For reasons unknown to ordinary humans, there were many miraculous births of gods and demigods on this date in history. I do see that the above could be redundant, because any birth of any god would be somewhat miraculous but these were, each of them phenomenal in some manner as to the procreation and or birthing. Beyond that, many were presanged or attended by variouos celestial phenomena and other signs and wonders. I have listed those that I'm aware of from "southwestern asia", aka "the middle east". God only knows (HEH) how many there were outside of that relatively small area.
Gods and demigods who had miraculous births on December 25 with approximate years of birth:
Horus, 3,000 bce Zarathustra, 1,000 bce Krishna, 900 bce Hercules, 800 bce Mithras, 600 bce Dionysus, 500 bce Thamuz, 400 bce Hermes, 200 bce Adonis, 200 bce Jesus Christ, 0 bce
The followers of all but one of these were pagans. The followers of the other one were periodically exhorted to go forth and exterminate or convert all pagans and heathens, even those arising far outside of the borders of that small patch of earth. They generally did a pretty good job of it too. Off the top of my head, the Albigensians (Cathars), Old Prussians, and Taino were among the exterminated, while the descendants of the Kievan Rus were largely, after a long time, converted. The tide may be shifting currently due to a resurgence of paganism, the advance of various empirical belief systems, and the growth in numbers of "others". Beyond that, many self styled followers of the one true god are, in reality, totally devoted to Mammon.
So, go forth and celebrate or worship whom and what you will, or, alternatively;
"An it harm none, do what ye will."
For all of that, give me Yosa Buson, an Edo poet and painter often ranked with Basho, who died this day in 1784.
When the autumn wind scatters peonies, a few petals fall in pairs
or perhaps
Calligraphy of geese against the sky- the moon seals it.
Meanwhile
On this day in history:
274 -- A temple for Sol Invictus was dedicated in Rome 336 -- First recorded celebration of Christmas (in Rome.) 496 -- Clovis I of the Franks, was baptized as a Catholic 800 -- Charlemagne was coronated Holy Roman Emperor 1492 -- Columbus' flagship, The carrack Santa Maria, ran onto a reef off Haiti 1758 -- Halley's Comet was sighted, confirming Halley's prediction 1776 -- Washington crossed the Delaware at night to attack at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day 1809 -- The first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor 1815 -- The Handel and Haydn Society (US) gave its first performance 1831 -- The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt started. 1868 -- Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans (moving on, as they say) 1946 -- The Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor began Europe's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. ***** 1951 - The home of two civil rights leaders was bombed, causing their deaths 1968 -- Apollo 8 did the first successful Trans-Earth injection (sending the astronauts back to earth) 1977 -- Begin met with Sadat in Egypt 1991 -- Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union, which dissolved the next day 1991 -- Ukraine's referendum was finalized and Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union. 2021 – The James Webb Space Telescope was launched
****** It and its successors failed to produce energy too cheap to meter, unlike in the US where, as promised in the fifties, we've been producing energy too cheap to meter since, uh, well, uh ....
Some people who were born on this day:
I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.
~~ Isaac Newton
1642 -- Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician (old style date = Julian Calendar) 1776 -- Sydney, Lady Morgan, author 1821 -- Clara Barton, nurse, founded the Red Cross 1878 -- Louis Chevrolet, race car driver and businessman, co-founded Chevrolet 1886 -- Kid Ory, trombonist and bandleader 1889 -- Lila Bell Wallace, publisher, co-founded Reader's Digest 1890 -- Robert Ripley, anthropologist, cartoonist, and publisher (Don't believe it) 1899 -- Bogie 1907 -- Cab Calloway, singer, songwriter, and bandleader 1913 -- Tony Martin, singer 1918 -- Anwar Sadat, politician, won a Nobel for bringing peace to the middle-east 1924 -- Rod Serling, screenwriter and producer 1937 -- O'Kelly Isley Jr., singer and songwriter 1939 -- Akong Rinpoche, Tibetan-Chinese spiritual leader 1942 -- Barry Goldberg, keyboard player, songwriter, and producer 1945 -- Noel Redding, singer,songwriter, and bass player 1946 -- Jimmy Buffett, singer, songwriter, guitarist, 1948 -- Barbara Mandrell, singer, and songwriter 1954 -- Annie Lennox, singer & songwriter 1957 – Shane MacGowan, singer and songwriter, pogues
Some people who died on this day:
1. When I stand in front of a canvas, I never know what I’m going to do – and nobody is more surprised than I at what comes out.
~~ Joan Miro
1635 -- Samuel de Champlain, soldier, geographer, and explorer 1784 – Yosa Buson, poet and painter, 1938 -- Karel Kapek, Czech author and playwright 1946 -- W. C. Fields, genius 1977 -- Charlie Chaplin, ditto 1983 -- Joan Miro, painter and sculptor 1989 – Benny Binion, Go read his bio 1995 -- Dean Martin, singer and actor 2006 -- James Brown, singer and songwriter 2008 -- Eartha Kitt, singer 2011 -- Jim Sherwood, saxophonist, inventive mother 2016 -- George Michael, singer 2016 -- Vera Rubin, astronomer
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Christmas
Today's Tunes
Louis Chevrolet
Kid Ory
Cab Calloway
O'Kelly Isley Jr
Barry Goldberg
Noel Redding
Jimmy Buffett
Barbara Mandrell
Annie Lennox
Shane MacGowan
Dean Martin
James Brown
Eartha Kitt
Jim Sherwood
Bonus:
Fantasy
Reality
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com Open Thread, Sol Invictus, Kid Ory, Cab Calloway.Tony Martin, Isley Brothers, Annie Lennox, Eartha Kitt, Jim Sherwood, Noel Redding, James Brown
EDIT -fixed last song