a pad of paper and in the other a pencil. He did not wait for inquiries, but announced that he was a reporter for The Westliche Post, and then he began to ask questions of everybody in sight.” (ibid)

Pulitzer was promoted to city editor of the paper, became active in local politics, and was elected to the state legislature.

In 1878, after returning from a reporting stint in New York, Pulitzer purchased the St. Louis Evening Dispatch at an auction for $2500. “When he entered the office the next morning as proprietor of his own newspaper he was unable to find as much as a bushel of coal or a roll or white paper. More complete ruin and decay were never seen in a newspaper office.” But “By impressing into service everybody within reach he managed to get out an issue of 1,000 copies.” (ibid)

Five years later Pulitzer had turned the paper around to such an extent that he was able to get a footing in New York journalism by purchasing the paper The World.

“He was unable to expend large sums of money in the gathering of the news, for the very excellent reason that he did not have it to spend. He did instill life and energy into every department of the paper on the very first day of his proprietorship…”

—The New York World

The World became particularly famous for its editorial pages, some of which had a sensationalist tinge.

“The World, under Mr. Pulitzer’s management, attained not only a huge circulation but the reputation of being the yellowest journal in the United States of America, a supremacy which even to-day is only challenged by Mr. Hearst’s American.”

– Little London Comment – Special Cable to the New York Times

In 1890, Pulitzer built the New York World Building, the tallest building in the country at the time, and a symbol of the paper’s success. And the time of Pulitzer’s death in 1911, the newspaper had been transformed into one of the most widely-read newspapers in the United States.

The awards for which Pulitzer is remembered today were established as part of his will in the years following his death. Pulitzer left money to Columbia University with the stipulation that a journalism school be founded. Columbia University began administering the Pulitzer Prizes in 1917, and continues to do so to this day. Though April 10 is not a holiday in any country, the Pulitzer Prizes, awarded for journalistic and literary excellence, are presented each year around the newspaper magnate’s birthday.

April 9, 2011March 31, 2011

Mikael Agricola – The Man Who Started Finnish

April 9

Today the country of Finland celebrates Finnish Language Day, also known as Mikael Agricola Day.

Mikael Agricola may not have started Finnish but he is celebrated as a national hero for creating and codifying the written version of what was largely an oral tradition up until the 16th century.

Agricola was appointed Lutheran bishop of Turku in 1554. One of the tenets of the Reformation was the translation and reading of scriptures in native languages.

Agricola translated the New Testament into Finnish in 1548.

Some of his top Finnish language hits include:

ABC-kiria (The ABC Book) The first book in Finnish, published in 1543. It was a primer of the Finnish language. [I’d like to say it taught kids to read Finnish, but as the first Finnish book, it taught everyone to read!]

Se Wsi Testamenti — the aforementioned Finnish translation of the New Testament, Agricola’s greatest achievement.

Three liturgical books (1549). Two include prayers, services, and rituals. The third is an amalgamation of the Four Gospels, detailing Christ’s suffering.

Agricola hoped to translate the Old Testament as well. But his life was cut short. Returning from Moscow where he had negotiated a peace treaty, Agricola became ill and died on April 9, 1557. He was 47.

He’s remembered each year on April 9 as the Father of the Finnish language.

The major languages of the Scandinavian countries—Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic—are all related except for Finnish. Near as we can tell, Finnish isn’t related to anything except perhaps Hungarian and Estonian. Finnish isn’t even an Indo-European language. The Finno-Ugric languages are their own distinct branch, though from what tree is anybody’s guess.

It’s possible that if Agricola hadn’t come along when he did, the language of Finland would have been overrun by the languages of its more powerful neighbors.

Finnish is known for being a ‘genderless’ language, and for lacking articles such as ‘a’ and ‘the’. Also, there is no word for ‘to have.’

Helsinki Times – Celebrating the Finnish Language – Mikael Agricola Day

Liisa Tainio: Gender In Finnish Language Use

2008 Hat Party in honor of Mikael Agricola