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The Beginning of the Universe as We Know It; Birthdays of Adam, Lilith, & Eve; Conception of Jesus, Start of the Year March 25th

Lilith is shown coming her hair and looking in a mirror Study for Lady Lilith, by Rossetti. 1866, in red chalk. Now in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Wikipedia
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
  • Day 7: The Sabbath of rest – March 26th
  • For more information www.bibleinfo.com

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.

I wrote about more about eras and ages in my post which you can see her: Greater Cycles and the Six or Seven Ages

Lilith by Rossetti

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.

First Written 25th March 2024, revised 2025, 2026

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Blossom and Haggerston Park March 18th

Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by kevin flude
Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by K Flude

Peak Blossom varies year by year. Two years ago, I declared it on March 19th, last year it was later. Normally, it is late March – Early April.However, walking around my local Park Haggerston Park today, Haggerston is whitewashed with amazing blossom. I thought it was Blackthorn, until I read that Blackthorn was the tree from which Sloes are grown.

My ‘Flora Incognita’ app tells me that it is Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera. This makes sense as in the summer, there were people collecting the small plums that were growing on the trees. The pink variety of cherry are not yet at peak blossom. I will post about peak blossom, later today.. To read about Cherry Blossom read my post here.

Local magnolia’s are beginning to come out, although I noticed a lot more in my Dad’s area which is 40 miles south. I bought a magnolia about 18 months ago, had quite a fine show in its first year, but this year the scaffolders managed to destroy all the buds, and the squirrels did further damage. So keeping my fingers crossed.

Haggerston Park

I am using this occasion to write about my local park which I have been saving up for a ‘vacant day’. (see my post of Ovid and Vacant days)

Haggerston Park was built on the site of derelict houses, a tile manufacturer and a Gas Works in the post war years. The Gas works was situated by the Regent’s Canal with its own basin for loading supplies. In the 80s the Park expanded to take in some areas which were formerly residential streets. All that really remains of the Gas works are the perimeter walls, and the outline of the canal basin.

The park is a well-loved local facility with green lawns, trees and flowers. It also has a great new playground for kids; astroturf football pitches; tennis courts, toilets, cafe, City farm, and a wild wooded area. This is dominated by the Cherry Plum trees and is a haven for squirrels. Rats loved it too, but I haven’t seen one for 2 years or so. I think they have been successfully ‘controlled’.

There are some strange parts of the design which, I hoped, were traces or inspired by industrial archaeology, but it turns out the designer wanted a maritime theme. So there are flagpoles, tripods and brick structures which are supposedly somewhat maritime.

Park Henges

The Gardeners obviously like the hengiform design because the Park has a lot of henges, and circles. I have my own name for most of them.

Snowdrop Henge

Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude
Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude

Silver Birch & Crocus Circle

Silver Birch Circle Haggerston Park, Photo Kevin Flude

The beautiful crocuses are not so clear in this picture, but they are really lovely! (See my post on Croci here). Last year I got a better photo of the croci.

Haggerston Park, 2024 Photo K Flude

Oak Tree Cluster

Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude
Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude

This wonderful Oak tree is surrounded by daffodils and crocuses.

Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude
Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude

Primula Patch

Primula Patch, Haggerston Park, Photo K Flude

The circle is in the middle of the Basin that connected the Gas Works to the Regent’s Canal. Theh patch would have been in the middle of the water, and the stone and brick walls, are the edge of the Basin. See the map below. I do hope they flowers are primulas. If not viola’s, primroses or other winter, spring flowering plants.

Rose and Tripod Circle

Rose and Tripod Circle. This becomes particularly beautiful at the height of summer.

The Avenue

The Avenue, Haggerston Park, photo Kevin Flude

City Farm

The City Farm was set up in 1984 on a site that was once a brewery. It provides a community and educational resource to give people experience of animals and growing plants. It has poultry, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys and bees. There is also a lovely cafe callled Frizzante and a shop that sells groceries without packaging. For more on the bluefaced Leicester Sheep at the farm see my post here, and on City Farm piglets here.

Heron in the Pond, Ancient Wisteria

Heron
Wisteria

Gas Works

Haggerston Park 1877 Ordance Survey Map

The Park covers the area of the Imperial Gas Works shown above. The photos above are in the area of the old Retort House (top left of the Gas works). The Haggerston Basin is to the left of that. To the left of the Basin are a series of Factories and Yards: Stone Yard, Timber Yard. North of the second Stone Yard is the Ice Warehouse. Near the top left. (for my post on Ice Houses please look here). The Regent’s Canal is just below the top of the map. It was constructed in 1820 or so. This stretch is now the ‘Haggerston Riviera’, and is trendy!). The Canal is the reason for the concentration of 19th Century Industry here. There were brick works, cigarette, breweries, gun, gunpowder, chemical, furniture and many other industries strung along the canal and connecting roads.

Here is a more colourful map.

1909 map of Haggerston.

First written on 19th March 2025, revised 2026

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Lawrence Oates: ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’  March 16th 1912

photograph taken by Kevin Flude of the display of Antarctic Explorer's Kit 1912 (reconstruction) at Gilbert White's House in Hampshire
Display of Antarctic Explorer’s Kit 1912 (reconstruction) at Gilbert White’s House in Hampshire {Photo K Flude). To illustrate Lawrence Oates self-sacrifice

This post is about Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates and his self-sacrifice, on going out to his death to give the other members of the Antarctic Expedition a chance of survival. ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ he famously said . But first, for subscribers to the email, the new section ‘On This Day.’

On This Day

1190 – The Jewish Massacre at York. From 1189, anti-Jewish riots broke out as preparations for the Third Crusade were made. The rioters attempted to steal Jewish wealth, burn down their house, and forced conversion to Christianity. The unrest spread from Old Jewry in London to Ospringe., King’s Lynn, Colchester,, Stamford, Bury St Edmunds., and Thetford,. The Jews of Lincoln took refuge in the Castle and survived.

Reconstruction of York Castle, with Clifford’s Tower, originally made of wood, shown on the top of the Hill (photgraphed by KFlude from plaques on the displays nearby)

On March 16th, the Jews of York were attacked in their houses, and sought sanctuary in the Timber Keep of York Castle, known as Clifford’s Tower. Fearful of the willingness of the Sheriff of the County to ensure their survival, the community decided on mass suicide. Fathers, killed their children and wives, then killed themselves. The two leaders, then burnt down Clifford’s Tower and died.

1660 – The Long Parliament finally dissolved. It was elected in 1642 called by Charles I, before the English Civil War, and survived to be revived to usher in the restored monarchy under Charles II.

1872 – the first Football Association Cup Final took place on the Cricket Ground, the Kennington Oval. The Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1:0. The Wanderers were founded by Public School Old boys from Harrow. It began in Leytonstone, in East London 1859, originally known as the “Forest Football Club”. But then wandered around a number of grounds until they made the Oval their semi-permanent home. The Club’s last game was against Clapton Pilgrims in March 1872.

The only known Photo of the Wanderers from 1863. Public Domain, Wikipedia

The Royal Engineers were soldiers from Chatham, Kent and according to Wikipedia were: ‘the first club to play a passing game of cooperation and organisation with both their forwards and their defence’. Also the first club to have the word ‘beautiful’ applied to their game.

1956 – Fake Finnish Saint St Urho invented as a rival to St Patrick’s Day. Just as Patrick banished snakes from Ireland, Urho (which means ‘hero’) banished frogs (or grasshoppers) saving the grape crop. He was invented in the States but is celebrated by a bar in Helsinki.

1968 – the My Lai massacre, Sơn Mỹ village, Quảng Ngãi province, perpetrated by US Troops, slaughtering over 300 unarmed villages. 26 soldiers faced charges but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr. was convicted. He only served three and a half years of a life sentence (and that was served under house arrest).

Main Source Chambers Book of Days & Wikipedia

The Oates Museum in Gilbert White’s House

Last year, I went to Gilbert White’s House in Selborne. The naturalist’s House also houses the Oates Museum for Lawrence ‘Titus Oates’ and his uncle Frank. Oates was one of the ‘heroes’ I read about as a child. He epitomised what was sold as the British virtues of pluck, self-sacrifice, restraint.

Here is part of the story of Oates self-sacrifice over the days from February 29th to March 16th. 1912 as told in the diary of the commander of the expedition, Captain Scott:

Wednesday, February 29th 1912

Lunch. Cold night. Minimum Temp. -37.5°; -30° with north-west wind, force 4, when we got up. Frightfully cold starting; luckily Bowers and Oates in their last new finnesko; keeping my old ones for present. Expected awful march and for first hour got it. Then things improved and we camped after 5 1/2 hours marching close to lunch camp—22 1/2. Next camp is our depot and it is exactly 13 miles. It ought not to take more than 1 1/2 days; we pray for another fine one. The oil will just about spin out in that event, and we arrive 3 clear days’ food in hand. The increase of ration has had an enormously beneficial result. Mountains now looking small. Wind still very light from west—cannot understand this wind.

From Scott’s Polar Institute Web Site

A finnesko is ‘a boot of tanned reindeer skin with the hair on the outside’.

Monday, March 5th 1912

Lunch. Regret to say going from bad to worse. We got a slant of wind yesterday afternoon, and going on 5 hours we converted our wretched morning run of 3 1/2 miles into something over 9. We went to bed on a cup of cocoa and pemmican solid with the chill off. (R. 47.) The result is telling on all, but mainly on Oates, whose feet are in a wretched condition. One swelled up tremendously last night and he is very lame this morning. We started march on tea and pemmican as last night—we pretend to prefer the pemmican this way. Marched for 5 hours this morning over a slightly better surface covered with high moundy sastrugi.

Sledge capsized twice; we pulled on foot, covering about 5 1/2 miles. We are two pony marches and 4 miles about from our depot. Our fuel dreadfully low and the poor Soldier nearly done. It is pathetic enough because we can do nothing for him; more hot food might do a little, but only a little, I fear. We none of us expected these terribly low temperatures, and of the rest of us Wilson is feeling them most; mainly, I fear, from his self-sacrificing devotion in doctoring Oates’ feet. We cannot help each other, each has enough to do to take care of himself. We get cold on the march when the trudging is heavy, and the wind pierces our warm garments.

The others, all of them, are unendingly cheerful when in the tent. We mean to see the game through with a proper spirit, but it’s tough work to be pulling harder than we ever pulled in our lives for long hours, and to feel that the progress is so slow. One can only say ‘God help us!’ and plod on our weary way, cold and very miserable, though outwardly cheerful. We talk of all sorts of subjects in the tent, not much of food now, since we decided to take the risk of running a full ration. We simply couldn’t go hungry at this time.

From Scott’s Polar Institute Web Site

Pemmican is made of tallow, dried meat and dried berries. It is a calorie rich food stuff created by native American groups and used by expedition like Scotts. The name says Wikipedia ‘comes from the Cree word ᐱᒦᐦᑳᓐ (pimîhkân), which and adopted is derived from the word ᐱᒥᕀ (pimî), ‘fat, grease”. Sastrugi is a Russian word which are ripples or craters in the surface of the snow caused by strong winds. They make progressing through the terrain much more difficult.

Scott begins his March 16th entry unsure what the actual date is.

Friday March 16th

Lost track of dates, but think the last correct. Tragedy all along the line. At lunch, the day before yesterday, poor Titus Oates said he couldn’t go on; he proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag. That we could not do, and induced him to come on, on the afternoon march. In spite of its awful nature for him he struggled on and we made a few miles. At night he was worse and we knew the end had come.

Should this be found I want these facts recorded. Oates’ last thoughts were of his Mother, but immediately before he took pride in thinking that his regiment would be pleased with the bold way in which he met his death. We can testify to his bravery. He has borne intense suffering for weeks without complaint, and to the very last was able and willing to discuss outside subjects. He did not – would not – give up hope to the very end. He was a brave soul. This was the end. He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning – yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.

I take this opportunity of saying that we have stuck to our sick companions to the last. In case of Edgar Evans, when absolutely out of food and he lay insensible, the safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandonment, but Providence mercifully removed him at this critical moment. He died a natural death, and we did not leave him till two hours after his death. We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. We all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.

I can only write at lunch and then only occasionally. The cold is intense, -40º at midday. My companions are unendingly cheerful, but we are all on the verge of serious frostbites, and though we constantly talk of fetching through I don’t think anyone of us believes it in his heart.

We are cold on the march now, and at all times except meals. Yesterday we had to lay up for a blizzard and to-day we move dreadfully slowly. We are at No. 14 pony camp, only two pony marches from One Ton Depot. We leave here our theodolite, a camera, and Oates’ sleeping-bags. Diaries, &c., and geological specimens carried at Wilson’s special request, will be found with us or on our sledge.

photo of the display at Gilbert White's House Selborne
From the display at Gilbert White’s House, in Selborne Hampshire, (Photo K Flude)

How much Oates story is tarnished by discoveries, published in 2002, that he fathered a child to a 12-year-old girl, I will leave to you to read here.

For more about Gilbert White’s House look at my post here. To read about the original Titus Oates read my post titus-oakes-flogged-from-aldgate-to-newgate-may-20th-1685/

First published in 2024, revised 2025, On This Day added 2026

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Mothering Sunday & Simnel Cake

Virgin and Child (Image on a card of unknown origin) to illustrate Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day

In 2026 Mothering Sunday is on March 15th. In 2027 it will be on March 7th. Strangely, originally not about Mothers! Mothering Sunday is the 4th Sunday in Lent. It is, in fact the day in which we are enjoined to visit our Mother Churches. It, therefore, became a day when people made processions to their Churches.  Servants and workers could go to their home parishes. But not only go to the Mother Church but also to say hello to their mothers. So, it became increasingly about Mothers. It was called Mothering Sunday when I was little and has morphed into the Americanism that is Mother’s Day.

In Church the Reading is often Isaiah 66:10–11

‘Rejoice ye with Jerusalem; and be ye glad for her, all ye that delight in her: exult and sing for joy with her, all ye that in sadness mourn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations.‘

Jerusalem is personified, here, as the Mother. Further associations with motherhood came from the Gospel for the day which is John 6:1–14, the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, which led to associations with the bounty of Mother Earth.

In the medieval period visits to the Mother Church seem to have become fiercely competitive. The Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste decreed:

‘In each and every church you should strictly prohibit one parish from fighting with another over whose banners should come first in processions at the time of the annual visitation and veneration of the mother church. […] Those who dishonour their spiritual mother should not at all escape punishment, when those who dishonour their fleshly mothers are, in accordance with God’s law, cursed and punished with death.‘

(Letter 22.7 – Wikipedia)

Simnel Cake

It was also the Sunday in the fasting period of Lent in which the restrictions were relaxed. So a special cake called Simnel Cake was made for the purpose.

I’ll to thee a Simnel bring
‘Gainst thou goest a-Mothering
So that, when she blesseth thee
Half that blessing thou’lt give me.

Herrick Hesperides 1647

Photo: James Petts from London, England – Simnel cake (wikipedia
Easter 2012

The Simnel cake is a fine flour light fruit cake (Latin simila, fine flour), with layers of marzipan in it. It often has 11 balls of marzipan on the top, representing the 11 (not Judas) apostles. The cake is first boiled for two hours and then baked. Now, I know 95% of my American readers hate fruit cake. But believe me when I tell you – change your ways – iI’s delicious. Try this BBC’s recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easter-simnel-cake

And I’m beginning to see that cake is an emerging theme of this Almanac of the Past.

See my post on Chelsea Buns here; Lardy Cake and Doughnuts here.

Written in March 23, slightly revised in March 24, and 25, Revised 26

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Nettle. Tea, Beer, Pudding & Flagellation March 10th

Nettle – photo by Paul Morley Unsplash

Nettle Tea

The store cupboards are getting denuded of the fruits, nuts, preserves, pickles, salted and dried foods saved from the summer and autumnal abundance. Of course, this is alleviated by the reduced consumption of the Lenten fast.  (I’m continuing my lenten practice of giving up, giving up things for Lent). But nettles are budding. I take a regular cup of nettle tea. Normally, provided by the excellent Cowan’s tea emporium in the Covered Market in Oxford. But I’m running out and not due to visit Oxford for a month or so. So Charles Kightley in his Perpetual Almanac tells me that young stinging nettles are appearing and this is the time to collect own young, juicy nettles.

Here is a video about collecting them.

YouTube Video on making Nettle Tea

Nettle Beer

Or better still, change up the tea for a nettle beer:

Take a gallon measure of freshly gathered young nettles washed well dried and well packed down. Boil them in a gallon of water for at least a quarter of an hour. Then strain them, press them and put the juice in an earthenware pot with a pound of brown sugar and the juice and grated skin of a lemon. Stir well, and before it grows cool put in an ounce of yeast dissolved in some of the liquid. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for four or five days and strain again and bottle it, stopping the bottles well.  It’ll be ready after a week, but better if left longer.

Nettle Beer was brewed for old people against ‘gouty and rheumatic pains’.

Nettle: Detecting Virgins

A more sinister use is provided by William Coles who gives a method of detecting virginity.

‘Nettle tops are usually boiled in pottage in the Springtime, to consume the Phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the coldness and moistness of the winter have left behind. And it is said that if the juice of the roots of nettles be mixed with ale and beer, and given to one that suspected to have lost her maidenhood, if it remain with her, she is a maid, But if she’s spews forth, she is not.‘

William Cole’s Adam in Eden 1657.

Flagellation with Nettles?

William Camden reported that Roman soldiers used nettles to heat up their legs in the cold of a British winter. (from Mrs Greaves’ ‘A Modern Herbal). Perhaps, I should have sent that idea to PM Keir Starmer? He might have suggested the method to Senior Citizens to alleviate the loss of their Winter Fuel Allowance? (which he has now restored). Flogging with nettles was a cure for rheumatism and the loss of muscle power in the early modern period. Nettles were also added to horse feed to make their coats shine. It was used as a hair tonic for humans. 

Nettle Fabrics

The 18th century poet Thomas Campbell is quoted on the virtues of nettles:

“I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other linen.”

In 2012, a Danish Bronze Age Burial was found to be dressed in a shroud made of Nettle. Strangely, the nettle was not local, perhaps being made in Austria where other objects in the rich burial came from. However, the person was thought to be Scandinavian. For more have a look at this article on www.nbcnews.com.

In the Irong Age, also in Denmark, Huldremose Woman was found buried in a bog. She had a severed arm and was buried in elaborate sheep and goat skin clothes, but underneath:

‘she wore a white inner garment made from plant fibres that reached from the shoulders to below the knees. The type of plant fiber is unclear but other evidence from the time period suggests that it could have been made of nettle.’

To find out more: the-woman-from-huldremose/the-huldremose-woman-clothes/

World War 1 use of Nettle cloth

Greaves tells us that the German and Austrians had a shortage of cotton during the blockade of World War 1. They turned to nettles to replace cotton production believing it to be the only effective substitute.  It was also substituted for sugar, starch, protein, paper and ethyl alcohol. 

YouTube Video on making fabric from nettles

Nettle Pudding

Pepys ate Nettle Pudding in February 1661 and pronounced it ‘very good’.  Here is more on Nettles in history AND a recipe for Nettle Pudding! I can see I’m going to have to get out there and carefully pick myself some nettles! ( For Folklore of Nettles look here).

Nettles Photo by Les Argonautes on Unsplash

Remember, none of the above is necessarily good advice as far as medicine is concerned. For smoking herbs see my post coltsfoot-smoking-cholera

March Weather

In the early modern almanacs there is much weather and horticultural advice to be had (Weather Lore. Richard Inwards).

‘March damp and warm
Will do farmer much  harm‘

or

‘In March much snow
to plants and trees much woe‘

On This Day

March 10th is St Kessog Day. He is associated with Luss on Loch Lomond, and was Robert the Bruce’s rallying cry. St Kessog and Scotland!

241 BC – The Battle of the Aegates in which the Carthaginian fleet is sunk, and the First Punic War ends. Carthage was destroyed in the Third Punic War in 146BC. Rebuilt as a Roman City 100 years later.

1629 – Parliament is dissolved by Charles I. This was followed by a Royal dictatorship which lasted 11 years, and then led to Civil War.

1906 – Bakerloo Line Opened. The name originated from the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway. It goes from Harrow &Wealdstone in the NW to Elephant & Castle in the South East, via the Central London section which goes from Bakers Street to Waterloo, Sherlock Holmes didn’t use the Tube very much (see this post here for those times he did). There is a proposed extension from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham.

1969 – James Earl Ray sentenced to 99 years in jail for murdering Martin Luther King. While Ray was a segrationalist and a supporter of George Wallace, he maintained he was set up as the scapegoat. He died in prison in 1998.

Written 2024, revised 2025, the content on Hesiod and a Grecian Spring moved to: march-13th-hesiod-and-a-grecian-spring/. On this Day added 2026.

My trip (in March 2022) to the British Museum with my 20 month year old Grandson is posted here:

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International Women’s Day March 8th

The Soviet Union 1949 CPA 1368 stamp (International Women’s Day, March 8. (Wikipedia)

Today, is International Women’s Day. It began, as an idea within Socialist organisations in 1909/1910. Following the February Revolution in Russia and women gaining the vote, March 8th was chosen as the day to celebrate. The wider feminist movement adopted it in the 1960s followed by the UN in 1977. Since when, it has been a day to celebrate women’s achievements and campaigns worldwide.

Harper’s Road burial

The Harper Road Burial Southwark a photo of a skeleton in a museum case with grave goods.
The Harper Road Burial Southwark (museum of London web site)

Another important historic female was found in an excavations at the Harper’s Road. . I was reminded about it by reading Dominic Perring’s new book ‘London in the Roman World.’ He uses it to establish that Southwark was a place where people lived both before and after the Roman Conquest in 43AD. The burial was found in the 1970s’ and dated to 50 – 70 AD (Roman Invasion of Britain was in 43 AD). Recent scientific analysis has shown that the burial was of a woman (21 – 38 years of age). She had brown eyes and black hair and was brought up in Britain. Her grave goods indicate she was wealthy. She had both imported Roman pottery but also typically British Iron Age objects. The combination shows some adaption between her native culture and the new Roman ways.

Her British objects included a bronze necklace (a torc possibly of Catevalaunian or Trinovantian origin) and a mirror. Dr Rebecca Redfern & Michael Marshall on the Museum of London’s website make a case for her being a:

‘Powerful women in late Iron Age London’.

Mirrors of Power?

They make a case for the mirror being

‘used by women for divination and magic, and were a source of knowledge that only women could command. Being able to use and read the mirror meant that the woman was highly regarded by her community.’

To read about her story follow this link:

Iron age burials are often found either with a sword or a mirror and the thinking is that the mirror reflects an equivalent status to a sword. I think we can say that the finds do reflect someone of standing, but as to the use of the mirror that must be speculation. Divination using a mirror is called ‘scrying’ and the British Museum has John Dee’s scrying apparatus from the 16th Century. You can buy scrying mirrors on etsy. https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/scrying_mirror. But to make a case that Mirrors were not just utilitarian and prestige objects but also in use for supernatural/religious purposes is surely just speculation?

Melanie Giles & Jody Joy in ‘Mirrors in the British Iron Age: performance, revelation and power published in 2007 (and available to read here) concludes:

‘Iron Age mirrors, whether made of iron or bronze were beautiful,  powerful, and potentially terrifying or dangerous objects. They were used in the  preparation and presentation of the body and prestigious displays, but may also have been associated with powers of augury and insight into the past, or access to ancestral or spiritual worlds.’

Women in the Age of Iron

The evidence we have for iron communities is for a powerful role for women in contrast to the Romans. The Romans dismissed women when they wrote that Boudicca was ‘uncommonly intelligent for a women’. In fact, she nearly forced the Romans to abandon their conquest of Britain. We also know that Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes had executive power in the North of Britain. The Britons also worshipped the three Mother Goddesses, which focussed on the value of woman as maidens, mothers, and grand-mothers.

For more about Roman Southwark read my post of Roman Mosaic is biggest found in London for 50 years.

A book to order for International Women’s Day is ‘Patriarchs’ in which Angela Saini investigates when the Patriarchy took over. I heard her talk about it and it seems an excellent introduction.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/08/the-patriarchs-by-angela-saini-review-the-roots-of-male-domination

On This Day

1702 – Queen Anne ascends the throne on the occasion of her brother-in-law William III falling off his horse and dying.

First Published in 2023, and revised in 2025, Dorothy Thurtle added March 11th 2026

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St Totteringham’s Day

I newspaper heading about St Totteringham’s Day

In 2025 April 3rd was St Totteringham’s Day.  In 2024, it was the 28th April. This year, if results go as predicted, it is today.  Quite a sad day for some of us. The prediction comes from https://whenissttotteringhamsday.com/.

St Totteringham, the mythical Saint, born in North London in 1911. He has a variable feast day, but normally, it is in March or April. In some glorious but rare years, there is no feast day for the Saint.  My own hope is that a miracle will take place next year and St Totteringham is denied his customary outing.  But it looks unlikely.

Scholars find that the best predictor of the Saint’s Day is not the Moon but the results of Premier league results in North London. Arch North London rival football teams, Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) and Arsenal (the Gunners) compete bitterly for bragging rights. So, what is St Totteringham’s Day? It is the day that Arsenal are so far ahead of Spurs in the Premier League Table that Spurs cannot possibly overtake them.   If Tottenham draw or lose against Fulham today, or Arsenal beat Chelsea then Spurs cede St. Totteringham’s Day to Arsenal. Mathematically, even if Arsenal lose all their remaining matches and Spurs win all theirs, Spurs cannot beat Arsenal.

https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mikepitt/totteringham.html tells me the myth began in 1911, since when there have been 55 St Totteringhams Days.  The earliest being the 9th of March. 33 have been in April. So, if today is the day it will be the earliest St Totteringham’s Day in history! No! Don’t cheer! Weep.

Being ‘Spursy’

Another neologism from North London is to be ‘Spursy’.   Espn.co.uk defines it as: (and it breaks my heart to tell you this).

The Year Spurs Won the League Champtionship.

‘The more modern meaning is to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or to fall short with the prize in sight. This is because, over time, the club’s lack of silverware has come to influence the meaning of “Spursy.” That original 2014 entry reads: “To consistently and inevitably fail to live up to expectations.’ The last time Spurs won the League Championship was in 1961.

Next year, it will be different.

First Published 2024, revised 2025, 2026

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Walk of Socialists 28th February 1887

Victorian lampoon on Socialist Values 'Yes Gentlemen, these is my principles, no King, no Lords, No Parsons, No Police, No Taxes, No Transportation, no No'thing.'
Victorian lampoon on Socialist Values ‘Yes Gentlemen, these is my principles, no King, no Lords, No Parsons, No Police, No Taxes, No Transportation, no No’thing.’

Walk of Socialists at St. Paul’s February 28th & London Socialism 1887

My French friend went yesterday to St. Paul’s and saw a large procession of socialists. It is a strange move of the socialists to visit all the Churches. The Archdeacon of London preached to them from: “the rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all.” A noble sermon, they behaved fairly well.

Helen G. McKenney, Diary, 1887 (source: A London Year. Compiled by Travis Eldborough and Nick Bennison)

The quotation is from the Bible, Proverbs 22, where it sits with a number of other wise sayings. Perhaps, number 16:

‘One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty‘

is most likely to stir a Socialist. I imagine the Archdeacon was also making a point that the Lord made the Rich and the Poor. So there is nothing wrong with being Rich, as long as you are generous to the Poor. Equally, nothing wrong with being Poor.

Bloody Sunday

It’s rather lovely to imagine the Walk of Socialists walking around Wren’s masterpieces in the City of London. However, later in 1887, things turned much worse. The Social Democratic Federation and the Irish National League organised a march against Unemployment and the Irish Coercion Acts. Among the 10 to 30 thousand citizens present were William Morris, Annie Besant , George Bernard Shaw and Eleanor Marx.

The Police had been trying to prevent the ever-increasing use of Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park as protest venues. So, on November 13th, Bloody Sunday, the Police Commissioner, Charles Warren, ordered a massive police presence. He backed this up with 400 Soldiers. He aimed to prevent the entry to Hyde Park. Warren was acting as a caretaker until a new Commissioner was in place. He had already resigned following criticism of the failure to find Jack the Ripper. By the end of the day there were 2 people dead, 100 seriously injured, and 45 arrests, as well as 75 accusations of police brutality. On the other hand there were many police casualties.

Engraving from The Graphic (published 19 November 1887). Wikipedia describes it as ‘depicting a policeman being clubbed by a demonstrator as he wrests a banner from “a Socialist woman leader, one Mrs. Taylor”, while other people are covering their heads to protect themselves from raised police batons.’ Pubic Domain

Progressive Politics

Before the Foundation of the Labour Party, progressive politics were in the lukewarm hands of the Liberal Party. This Party developed from the Restoration period Whig Party. Although, the Liberal Party had a radical wing, it had a reluctance to put forward working-class candidates. In the early 19th Century, much of the agitation was led by a movement called the Chartists. But as their goals became adopted by the main two parties, progressive politics was led by various reform, radical, socialist, marxist and anarchic groups.

I have not been able to find out who led the 1887 Walk of Socialists around the City Churches. However, William Morris’ presence suggests the Socialist League? In 1885, the Socialist League was an offshoot of the Social Democratic Federation. But it was not a harmonious group. Its most famous members were William Morris, and Eleanor Marx. It included Fabians, Christian Socialists and Anarchists. By 1887 it was split ideologically into three main factions, Anarchists, parliamentary orientated Socialists, and anti-parliamentary Socialists. William Morris was the editor of their newspaper, ‘the Commonweal’ but he was sacked and replaced by Frank Kitz as the Anarchists took over the organisation.

So, without going into a long history of Socialism in London, what happened was that the Socialist groups made very little impact until the Independent Labour Party was set up in Bradford 1893. And in 1900, Keir Hardie, who was already an independent MP in Parliament, set up the Labour Representation Committee in 1900. This was soon renamed the Labour Party. The Independent Labour Party joined, and Labour began to take over control of the working-class vote. It fought for this with the Liberal Party. The Liberal vote, declined after WW1 and Labour was able to secure minority Governments. After World War 2 the Labour Party replaced the Liberals as one of the two Political Parties which could win a majority in Parliament.

London ‘Soviets’

London was one of the places where the Party experimented with left wing policies. The East End areas of Poplar, Limehouse and Bermondsey were particularly important. Alfred and Ada Salter were ‘typical’ activists. She became the first female Mayor of a London Borough. She was Returning Officer when her husband was elected MP for Bermondsey. His medical practice gave free medical care for poor people. From this they established a free medical clinic, that was a forerunner to the formation of the National Health Service. The London Councils also led the way in promoting mass council housing and Trade Union reform.

Here is a part of a letter from Alfred to Ada:

“Oh, the cruel wickedness of our society today! To thrust down these people by means of low wages and chronic unemployment into hopeless despair, and then leave them in that condition with no organised or conscious effort to rehabilitate them. What can we do?”

“You and I feel we have the same mission in life… we are living and working for the same goal- to make the world, and in particular, this corner of the world, happier and holier for our joint lives.”

Taken from this excellent blog post of Dr Alfred Salter.

Fenner Brockway said that in his youth Salter was a “Settlement firebrand – militant Republican, militant Socialist, militant Agnostic, militant Teetotaller, militant Pacifist.” Alfred converted Ada to Socialism and she converted Alfred to Christianity. They became Quakers.

Statues of Alfred Salter (sitting down) Ada Salter (behind his walking stick) and their only daughter Joyce (leaning against the River wall) who died aged 8 of Scarlet Fever. Garden near the Angel Pub, Rotherhithe. Photo K Flude

Life-long Labour voter

My Grandma, who was born in Hoxton in 1902, voted for Labour all her life. I’m pretty sure it was out of class loyalty because I always thought her opinions were more traditional than progressive. But she would never dream of voting anything other than Labour. For more on Hoxton and revolution, you may want to see my post on Hoxton and the Gunpowder plot.

Tomorrow isn’t the 29th but if it were you would want to see my post on leap year and the Roman Calendar – February 29th.

On This Day

1931 – Oswald Moseley formed the New Party which became the British Union of Fascists. He was a promising and economically radical MP for the Labour Party but resigned in frustration with their reluctance to adopt his policies. And his egotism, led him to the dark side.

1975 – An underground train ran into the end wall having failed to stop at the Moorgate terminus. 43 people died and 74 were injured. An inquiry concluded, in the absence of any faults in the train, that it was a driver’s error.

First Published in February 2024, republished in 2025 The Salters & On This Day added February 2026

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Gregorian Calendar & Coltsfoot & Smoking & Cholera February 24th

Gregorian Calendar, Lunario Novo, Secondo la Nuova Riforma della Correttione del l’Anno Riformato da N.S. Gregorio XIII,[k] printed in Rome by Vincenzo Accolti in 1582, one of the first printed editions of the new calendar

On February 24th 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII published the papal bull Inter gravissimas. This announced amendments to the Julian Calendar created by Julius Caesar and created the Gregorian Calender. Caesar had realigned the Roman Calendar with the Solar Year, creating a ‘Year of Confusion’. The year was 445 days long but it resynced the days to their proper season.

The Julian Calendar

The Julian Calendar used leap years to align the Calendar Year with the Solar Year. But the earth does not cycle the Sun in 365.25 days. This is an overestimate of 1 day every century. So, since the time of Caesar, the year had got 10 days out of kilter. Gregory chopped those 10 days out of the Calendar. The 4th of October 1582, was to be followed by the 15th October 1582. This might seem simple, but imagine you are receiving your salary for October, and you find it 10 days short? Or you have a month to pay your debt and find it called in 10 days early? So the Pope ordered that these 10 missing days shouldn’t be used in calculating financial matters.

Computus

One of the main reasons for the reform was the ‘Computus’. This was the method of calculating Easter. Easter was a festival that followed the movements of the Moon but was synced into the Vernal Equinox. (The timing of Easter is the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.). So the chopping of 10 days meant that the vernal equinox was set back to its proper place on March 21st. Arguments over the correct calculations of Easter had, in the 7th Century been a major stumbling block in uniting the Celtic Church in Britain with the Roman Catholic Church. (See my post on Easter here).

But this still left the drift caused by Caesar’s faulty leap year system. Gregory’s reforms stopped future drift by fine-tuning the leap years. From 1582 there would not be a leap year in those centurial years which were not divisible by 400. So 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 is not. This skips ‘three Julian leap days in every 400 years, giving an average year of 365.2425 mean solar days long.’ (Wikipedia). This keeps us aligned, although there is still a small error.

If you enjoy this sort of calendrical detail, you will love ‘The Calendar’ by David Ewing Duncan.

British Exceptionalism

Of course, Britain refused to join a Catholic innovation for nearly 200 years. But, religious prejudice at last gave way to reason, when we adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. In the process, we lost 11 days, much to the horror of the London mob, who rioted against their loss.

Greece was the last European state to join in 1923. Japan joined in 1873, China in 1912, and Saudi Arabia in 2016. Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Nepal keep distinct calendrical traditions. (see seasia.co for more details.) Strictly, we are using the Gregorian amendment to the Julian Calendar because it has all the elements of the Julian Calendar except a couple of adjustments.

See my post on the Julian Calendar here and my post on the year of confusion. For more on the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 look here

Coltsfoot and Smoking

Photo of Coltsfoot by Andreas Trepte Wikipedia

Coltsfoot is a daisy-like plant which is flowering about now. Gerard’s Herbal of 1633 suggests that the ‘fumes of the dried leaves taken through a funnel’ is good for those with coughs and shortness of breath. He suggests that it is smoked like tobacco and it ‘mightly prevaileth.’

This idea, Mrs Grieves says in her herbal (1931), is endorsed by ‘Dioscorides, Galen, Pliny, and Boyle’. And Coltsfoot is ‘nature’s best herb for the lungs’. (This is historic information re herbs and NOT current medical advice, as Coltsfoot can be very dangerous!).

engraving of a man smoking Lobspruch deß edlen hochberühmten Krauts Petum oder Taback Nuremberg, 1658 New York Public Library Public Domain
Detail from Lobspruch deß edlen hochberühmten Krauts Petum oder Taback Nuremberg, 1658 New York Public Library Public Domain

My grandson and parents found a 19th Century pipe bowl, much like the one pictured here, by the Thames where there were many fragments of clay pipe. For more on 17th Century smoking, have a look here.

On This Day

In Rome February 24th was the day of the 4 yearly leap day. The way they did it was to have two days called February 24th! It was the sixth day before the Calendars (March 1). This practice gradually got replaced by adding a new day, February 29th, at the end of the Month. In England, February 29th starts appearing in the 15th Century. But Wikipedia tells me:

‘the proceedings of the House of Commons of England continued to use the old system until the middle of the sixteenth century. It was not until passage of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 that 29 February was formally recognised in British law.’

See my page on the Leap Year here.

1809 – The famous Drury Lane Theatre burnt to the ground.

It is said that the owner and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan replied to someone who was surprised to see him sitting quietly having a drink while his theatre burnt down: “A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside?” londonist.com

1832 – Cholera in London

‘The news of the Cholera being in London has been received abroad. According to the feelings of the different nations towards England, France, who wish to court us has ordered a quarantine in her ports of three days; Holland, who feels aggrieved by our conduct at the conference, one of 40 days. The fog so thick in London that the illuminations for the Queen’s Birthday were not visible. ‘

24th February 1832 Thomas Raikes, Diary 1832 (from ‘A London Year’ Compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Bennison, 2013,

This was the second Cholera Pandemic, but the first to reach the UK. The second landed in Sunderland in October 1831. Cholera killed over 6,000 in London. It was called the Asiatic Cholera based on its origin. The Cholera came more virulently in subsequent decades. It was thought to be spread by a miasma in the air. But, John Snow proved it was caused by polluted water, but I will tell that story in another post.

I think the Conference mentioned above was the London Conference of May 1832, which aimed to establish a Kingdom of Greece with King. It was set up by Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston without discussion with the Greeks and ended up giving them a Bavarian King. King Otto. Otto was forced from the throne in a revolution in 1862, and replaced by a Danish King, from whom Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was descended.

1920 –The Conservative MP, Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons. Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected as an MP in 1918, but she was a member of Siin Fein and did not take her seat.

First published in February 2024, republished in 2025, The Gregorian Calendar added in 2026, and On This Day also added. And Retitled too.

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Stanley Green, the Protein Man of Oxford Street February 22nd

Stanley Green, the Protein Man, in Oxford Street, London, 1977 CC by 4.0 Deed

I was failing to find anything of significance to post when I came across a London Walks post about Stanley Green. Green was born on February 22nd in 1915. Most people who lived in London at the time, knew of him. He was always to be seen patrolling Oxford Street and other Central London Streets with his placard. He mounted a one-man campaign against too much protein. He thought it was a factor in promoting Lust. Lust was a bad thing. He campaigned, religiously, from 1969 to 1993, when he died.

Whether you agree with his views or not it is doesn’t diminish the impact an ordinary person had on an entire City. For more about him, including a podcast, have a look at the London Walks page here:

This post is dedicated to those people who are prepared to give up their normal lives to campaign for something they really believe in. If move of us did, the world would be a better but perhaps more eccentric world.

Mr Stop Brexit

Steve Bray, also known as Stop Brexit Man. (Wikipedia CC0)
Steve Bray, also known as Stop Brexit Man. (Wikipedia CC0)

Another one man campaigner, Mr Stop Brexit, Steve Bray, was to be seen outside Parliament, most days in the run up to Brexit. He perfected photobombing techniques, appearing in the background of interviews of prominent Brexit campaigners, or was heard over his megaphone. He is from Splott in Wales, and said he lost all his friends because they supported Brexit. He continues to campaign.

In the vidoe below, you can see him upstaging one of the people who ruined this country, the dreadful Jacob Rees-Mogg

I must admit, I briefly considered dedicating my life to going to events Jacob Rees-Mogg attended, shouting ‘Brexit Opportunities!’ and collapsing in ironic laughter.

For my long view of Brexit see my post https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/brexit-day-31st-january-31-2021/

Stature unfurled for one man anti-war campaigner Brian Haw

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/statue-of-peace-campaigner-brian-haw-unveiled-near-parliament-20-years-after-parliament-tried-to-silence-him-79793/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

On This Day

On this day contains items I come across. But more often from looking at Chambers Book of Days, or Wikipedia’s page for the date (today February 22nd). Occasionally I use the Perpetual Almanac of Folklore by Charles Kightley, or other almanacs, and random websites.

Sadly, i cannot find very much that interests me to day!

In Ancient Rome, today, was the Caristia, the day of family peace and household accord, dedicated to Concordia. The previous days have been dedicated to the dead. Today is for the living family members. Ovid seems pleased to return to the living but makes it clear the day is best enjoyed without the really annoying members of the family!

Ovid writes of the day as follows:

Book II: February 22
The next day has its name, Caristia from our dear ‘cari’
(kin),
When a throng of relations gathers to the family gods.
It ís surely pleasant to turn our faces to the living,
Once away from our relatives who have perished,
And after so many lost, to see those of our blood
Who remain, and count the degrees of kinship.
Let the innocent come: let the impious brother be far,
Far from here, and the mother harsh to her children,
He whose father ís too long-lived, who weighs his
mother’s years,
The cruel mother-in-law who crushes the daughter-in-law
she hates.
Be absent Tantalides, Atreus, Thyestes: and Medea,
Jason’s wife:
Ino who gave parched seeds to the farmers:
And Procne, her sister, Philomela, and Tereus cruel to
both,
And whoever has gathered wealth by wickedness.
Virtuous ones, burn incense to the gods of the family,
(Gentle Concord is said to be there on this day above all)
And offer food, so the robed Lares may feed from the dish
Granted to them as a mark of esteem, that pleases them.
Then when moist night invites us to calm slumber,
Fill the wine-cup full, for the prayer, and say:
Health, health to you, worthy Caesar, Father of the
Country!
And let there be pleasant speech at the pouring of wine.

From A S Kline’s translation of Fasti which can be found here.

For more on Concordia read my post here.

First published in 2024, republished in 2025, 2026