A perpetual almanac of the Year. Folklore, Customs, Myths, Legends, Religions, Ceremonies. Calendars, How the year, months, days, hours, minutes work. Who started them. How different societies have different arrangements. Zodiacs, Seasons, Folklore, Gods and Goddesses. Its all here day by day.
Autumn Equinox in Haggerston Park.Photo by K Flude.
Autumn Equinox.
This is the second day of the year when the sun rises due east and sets due west. When the day and night are of equal length. It is the beginning of the astronomical autumn. It is determined by the 23.5-degree tilt of the Earth’s rotation in relation to the orbit around the Sun.
In the Jewish Calendar, and the French Revolutionary Calendars it marks the new year. Many cultures preferred spring. But autumn is the end of harvest, when seeds are sown and the food stores are full of food. Similarly, the Celts started their new year at Halloween, half way between the equinox and the solstice.
For more about autumn, look at my post here. For my post on the Spring Equinox, see here. For the Celtic New Year see this post here and for the French Revolutionary Calendar, my post is here.
Rosh Hashanah, September 22nd to 25th.
Rosh Hashanah is the New Year in Judaism. There are other new years in the Jewish calendar. But this is for the Civil Year and to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Adam.
The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah. One of the High Holy Days, as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25. Like most New Years it is a time to reflect on life and put in place changes. It is after all a celebration of the beginning of the world.
Here is an excellent BBC web site which will tell you more.
In the City of London, St Matthew’s Day was the day that they elected Governors to Christ’s Hospital, it was followed by a service at Christchurch attended by Aldermen, Sheriffs, the Lord Mayor and a procession of the children attending the school.
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Christ’s Hospital was founded in 1552 by a settlement arranged by Edward VI after the Reformation. The abolition of the Monasteries by Henry VIII caused a huge problem for the City of London, with the destruction of education and social services managed by monks and nuns. Henry VIII had already re-established St Bartholomew’s to look after the Poor Sick in the City. To complete the post dissolution, Edward IV established three Royal Hospitals to sort out additional problems. Bridewell Hospital became an orphanage and place of correction for wayward women. St Thomas Hospital for the homeless and poor sick of South London. Christ’s Hospital was to provide schooling. The school was originally near Newgate and Christchurch Church, which was originally the Choir of the Greyfriars Church.
The school was set up in 1552 and was for boys and girls. The Mathematical School was added in the late 17th Century to provide navigation skills for sailors.
Flogging the boys
In 1815, a shocking event took place. An MP named Sir Eyre Coote entered the Mathematical school. He shooed the younger boys away but paid the older ones to participate in mutual flogging. He was discovered by the school nurse doing up his breeches. George Cruikshank, a vaunted caricaturist, created a cartoon of the occasion, and it is extraordinary how it was treated far from seriously.
Cruikshank Cartoon
The blue-coated boys of Christ’s Hospital, eventually moved to Hertford but are now in Horsham. They maintain their City affiliation and still come to the City on or around St Matthews Day and take part in the Lord Mayor’s Show. The school is a public school, but has a large percentage of its students funded by bursaries. In 2016 former pupils opened up about historic sexual abuse leading to the prosecution of 6 teachers of Christchurch.
Also on St Matthews Day, the historic Bush Hotel in Farnham distributed bread to the poor. This began in 1660 a local benefactor bequeathed one pound annually to pay for the bread.
Sketch from a photo of a Saxon Shield Wall of the type that might have been used at the Battle of Fulford
In 1066 England’s destiny was at stake, would the new King, Harold Godwinson, maintain the rule of an English King over England? Or would William of Normandy impose an alien French dynasty? But there was a third possible future Harold Hardrada of Norway re-establishing King Cnut’s Scandinavian control of England?
The fighting began, on September 20th, after the Norwegian King, accompanied by Harold Godwinson’s own brother, Tostig Godwinson, sailed up the Humber with 300 ships, disembarked and matched towards York.
In response, the Army of the North, led by the Earls of Mercia and Northumbria, left York to confront the invaders. They marched the mile and a half to Fulford, which is on the banks of the Ouse. They, apparently, did not know that on the 18th of September, King Harold of England had left London with the Army of the South to take on Hardrada. If the Earls had waited, the combined English Army had a good chance of destroying the Norwegian threat.
The Norwegians and Tostig had, perhaps 7,500 troops, and the English Earls Edwin and Morcar who were brothers had an ‘immense’ army.
The Norwegians were lined up at Fulford, with their left flank protected by the Ouse, their front protected by a ditch and having the benefit of the higher ground. The English drove the Norwegians back but Hardrada responded by pushing forward his left flank where he had his best warriors and enfolded the English who eventually broke. As the English retreated, they suffered terrible casualties, so many that the Norwegians could walk dry-shod over the marshy ground.
Google Satelite view of the Battle of Fulford battle field. The stream/ditch the Viking lined up behind can be seen running East West just to the South of the road above the label Fulford Village Hall.
The jubilant Norwegians arranged the surrender of York without sacking it. It probably escaped because Tostig had come to England to reclaim the Earldom of Northumbria. It would be a bad start to slaughter the citizens of his capital city! Possibly they also wanted to get back to protect their boats. They matched to Stamford Bridge, to celebrate, rest and recover.
Things looked grim for the continuation of English rule over England,with Hardrada victorious in the North; a defeated Northern Army and the Normans with a huge invasion fleet ready to invade the South.
What I really admire are people who, through their sheer brain power, can change our views of the world. The first example that comes to mind is Newton’s insight that if the universe were infinite, the night sky would not be dark as everywhere there would be tiny pinpricks of starlight. So, we don’t live in a infinite universe. Another one is Einstein’s thought experiment that proves that time is relative. But see below for a description of that. But, now to John Goodricke and the Variable Star. (for Newton and the Maypole see my post here).
Goodricke
Last year in York, near the Minster, I saw the blue sign above. I thought, what on earth are ‘variable stars’? Behind me, I heard two women say something like. ‘Here it is,”variable stars”‘. I turned around and asked them what was a variable star?
‘Donno’ they said, ‘we’ve ‘just doing this escape room walk around York.’ They showed me a booklet they had received on the internet,. This is what I would call a treasure trail. Sadly, they showed no interest in finding out what a variable star is!
Aristotle and ancient philosophers held that the universe was unchanging and eternal. The first breach in that theory was the identification in 1638 of star Omicron Ceti. Johannes Holwarda discovered that the star pulsed on an 11-month cycle. This and the discovery, of supernovae (first observed in 1572), proved that the ‘The starry sky was not eternally invariable’. But there was, as yet, no explanation for the phenomena.
John Goodricke was educated at Thomas Braidwood‘s Academy, school for deaf pupils in Edinburgh, and Warrington Academy. He returned to live with his parents, who rented an apartment at the Treasurer’s Hall. This is near the Minister in York. He used a friend’s personal observatory to look for variable stars. He found two of the first 10, and was the first to propose a solution. This was that two stars orbited each other causing eclipses between them and the observer. Thus creating a variation in the light emitted. To be able to extrapolate from a simple observation, and provide an explanation which necessitates a complete rethink about the nature of the universe seems, to me, to be awesome.
Einstein’s Thought Experiment
Back to Einstein, his thought experiment was something like this:
A train is travelling through a station. There is an observer on the train towards the front, another on the platform as the train goes through. There are two simultaneous lighting strikes at either end of the train. The observer on the platform sees the strikes as simultaneous. Why? Because she is in the middle between the two lighting strikes and light travels at the same speed. The observer on the train who is near the front of the train will see the lighting strike at the front of the train before the light from the strike at the back of the train can reach him. It has further to go.
This means that time is not a constant, it is relative to the observer. And yet, we think of time as a constant, something that remorselessly ticks forward and which we cannot alter. But it isn’t.
On September 15th 1940 Ray Holmes, World War 2 RAF Pilot, flying a Hurricane, took on three Luftwaffe Bombers over Central London. He shot one down, chased another off and engaged the third which seemed to be heading for Buckingham Palace.
Between the 8th and 13th of September 1940, the Palace had been hit 5 times. The London Blitz had only ‘begun’ on September 7th though the first raid on the City of London was on the 25th August on Fore Street.
Holmes, by now had ran out of bullets, but deliberately targeted the fin of the Dornier Bomber, and crashed into it causing the bomber to crash down into Victoria Station. Holmes’ Hurricane, spiralled down out of control, but he was able to bail out and landed in a dustbin, much to the bemusement of the locals. Holmes died aged 90 in 2005.
This post is heavily based on the story below, where it is told in full detail.
James Lovelock is one of my heroes. He came up with the idea that the Planet Earth is, or can be considered to be, a living being. He named her Gaia, after the Greek Mother Goddess and the mother of all life.
He suggested that the Earth was a self-regulating entity that kept the essentials for life on our planet in balance. Further, he speculated that human activity was putting a strain on the feedback systems that kept the environment sweet for life. Gaia, he suggested, might spit out the cause of the disruption, if we didn’t mend our ways.
On September 12, 2024 a new book on Lovelock was published. The Guardian ran this lovely article on the contribution of love and Dian Hitchcock to the formation of the theory. Dian and James worked together on the idea when they both worked for Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California in the 1960’s.
My own take on his theory, is that Gaia keeps the atmosphere and climate within a safe range by a series of feedback loops. Lovelock pointed out that as strains in the system develop, the feedback loops might fracture, readjust and the Earth find a new stable feedback system. This new equilibrium may or may not be compatible with a comfortable environment for humans.
Chris Stringer’s book on the Palaeolithic in Britain (‘Homo Britannicus’), shows that during the 900,000 years of genus Homo’s life in Britain, five or so times the climate has changed in these mild islands so it has become inhospitable for humans. He also suggests that there is evidence that the last Ice Age ended fairly swiftly, and that Britain changed from being tundra to a temperate climate perhaps in as little as twenty years. It is only for around 12,000 years that Home Sapiens have lived continuously on these islands.
So, we know climate change is inevitable, and that when it happens it may not be a gradual change. We also cannot be sure it will make the UK warmer because Britain’s temperate climate depends on the warm air of the Gulf Stream and if this is affected Britain may revert to the colder climate of other countries at our latitude like Scandinavia.
Rowan Berries, hips and haws should be ripening in Hedgerows around the country. Hips are from Rose bushes, and haws from the Hawthorn. So lots of fleshy red fruits, which will ripen from August to October.
A heavy crop is said to promise a hard winter: ‘Many haws, many snows.’
Rowans were the most powerful plant against witches.
‘Rowan tree and red thread
Hold the witches all in dread’
So, Charles Kightly, tells us in his ‘Perpetual Almanac of Folklore’. It was hung above doors, planted in gardens and made into walking sticks and other household and farming utensils. It was made into wine, and jam and a jelly delicious while eating hare.
Recently, I read that one of the burials a friend of mine excavated has been reexamined and reanalysed. The dig was at Bull wharf near the Vintry in the City of London. The burials dated to the 9th Century (approximately).
Bull wharf is by the River Thames, south of St Paul’s. The discovery of two burials, dating to just before the Alfredian restoration of the City of London, was in itself sensational. Archaeology had shown that the City was abandoned after the Romans left. It is revived only in the late 9th Century when King Alfred restored it.
Did these burials suggest that the restoration of the City began before Alfred came to the throne? Perhaps London was restored by the Mercians and not by Alfred and Wessex?
Perhaps this is too much to place on a couple of burials and a dating that was not precise.
However, the recent reevaluation makes the burials even more interesting. One of the two burials was in a shallow grave with a brushwood cover. Originally it was thought to a ‘proper’ burial rather than a casual interment.
But recent examination shows the woman was badly beaten a short time before she was killed. Her many wounds had begun to heal. Maybe two weeks later she was killed again with astonishing violence. She had multiple blunt force injuries.
The burial position was on the Mercian shore of the Thames at London. But was looking towards the Wessex shore across the River. This has led to speculation that the place of burial might have been a highly significant and visible site. Other Saxon execution sites have similar attributes i.e. at significant sites or at liminal locations. (I’m thinking of the Saxon execution at Stonehenge as a fr’instance.)
The recent piece I read ignores the second burial. Originally it was said to be buried with less ceremony than the other. But now, it must suggest both are executions. Unless they are both murders….
Skeletons at York
Decades ago a potential gladiatorial burial ground was found near Mickelgate. The attribution was made because a large proportion of the burials were young men, many with healed injuries to heads, arms, fingers. Over 40 of them were decapitated, much higher than the normal 5% of Roman burials.
One has recently been reexamined. The inspection showed teeth marks on the pelvis. These have now been identified as the teeth marks of a lion.
On my tours of various amphitheatres I have talked about the exotic animals that literary sources suggested Romans used for entertainment. But I would point out that the evidence comes mostly from literature and mosaics from prestigious places. I always suggested that London, Cirencester, Chester, Verulamium and York probably used bears, bulls, boars maybe dogs but, perhaps, nothing more exotic. But here is evidence that the Romans used Lions in the distance province of Britannia.
A silhouette of a Zeppelin caught in searchlights over the City of London
On the night of September 8th, 32 year old, Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy piloted Zeppelin L 13 across Central London, dropping bombs as he went. This was the most damaging airship raid of the war.
Background to the War
Before World War One London was the centre of the largest Empire the world had ever known. It was the first great era of globalisation; international trade and finance was booming. London was full of the mega-rich, but poverty and substandard housing was extensive. Such extremes of rich and poor have only recently began to appear in our society.
Inner London was still the home of Industry, and home to large immigrant communities. Political dissent was widespread, with the Labour Party beginning to erode the Liberal Party’s power base. The issue of Female Suffrage was rocking society. Then, catastrophe struck as ‘the lights went out all over Europe’.
The Hague Convention in 1899 banned bombing from balloons or other aerial craft. But as the aircraft and air balloons developed, the threat moved from theoretical to actual. Zeppelins could undertake long flights at a speed of up to 47 mph. They could ascend and descend quicker than winged aircraft and achieve higher altitudes. The gas that held up the Zeppelins was held in over 200,000 bags of cattle intestines. The huge number needed in the war effort led to a shortage of sausages in Germany! But it also made them very difficult to be shot down with the technology available to Britain, France and Russia.
The Kaiser originally forbade bombing raids on London in deference to his relatives, the British Royal Family. But he progressively reduced restrictions until he allowed bombing of London itself. He first allowed bombing of the London docks on February 12th 1915, and on May 5th allowed London, East of the Tower of London to be bombed. The first Zeppelin raid on London took place on 31st May 1915. On July 20th, he allowed unrestricted bombing of London (albeit sparing historical and religious buildings).
On the 8th September, 1915 Mathy crossed the North Sea to the coast at King’s Lyne. He arrived at 8.45pm. The aircraft came South via Cambridge, Ware, circled to the North East of London and via Golders Green. Here he dropped 12 bombs at 10.40., and followed the Finchley Road to Primrose Hill, Regent’s Park. Over Euston he was at 8,500 ft, and slowed down to 37 mph.
The first incendiary bomb in Central London landed just north of Russell Square at Woburn Place. The next one landed in the garden in the middle of Russell Sq. He dropped his first Central London explosive bomb in the garden in the centre of Queen’s Square, near the Great Ormond St Hospital, where it is marked with a plaque. He was turning east along the Theobald’s Road where he dropped a number of bombs. One hitting the National Penny Bank killing a person standing outside. Another landed on the nearby Dolphin pub, blowing out the front of the pub and killing someone standing there. If you visit the Pub, on the wall you will see the clock that was stopped when the bomb exploded (10:40pm).
The next strike was on a cycle club, to the West of Gray’s inn. Then Gray’s Inn itself. At Portpool Lane his incendiary bombs killed three children and injured 25 others.
Maxim Gun
Near here are the workshops where Hiram Maxim developed the Maxim Gun that killed so many in the trenches in WW1. Unfortunately, the design was not kept as a state secret and in the War No Man’s Land was being strafed by British, French, German, Russian and later in American versions of the same gun. He had the idea for it when as a child his shoulder was broken by the recoil of a shotgun. He realised that the recoil could be used to load the next bullet. This created a machine gun that was far superior to the Gatling Gun.
A Bomb called the Love Gift
Hatton Garden and Farringdon were also hit, and the Zeppelin continued to Smithfield. The Zeppelin had one 660 lb bomb on board. Mathy’s ‘Love Gift’ fell on St Bartholomew’s Close. It shattered all the building fronts and killed 2 men running for cover when they emerged from a pub.
The Zeppelin kept north of St Paul’s and next bombed City workshops and warehouses in Wood St, Addle St, Basinghall St and Aldermanbury – just missing the historic Guildhall. He also failed to bomb the Bank of England which was a mere 300 yards south,
Searchlights were now scouring the sky and anti-aircraft guns were firing, but they were ;all firing too low’. An American reporter, William Shepherd wrote:
‘Among the autumn stars floats a long gaunt Zeppelin. It is dull yellow – the colour of the Harvest Moon. The long fingers of searchlights, reaching up from the roofs of the city are touching all sides of the death messenger with their white tips. Great, booming sounds shake the city. They are Zeppelin bombs falling- killing – burning. Lesser noises – of shooting – are nearer at hand, the noise of aerial guns sending shrapnel into the sky.’
The final bombs were released over Liverpool Street. Just by the station, an explosive bomb hit a No 35a bus, wounding the driver and killing the conductor and some of the passengers. Another bomb landed by a No 8 bus, killing the driver and 8 passengers.
Mathy turned north towards Edmonton and climbed to over 11,000 ft as an anti-aircraft gun on Parliament Hill put a shell uncomfortably close to the Zeppelin. He returned safely to Germany where he reported to the Kaiser. The raid killed 17 people, injured 78 and caused half a million pounds worth of damage. It was the most effective raid of the war.
The authorities in Britain were faced with a stark reality which was that a single German Airship could fly through the heart of Britain, into its Capital and bomb its people without any defensive measures capable of resisting attack. Although when we consider the horrors of civilian deaths in the 20th and 21st Centuries, the shock of random attacks on civilians should not be underestimated.
I will conclude Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy’s story on October 1st, and add more images to this page.
Thanks to Ian Castle and his book ‘London 1914-17 ‘The Zeppelin Menace.
Tonight, the Earth will move directly between the Sun and the Moon. This is an eclipse. The earth will block out the sun’s light which will not be reflected back to us. As we move in and out of the eclipse, the sun’s light will be scattered by our atmosphere. The blue light will be removed, leaving only the red light which has a longer wavelength. This will give the Moon a reddish colour. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/czr6px4dpgmo).
The best view will be in Asia and Australia. But, here in the UK, go to a highpoint at 7.15pm and look East. It should be visible on the horizon. Clouds willing!
Celtic Eclipse
We have reason to believe the Celts celebrated the eclipse and were able to predict them. The Celtic Coligny Calendar, written on bronze and written in Celtic, shows they began their months with a full moon. The Calendar probably dates from the 1st Century BC, and is on display at the Palais des Arts in Lyon. It shows that the Celts kept a calendar which achieved complete synchronisation between the solar and lunar cycles. We, in the West, ignore the moon in how we set up our months. Of course the word month, obviously comes from the word Moon. Otherwise, our months are not at all synchronised with the moon.
Rabbit, Rabbit
The Celts celebrated the Rabbit and the Hare at an eclipse. They were very fertile and therefore linked to Aphrodite, who was herself associated with the Moon. Philostratus the Elder wrote:
‘For you know, I imagine, what is said of the hare, that it possesses the gift of Aphrodite to an unusual degree.‘.
For more on Hares and Rabbits look at my post here. I will be writing more about the Coligny Calendar on November 1st. In the meantime you might like to look at these posts:
September 3rd was Cromwell’s Lucky Day. This was because it was the date of two of his most famous victories. On September 3rd 1658 he refused to accept that he was dying because it was his lucky day. Unluckily, he was wrong.
The Battle of Dunbar September 3rd 1650
Engraving of Charles I
After the execution of King Charles I, the Scots chose Charles II as their King. This changed the Scots from allies of the English Parliament to enemies. The Lord General of the New Model Army, Thomas Fairfax, refused to lead an attack on their erstwhile allies. So Oliver Cromwell was promoted to command. He launched a preemptive attack but the army was ill prepared, and the campaign seemed in danger of failing. They took Arthur’s seat and bombarded Edinburgh and Leith from its heights. But they could not take Edinburgh.
In need of supplies, Cromwell retreated to Dunbar, which is on the North Sea, close to the Firth of Forth. The Scots advanced on Dunbar, and Cromwell came out to meet them. After a hard battle, the English Calvary outflanked the Scots and the Battle was won. Pride, Monk, Lilburne and Lambert were all involved in the Battle. Cromwell claimed to have killed 4,000 Scots and captured 10,000. Scottish sources suggested over 1,000 Scottish casualties and 5,000 prisoners.
The Battle enabled Cromwell to seize control of Edinburgh, and Leith. So he could then cross the First of Forth and attack Fife, where he was also successful.
Cromwell interpreted the overwhelming victory as a
“A high act of the Lord’s Providence to us [and] one of the most signal mercies God hath done for England and His people”.[ (Wikipedia)
Meanwhile, the Scottish Army marched South in to England. in an attempt to raise the support of English Royalists. King Charles II was now with them, They hoped Cromwell would be held up in Fife, but he wasn’t. He secured Perth and put General Monck in charge in Scotland. Lambert was sent to harrass the Scottish Army as they marched south. Meanwhile, Cromwell forced marched his way to the Tyne. General Harrison had collected fresh troops from Newcastle and joined Cromwell. Thomas Fairfax came out of retirement and raised troops in Yorkshire. The Southern troops were collected at Banbury by General Fleetwood. 14,000 militia men from the trained bands of London joined the march to intercept the Scottish Invasion.
The Battle of Worcester September 3rd 1651
The decisive battle took place at Worcester, which the Royalist occupied. It was an unusual battle in that it took place on both sides of the River Severn. Cromwell delayed the start of the battle to build two pontoon bridges. This meant he could reinforce his troops on either side of the River. It also delayed the start of the battle to his lucky day.
The pontoon bridges proved decisive. The Parliamentary side had over 30,000 troops while the Royalists only 16,000. Cromwell could shore up besieged formation with troops from the other side of the River. The Royalists were pushed back to the High Street. Here, they rallied to allow King Charles II to escape. And that was the end of the Second English Civil War. (The first being the defeat of Charles I, the second the defeat of Charles II).
Charles II made a hair-raising escape from England, hiding in an Oak Tree. Eventually, finding a ship on the South Coast at Shoreham, in Dorset to take him into a long exile. (see my post on Charles’ escape here🙂
Of the Scottish army, perhaps 3,000 men were killed and 10,000 taken prisoners. Some prisoners were conscripted into the New Model Army and sent to fight in Ireland. Many of the rest (perhaps up to 8,000) were forced into indentured labour. They were sent to New England, Bermuda, the West Indies or the Fens. Others were taken to London and detained in prison camps. One of which was at Tothill Fields in Westminster. Conditions were often appalling, leading to death by disease and malnutrition.
American Presidents pay their respects to the ‘famous’ Battlefield.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson visited the site of the Battle in 1786. Adams reported:
‘The people in the neighborhood appeared so ignorant and careless at Worcester that I was provoked and asked “And do Englishmen so soon forget the ground where liberty was fought for? Tell your neighbors and your children that this is holy ground, much holier than that on which your churches stand. All England should come in pilgrimage to this hill, once a year”‘
And indeed will now only see the battle as one of the many battles of the Civil War. Generally, we are not aware of its special significance.
Cromwell’s Death September 3rd 1658.
By now, the Monarch in all but name, Cromwell, the Lord Protector fell ill, probably of malaria. Then, when weakened, his kidney stone infection turned to septicemia. On August 30th, there was a mighty storm, the like Europe had not seen for hundreds of years. And there was talk of the Lord taking him away in the furious storm. As he weakened he was asked to name his successor. He appeared to affirm when the name of his son Richard was spoken to him. But, it wasn’t very clear. He rallied, perhaps hoping that if he could survive to September 3rd, he would overcome his illness.
On the day, he said to his doctors ‘I tell you I shall not die this hour; I am sure on’t …. I speak the Words of Truth upon surer grounds than Galen and Hippocrates furnish you with.’
But he died on his lucky day. He was given a splendid funeral and was buried in state among the Kings and Queens in Westminster Abbey. And then in 1660 dug up, executed posthumously at Tyburn and buried under the Gibbet.
