shirleytwofeathers
Today, July 25, is a Day Out of Time. This is the last day of the galactic year in the Mayan and Galactic calendar.
Here’s the math:
13 moons of 28 days = 364 days.
The extra day, the 365th day, is July 25.
This is why it is called “Day Out Of Time”
This is a special day for ritual, meditation and prayer.
Source: Souled Out
July 24, Pioneer Day commemorates the day in 1847 when Brigham Young led his “pioneer band” of Mormons into the Salt Lake valley to establish a settlement–their new Zion. The Mormons had been driven from New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois and had spent four difficult months traveling 1,073 miles overland to reach the Great Basin, chosen by Young because of its remoteness.
It was the most organized and disciplined westward migration in American history, and unlike most emigrants intent on their destination, the Mormon pioneers were equally concerned with improving the trail for those who would follow.
Pioneer Day is celebrated as the second most important date in the Mormon calendar, behind April 6, the day Joseph Smith established the church. Parades, fireworks, rodeos, and other festivities help commemorate the event.
From: Almanac.com
St. Swithin was a beloved ninth-century bishop of Winchester, England, who requested that he be buried in the churchyard–some say to be close to the common people, whom he loved; some say so that he could enjoy God’s gift of rain for all eternity. When he died in 862, his request was honored.
About 100 years later, however, it was deemed unseemly that so holy a man should rest in a common grave. On July 15, the saint’s feast day, the people attempted to enshrine his remains in his church.
Legend has it, however, that St. Swithin caused torrential rains to fall for 40 days, until the intended transfer was abandoned. This is the source of a very old Scottish weather proverb regarding rain on July 15:
“St. Swithin’s Day if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain.”
Source: Almanac.com
Boryeong, South Korea: The mud trucked in to Daecheon Beach for the festival is said to have cosmetic effects, but that isn’t why 2 million or so ex-pats, locals and tourists muck it up, slathering themselves in mud while slinging beer and soju in Ziploc bags. It’s just down-and-dirty fun. There’s also mud-skiing, a mud king contest, as well as fireworks at night. Tip: take a dip before you leave.
About This Festival
Getting dirty has never been so much fun. Beauty product for some, excuse to channel their inner child for others, Boryeong Mud means many things to many people. This filthy festival involves wrestling, sliding, massages, and photo contests. The dates vary from year to year. In 2016, it was held July 16 thru July 24.
A Dirty Marketing Idea is Born
The idea for the festival began in 1998 as a promotion for the mineral-rich mud found near Boryeong, South Korea. When the manufacturers of Boryeong Mud products determined the beneficial effects of their local mud, they invited visitors to slather themselves in the stuff. The event took on a life of its own rather quickly, attracting thousands of visitors to this otherwise sleepy town annually for the beach, the warm weather, and, of course, the mud.
Things Get Dirty Fast
Fueled by word of mouth, good times and exceptional photographs of mud people, the festival has become an international phenomenon. Families picnic under beach umbrellas, toddlers splash in the kid-friendly area, and the under-30 crowd (generally traveling English teachers, members of the military, and students) are the front-and-center partiers inside an inflatable mud wonderland. Festival-goers have their pick of competitive activities like the Mr. Mud contest, mud wrestling, mud races and even a mud boot camp. Those looking for a more laid back experience can opt for mud facials, body painting, pottery demos, soap-making and lounging on Daecheon Beach.
There’s no need to worry about getting all this gooey grey mud out of your hair, either: showers are abundant and available for a modest fee, as are lockers that can be used to store a fresh and clean outfit. Rinsing off in the ocean is also an option, albeit a less effective one if you plan to impress after your mudbath. Finally, after you’ve wallowed in Boryeong’s thick gray ooze, you can pick up some of the local beauty products, including mudpacks, mud shampoo, mud soap, mud sunblock – remember, this was the original intention of this festival!
More Than Just Mud
Although the main attraction is, of course, the mud, Boryeong features an impressive entertainment lineup as well. Pop and hip-hop performers from around the world affirm its status as an international event, providing an eclectic soundtrack to the wet and wild madness. Don’t miss the huge global rave on the evening of the closing ceremonies, or Friday’s Korean b-boy show. Keep your eye out for opening and closing night fireworks, as well as parades and other cultural performances during the week.
In the end, the thing that sets Boryeong apart is the mud play. The spirit of conviviality across cultures and ages is a function of the anonymity everyone experiences while covered in mud. As Jae-Sang Lee, Director of Korea Tourism Organization, says, “The most distinctive point of the Festival is to create a united place where people from all over the world come together, meet and interact with strangers and are able to break down walls of age, nationality, race and have fun together and leave with memories and new friends.” All are one under the mud.
Sources:
Everfest
Samuitimes
Mud Festival – The official page
Knut the Reaper is possibly the original Grim Reaper, complete with the appearance of a skeleton clad in dark flowing robes wielding a scythe. In Norse mythology he enjoys commemoration on July 10 with the goddesses (Hel or Hela, Holda and Skadi) of the shades and underworlds Helheim and Niflheim.
Day of Knut the Reaper (July 10) is a centuries-old festival in which Wickerwork giants are paraded through the city streets of Douai, France to drive away evil spirits.
Traditional processions of huge effigies of giants, animals or dragons encompass an original ensemble of festive popular manifestations and ritual representations. These effigies first appeared in urban religious processions at the end of the fourteenth century in many European towns and continue to serve as emblems of identity for certain Belgian (Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons) and French towns (Cassel, Douai, Pézenas and Tarascon), where they remain living traditions.
The giants and dragons are large-scale models measuring up to nine metres in height and weighing as much as 350 kilos. They represent mythical heroes or animals, contemporary local figures, historical, biblical or legendary characters or trades. St. George fighting the dragon is staged in Mons; Bayard, the horse from the Charlemagne legend, parades in Dendermonde; and Reuze Papa and Reuze Maman, popular family characters, parade at Cassel.
The performances, often mixing secular procession and religious ceremony, vary from town to town, but always follow a precise ritual in which the giants relate to the history, legend or life of the town.
July 10th is Lady Godiva Day. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the story – but here it is again:
The Countess Godiva devoutly anxious to free the city of Coventry from a grievous and base thralldom often besought the Count, her husband, that he would for love of the Holy Trinity and the sacred Mother of God liberate it from such servitude. But he rebuked her for vainly demanding a thing so injurious to himself and forbade her to move further therin.
Yet she, out of her womanly pertinacity, continued to press the matter insomuch that she obtained this answer from him: “Ascend,” he said, “thy horse naked and pass thus through the city from one end to the other in sight of the people and on thy return thou shalt obtain thy request.”
Upon which she returned: “And should I be willing to do this, wilt thou give me leave?”
“I will,” he responded.
Then the Countess Godiva, beloved of God, ascended her horse, naked, loosing her long hair which clothed her entire body except her snow white legs, and having performed the journey, seen by none, returned with joy to her husband who, regarding it as a miracle, thereupon granted Coventry a Charter, confirming it with his seal.
From the Flores Historiarum by Roger of Wendover
Celebrated by the residents of Nunavut, Canada, on July 9 each year, Nunavut is a time to honor the efforts of those who helped to bring this territory into being. For many years, the Inuit had worked toward forming their own territory. On July 9, 1993, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act took effect, and Nunavut was established on April 1, 1999. Nunavut Day was declared an official government holiday in 2001.
The day is traditionally celebrated with live music, barbecues, the wearing of traditional dress, traditional foods are served, and the community sponsors activities such as concerts, craft fairs, and contests, including seal skinning and duck plucking.
From: Almanac.com
In ancient Rome on July 7th, the Feria Ancillarum or Festival of Handmaids was held. This was the maids’ day out, when the maids of Rome were beyond the control of their mistresses.
Also known as the Caprotinae, when free and slave women made offerings to her beneath wild fig trees outside Rome’s city limits, this feast day was in honor of Juno Caprotina, Juno of the Wild Figs. Fig trees were venerated, with feasting beneath them in honor of Caprotina, an aspect of the Goddess Juno.
In this aspect of the goddess, Juno is seen as dressed in goatskins and driving a chariot pulled by goats. Enslaved women made up a large proportion of her devotees.
Poplifugia was a Roman festival on July 5. It means “flight of the people.” The origin of Poplifugia is not known. Two explanations are given by H.H. Scullard:
- the people fled when Romulus disappeared from mortal sight during a tempest
- the flight of the Roman people after the sack of Rome by the Gauls
There doesn’t seem to be much information about this festival. It took a fair amount of digging, but I was able to come up with a little something more about the Poplifugia. Here’s what I found:
The Festivals of the Poplifugia and the commemoration of Romulus are celebrated on July 5 and July 7, respectively. These two festivals are thought to be a continuation of the same festival, as it was customary for the Romans to have festivals that ran on several days but skipped the even-numbered days because they were considered ill-omened in Rome.
There was also a Rumilia festival that might have been celebrated at the same time.
Although much has been written on this topic, it is not well understood, because the Romans had an extremely conservative religion, in which they continued to do rituals, but they did not remember what they were for, and much of the information about their religion has been lost or deliberately destroyed.
The Poplifugia was a ritual in which someone was chased out of the Regia, or “King’s House”, actually the formal residence of the Sacred King of Rome.
This early July date corresponds approximately to the time of slaughter of livestock in Mediterranean countries which have a dry season during most of the summer during which there is no fodder for cattle.
Its name which is interpreted to mean, “The Flight of the People”, may refer to the sacking of Rome by the Gauls in 390 BC. However, it is impossible not to notice that the word popli- in Poplifugia, and which is interpreted as meaning `people’ is very similar to the word popa which is the Latin word for the attendant who actually slaughtered the animals at a sacrifice, that is, it was the job of the popa to hit the animal in the forehead with an ax which stunned it. Someone else cut the animal’s throat so that it bled to death, and the whole operation was organized by a priest who spoke the religious formulas and directed everyone on what they should do.
If the festival was originally called a *Popafugia (“fleeing of the popa or axeman”), it would be even more completely in line with the Bouphonia, as it was performed in classical Greece. Nevertheless, the connection has been made between the Poplifugia and the Greek Bouphonia and both are thought to embody the myth of the killing of the first cow, which makes up the Indo-European creation myth, known as the Primal Cow Creation Myth.
Found at: Associated Content
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