Pilgrims leaving the Tabard for the Canterbury Pilgrimage
Canterbury Pilgrimage
Tonight (April 18th 2026 7.45pm) , I am leading my annual Canterbury Tales Virtual Pilgrimage. This is the day Chaucer’s pilgrims leave London to ride to Canterbury. (For more details or to book look here.) Also, at 11am today i do my Chaucer’s London walk – for details click here.
At the beginning of the prologue, Chaucer gives clues as to the date. They go when April showers and Zephyrus’s wind is causing sap to rise in plants, engendering flowers. It is also when Aries course across the sky is half run. The pilgrims are accompanied by Harry Bailly who is the landlord of the Tabard Inn in Southwark. He was a real person and a fellow Member of Parliament of Chaucer. He is jolly and quite knowledgeable. In the Man of Law’s prologue we get a glimpse of Harry time telling in the days before clocks.
Telling the Time
A mass clock (scratch dial) at Steventon Church. Hampshire, Photo K Flude
Chaucer mentions ‘artificial day’ and this is a reference to the way days were divided into hours. There were twelve hours in the daylight part of the day, and twelve hours in the dark night. So in the winter daylight hours were short, and in the summer long.
Romans used water clocks. King Alfred used candles marked into hours. Harry Bailly knows how to tell the time by the height of the Sun. Harry tells the pilgrims it’s about time they got underway. Here is an extract:
Essentially, he is telling the time by the length of the shadows. On April 18th the shadows of trees are equal in length to the tree. Showing that the Sun has climbed 45 degrees and in this latitude it must be 10 o’clock. Time to get going on the Pilgrimage!
Mass Clocks & Time Divisions
The illustration of the mass clock at Jane Austen’s Church at Steventon shows how easy it was to tell the time by the sun. The first mass clock I noticed was at St James’ Cooling in Kent. Dickens used this in Great Expectations, where Pip’s brothers and sisters were buried. Once you find one mass clock, you suddenly discover them everywhere!
Telling the time, before mechanical clocks, was not complicated. The basic unit is the day and the night, and we can all tell when the dawn has broken. The Moon provides another simple unit of time. The month’s orbit around the Earth is roughly every 29 days. The new, the crescents and full moons provide a quartering of the month. For longer units, the Earth orbits around the Sun on a yearly basic. But it is easily divided into four, the winter solstice; the spring equinox, the summer solstice and the autumn equinox.
Nature’s Way of Time Telling
But there were other ways of marking days in the calendar, with natural time markers marked by, for example, migrating birds, lambing, and any number of budding and flowering plants such as snowdrops, daffodils and elm leaves:
When the Elmen leaf is as big as a mouse’s ear, Then to sow barley never fear; When the Elmen leaf is as big as an ox’s eye, Then says I, ‘Hie, boys” Hie!’ When elm leaves are as big as a shilling, Plant, kidney beans, if to plant ’em you’re willing; When elm leaves are as big as a penny, You must plant kidney beans if you mean to have any.’
In my north-facing garden, I have my very own solar time marker. All through the winter, the sun never shines directly on my garden. Spring comes appreciably later than the front, which is a sun trap facing south. But on 17th April, just after 12 o’clock the sun peeks over the block of flats to the south of me. It finds a gap between my building and the converted warehouse next door. For a short window of time, a shaft of a sunbeam brings a belated and welcome spring. This for my garden is the real beginning of spring. I took a photo of it this year.
The First Chink of Sun in the year in my Garden. Photo K Flude
New Light on Thomas Becket’s Window at Canterbury
Recent research has revealed the true story behind stained glass windows at Canterbury which had been reassembled wrongly. The story is told here:
On This Day
2026 The Tweed Run is a mass cycle ride around London with everyone dressed in Tweeds. It’s a twelve-mile ride around London (not a run). This year it is starting near Spa Fields, which is near Exmouth Market in Islington. The route is only published on the day of the race. See here for some photos of last year’s run. https://www.tweedrun.com
Magnolia and Cherry blossom in Weymouth Terrace Haggerston London. Photo K Flude
It might already have peaked in London, but there are lots of lovely magnolias still flowering. This year, last week was very hot and plant experts feared it would lead to a brief spring. However, the shirt-sleeve warmth was soon followed by a cold spell, dropping in some places to 0 degrees C. This may have saved the situation and prolonged the spring flowering.
Magnolias, Earnest ‘Chinese’ Wilson, said were the most esteemed of all flowers. He introduced new species from the Himalayas. Magnolias are among the oldest flowers and have their origins in the Cretaceous period. They evolved 100 million years ago before the evolution of bees. So they are pollinated by beetles, which is one reason for the size of the flowers.
The first magnolias to come to Britain were from America. John Banister sent Magnolia Virginiana to Henry Compton Bishop of London, who was also highly involved in the colony in Virginia. Compton sent Banister out as a missionary, but both loved flowers. Banister wrote the first flora of N. America which was included in John Ray‘s Historia Plantarum. Sadly, he was accidently shot while exploring.
Magnolias were named after the French botanist Pierre Magnol (1638-1715) ‘Professor of Botany and Director of the Royal Botanic Garden of Montpellier’. Magnol invented the idea of plant families, which Linnaeus developed.
Herbal uses
Mrs Grieve’s ‘A Modern Herbal’ suggests Magnolia was used for rheumatism and malaria. A warm infusion was thought to be laxative, sudorific (induces ‘sweating so that the sweat runs down the body in rills!’), If cold. If warm was antiperiodic (useful against diseases like malaria which keep coming back) and mildly tonic.
Where to see Magnolias
In London, they can be seen everywhere but Google suggests:
Kensington (Phillimore Gardens, The Boltons), Chelsea (Carlyle Square), and Notting Hill (Lancaster Road). And of course Kensington Gardens and Kew Gardens. My favourites ones are in the roads around my house, often in the most unprepossessing of places.
Magnolias and Camelias in Albion Square, Haggerston,. London. Photo by K Flude
But it is a delight to go to Hidecote the National Trust Property in Mickleton just off the edge of the Cotswolds. In April, it has spectacular magnolias. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good photos except this one which shows all the magnolia petals on the ground!
Hdcote in Magnolia time. Photo K Flude
Ernest ‘Chinese’ Wilson 1876 – 1930
Prunus Serrula, (aka Tibetan Cherry) brought to England by Ernest Wilson. My favourite tree because of its bark which feels like copper. Photo K Flude
He was born in Chipping Camden where there is a lovely memorial garden which contains my favourite tree, and many plants he introduced. He brought back over 2000 species into the West of which 60 are named after him. One of his expeditions took place during the Boxer revolution. So he adopted a native disguise and risked execution.
At 16, he was apprenticed at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Then he worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His next adventure was to be hired as the Chinese plant collector with James Veitch & Sons (originally based in Chelsea). He eventually moved to America, where he became keeper of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. Unfortunately, he and his wife died in a car accident in 1930.
1116 (or 1117) – St Magnus the Martyr Executed. He was executed because of dynastic disputes amongst Vikings in the Orkneys. Magnus lived a pious life refusing, for example, to fight in the Battle of Menai Straits in Wales, and various miracles took place after his death. He is remembered by the Church of St Magnus at the foot of London Bridge in London. But that was, before the 18th Century, thought to be dedicated one or other of the other many St Magnus’s (6). The Church is by Christopher Wren, and very high Church Protestant. On the occasion I visited on his feast day I felt like I was in a Roman Temple.
Easter – Lullingstone Roman Mosaic representing Spring
The German name for Easter is Ostern. The English name is Easter which the Venerable Bede, in the 8th Century, derived from the Goddess Eostra. They probably have the same derivation. But this is all the evidence there is for the Goddess, despite many claims for the deep history of Easter traditions.
Easter, Estry and Canterbury
Philip A. Shaw has proposed that the name of Eastry in Kent might derive from a local goddess, called Eostra. Canterbury had a leading place in the development of the early Church both in England and Germany. So, perhaps, this led to the adoption of a local cult name in these two countries. Otherwise, the name for Easter in Europe derives from Pascha which comes from the Hebrew Passover and Latin. In French it’s Pâques, in Italian Pasqua, Spanish Pascua; Dutch Pasen, Swedish Påsk; Norwegian Påske and so on.
Eleanor Parker in her lovely book ‘Winter in the World’ gives a lyrical insight into how the dates were chosen. The Anglo-Saxons held the belief that God would only choose the perfect time for the Creation and the events of Easter. The Creation began with the birth of the Sun and the Moon. So it was fixed to the Equinox, when the days were of equal length, and the fruits of the earth were stirring into life. But Holy Week also needed to be in harmony with the Moon. Therefore, Easter was tied, like Passover, to the first full moon after the Equinox, which is also when the events take place in the Gospels.
Winters in the World by Eleano Parker
The quotations Parker uses from early English religious writing and poetry shows a profound interest in nature and the universe. It is a very appealing viewpoint. It seems to me that this is something the Church lost in later times, and replaced with a fixation with dogma and ‘worship’ of the Holy Trinity, rather than a spiritual sense of wonder at the Universe.
Celtic & Roman Churches in Conflict
At the time, fixing the date of Easter was very controversial as the Celtic Church in Britain had a different calendar to the Roman Catholic Church. Easter fell on a different day. The Anglian King of Northumberland, for example, celebrated Easter on a different day to that of his wife. King Oswiu was exiled to Ireland where he was influenced by Celtic Christianity. His wife, Eanflæd, from Northumberland, had been baptised by the Roman Catholic missionary, Paulinus.
Easter and the Synod of Whitby
Oswiu, became King of Northumberland and ‘Bretwalda’ (ruler of all Britain). He encouraged a reconciliation. This culminated at the Synod of Whitby (664AD), between the two churches. The Celtic Church finally agreed to follow the Catholic calendar and other controversial customs. The Abbess at Whitby during the Synod was Hilda of Whitby. The Celtic position was defended by Bishop Colmán and the Roman position by St Wilfred. Bishop Colmán resigned his position as Bishop of Lindisfarne, returned to Iona and then set up a monastery back in Ireland. Wilfrid studied at Lindisfarne, Canterbury, France and Rome. After her husband’s death, Queen Eanflaed became Abbess of Whitby,
The antagonism between the two churches went back to the time of St Augustine in the early 7th Century. In a meeting between St Augustine and Celtic churchmen, St Augustine was judged to have been arrogant, unwilling to listen. So agreement was not reached. Sometime afterwards, the Anglo-Saxons attacked the Celts at the Battle of Chester. Hundreds of monks from the Abbey at Bangor were slaughtered.
Days off at Easter & Rituals
Ælfric of Eynsham gives a powerful commentary on the rituals of the Church over Easter. They were full of drama and participation. These included Palm leaf processions on Palm Sunday, feet washing and giving offerings to the poor on Maundy Thursday. Then followed three ‘silent days’ with no preaching. Instead there were rituals and services aiming to encourage empathy for the ordeal of Jesus. This included the nighttime service of Tenebrae. All lights were extinguished in the Church while the choir sang ‘Lord Have Mercy’. The darkness represented the despair that covered the world after Jesus’ death. Good Friday was the day for the adoration of the Cross. The Cross would be decorated with treasures and symbolised turning a disaster into a triumph.
It seemed to me that I saw a wondrous tree Lifted up into the air, wrapped in light, brightest of beams. All that beacon was covered with gold; gems stood beautiful at the surface of the earth,….
The Dream of the Rood quoted in Eleanor Parker’s ‘Winter in the World’
The Harrowing of Hell
The days before Easter Sunday are known as the ‘Harrowing of Hell’. This was a very popular theme in the medieval period (featuring in Piers Plowman for example). Jesus went down to hell to free those, like John the Baptist, who had been trapped. Becauase when he died the world had no saviour until the first Easter. The name ‘Harrowing’ comes from ‘Old English word hergian ‘to harry, pillage, plunder’. The ‘Clerk of Oxford’ Blog provides more information on the Harrowing of Hell on this page,
The Clerk of Oxford Blog is written by Eleanor Parker. She started in 2008, whilst an undergraduate student at Oxford. The blog won the 2015 Longman-History Today award for Digital History‘.
The above is but a very poor précis of Eleanor Parker’s use of Anglo-saxon poetry and literature. She brings an Anglo-Saxon Easter to life. So if you are interested to know more please get a copy of her book.
Easter Days off
King Alfred’s law code gave labourers the week before and after Easter off work. This made it the main holiday of the year.
First Published in 2023 and republished in 2025, 2026
Regent’s Canal, London in the Month of April. Photo K Flude
The name of the Month of April comes from Latin. From Aperilis from aperio meaning ‘to open’. This is the month when the Earth opens up, the blossoms bloom, buds budding, the flowers flowering.
In Anglo-Saxon times, the Venerable Bede mentioned that they called the month Eostremonath. But there really is no other evidence for the Goddess Eostre. But it is from her that we get our word ‘Easter’. In Gaelic it’s the Cuckoo’s month ‘Ceitein na h-oinsich’. In Welsh it is Ebrill which comes from the Latin.
Title Page of the Kalendar of Shepherds for the Month of April
The image from the medieval Kalendar of Shepherds shows all the beautiful flowers blooming. The central figure is a rich man bearing bows of tree and flowers. Behind him is a female sitting on the grass embroidering. Love is in the air, and a castle on the hill. The star signs of the month are shown in the roundels.
Aries sign of the ZodiacTaurus sign of the zodiac
Star Signs as Greek Deities
Astrological signs and their associated Dieties.
I can’t remember where I found this illustration nor its justification. But, is it strange that the Greek God Ares is not the patron of the Star sign Aries? Of course, Ares/Mars has March named after him. Ares is a fire sign, its colour is red, and ruled by the planet Mars.
Aries is no ordinary Ram, he has wings and is called Chrysomallos. Ino the step-mother of Phrixus and Helle, wife of the King of Boeotia, hated her step-children, and plotted their death. But they were rescued by the flying Ram which had a Golden Fleece. Unfortunately, Helles fell off and drowned in what became known as the Hellespont, Phrixus came to safety in Colchis, and in an act of terrible piety, sacrificed the poor lamb to Zeus as a “Thank You”! The fleece was later taken by Jason and the Argonauts. (So, now we know why Zeus is the patron God of Aries!)
Hestia is the Goddess of the Heath. In other words, she is the Goddess of all those wonderful things that are encompassed by the word ‘Home’. (You’ll find more on Hestia in my reflections-on-the-solstice/)
The Month of April in the Kalendar of Shepherds
The Kalendar of Shepherds as usual gives a lyrical insight into the countryside in the month of April:
Kalendar of Shepherds description of nature and farming in April
It continues with a poem. Beneath the poem is text which describes what happens to the child in the fourth set of 6 years. January represents a child’s life from 0 – 6, February 6 – 12. So April represents the ages 18 – 24 – the spring time of Man. But also a time when the struggle between vice and virtue in the young mind.
For more about the Kalendar of Shepherds read my post.
First written on 7th April 2025, (some content was moved from its original April Fools Day post home). Revised and section on Aries added 2026
Copy of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinca at the Collection Gallery, Royal Academy, UK (Copy made 1515-1520, and was in the Carthusian Monsatery at Pavia in the 17th Century before being brought to the RA in the 19th Century) Photo K flude
April 2nd, 2026 is the day before Good Friday. It was on the Wednesday or the Thursday that the Last Supper took place. So I have relocated my ‘Sandals of the Saints’ post to here.
Whilst visiting Flaming June at the Royal Academy, it was nice to have another look at the RA’s copy of the Last Supper. What strikes me most is their sandals (and the beautifully pressed table cloth).
Detail of the RA Sandals in the copy of the Last Supper Photo Kflude
Details that bring the past to life. The shoes would surely sell today, while the table cloth really destroys the common idea that the past was dirty and smelly. It wasn’t. People took pride in their appearance and surroundings. Just look at the ironing!
Here, by way of contrast, is a medieval shoe from the 14th Century from the Museum of London. And this is a link to the Museum of London’s collections of medieval shoes, most have been collected from excavations, and it is one of the best collections.
On This Day
Today is St. Urban of Langres Day.
He is the patron of Langres; Dijon; vine-growers, vine-dressers, gardeners, vintners, and coopers. And invoked against blight, frost, storms, alcoholism, and faintness. (www.catholic.org/saints/) But is also called upon to make maid’s hair long and golden.
On the feast of St Urban, (forsooth) maids hang up some of their hair before the image of St Urban, because they would have the rest of their hair grow long and golden.
Reginald Scott, the Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584. (Thanks to the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly.) For more on Reginald Scott and Witches see my post.
1744 – First Golf Tournament. No, not at St Andrews but at Leith Links, Edinburgh.
Bill for the 1796 play Vortigern and Rowena Public Domain Wikipedia
1796 – A great cast at the Drury Lane Theatre, owned and managed by Sheridan, put on a newly discovered play by William Shakespeare. The cast included Kemble, Barrymore, and Mrs Jordan, who was the mistress of Prince William (aka William III). Rumours swirled around about the authenticity of the play. Shakespeare was interested in Britain’s legendary history, having written Cymberline and King Lear. But critics thought it was too simple to be genuine. Eventually, William Henry Ireland admitted he was the author.
‘A London Year’ by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison has a great quote from a visit to the play. It took place on April 2nd 1796 and is recorded in Joseph Farington’s diary. Compare this description to your last polite experience at the Theatre.
Shakespeare’s forgery staged
‘Island’s play of Vortigern, I went to. Prologue, spoken in 35 minutes past six, play over at 10. A strong party was evidently made to support it, which clapped without opposition frequently through near three acts. When some ridiculous passages caused a laugh, which infected the house during the remainder of the performance, mixed with groans. Kemble requested the audience to hear the play out about the end of the fourth act, and prevailed. The epilogue was spoken by Mrs. Jordan, who skipped over some lines which claimed the play as Shakespeare’s
Barrymore attempted to give the play out for Monday next, but was hooted off the stage. Kemble then came on. And after some time, was permitted to say that ‘School for Scandal’ would be given, which the house approved by clapping.
Sturt of Dorsetshire was a Stage Box drunk and exposed himself indecently to support the play. And when one of the stage attendants attempted to take up the green cloth, Sturt seized him roughly by the head. He was slightly pelted with oranges. Ireland, his wife, a son and a daughter and two others were in the centre box at the head of the Pitt. Ireland occasionally clapped. But towards the end of the fourth act, he came into the front row and for a little time, leaned his head on his arm. And then went out of the box and behind the scenes. The Playhouse contained an audience that amounted to £800 pounds.’
April 2nd 1796 from Joseph Farington’s Diary, (I have changed some of the punctuation.)
Who Was Vortigern?
Vortigern’s history is shrouded in Myth. But he was chosen as leader of Britannia after the Romans withdrew in the early 5th Century AD. His name means Great Leader in Brittonic. He is one of the few leaders we know to be a real person in what used to be called the Dark Ages. We accept him as real, as he appears in the near contemporary source by the Monk Gildas.
However, very little is known of him except legends. He was associated with Merlin. Legend accuses him of betraying the British for the lust for Rowena. She was the daughter of the Saxon Leader Hengist. Whatever the truth of this, Vortigern continued the late Roman policy of hiring Germanic mercenaries. They defend Britannia against Picts, Irish, Scotti,and, of course the Saxons. The legends say that Hengist and Horsa were hired with their three ‘keels’ of Saxon mercenaries. In payment for services rendered, or for lust, Vortigern surrendered the sovereignty of Kent to the Saxons. Thus began the so-called ‘Adventus Saxonum’, and the destruction of the power of the Britons.
Kent and the Survival of pre-Saxon names
Medieval portrait of Vortigern
How much of this is ‘true’ we have no idea. But the name of Kent survives from the prehistoric, into the Roman, unlike most tribal names. And unlike most tribal names survives to the modern day. Who now has heard of the Trinovantes, the Catuvellauni, Regneses or the Atrebates. The pre-Roman tribe were called the Cantii, or the Cantiaci. Caesar says they had 4 Kings, and the Cante part of Canterbury comes from their name. Why did the name survive? Probably because it was the first Roman Civitas to be taken over by the Saxons. Most likely still largely a working political unit. So it kept its name. The other Roman political units mostly lost their names in the anarchy of this period. The political boundaries from the Prehistoric period survived through the Roman period. But the names at least do not survive the fall of Rome.
Maundy Thursday Money Pouches. and cover of the Order of Service for Royal Maundy service 1974 Photo Wehwalt
Maundy Thursday Meaning
Maundy Thursday is on April 2nd in 2026. This is the last day of Lent, and the day before the Passion. It’s also called Holy Thursday when Christians remember the Washing of the Feet, and the Last Supper. . Maundy is thought to be from the:
‘Latin word mandatum, or commandment, reflecting Jesus’ words “I give you a new commandment.’ (Wikipedia).
I much prefer the derivation of Maundy Thursday from the English Kings giving alms to poor people.
‘English name “Maundy Thursday” arose from “maundsor baskets” or “maundy purses” of alms which the king of England distributed to certain poor at Whitehall before attending Mass on that day. Thus, “maund” is connected to the Latin mendicare, and French mendier, to beg.‘
The monarch gives out money in special red and white pouches to old people. In modern times, the money is specially minted for the occasion. It is now more symbolic than a practical gesture. But It dates back to the 13th Century, when the money was a vital lifeline for its recipients.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip after the 2005 Royal Maundy Ceremony at Wakefield Cathedral. Photo Runner1928
In 1572 Queen Elizabeth 1 washed one foot of a group of poor women, then wiped, crossed and kissed them. In fact, the Queen was ‘protected ‘ as the women first had their feet washed by the laundress, then the sub-almoner, then the almoner. Only finally by the Queen. (The Perpetual Almanac of Folklore by Charles Kightley’)
When was The Last Supper?
One scholar, Prof Humphreys author of ‘The Mystery Of The Last Supper’, (2011) has reconciled differences between John and the other evangelists. He believes two calendars were in use, one from before the exile and the other using a Babylonian Calendar. This confusion means that there is too much going on between the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. He suggests that the solution is that Last Supper was on the Wednesday not the Thursday. He also calculates a date for the Last Supper as:
Wednesday, 1 April AD33.
Maundy Thursday at Chester Cathedral
Last year, I was in Chester Cathedral on Maundy Thursday where the Diocesan Eucharist was held. The Cathedral was awash with Clergy, (I counted at least 4 Bishops) and most of the priests in the area.
The Famous Spaghetti Tree April Fool’s Joke (from facebook)
First Reference to April Fools Day
The first unambiguous British reference to April Fools Day is by diarist John Aubrey’s “Fooles holy day” in 1686 – although he might have been referring to Germany.
‘We observe it on ye first of April… And so it is kept in Germany everywhere.’ For more details read hoaxes.org.
Chaucer and April Fools Day
But there is a possible earlier reference in Chaucer in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. This I find quite compelling but most Chaucer scholars don’t. This is the text:
When that the monthe in which the world bigan That highte March, whan God first maked man, Was complet, and passed were also Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two
So, if you have been keeping up with me, you will know that the first lines are referring to March 25th. This was the day Adam and Eve were created. The day when the Church started the New Year and the year number moved one on. This was a major Church festival, usually followed by a week of holiness. The Roman New Year, January 1st, ended with a light-hearted festival called Saturnalia, and it is suggested that April 1st was, similarly, a day of release after the festival of the official Church ceremony of the New Year.
Chaucer’s last line says ‘Since March began thirty-two days have passed.’ A foolish person would not realise this is a reference to April 1st. Hence, this suggests a Fool’s Day already existed. Some scholars think that Chaucer was referring to May 2nd, counting the 32 days not from the beginning of March but from the end of March. I think they look at the second and third lines which read ‘That high March…. was complete’ and so add the 32 days to the end of March. Foolish in my opinion and not reading what actually Chaucer wrote which is ‘Since March began….’
Hunting the Gowk
Generally, in Britain, we play a prank and say ‘April Fool’ with great delight. But we are not allowed to continue beyond midday. The Scots used to call it ‘Hunting the Gowk’ and the main prank was to give someone a letter to deliver, and the person who opened the letter would read:
“Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile” and send the fool onto another leg of his or her’s fool’s errand. In Ireland the letter would read ‘send the fool further’.
April Fools Day and Spaghetti Growing on Trees
I nearly always forget to honour April Fool’s Day (or April Fish Day as the French call it). But in Britain, somewhere in our newspaper or TV station there is an April Fools Joke slipped in. The most remembered is the BBC piece showing film of Italian Farmers picking spaghetti from trees.
2026 – Introduction of Coffee to England 200 years earlier than previously thought!
I have had a quick look at the Guardian for their 2026 April Fools Day Story and I think it is this one:
Guardian April Fools Joke for 2026
The clues are the expert is called Macky Arto. The find was in Ness, allowing them to say ‘Ness Cafe’, and ‘Ness-presso’, and the use of a pun ‘It would have costa for a coffee.’ The final confirmation is this sentence: ‘Back in the reigns of Henry V and VI, these were flat white fields …. and a village called Brew.’ Allowing the journalist to make up an origin for the expression ‘Fancy a Brew?’ it goes on to say.
2025 – Coffee Cups as Haut Courture?
Guardian April Fools Day Joke article or the world gone mad?
‘Meghan Markle was criticised after it was revealed that when you put her lifestyle brand name – American Riviera Orchard – into the What3words location service, it points to a statue of Oliver Cromwell, who famously had a King Charles executed‘
2023 – “Megxit: Call of Duke-y”
In 2023, Harry and Megan proved irresistible and the Guardian reported that:
‘The Sun published a piece announcing the launch of Prince Harry and Meghan’s new video game “Megxit: Call of Duke-y” in which the royal couple try to reach California while dodging obstacles, including rival royals and the media, along the way.‘
This post is about April Fools Day. But it is also the anniversary of the formation of the RAF.
On This Day
1854 – Hard Times by Charles Dickens Serialised in Household Words. A recent study of Victorian Grave yards in Yorkshire highlights the grim reality for young children. For the article see: https://core.ac.uk/reader/220156990
1918 – Near the end of World War 1 the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to create the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was the world’s biggest air force, and went on to secure Britain from invasion by Hitler.
Croydon RFC/RAF base for anti-Zeppelin Raids in WW1 and one of the world’s first international airports.
RAF Rigger, Benjamin Flude
My Grandfather was in the RAF as a fitter. My father tells some of his story in his autobiography ‘A Boy from Haggerston’:
Benjamin Flude in RFC Uniform. My father, Ben Flude remembers a small model biplane hanging from the portrait.
‘I was 9 months old when he died, and he was just 28 years old. Everyone seemed to like him, and as a child, he was always my hero. In my imagination, I promoted him to being a brilliant and brave Ace RAF Pilot. But he was, in fact, a mechanic rather than a pilot in World War I. Following the war, he worked with Imperial Airways in Purley, Croydon. I don’t know the exact details and so have to piece the story together from the little information I have at my disposal.
My friend, Roy, tells me that the badge on his uniform in the oval picture is of the Royal Flying Corp. (RFC). But they were disbanded in 1916/17, and replaced by the RAF thereafter. As my dad was born in 1900, he must have joined up to fight in the war while underage at 16 or 17 as a volunteer. ‘
How a London lad became a Rigger for the RFC we don’t know, but the Fludes at that time were all employed as umbrella or walking stick makers in the East End of London. I think it is a case of transferable skills. WWI aeroplanes were made of wood, metal wire and fabric, which is precisely what an umbrella is made of.
RAF/RFC mecanics c 1917 . My grandfather is the handsome man standing tall in the back row extreme right
RAF Mechanic Ben Flude
My father went on to serve in the RAF during his national service: He writes:
Ben Flude RAF Metfield. (dad is lying down at the bottom right. he is now 98)
‘Early in 1946 I received my call-up papers for the RAF. I was to report to the Recruitment Centre at Padgate in Lancashire. This is where I received my uniform after a medical examination, and then there were a number of intelligence/aptitude tests when they decided what trade I would join. I tried to get Air Crew and while there were no vacancies, I did have a wide group of trade offers open to me. The group that I was interested in was aircraft maintenance and repair, following in my Dad’s footsteps.’
‘However, before I could start, I had to do my basic training. This was designed to get you fit, and we did plenty of square-bashing or parade drills. For this, they sent me to Metfield in Suffolk, which had only very recently been made available to the RAF by the American Army Air Force. In fact, it was so recent a hand-over that whilst on picket duty, a coach rolled up packed with girls who were so disappointed by the lack of Americans that they got straight back on and returned to Ipswich! The motto of ‘overpaid, oversexed, over here’ certainly applied to these Americans in Suffolk.’
‘We found out that Metfield had been a US Army Air Force Base, where two squadrons of Flying Fortresses operated from. In all the Nissen Huts, those with the semicircular roofs, the ceilings were completely covered with pin-up pictures. My bed was just feet away from the huge Crocodile Stove, round which every evening we all clustered – as it was warm.‘
Interior of Nissan Hut 1944, Lasham
Dad specialised in the recovery of instruments from crashed planes, and was complimented by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, GCB, GCVO, CMG on his ability to fix an instrument he had never seen before.
First published March 25th 4004 BC and republished yearly on every April Fool’s Day. The section on the meaning of April moved to my post on April 2025. On This Day added in 2026
Palm Sunday (Yew Sunda) by Giotto. Entry into Jerusalem from the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padova (sent to me by Lucia Granatella)
Yew Sunday (Domhnach an Iúir in Irish) is the medieval name for Palm Sunday. This is the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph on a donkey, with palm leaves being laid in front of him. It has always been very curious to me, this triumph preceded such heavy and heartbreaking tragedy. It is the Sunday before the Betrayal, which leads to the Crucifixion on Good Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday. A busy week for the Church.
I got a little insight into the powers of the procession when on a Field trip to Nice with Students from Central Saint Martins College. We set the Students the task of creating an ‘art intervention’. They came up with the idea of a Procession to the Mayor. It was extraordinary how deploying a few placards, saucepans as drums, and some chanting could create an instant event,. It made people smile and join in, even if clueless about the cause!!
Palms
Palm Sunday can be celebrated by making crosses out of palms, or with processions bearing palm branches or eating special cakes. There is always room in any ritual for cake). But in the North, where do you get your Palms from? So, it was often substituted by Box, or Olive or Willow and particularly, in Britain and Ireland, by Yew. Yew is evergreen and is so long-lived as to be a symbol of everlasting life. (I wrote more about the Yew here). See also my post on Ash Wednesday.
Giotto Bondone
Giotto was a Florentine painter of the 14th Century of whom Giorgio Vasari, in his essential guide to the artists of the Renaissance, ‘The Lives of the Artists‘ said of the 10 year old:
One day Cimabue, going on business from Florence to Vespignano, found Giotto, while his sheep were feeding, drawing a sheep from nature upon a smooth and solid rock with a pointed stone, having never learnt from any one but nature. Cimabue, marvelling at him, stopped and asked him if he would go and be with him. And the boy answered that if his father were content he would gladly go. Then Cimabue asked Bondone for him, and he gave him up to him, and was content that he should take him to Florence.
There in a little time, by the aid of nature and the teaching of Cimabue, the boy not only equalled his master, but freed himself from the rude manner of the Greeks, and brought back to life the true art of painting, introducing the drawing from nature of living persons, which had not been practised for two hundred years; or at least if some had tried it, they had not succeeded very happily.
Written in 1550.
Giotto & The Development of Perspective
If you look at the painting, above. you will see, even the faces of the people are rounded and, and at least somewhat, individual. The crowd scene, particularly, to the right, has some depth. The people further away seem to recede from the viewer. This contrasts with the Byzantine style of paintings, where figures either float or seem to stand on or support themselves on each other’s shoulders. The Gate into Jerusalem has been rendered by an arist who has seen something that he believes has the key to realistic scenes. One day it will be rediscovered, and named single-point perspective.
Yes, Giotto doesn’t know the secret but he is working to find out what the trick is. The people in the trees are also in the distance. These are the giant strides that Vasari is referring to in the quotation above. Realistic people, in spaces with depth. The donkey is quite sweet too! Cimabue, Giotto’s Master was particularly good at painting Crucifix scenes.
For more on early attempts at creating perspective, see my post on Duccio and the Annunciation here.
Digital tour of the Cappella degli Scrovegni
The Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padova is a World Heritage Site decorated by Giotto and his team. They covered all the walls and ceiling with frescos. Depicting the Life of Jesus, the Life of Mary, and the Last Judgement.
Giotto, The Last Judgement. Cappella degli Scrovegni, In Padova. Wikipedia
Here is a real Digital Heritage treat – a 360 Degree tour of the Chapel! Follow the link below. If it seems to be taking a long time to load press the information button. Once pressed will allow the panorama to load immediately.
Study for Lady Lilith, by Rossetti. 1866, in red chalk. Now in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Wikipedia) Lilith born at The Beginning of the Universe
This is now my most popular post. March 25th is the Annunciation—the day that the Archangel Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant. (to see some very fine paintings of this meeting, look at my other March 25th post march-25th-feast-of-the-annunciation/). When I first wrote this post I was discovering how it all fitted together as I wrote. So I’m leaving it the way it was, proof reading and clarifying if necessary, but keeping the thrill of the discovery of the the significance of March 25th as the day that saw the Beginning of the Universe.
March 25th is also the anniversary of the birth of Adam and Eve (and Lilith); the death of Jesus Christ; the anniversary of the Immolation of Isaac; the Parting of the Red Sea; the Fall of Lucifer; and, (until 1752 in the UK) the beginning of the Year.
Of course, it isn’t. Or to put it another way, no one can, or ever could, prove any of these dates except 1752. So what they speak to is the way the Church saw the world as logically structured by God. Christian thinking about the year, the world, the universe, creation, developed over many years and took influences from many cultures. It is also very complicated to work out the sequence, so I’m going to summarise what I know (or at least what I think I know).
Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus.
Christians chose Christmas Day as the Birthday of Jesus, probably partly because it was a prominent birthday already shared with several Gods. Particularly, Attis, Mithras, Saturn and the Unconquered Sun. It was approximately at Solstice, the beginning of the Solar Year, and close to one of the main festivals of the Roman World, the Saturnalia. So it made it easier for new converts who could retain elements of their festivals after conversion.
December 25th might have been selected by the pagan religions because it is the time when the Sun begins to rise further north each day. The days stop shortening and start lengthening, light increases with the promise of warmer weather and budding plants. It was considered a rebirth of the Sun.
Solstice Anniversaries
So, Jesus was born on/or around the Solstice, so he must have been conceived approx. 9 months earlier. This is approximately at the Spring Equinox.
Ah, you are thinking! But today isn’t the equinox. It’s a few days after the equinox. Surely, God doesn’t do approximately?
I have always thought that the 4 or 5 days difference between the Solstice, the Equinox and the Christian festivals was down to the fact that the Calendars were not well coordinated with the actual movements of the Sun (because the Sun does not circle the earth in 365 days, or in 365 and a quarter days, but 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes. Unless corrected for this means dates slip from their proper place in the Solar Year. It also makes lunar Calendars difficult to align with the Sun cycles, and vice versa.
But when I first wrote this a sudden revelation dawned upon me which will be revealed in the next few paragraphs.
So, God sends his Son to save the human race. God is a logical being, so she would send her Son at an appropriate time? If Jesus is born at or near the Solstice, which is an appropriate time for the Son of the Creator, then conception 9 months earlier, March 25th, is near the Equinox. This is the beginning of Spring. For many people, Spring is a new beginning, for example, the Anglo-Saxons saw Winter as the death of the year, and Spring as the young Year. It all makes sense.
The Creation
So to the Creation. God, having a free choice, would have created the world at the beginning of Spring. In fact, if you think about it, God creates everything necessary for life at the creation in 6 days. As soon as it has all been created and put together, it is bound to immediately spring into new life. The first season must, therefore, be Spring? Right? So March 25th?
This gives a nice symmetry with Jesus’s Life. Conceived on March 25th, born December 25th, and died 30–40 years later, according to the Church, at Easter, on March 25th. (the only other famous person I know, born and died on the same day is William Shakespeare).
Easter
Easter, when Jesus is martyred, isn’t March 25th I hear you saying. But remember, Easter is a lunar festival, so its date varies each year. In fact the next time is 2035. Births and deaths, on the other hand, are fixed to the Solar Calendar. Therefore, the Church chooses March 25th as the most appropriate day to pin the death of Jesus, on the anniversary of his conception and the anniversary of the creation of the Earth. I am guessing that this is also the preferred date for the Day of Judgement.
It is also the Birthday of Adam, and his first wife Lilith (or so some say), and Eve. More about Lilith below. I hope this is all making sense?
Why was Adam born on March 25th?
I had thought this date was just one of the parallels that the Church liked, Jesus and Adam born on the same day. But, I have just worked out why Adam is born on March 25th, and why these dates are not the Equinox, March 20th/21 but March 25th, which has been bugging me.
Let’s go back to the beginning of Creation as described in Genesis. It has the following sequence of Seven Days, beginning with the Equinox March 20th. I have added dates to the 6/7 day sequence of Creation:
Day 1: Light – March 20th
Day 2: Atmosphere / Firmament – March 21st
Day 3: Dry ground & plants – March 22nd
Day 4: Sun, moon & stars – March 23rd
Day 5: Birds & sea creatures – March 24th
Day 6: Land animals & Adam, Lilith and Eve – March 25th
So there you have it! Adam, Eve (and Lilith) were created on Day 6 with the Land Animals – March 25th. Jesus conceived, also on this date, and so 9 months later is born on December 25th. It all makes sense, and aligns the Jesus’s Life, the Christian year fully with the Solar Year and the Creation!
And that, dear Reader, is the very first time anyone has been able to explain to me why Christmas is not at the Solstice, and why the Annunciation was not at the Equinox. Maybe you all know this, but it is very exciting to work this out for myself. And believe me, I have done a lot of reading about calendars and not spotted an explanation.
When was the Creation?
The Anno Munda‘s is a Jewish Calendar which begins counting from a year before the Creation – the Year of Emptiness. This was 5500 years plus 2026 years ago so 7526 Before the Present. And it was supposed to have ended in 600AD, 6000 years after the Creation. So, they got that wrong.
Dionysius Exiguus replaced the Anno Mundo year with the AD/BC system in the 6th Century AD). This became popular when the Venerable Bede used it in his writings in the 8th Century.
Beginnings of the year
The Celts chose October 31st, Julius Caesar chose January 1st, other cultures have other dates, and the Spring Equinox is another choice sometimes made. The Church and Dionysius Exiguus choose March 25th, although secular society also recognised the claims of January 1st. Britain kept to March 25th until 1752 when we adopted the Gregorian Calendar. But people like Samuel Pepys celebrated New Year’s Eve on 31st December. So January 1st was the secular New Year, but the Christian year number did not change until March 25th. So King Charles I thought his head was being cut off on January 30th 1648; while history books will tell you it was cut off on January 30th 1649. Same day, same head, different reckonings.
January 1st, the New Moon and New Year
December 31st/January 1st is essentially a Solstice New Year Festival. And I have, previously, used the difficulty of keeping calendars as to why these days has slipped out of alignment with the Solstice. But, today I realised that it is as likely that the reason is the Solar/Lunar nature of our time keeping. The year, and its festivals, is largely arranged around the Solar Cycle. But our weekly and monthly cycles are orginally derived from the Moon.
The first of a month, was called the Kalends by the Romans, the Nones the half moon, and the Ides signified the New Moon. The kalends of January is then, originally, the First New Moon after the Winter Solstice. So, January 1st is not a slightly misdated Solstice Festival it is a Festival celebrating the first New Moon of the New Year! Sorry, to seem excited but this is the first time I have realised this.
Over time societies give up trying to sync the lunar and solar calendars. Roman and Christian cultures gave up and fixed the moon months, completely abandoning any attempt to keep the months to the actual lunar cycle. This is our current system, in which only Easter and festivals that depend on Easter remain true to the movements of the moon festival, much to our perennial confusion.
Maybe you all know this, but it’s put many things into perspective for me!
Lilith
The April 2023 Issue of ‘History Today’ had a short piece called ‘The Liberation of Lilith’ which suggests that the story of Lilith, a figure from Jewish Folklore, is first attested in a Medieval satirical text called ‘The Alphabet of Ben Sira’. The story goes that Lilith is created from the same clay as Adam. Adam then demands she lies below him during sex. She refuses, saying that they are both made from the same stuff and, therefore, equal. Adam refuses to accept this, and so Lilith leaves the Garden of Eden. So the story goes.
The story of Lilith, Sarah Clegg suggests, is one of a series of similar stories found around Europe and Asia. And Clegg assumes that it is gradually modified to make Lilith a demon who will kill babies unless the names of three angels are spoken out loud.
The story survived as a charm to keep babies safe, and perhaps to remind people of equality among the sexes. But this causes problems for, OK, let’s call them out, the Patriarchy. Lilith cannot be equal to Adam so she is made into a monster, not made from the same clay as Adam but from the scum and waste left over from Adam’s creation. I imagine the story then went on to propose that God creates Eve from Adam’s rib, and so she is created from Adam, and is, therefore, not equal, but subservient to him, although not as bad as Lilith. Lilith is now a significant figure in feminist folklore circles.
Attached to the watercolour of Lilith by Rossetti (at the top of the page), was a label with a verse from Goethe‘s Faust as translated by Shelley. (Wikipedia)
“Beware of her fair hair, for she excells All women in the magic of her locks, And when she twines them round a young man’s neck she will not ever set him free again.”
The model is Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti’s mistress. He painted another version a few years later, but the model in that is Alexa Wilding. His models are arguably more interesting than the man himself and include: Elizabeth Siddall, Jane Morris and Fanny Cornforth. Christina Rossetti, his poet sister, modelled for Rossetti’s painting, Ecce Ancilla Domini which you can see here.
For more on the Annunciation, look at my other March 25th post here.
I think I might have enough material to begin my own Cult.
Duccio’s The Annunciation. Egg Tempera on Wood c 1307-11
The Annunciation by Duccio
Today, is the anniversary of the conception of Jesus Christ, called the Annunciation. I told some of this story yesterday which was St Gabriel’s Day. So, sorry for any repetition but I think the extra detail makes it worthwhile! There is a third post in my Annuciation series where I go into the wider implications of the date March 25th, and how it has a fundamental place in Christian Theology.
The picture above is by Duccio, from Sienna in Italy. It shows the Archangel Gabriel bringing Mary the news that she is to give birth to the Son of God. It is in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. This was the second painting on the National Gallery tour I used to give. The Tour told the story of the development of perspective. I had been reading a book on the subject by David Hockney.
The painting shows that Duccio does not understand single-point perspective. But then, no one could do perspective at that time in Europe. This skill was lost following the Roman Period. But at the beginning of the 14th Century, painters like Duccio from Sienna, and Giotto from Florence, were groping towards more realistic representation.
You might say they wanted a more human depiction, in which events are shown in spaces that are trying to look real. Filled with more realistic looking people and beginning to show on their faces real emotions. Previously, the Byzantine style produced iconic, storytelling images, that were somewhat cartoon-like rather than realistic. Here, is a detail from one such.
The Annunciation, St Catherine’s Monastery, 12th Century.
The encounter takes place in a space that is not very real. But it does tell the story effectively.
Moving towards Perspective
Now, look at the Duccio, he uses the arcading at the top of the painting to give an impression of this being an encounter in a real space. The Archangel Gabriel is moving through that space decisively. This is not just a picture with a story, it shows Duccio’s interest in capturing a fleeting but incredibly emotional moment. It happens to be the most important moment in the history of the world (from a Christian view point), the moment that the son of God is conceived as a human.
Gabriel is striding purposefully towards Mary, who has come out of her house to see him. He saying ‘Hey, you are going to give birth to the Son of God.’
She looks overwhelmed, (as you would) holding her arm protectively towards her. ‘What me?’ she might be saying. But she is also pointing at the Bible where this moment in time is predicted by Isaiah. Their faces are quite realistic, Mary is clearly emotional.
Also, if you look at Gabriel’s feet he is quite well grounded unlike many other medieval paintings, where people often seem to be floating above the ground. Mary, too is firmly, anchored, although you cannot see her feet.
It is by no means ‘perfect’ because they don’t yet know the rules of perspective. Neither have they discovered they could use lenses to create ‘photorealistic’ portraits. But they are searching for methods that can bring spaces and people towards realistic life. It mirrors a humanistic trend to see Mary not as a sort of Goddess, but as a real mother. A key point in the Renaissance. (For more on perspective, see my post on Giotto and Palm Sunday. )
The Moment of Conception
Above the arcading can be seen a small sphere of blue sky from which emanates several ‘rays’ and a tiny Holy Dove. As I told the story, yesterday, the rays are coming from Heaven to her womb which is hinted at by the red of her dress. The National Gallery commentary, which you can read here, suggests ‘The conception takes place at the moment she hears the words, which is why a tiny white dove, representing the Holy Ghost, flies towards her ear‘.
This made me stop and think – the tiny dove is heading to her ear is it? Really? Why? Gabriel is the messenger saying the words, the words head to the ear. The Holy Dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Its role, in the painting, is to show that God is the Father. So why, would the Holy Spirit enter by the ear?
I have been using a ruler to try to see if the National Gallery are right! It’s difficult to be sure with a reproduction. but my ruler says the rays from Heaven are neither heading to the ear nor directly to the womb but in the general direction of her body. If they are right that the rays from heaven are heading for her ear, then is this rather the moment she is being told she will conceive rather than the moment of conception?
The Conception in St Luke
Veronese ‘The Annunciation’
But the National Gallery text accepts that it is the moment of conception that is shown. So, I’ve looked at Luke 1:26-38:
‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.‘
On first reading he is telling her she will conceive, but reading it more carefully he is saying ‘now, you will conceive’. So Duccio is paying very careful attention to the Gospel. By the time Gabriel finishes his sentence, she will have been impregnated by the Holy Dove. Looking at other paintings of the Annunciation the rays from heaven head generally towards the virgin, sometimes to her head, nothing suggesting the ear. In the St Catherine’s Monastery’s Annunciation, above, the ray is going to Mary’s back. Veronese’s ‘The Annunciation’ is similarly going towards Mary’s Back, shoulder, or breast. The Annunciation by the Master of the Judgement of Paris which I showed yesterday has the ray heading to Mary’s lap.
Rossetti’s Annunciation
The Annunciation by Rossetti originally known as Ecce Ancilla Domini! 1849 – 1850
I’ve included a 19th Century Rossetti painting because it is so beautiful. It shows a lilly representing purity, instead of the rays, pointing to Mary’s womb. The use of white throughout also represents Mary’s ‘purity’. While the Blue is the traditional colour for Mary. The use of the primary colours red and blue with the predominant White, gives a vivid clarity to the picture. At the time, showing the Virgin as a red-head was quite controversial.
By the way, look at the feet in the Rossetti’s painting. This is an early Rossetti painting, who was a poet and I’m not sure he yet had the skills to ground feet. But he takes advantage of it in this case and confirms Gabriel’s supernatural status by giving Gabriel fiery feet but no wings. Subsequently, Rossetti concentrated on paintings of women from the waist up. Since, first writing this, I have visited an exhibition of Rossetti’s drawings, and they show a very capable draughtsman.
For more on March 25th and the Universe and everything, see my post here (which will be revised later today).
On This Day
If Easter fell on March 25th it was thought to be bad news, particularly if on Good Friday. As the world was created, according to Christians, round about March 25th, God being a logical being, would end it on its anniversary. And all those people who went to the top of the hill, to see out the Day of Judgement, had to trudge down again, murmuring ‘Maybe next time.’ Hampstead Heath was a popular place for Apocalyptaphiles to go in London, the Green next to White Stone Pond, to be precise.
1306 – Robert the Bruce crowned King of Scotland.
1807 – The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act became law.
1843 – the first Tunnel built under a River was opened at Rotherhithe designed by Marc Isambard Brunel, and helped by his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I managed the Brunel Engine House for a few years, which was the steam engine house to pump out the water from the tunnel. In fact, a Babylonian (?) Queen built the first tunnel under a River, but what she did was divert the river, build the tunnel, redirect the River back to its original course. So strictly, the Brunels built the first tunnel constructed under a River while the River was still flowing above. I find that most firsts are much more complicated that you think!
1949 – Hamlet became the first British Film to win the Oscar for Best Film. Lawrence Olivier also won the Best Actor Oscar and he was the Director of the Film too. Olivier was the first person to achieve this double feat, and the only one until 1998, when Roberto Benigni won both Oscars in Life Is Beautiful.
Source: Chambers Book of Days
First published 2024, revised 2025, Revised and On This Day added 2026
