#April Third Week Holiday Festivals

[sunny-mercya]

Frostbites

Edmund Pevensie x Male Reader

Fandom -> Chronicles of Narnia

Masterlist

Edmund was, besides possibly Lucy too perhaps, the only one who knows the reason of why you hated the joyful Christmas and Winter season with a raging passion—so much, that calling you a Grinch would be still a compliment.

It wasn't Christmas itself—you do enjoyed the festive holiday, not in a big gathering to celebrate, only with Edmund and some of his and your family, more than just a bit—it was the sole whole season of 3 (if you count March and Mid-April to it, would be 5 and a half) Months Winter, which you detested and trying to escape from like the plague.

When November starts with its days getting darker sooner, nights longer and the very first blast of cold chilly air blew through the cracks of our home, grazing even the tiniest bit of your skin—you would instantly crumble into a mess. A mess of a frightening state, too wary and paranoid about your own surroundings and yourself.

And when the first snowflakes are tumbling down the sky and onto earth, creating a Winter Wonderland of frost and glistering diamond like sparkling—an agonising cry would leave your mouth.

Crying through the weeks, nights even, till you hit the point of utterly exhaustion—leaving you sluggish and burnt out and a decaying ghostly shell of yourself.

To put it simple; Christmas and Winter was making you depressed. Bringing back a trauma, which you tried so hard to forget, to bury it deep inside of your mind—locking it up as if it would be belong to Pandora's Chests.

Though with every new-coming Winter, the depression and trauma returns, stronger and stronger than ever—hitting you like a whiplash, full force till you're just a whimpering mess—it, no, She haunts you forevermore till death will claim your soul.

~~~

Bitter it was; that on one side, you absolutely hated silence—having the radio on whenever you could at home—on the other side, having to constantly listen to the jazz and swing-full Christmas songs—which are played on loop—is a saddening torture for your mind.

Edmund had you in his arms. Your face buried deep into the crook of his neck as you weeped and sobbed for the third time that day—and it was only around Tea Time now.

Softly and gently, how someone would handle a expensive set of Crystals figurines, does Edmund drove his fingers through your hair—whispering promising sweet nothings to you, in hopes of calming you down (again).

The Christmas tree which stood relatively near the fireplace—but not close enough to be accidentally set on fire or burned—decorated with candles and ornaments, felt for once this year and all of sudden so out of place—in a way unhinged and surreal—that Edmund too, felt a rage building up in him.

If it weren't for her, the damned Witch, you could've enjoyed the season like everyone else with joyful delight.

Snowy Winter was Edmunds favourite season of the year—even though Edmund himself had a bad encounter with the personification, one of them, of the frosty cold season too.

One of his few wishes is to enjoy Winter with you; to walk through the forest and fields, building Snowmen's, taking you ice skating on a thick frozen lake or simply huddle under the blankest in front of the crackling fireplace and enjoying a nice cup of hot coca.

Once the next lovely Christmas song has started to play, you sobbing had gotten even louder, uglier.

~~~

Edmund had carried you back to bed, at one point when your breath had started to get ragged and shortcutting. He tried his best to get you back into a normal breathing pattern, but when you painfully cried out and pushed him away—curling into yourself, like a newborn and if you had been burned badly—Edmund knew he was being too much for now, too overwhelming for you.

Edmund didn't even tried to touch you again, knowing from experience, you would flinch away from such a simple gesture. So he covers you a bit with the add-on blanket, before getting up from the bed and back into the livingroom. Leaving the door just a bit ajar.

Normally Edmund wouldn't, if not nonexistent rarely, drink a glass of Irish Whiskey. You two only had alcoholic beverages, for when Peter, Lizzy or Henry comes over. Occasionally you two would drink some beer here and then, but never wine or the strong kinds and especially not in the mid afternoon.

Though when Edmund had witnessed your ever first mental breakdown—after the adventures years in Narnia and when you two moved in together—he needed something, anything, strong and since Cigarettes weren't his thing, taking a sip—a full blown swing—from the Whiskey bottle once, till he was drunk enough to not remember anything that night—he still talks with the local priest about this—was what helped him through this nerve pulling time. It still does.

Edmund took a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes, taking another sip from his glass and throwing his head back. Body relaxing ever so slightly.

Edmund knew the reason why you hated Winter and the memory flashes vividly through his mind;

It was back then when they first had gone to Narnia—through a Wardrobe—and Edmund, being the naive bitterly and dumb child he was, had took sides with the White Witch Jadis—the enemy.

At first it had been fine till he realised how cruel and evil this woman, like a true witch indeed, was.

The moment when Edmund had meet you for the very first time, was when Jadis had throwing him into the Ice-Cell as a form of disciplinary punishment.

There you sat in the far corner—in the same cell as him, it probably was your cell to begin with—in nothing but a simple nightgown, curling into a ball in hopes of getting a bit of warmth. Though all you were was a shivering mess. Edmund inched closer to you, frighting you into a yelping—alerting one of the wolves, which sneers at them both, growling out a warning, which you took so scared seriously—that Edmund wonders what they, Jadis, has done to you to make you so frightened.

It took some time and coaxing of Edmund—Lucy told him that kindness and patience is the key, though Peter once said that being straightforward is just as good—to get you to talk to him.

In a hoarsely whisper, so grave and hoarse as if you hadn't spoken in ages and Edmund had to strain his hearing, you told him your name.

[Name] [Surname]. A name so rare and yet so common at the same time and Edmund, he didn't knew why, liked your name—had a nice ring to it, sounded so fitting, so much like you.

«I like your name, I'm Edmund. Let's be friends» thats what he told you, taking your icy cold hands in his own, shaking them.

During his stay in the cell, which could have been just mere hours or days or weeks even, he has chatted you up—telling you about his siblings, how he was being a big dumbass and about Aslan. You hung on every word he said, listen with uttermost attention and excitement.

Edmund, about to give you his extra coat—wanting to give you some warmth, your blue chapped lips was something he couldn't look at—saw a glimpse of grotesque he wished to never have to see—but he will—again.

The scars, shaped like snowflakes and frosting, which covers most of your right arm, had a deep bluish purple colour to it and the row of bitemarks looked freshly made—drops of blood trickling down your wrist and onto the iced floor.

Edmund didn't dared to ask you about this, a too personal question in his option, though it burned on his tongue. He wanted, needed, to know.

«Don't trust her. She's evil.» nothing more you said afterwards, taking his hand and gripping it.

And Edmund promised to himself and you, in a wordless whisper, to get you out of here.

Edmunds lips curled up into a smile, chuckling a bit to himself as he looked at the ceiling above. He had saved you from Jadis—once (and also twice)—and when they all returned back to their world, imagine the surprise he had when he saw you at his new school.

His reminiscing smile, of how you to became best friends and than lovers—close to be married—turned sour, making him take another sip of the Whisky.

When you had told him, one day during a walk through the snowy park—because Edmund asked you out for such activity, even when you told him your dislike towards anything winter related, you still agreed to—about those particular scars you had, a newfound bubbling anger had risen in Edmund.

So Edmund perfectly gets it why you hated Winter. Being held captured and being tortured by Jadis—getting frostbites by her, making you withering in gruesome pain—to abide to her ruling ways—because she saw you as something special too once, though all you were—in the words of Aslan—a Knightly Prince from the stars above, send to protect the Kings and Queens of Narnia.

~~~

After his second glass of Whiskey, which begun to coat his mouth heavily with its sharp vanilla like taste, Edmund decided to call it a day and go to bed. It might be just late afternoon, sun begun to set ever so slowly, but he felt tried.

With slow and steady steps he walked into the bedroom, crawling into the bed next to you. You had significant calmed down, so much that you had fallen asleep. Breathing evenly in and out, a relief to Edmund.

Giving you medication for your hysterical moods, was something Hannah—a good friend and nurse—had suggested more than once. Telling Edmund how it will make you feel better and take off some mental straining weight of him too. Edmund always denied, you didn't need some pills to keep you calm, you had managed throughout the years without them, doing fine.

Edmund takes you in his arms, pulling you close. Kissing your cheek, he closed his eyes, listen to the faintly christmas song—before sleep overtook him too.

Edmund knew why you hated Winter, but he hoped one day you will have a love towards it once more and brining you joy.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.18

Holidays

Adult Autism Awareness Day

Anal Sex Day (Jim Jeffries)

Army Day (Iran)

Banyan Tree Birthday Party (Maui, Hawaii)

Battle of Dybbøl Day (Denmark)

Bilberry Day (French Republic)

Celebrate Ben Solo Day

Coggia’s Comet Day

Coma Patients’ Day (Poland)

Day of Historic and Cultural Monuments (Ukraine)

Day of Secretaries (Belgium, Netherlands)

89ers Day (Oklahoma)

Ernie Pyle Remembrance Day

Friend’s Day (Brazil)

I Love CSU Day (Colorado)

International Amateur Radio Day

International Day For Monuments and Sites (UNESCO)

International Erasure T-Shirt Day

International Juggler's Day

International No Declaw Day

Ianthe Asteroid Day

Invention Day (Japan)

Laundromat Day

National Columnists’ Day

National Exercise Day

National Financial Advisor Day

National Lineman Appreciation Day

National Lydia Day

National Poem in Your Pocket Day

National Send Nudes Day

National Sleep Apnea Awareness Day

National Transfer Money to Your Daughter’s Account Day

National Transgender HIV Testing Day

National Velociraptor Awareness Day

Newspaper Columnists' Day

Paul Revere Day

Pet Owners Independence Day (a.k.a. Pet Parents’ Day Off)

Piñata Day

Real People Day

Red Cross Society Day (Ukraine)

Respect Your Mother Day

Robanukah (Futurama)

Scouts’ Day (Armenia)

Sleep Apnea Awareness Day

Smile Big and Say Hi For No Particular Reason Day

Superman Day

Third World Day

Ushibuka Haiya Matsuri (Dance Festival; Japan)

Victory Over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice (Russia)

World Amateur Radio Day

World Artisan Day

World Heritage Day

World Trifle Day

Youth Homelessness Matters Day

Zhabdrung Kuchhoe (Bhutan)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Animal Crackers Day

World Food Travel Day

3rd Thursday in April

Ask An Atheist Day [3rd Thursday; also 9.16]

Biomedical Research Awareness Day [3rd Thursday]

College Student Grief Awareness Day [3rd Thursday]

Get To Know Your Customers Day [3rd Thursday of each Quarter]

High Five Day [3rd Thursday]

International Pizza Cake Day [3rd Thursday]

National D.A.R.E. Day [3rd Thursday]

National High Five Day [3rd Thursday]

Sumardagurinn Fyrsti (1st Day of Summer; Iceland) [1st Thursday after 4.18]

Throwback Thursday [3rd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 18 (3rd Week)

Cleaning for a Reason [thru 4.24]

Consumer Awareness Week [thru 4.23]

Health Information Professionals Week [thru 4.24]

National Osteopathic Medicine Week [thru 4.24]

Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives in the Line of Duty Week [thru 4.23]

Independence & Related Days

Earth’s Kingdom (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

Pinang (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Republic of Eire (Formal Proclamation; 1949)

Zimbabwe (from UK, 1980)

New Year’s Days

Lao New Year Holiday (Laos)

Myanmar New Year Holidays (Myanmar)

Festivals Beginning April 18, 2024

Atlanta Wing Fest (Atlanta, Georgia)

Grape Day (Temecula, California)

Love the Burger Battle Contest (Luverne, Minnesota) [thru 5.25]

Roadburn Festival (Tilburg, Netherlands) [thru 4.20]

Taste of St. Croix (St. Croix, US Virgin Islands)

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Agia (Christian; Saint)

Apollonius the Apologist (Christian; Saint)

Bun-Bun Brothers’ Day (Muppetism)

Carista: Day of Peace in the Family (Pagan)

Corebus (Christian; Saint)

Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Eleutherius, Antia & His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Festival of Matsu (a.k.a. Mazu; Taoist Sea Goddess)

Festival of Rama-Navami (Hinduism; Everyday Wicca)

Fox Tail Burning Day (Ancient Rome)

Galdino della Sala (a.k.a. Galdin; Christian; Saint)

Gustave Moreau (Artology)

Idesbald (Christian; Saint)

Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet (Artology)

Lady Macbeth Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Laserian (a.k.a. Laisren or Molaisse; Christian; Saint)

Ludwig Meisner (Artology)

Make Faerie Rocks Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Laserim, Bishop of Laighlin, Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Max Weber (Artology)

Molaise of Leighlin (Christian; Saint)

Nihilism Day (Pastafarian)

Perfectus (Christian; Saint)

Plato of Sakkoudion (Christian; Saint)

Three Impossible Mixtures Day (Celtic Book of Days)

The Underlings (Muppetism)

Vitruvius (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [18 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [15 of 30]

Premieres

Absolute Beginners (Film; 1986)

Alice’s Circus Dance (Disney Cartoon; 1927)

Apes of Wrath (WB MM Cartoon; 1959)

Baggage Buster (Disney Cartoon; 1941)

Barnyard Olympics (Disney Cartoon; 1932)

Beyond This Horizon, by Robert A. Heinlein (Novel; 1948)

Chess-Nuts (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1932)

Dog Trouble (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1942)

Fancy Free, by Leonard Bernstein (Ballet; 1944)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Film; 2008)

Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot (Poetry; 1943)

Gorky Park, by Martin Cruz Smith (Novel; 1981)

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Disneyland Animatronic Exhibit; 1964)

Holes (Film; 2003)

Kongo-Roo (Phantasies Cartoon; 1946)

Legend (Film; 1986)

Little Johnny Jet (MGM Cartoon; 1953)

Mare of Easttown (TV Series; 2021)

Manifestoes of Surrealism, by André Breton (Book; 1924)

Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian (Novel; 1969)

Muscle Tussle (WB MM Cartoon; 1953)

The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham (Novel; 1944)

The Saint in Trouble, by Graham Weaver (Short Stories; 1978) [Saint #47]

Sheikh of Araby, recorded by Sidney Bechet (Song; 1941)

The Simple Things (Disney Cartoon; 1953)

Speaking of Animals Down on the Farm (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1941)

Straight Shooters (Disney Cartoon; 1947)

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (WB Animated Film; 2017)

Three Little Wolves (Disney Silly Symphonies Cartoon; 1936)

Uncle Joey (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

Winged Migration (Documentary Film; 2003)

Today’s Name Days

Werner, Wigbert (Austria)

Viktor, Viktoriya (Bulgaria)

Atanazija, Eusebije, Hermogen, Roman (Croatia)

Valérie (Czech Republic)

Eleutherius (Denmark)

Valdek, Valdeko, Valdemar, Valdo, Valdu, Valdur, Valmar, Valmer, Voldemar, Volli, Volmer (Estonia)

Valdemar, Valto (Finland)

Parfait (France)

Werner, Wigbert (Germany)

Eirene, Eirini, Irene, Irini, Nikolaos, Nikoleta, Nikos, Nicholas, Nicolas, Nick, Rafael, Rene, Rena, Renia, Rhenia (Greece)

Andrea, Ilma (Hungary)

Galdino (Italy)

Dana, Hildegarde, Jadviga, Laura, Nameisis (Latvia)

Apolonijus, Eitvilas, Girmantė, Undinė (Lithuania)

Eilen, Eilert (Norway)

Apoloniusz, Bogusław, Bogusława, Flawiusz, Gościsław (Poland)

Ioan (Romania)

Valér (Slovakia)

Perfecto (Spain)

Valdemar, Volmar (Sweden)

Anthea, Ayana, Ayanna, Warner, Werner (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 109 of 2024; 257 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 16 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 5 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 10 (Ren-Zi)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 10 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 9 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 19 Cyan; Fryday [19 of 30]

Julian: 5 April 2024

Moon: 76%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 25 Archimedes (4th Month) [Strabo]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 31 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 29 of 31)

[ewh111]

2022 Annual List of Favorite Film & TV Experiences

Happy new year!  

2022 brought back some semblance of normalcy. Highlights include: virtual Sundance Film Festival seeing 16 films in 4 days in January, my first in-person Super Bowl and seeing the LA Rams win in February, return after three year absence of my special fundraiser dinners that I cook (back-to-back nights of a 16 course dinner focused on Shanghai & Sichuan cuisine) in April, attending my 35th college reunion in May, helping to celebrate the life of dear friend and colleague Ted Walch at the end of summer, and in November, going on my first global travel since the pandemic on a work trip (postponed from March 2020) that took me to Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta, Tokyo, and Kyoto. And on the family front, we continued our weekly Sunday family Zooms which began at the outset of the pandemic, still going strong at 146 weeks and counting.

Hope you have had a safe and healthy holiday season and all the best for a fabulous 2023!

Cheers, Ed

And greetings from my girls Freddy and Maxie, aged 10 and 9 respectively.

Now on to this year's compilation of my favorite film and other streaming experiences. I’m still limiting my visits to the movie theater with off-peak visits, so my most of my film intake is still via streaming. Please let me know your thoughts!

Best of the Year

Everything Everywhere All At Once

One of the trippiest film experiences ever! My first question after my initial viewing was "What drugs were the Daniels (as the directors are collectively known) on when they wrote this film? And what kind of pitch did they make to get it made? One of the most original, absurdly outlandish, and description-defying films in recent memory. What seemingly starts as a Chinese immigrant family drama centered around harried traditional mother (Michelle Yeoh), rebellious lesbian daughter, and sweet, endearing father (Ke Huy Quan of Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) quickly turns into a bonkers, multiverse journey to save the world. Along the way, laundromat owner Yeoh’s embattled audit brings her face-to-face with a delightfully droll Jamie Lee Curtis as meticulous IRS bureaucrat with hilarious interludes involving googly eyes, hot dog fingers, dildoes, butt plugs, and everything bagels. For those of you thoroughly confused, EEAAO does boil down to a story of redemption and reconciliation between mother and daughter and finding joy and meaning in the things that matter in our hectic, fractured daily lives…told in an absurdly funny and crazy way and gets even better after multiple viewings. Trailer: https://youtu.be/wxN1T1uxQ2g

Black Comedies Set on Islands…With Donkeys

Triangle of Sadness

This Cannes Palm d’Or winner intrigued me with its trailer which evoked a luxury yacht-based White Lotus-esque send up of the wealthy, but this dark dramedy threw a completely unexpected curveball, desert-island third-act that stuck with me long after I left the theater. There’s very sharp writing and performances—the verbal jousting over a dinner check, Woody Harrelson’s hilarious Marxist captain trading drunken barbs with a manure-selling Russian capitalist guest, and the ship’s Filipina toilet manager portrayed by a commanding Dolly De Leon who is largely responsible for the memorable third act. The film continues to grow on me with repeated viewing. FYI, this film is not safe for the emetophobic, as there is an overlong scene with projectile vomiting, the likes of which have not been seen since Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Oh, and be warned that there is also a donkey-beating. Trailer: https://youtu.be/VDvfFIZQIuQ

The Banshees of Inisherin

Great to see the In Bruges duo of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson back together, this time as best friends whose friendship is abruptly cut short by one party which results in ever-increasing, devastating consequences in this bleak but humorous and deeply affecting black comedy from writer-director Martin McDonough. Oh, and Jenny the donkey deserved better. Trailer: https://youtu.be/uRu3zLOJN2c

N.B. It seems to be quite the year for donkeys. I am excited but have yet to see EO, Poland’s Academy Award entry, about the adventures of a donkey named EO.

Pretentious Rich People Getting Their Comeuppance…On An Island

The Menu

As a fan of food, I really enjoyed this comically dark film with Ralph Fiennes playing to perfection the mad genius chef of the Hawthorn, a fictional restaurant on a remote Pacific Northwest island. With a fine ensemble cast directed by Mark Mylod (Succession) and with helping hands from the creator of Chef’s Table as well as the Michelin-starred chef Dominque Crenn, an exclusive $1,250 a head night at the Hawthorn turns into a twisted horror/satire of elevated food experiences and those who partake. Trailer: https://youtu.be/C_uTkUGcHv4

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

If you liked Knives Out, you'll thoroughly enjoy Glass Onion, which gleefully brings back Daniel Craig as dandy Southern super-sleuth Benoit Blanc, this time for a murder mystery party on an island presided over by tech billionaire played by Edward Norton with his friendly band of disruptors including Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Kate Hudson. Trailer: https://youtu.be/gj5ibYSz8C0

Films About Musical Royalty

Tár

While I thought this might go down the road of a #metoo or #cancelculture themed movie, this is actually a towering, slow-burn character study with an intense and sensational Cate Blanchett as the fictional Lydia Tár, the EGOT-winning, brilliant and demanding world-class conductor of the Berlin Symphony whose trail of manipulation, abusive behavior, and hubris eventually catches up with her and the resulting finale is…well, I’ll just leave that for you to watch and react. All the accolades for her tremendous performance are well deserved. Trailer: https://youtu.be/Na6gA1RehsU

Elvis

A sensational Austin Butler brings the King back to life on the big screen. Butler truly embodies Elvis in his heartfelt performance. Baz Luhrmann’s film is not so much traditional biopic as it is a musical that captures the spectacle and cultural phenomenon of Elvis, bringing America out of the innocence of the 1950s, as seen through the eyes of Elvis’s notorious manager Col. Tom Parker (Tom Hanks)—and Luhrmann does it in the grand, dazzling style that only he can do. Perhaps a bit garish and bombastic for some, as an unabashed Luhrmann fan, I loved it. Trailer: https://youtu.be/wBDLRvjHVOY

Action Epics Based on Real Life Rebels

RRR

Wow. I was not expecting to be totally enthralled by S.S. Rajamouli’s Tollywood (Telugu language) film. Hands down, RRR (which stands for Rise Roar Revolt) will be the most glorious, hyperbolic, action-bromance-musical political epic spectacle you'll see all year. The laws of physics-defying action scenes are reminiscent of the operatic violence and stylized fight scenes of 300 and John Woo films. Taking place in 1920s British colonial India, the story centers on two men (loosely based on real life rebels), one a tribal warrior and the other an Indian policeman working for the British forces, who become friends, then enemies, and then eventually friends again and team up as Indian revolutionaries against the British Empire in action sequences that are just bonkers. And to top it all off, there are the exuberant Indians vs. Brits dance-off scene and the joyful credits dance number celebrating Indian freedom fighters (check out the extra links below). Don't miss it. Trailer: https://youtu.be/NgBoMJy386M

Naatu Naatu Dance Sequence: https://youtu.be/OsU0CGZoV8E

Solay Credits Sequence: https://youtu.be/2cyzCReoNgU

The Woman King

Based on the true story of a fierce all-woman warrior unit in the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century, Viola Davis’s powerful performance and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s confident directing elevates this to a full-blown epic with warmth and inspiration. Trailer: https://youtu.be/3RDaPV_rJ1Y

Nope, Not Your Typical Horror Films

Nope

Yup. Jordan Peele has done it again, this time with a UFO pic that raises questions about our society’s fascination with spectacle, as well as obsession in the pursuit of the perfect shot. With stunning visuals (much of the film was shot on IMAX to create a totally immersive feel) and tingly suspense, Peele has created a film whose meaning you can debate all day—Erasure of Black and marginalized people from history? Dangers of taming nature or exploiting trauma for profit? But at the end of the day, Peele has created yet another impressive and indelible piece of work. Trailer: https://youtu.be/In8fuzj3gck

Bones and All

A film about cannibalism? Yup. I was intrigued with where the appeal in this would be. But seen as a metaphor for queerness and addiction, Luca Guadagnino has actually created a tasteful (pun intended) and surprisingly tender romantic cannibal road pic—a flesh-eating Bonnie and Clyde-like trek across Reagan-era middle America. Guadagnino superbly depicts outcasts living on the edge of society, searching for identity and place. Not for the faint of heart, as it does not shy from the gruesomeness of their addiction. Strong performances from Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, and Mark Rylance with memorable cameos by Chloë Sevigny and an almost unrecognizable Michael Stuhlbarg. Trailer: https://youtu.be/0Nu7Z9AxGNg

More Global Cinema

Decision To Leave

An engrossing, enigmatic slow-burn noir detective mystery with heavy dose of seductive romance and obsessive longing and tinges of Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Winner of the 2022 Cannes Best Director award, Park Chan-wook steps aside from the violence and sex of his earlier films and masterfully pulls you into this intricate web of intrigue, and just when you think you've figured out the tricky complications between the obsessive married insomniac detective and the wife of an apparent suicide victim he’s investigating, Park takes you in a different direction and ultimately to its devastating end. Trailer: https://youtu.be/9aMHyTqvIvU

All Quiet on the Western Front

An impressive and truly stunning German adaptation of the famous German novel about the horrors of war as idealistic and naive boys get swept up in nationalistic fervor only to find the stark realities of being on the front lines of the Great War. A memorable performance by Felix Kammerer in his screen debut as lead character Paul Bäumer, as he experiences the unending hells of war in intimate and personal ways. WWI’s trench warfare with flamethrowers, hand-to-hand combat, and surging tanks is terrifyingly and vividly experienced by Bäumer and indelibly depicted. This epic rivals Sam Mendes's 1917 in its beautifully shot, immersive portrayal of the bleak and brutal wretchedness of pointless war and perhaps the best war film since Saving Private Ryan. Trailer: https://youtu.be/hf8EYbVxtCY

Bullet Train

Ok, this is not an international film, but it does takes place on a Japanese bullet train. High-octane, fun thrill ride of a comedic crime film with code-named hired guns like Ladybug, Tangerine, and Lemon, each with quirky traits, all crossing paths on a Shinkansen in pursuit of a silver briefcase. The smart-alecky, joyful, and fun cast is led by Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Bad Bunny, and Sandra Bullock. Enjoy the ride. Trailer: https://youtu.be/0IOsk2Vlc4o

AND OTHER ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCES

Top Gun: Maverick, The Fabelmans, Cha Cha Real Smooth; Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Exiles, Downfall: the Case Against Boeing, Wildcat, My Policeman, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Nicolas Cage playing himself), Navalny, Turning Red, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

IN THE QUEUE

Empire of Light, Women Talking, Till, The Whale, Avatar: The Way of Water. Bardo, She Said, Emancipation

FAVORITE STREAMING EXPERIENCES

Heartstopper—LOVE LOVE LOVE this sweet, charming, and adorable story of first love between two British school boys based on the bestselling YA graphic novels. For those who need a total antidote to Euphoria, this is it. Trailer: https://youtu.be/FrK4xPy4ahg

Young Royals—Take Heartstopper, add a large dose of The Crown, and plunk it down in an elite Swedish boarding school and you get this gripping drama involving a teen prince and his love interest from the other side of the tracks. Teen drama that feels real and natural. Trailer: https://youtu.be/rHmw87EpGIM

The Bear—Superbly intense and stress-inducing drama that I couldn’t stop watching, revolving around a young fine dining chef (Jeremy Allen White) who returns home to run his late brother’s Chicago hot beef sandwich eatery and oversee its colorful cast of employees that comprise a dysfunctional “family.” And if, like me, you’ve worked in a restaurant, The Bear is fully capable of giving you PTSD, especially the one-take episode 7. Trailer: https://youtu.be/y-cqqAJIXhs

The White Lotus—Season 2 in Sicily surpasses the first and brings back Jennifer Coolidge!! Trailer: https://youtu.be/Baflc_0XVfY

1899—From the folks who brought you Dark—this time trippy things happen on a cruise ship at the end of the 19th century.  Trailer: https://youtu.be/ulOOON_KYHs

Slow Horses—If you like Gary Oldman, you’ll love this spy drama where he runs an outfit of MI5 castoffs. Trailer: https://youtu.be/O9ZJChzPn0U

The Old Man—Another spy vs. spy drama, this time it’s in America with the CIA, pitting Jeff Bridges vs. John Lithgow. Trailer: https://youtu.be/xDu1Q9r6HDo

The Righteous Gemstones—I’m not sure how I missed this when it first came out, but this hysterical series is the mega-church version of Succession led by patriarch Eli Gemstone played by John Goodman and two sons played by Danny McBride and Adam Devine. It’s an absurd hoot. Trailer: https://youtu.be/t383UpoLV5k

Abbott Elementary—Top notch mockumentary style workplace sitcom that gets teachers and schools with a great cast. Trailer: https://youtu.be/cO-_7oi-61Y

Euphoria—Not for faint of heart. I thought season one was fine, but season two went to a whole different level. Zendaya is amazing. Some of the most realistic and gritty portrayal of addiction and its ripple effects. Trailer: https://youtu.be/0BG3c1ika48

House of the Dragon—For the GOT crowd. Love the dragons! Trailer: https://youtu.be/DotnJ7tTA34

[pidge-poetry]

Momma, Foals & More at the CD92.9 Holiday Show

Matt Ellis December 12, 2022 11:50 am | columbusunderground.com

Ready or not it’s Christmas time! And despite it feeling like 2021 was only a few weeks ago, we’re back at it again as trees, lights and heating bills go up, and on Friday night British indie-rockers Foals made their return to the KEMBA Live! stage as CD92.9 kicked off the festive season with a mixed bag of rock and roll.

First up, just after doors opened and criminally missed by many, was Momma, a band that dropped their third album and my album of 2022 with the staggeringly excellent Household Name. The dual-guitar/dual-vocal fronted LA based quartet didn’t disappoint with a short set that got the evening off to a great start.

Things moved off in a slightly different direction after Momma with Glove and Inner Wave providing a more moody and electronic based soundtrack that just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The last time I saw Foals live was during this very same gig but back in 2013, and while it’s fair to say many things have changed since (the hosting radio station’s frequency for one), what hasn’t changed is Foals are still a very, very good live experience and once again delivered with a blistering show.

Now slimmed down to a three-piece with the departure of Edwin Congreave, the band are currently touring their seventh studio album Life Is Yours that was released to critical praise this past April and the oddly undersold KEMBA crowd were treated to a handful of new tracks that felt a little more upbeat than Foals earlier work, yet it was still the older classics that gathered the best response from the fans as the band ramped up the intensity for a memorable encore kicked off by “Mountain At My Gates,” before a heart-pounding “Inhaler” and longstanding set closer “Two Steps, Twice” ended the evening on a massive high.

Matt Ellis is a freelance photographer who covers music that happens in the city and the Columbus Crew SC home games. More photography from Matt can be found at his Instagram page.

[expfcultragreen]

So like any time of year is a good time to acknowledge the festive vibe of another season. With that caveat im working on a mental inventory of how my festive seasons operate:

Oct 31 is the first new year of the year, witches new year aka "halloween"/samhain, halloween refers to the neoliberal secular festival (which of course i celebrate all month) and samhain refers to the witchy paganistic celebration on the 31st, which has different festivities. I spend more time on halloween publicly because thats my public craftwork, keeping the holiday accessible. After this spookyposting mostly ends until after valentine's.

November is the month of the dead. (Starting with Día de Muertos on the first and second and continuing with remembrance day on the 11th. Poppies are worn all month, día festivities are latinx invite only.)

Nov 5 is remember-remember, when we honor the works of alan moore and watch a movie he hates

Nov 11 is an antiwar day for mourning those who died as soldiers

Dec 1 is the start of the yule season; "christmas" warmup festivisties begin (yuletime music and decor intensify tenfold or more), Chanukah thoughts and greetings begin

Dec 19 is the solstice cusp; solstice festivities begin, lasting until solstice, which is second new year. This is a very craft-focused period of the yule season aka the witchiest part of december (essentially saturnalia, may be expanded to encompass the 17th-23rd date range)

Dec 24 is yule eve, festivities intensify, this is a mini feast day, seasonal movie marathoning begins formally

Dec 25 is Santa's day, when most gifts are exchanged or opened and the feast occurs. Egg dish for breakfast (eg benedict, rancheros) preferably with a mimosa, large roast with all the trimmings after dark. Movie marathon continues.

Dec 26-31 is boxing week, for decompressing from peak winter festy. Feast leftovers are eaten. Yule festivities end (music stops, no additional decor, movie marathon strictly kiboshed)

Jan 1 is gregorian new year, the third and least important new year; this holiday is about drinking champagne and personal reflection, typically a somber affair. The rest of the month is about lunar new year buildup.

Jan 25 is robbie burns day, which is about eating haggis and reading scottish poetry

End jan/early feb is lunar new year, 恭喜发财 🥰 very festive time leading into valentine's; both have lots of red. Lunar new year is about appreciating the zodiac animal for the year and staying cozy, and eating heavy savory foods and small sweets.

Feb 1 is the start of valentine's season; hearts, love, red&pink, romance and friendship, coziness and adventure, confectionery. Some overlap with lunar new year.

Feb 2 is groundhogs day, a celebration of the bill murray metaphysical romcom "groundhogs day"

Feb 14 is valentine's day, the festivities peak

Feb 15-march 13 is the pre-white day valentine's echo; this is a period of seasonal change induced mania, focus is on completion or progression of creative projects

March 14 is white day, aka second valentine's; this marks the official end of winter and start of spring aka easter season

March 17 is st patricks day which is about drinking like its summer already because the celts rock; you get to decide if youre cheating death by staying in and drinking or going out and interacting with traffic

March 18-May 1 is eastertime; its all about spring, renewal, fertility (bunnies, eggs, flowers/buds). The spring equinox happens march 19-20, a time for craftwork. Easter feast day is always on some random collectively-determined day during late eastertime, the culmination of a 4 day weekend of revelry.

April 1 is april fools, a silly day for jokes and japes. Minor holiday.

April 4 is fourfour, a day for dance music and honouring the cultural contributions of rich juzwiak. Minor holiday.

April 20 is 420, the stoners holiday. For blunts and nature walks. Flower and flowers. Gifting people baked goods or edibles is ideal. Flowercrowns all the way

April 22 is earth day 🌎

May 1 is mayday, this is a huge deal festival; should be spent in a crowd, similar vibe to 420 the more into cottagecore territory you get, very workers movement oriented in urban centers. This marks the dawn of summer festival season, which is about living that burner life; try to go to as many live music events and demos as possible.

May 4, may the fourth be with you; good time to marathon star wars/rewatch the ewok movies. Ds9 reruns for the nonobservant. Even more of a day to be stoned than normal.

May 5 is cinco de mayo, which is about softshell tacos and modellos and/or margaritas because mexico kicks ass. Summer festival atmosphere amps up threefold.

June 1 marks the start of pride. Rainbow multimonth festival for diversity, love, prosocial sexual freedom values. (This is coincident with native pride/history month.) Party hard! Pride lasts all summer although it is mainly over by the close of vancouver pride around August 6.

June 21 official start of summer, a day for outdoor drinking

July 1 cornball canadiana day, a day for drinking and listening to gord downie songs, bbq, crowds, smoking, fireworks. Red and white aesthetic. This marks the start of a 4 day drinking holiday, ideally spent mostly at the beach. GREAT day for native solidarity demo, extra magicbux there.

July 4 american independence day, for fireworks and bbq, listening to that one kelis album, drinking, watching vietnam movies, fear & loathing/where the buffalo roam/rum diary. irony to postirony vibes, red/white/blue aesthetic. Could watch the sandlot and listen to jonathan richman. This marks the start of True Summer.

July 5-August 31 is True Summer; this is a time for day drinking and midnight walking. Other festivals like yule and samhain are frequently referenced nostalgically. Local fairs and amusement parks should be visited. Canoeing. Foraging seafood. Grilling. Gazpacho.

Sept 1 marks the start of labor day week, the ambiguously long or short week that closes summer. Labor day is a bigtime last gasp for summer drinking and grilling as well as visiting the fair.

{Between labor day and the equinox is a liminal phase of autumn known as Virgo Season; its all about back to school vibes, fallcore mode begins. Long walks and foliage scrutiny, lots of divinations}

Sept 21-24 is fall equinox, the official start of fall. Fall season worship intensifies. Start anticipating the pumpkin spice now.

Oct 1 pumpkin spice season in full effect, it is now officially Halloween. Halloween lasts all month, culminating in samhain night. There is a midmonth feast honouring the first nations, falling on indigenous people's day.

[brookston]

Holidays 4.18

Holidays

Adult Autism Awareness Day

Anal Sex Day (Jim Jeffries)

Army Day (Iran)

Banyan Tree Birthday Party (Maui, Hawaii)

Battle of Dybbøl Day (Denmark)

Bilberry Day (French Republic)

Celebrate Ben Solo Day

Coggia’s Comet Day

Coma Patients’ Day (Poland)

Day of Historic and Cultural Monuments (Ukraine)

Day of Secretaries (Belgium, Netherlands)

89ers Day (Oklahoma)

Ernie Pyle Remembrance Day

Friend’s Day (Brazil)

I Love CSU Day (Colorado)

International Amateur Radio Day

International Day For Monuments and Sites (UNESCO)

International Erasure T-Shirt Day

International Juggler's Day

International No Declaw Day

Ianthe Asteroid Day

Invention Day (Japan)

Laundromat Day

National Columnists’ Day

National Exercise Day

National Financial Advisor Day

National Lineman Appreciation Day

National Lydia Day

National Poem in Your Pocket Day

National Send Nudes Day

National Sleep Apnea Awareness Day

National Transfer Money to Your Daughter’s Account Day

National Transgender HIV Testing Day

National Velociraptor Awareness Day

Newspaper Columnists' Day

Paul Revere Day

Pet Owners Independence Day (a.k.a. Pet Parents’ Day Off)

Piñata Day

Real People Day

Red Cross Society Day (Ukraine)

Respect Your Mother Day

Robanukah (Futurama)

Scouts’ Day (Armenia)

Sleep Apnea Awareness Day

Smile Big and Say Hi For No Particular Reason Day

Superman Day

Third World Day

Ushibuka Haiya Matsuri (Dance Festival; Japan)

Victory Over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice (Russia)

World Amateur Radio Day

World Artisan Day

World Heritage Day

World Trifle Day

Youth Homelessness Matters Day

Zhabdrung Kuchhoe (Bhutan)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Animal Crackers Day

World Food Travel Day

3rd Thursday in April

Ask An Atheist Day [3rd Thursday; also 9.16]

Biomedical Research Awareness Day [3rd Thursday]

College Student Grief Awareness Day [3rd Thursday]

Get To Know Your Customers Day [3rd Thursday of each Quarter]

High Five Day [3rd Thursday]

International Pizza Cake Day [3rd Thursday]

National D.A.R.E. Day [3rd Thursday]

National High Five Day [3rd Thursday]

Sumardagurinn Fyrsti (1st Day of Summer; Iceland) [1st Thursday after 4.18]

Throwback Thursday [3rd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 18 (3rd Week)

Cleaning for a Reason [thru 4.24]

Consumer Awareness Week [thru 4.23]

Health Information Professionals Week [thru 4.24]

National Osteopathic Medicine Week [thru 4.24]

Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives in the Line of Duty Week [thru 4.23]

Independence & Related Days

Earth’s Kingdom (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

Pinang (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Republic of Eire (Formal Proclamation; 1949)

Zimbabwe (from UK, 1980)

New Year’s Days

Lao New Year Holiday (Laos)

Myanmar New Year Holidays (Myanmar)

Festivals Beginning April 18, 2024

Atlanta Wing Fest (Atlanta, Georgia)

Grape Day (Temecula, California)

Love the Burger Battle Contest (Luverne, Minnesota) [thru 5.25]

Roadburn Festival (Tilburg, Netherlands) [thru 4.20]

Taste of St. Croix (St. Croix, US Virgin Islands)

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Agia (Christian; Saint)

Apollonius the Apologist (Christian; Saint)

Bun-Bun Brothers’ Day (Muppetism)

Carista: Day of Peace in the Family (Pagan)

Corebus (Christian; Saint)

Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Eleutherius, Antia & His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Festival of Matsu (a.k.a. Mazu; Taoist Sea Goddess)

Festival of Rama-Navami (Hinduism; Everyday Wicca)

Fox Tail Burning Day (Ancient Rome)

Galdino della Sala (a.k.a. Galdin; Christian; Saint)

Gustave Moreau (Artology)

Idesbald (Christian; Saint)

Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet (Artology)

Lady Macbeth Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Laserian (a.k.a. Laisren or Molaisse; Christian; Saint)

Ludwig Meisner (Artology)

Make Faerie Rocks Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Laserim, Bishop of Laighlin, Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Max Weber (Artology)

Molaise of Leighlin (Christian; Saint)

Nihilism Day (Pastafarian)

Perfectus (Christian; Saint)

Plato of Sakkoudion (Christian; Saint)

Three Impossible Mixtures Day (Celtic Book of Days)

The Underlings (Muppetism)

Vitruvius (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [18 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [15 of 30]

Premieres

Absolute Beginners (Film; 1986)

Alice’s Circus Dance (Disney Cartoon; 1927)

Apes of Wrath (WB MM Cartoon; 1959)

Baggage Buster (Disney Cartoon; 1941)

Barnyard Olympics (Disney Cartoon; 1932)

Beyond This Horizon, by Robert A. Heinlein (Novel; 1948)

Chess-Nuts (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1932)

Dog Trouble (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1942)

Fancy Free, by Leonard Bernstein (Ballet; 1944)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Film; 2008)

Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot (Poetry; 1943)

Gorky Park, by Martin Cruz Smith (Novel; 1981)

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Disneyland Animatronic Exhibit; 1964)

Holes (Film; 2003)

Kongo-Roo (Phantasies Cartoon; 1946)

Legend (Film; 1986)

Little Johnny Jet (MGM Cartoon; 1953)

Mare of Easttown (TV Series; 2021)

Manifestoes of Surrealism, by André Breton (Book; 1924)

Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian (Novel; 1969)

Muscle Tussle (WB MM Cartoon; 1953)

The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham (Novel; 1944)

The Saint in Trouble, by Graham Weaver (Short Stories; 1978) [Saint #47]

Sheikh of Araby, recorded by Sidney Bechet (Song; 1941)

The Simple Things (Disney Cartoon; 1953)

Speaking of Animals Down on the Farm (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1941)

Straight Shooters (Disney Cartoon; 1947)

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (WB Animated Film; 2017)

Three Little Wolves (Disney Silly Symphonies Cartoon; 1936)

Uncle Joey (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

Winged Migration (Documentary Film; 2003)

Today’s Name Days

Werner, Wigbert (Austria)

Viktor, Viktoriya (Bulgaria)

Atanazija, Eusebije, Hermogen, Roman (Croatia)

Valérie (Czech Republic)

Eleutherius (Denmark)

Valdek, Valdeko, Valdemar, Valdo, Valdu, Valdur, Valmar, Valmer, Voldemar, Volli, Volmer (Estonia)

Valdemar, Valto (Finland)

Parfait (France)

Werner, Wigbert (Germany)

Eirene, Eirini, Irene, Irini, Nikolaos, Nikoleta, Nikos, Nicholas, Nicolas, Nick, Rafael, Rene, Rena, Renia, Rhenia (Greece)

Andrea, Ilma (Hungary)

Galdino (Italy)

Dana, Hildegarde, Jadviga, Laura, Nameisis (Latvia)

Apolonijus, Eitvilas, Girmantė, Undinė (Lithuania)

Eilen, Eilert (Norway)

Apoloniusz, Bogusław, Bogusława, Flawiusz, Gościsław (Poland)

Ioan (Romania)

Valér (Slovakia)

Perfecto (Spain)

Valdemar, Volmar (Sweden)

Anthea, Ayana, Ayanna, Warner, Werner (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 109 of 2024; 257 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 16 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 5 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 10 (Ren-Zi)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 10 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 9 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 19 Cyan; Fryday [19 of 30]

Julian: 5 April 2024

Moon: 76%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 25 Archimedes (4th Month) [Strabo]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 31 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 29 of 31)

[atlanteaverse]

Culture: Intro & Religion

The Culture of Atlantea is a multicultural nation with significant ties to its rich history. Modern Atlantean culture is heavily influenced by nationalist movements within the nation which seek the restoration of the former Empire of Atlantea (1876-2075).

 With this, though, the Atlantean culture is diverse, it remains consistently centered around classic Atlantean ideals of the family and religion.

Religion

 Religion plays a major part in daily Atlantean life, ever since the Demon war of the 2570s there has been a growing shift in religious observances, with the Census of 2580 reporting that at least 70% of the nation observed a form of religion, with the majority (54%) following the ancient Solar religion. Both these percentages were up since the last Census of 2560 which stated that around 45% of the nation observed a form of religion with 30% observing the ancient Solar Religion.

 Due to the heavy religious influences in the culture the government has taken steps to recognize this trend, and has structured its operational calendar around the liturgical calendar of the Solar Church, dividing the year into two periods, “The New Year” which runs from January-April, and is the primary time that one will find the government in major session, and the “Festival Season” which runs from April-December, where the government does not meet as often and most functions are either related to the various holidays and observances during this period.

 While the overall festivals are standardized via the church, the different communes have separate methods based upon historical tradition for observing certain holidays, however, all communes observe Zikaron HaKochavim, All Saint’s Day, Temple Day, Hearth's Warming, Springtide, and Solstice. These six holidays are seen as the most important holidays and require all communes to gather in the Capital city for the festivals there.

Most religious festivals have a few common elements, a parade, a market day, and a feast day, interspersed throughout these days are days of worship where the commune spends an entire day in worship, and days of sacrifice and penance, where the local priest presents the sacrifices of the people at the local commune altar.

 There are several sacraments which occur throughout the life of a member of the Solar Church, with the first sacrament being that of dedication to the F’tere before the High Priest at the temple.

This usually occurs within 7 months of birth, and after an allotted period of cleansing for the mother.

The second sacrament is that of “First Sacrifice” which occurs on the 10th birthday of a child, where the child presents their first sacrifice at the Temple.

The third sacrament is the sacrament of adulthood, a multi-week ritual that occurs before the 16th birthday and after the 16th birthday of a child. The period of celebration is finished by a week of fasting and then a sacrifice at the Temple.

Then there is the sacrament of marriage, which is not performed in the temple but outside it by a priest. And then the cycle repeats itself upon the birth of a new child.

 The sacraments are an important element of worship in the Solar church and are seen as major gateways to the Eternal Realm. Also known in ancient religious texts as “The Garden”.

 The temple in the capitol city is seen as the most important building in the solar church, and thus, there is only one temple.

 However, despite the major religious presence of the Solar church there are other religions including Islam which dwell within the nation of Atlantea.

[greensparty]

Album Reviews: Record Store Day releases from Wilco and The Stooges

Sat. April 22 is Record Store Day, my favorite fake holiday. What could be better than a day to celebrate independent record stores? As with each RSD, there are some special exclusive RSD releases you can only buy on RSD and at participating stores. I was lucky enough to get to review some of tomorrow’s releases.

Wilco Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

album cover

Last year to celebrate the anniversary of Wilco’s masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (originally released in 2001, so it was actually a 21st anniversary, but who’s counting), the band released a Super Deluxe Edition. It had loads of demos, rarities and live recordings. I included it in my Best Reissues of 2022 list. For RSD, they are releasing the LP Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which is highlights of last year’s YHF Super Deluxe Edition. This particular collection was first released as a CD in the Sept. 2022 issue of Uncut magazine and it’s now being released on vinyl for the first time.

I’ve been lucky enough to get to review the band’s Ode to Joy and Cruel Country albums and they certainly are one of the greatest American rock bands of the last 25 years. Hands down! As much as I enjoyed last year’s Super Deluxe Edition, I didn’t buy it for $75-$200, I just listened to it online. So if you didn’t splurge on that box set, this is kind of a cool highlights collection, mixing early cuts of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” and “Camera” along with alternate takes of “War on War” and selections from a 2002 St. Louis concert and a 2022 NYC concert. An incredible band giving us their best album in a new way!

For info on this RSD release from Wilco: https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/15890

4 out of 5 stars

Iggy and The Stooges Raw Power RSD Essential Gold

album cover

Technically speaking, this is not an RSD release. Legacy Recordings released this on March 31 as an RSD Essential, so it makes the cut of this week’s RSD reviews. But I digress. Michigan’s The Stooges (also known as Iggy and The Stooges) were the emerging out of the same scene as The MC5 and by the time the band released their third album Raw Power in 1973, they had already been through some line-up changes. The album was produced by lead Stooge Iggy Pop and his pal David Bowie. It is one of the greatest albums of all time! You can see the influence it had on all of the punk scenes that came out of London and NYC in the years that followed. You can understand why Kurt Cobain named it one of his favorite albums. Legacy’s recent release is a double album of the 1973 David Bowie mix and the 1997 Iggy Pop mix for the CD reissue. Did I mention the vinyl is gold?

This album is pure raw rock and roll the way it was meant to be played. Garage rock, punk rock, glam rock, hard rock - call it what you want, but the title Raw Power says it all. This album is one I got into in the mid-90s when I was going through an Iggy Pop phase and it stands head and shoulders as the best work of him and his bandmates. 50 years later this runs circles around much of the “punk music” being released today. The 2016 Stooges documentary Gimme Danger shows how influential the band was after their 1974 break up and before their 2003 reunion. I was lucky enough to catch the reunited Stooges (Pop, the Ashetons and Watt) in 2004 at Little Steven’s Underground Garage Festival in NYC and was blown away that these AARP-age rockers basically mopped up the floor with bands half their age who played earlier that day. The highlights of that show were indeed the Raw Power hits. With this 50th anniversary release, it is cool to hear the original and the remastered, but either way you listen, this rocks!

For info on Raw Power: https://www.legacyrecordings.com/2023/02/03/iggy-the-stooges-raw-power-50th-anniversary-legacy-edition-out-today/

5 out of 5 stars

[vilaspatelvlogs]

12 से 18 अप्रैल का पंचांग: नवरात्र होने से पूरा हफ्ता रहेगा खास; इस सप्ताह शुरू होगा हिंदू नववर्ष, 6 दिन तक रहेंगे व्रत-पर्व

12 से 18 अप्रैल का पंचांग: नवरात्र होने से पूरा हफ्ता रहेगा खास; इस सप्ताह शुरू होगा हिंदू नववर्ष, 6 दिन तक रहेंगे व्रत-पर्व

Hindi News Jeevan mantra Dharm Hindu Calendar 12 To 18 April 2021 Panchang: April 3rd Week Holiday Festivals Vrat Upavas Teej Tyohar Parva Astrological Events Important Days Ads से है परेशान? बिना Ads खबरों के लिए इनस्टॉल करें दैनिक भास्कर ऐप 3 घंटे पहले कॉपी लिंक ज्योतिषीय नजरिये से भी खास रहेगा ये हफ्ता, इन दिनों में होगा 3 ग्रहों का राशि परिवर्तन इस हफ्ते की शुरुआत सोमवती अमावस्या से हो…

[all-an-act]

Possibly another adopted by tokomaru hcs but if they were all adopted together?

I gotchu~

~ Mod Noire

"We'll Save You"

(TokoMaru x Platonic!Warriors Of Hope)

They heard that they were going to be adopted by Komaru and Toko, and were all instantly ":O" faced.

Masaru and Nagisa immediately take on the protective roles of the rest, stepping in front of them at all times, as if ready to accept a beating in order to protect the others.

This deeply saddens Toko, who reassures all five kids that they have nothing to worry about.

Monaca gets shunned for a while by the other four, despite deeply regretting all she had done to them prior.

This is intervened by Komaru, who stages a mini "intervention", so to speak. She basically allows Monaca to express her regret, and the other Warriors to hear her out.

"Deal with it." - Komaru, in the middle of a peaceful argument with Toko.

Masaru, surprisingly, broke down crying, and the other Warriors were not happy.

Kotoko WAS READY TO THROW HANDS-

Honestly, if it weren't for Monaca and Nagisa, both Komaru and Toko would have probably gotten killed by Kotoko's wrathful self-

Jataro was the comfort to Masaru, and Monaca joined in on that after mediating the fight.

If anyone says the word "gentle", I kid you not, Nagisa socks them in the jaw so fast-

NOBODY gets to hurt HIS little sister. His words, not mine.

Kotoko helps Monaca bedazzle her wheelchair with cute jewels, stickers, and googly eyes!

The first time a Warrior called one of them "mom", it was completely an accident.

And it was, surprisingly enough, Jataro who said it.

Toko was helping Jataro sew up his mask after it had come apart, when he blurted it out.

"Thank you, M-M-Mom."

Toko's heart felt like it could burst right then and there.

But it shattered when he began apologizing for it.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what g-g-got into me... I didn't mean t-to... I'll never s-say it again, I p-p-promise..."

Toko hugged him so tight, she almost squeezed the oxygen out of him.

"N-No! No! I like that you see me as your mom, because that's what I a-am now!"

Jataro was confused. All his life, his mother hadn't wanted him. The idea that someone did, especially someone so kind and sweet, baffled him. It just seemed so foreign to him, and the warm affection almost seemed to burn.

"N-N-Naegi-San, too?"

"Yes! Naegi-San is happy to be your mom, too! We love you! We both love all of you!"

The first secret came from Monaca, where she revealed that she had faked her disability. She was willing to give up the faking, but wanted to keep her wheelchair for comfort. Komaru agreed to this, and allowed her to keep her wheelchair as a comfort item.

Kotoko and Nagisa were a bit upset about that, but they eventually forgave Monaca, understanding that she only used it to obtain sympathy enough to escape from the abuse of her brother and father. Masaru and Jataro forgave her right away.

Nagisa revealed once that he was getting picked on in school, and that he wanted to be homeschooled because of it.

Genocide Jack was NOT HAVING IT.

He showed up at the school, and threatened the kids' lives with scissors had a talk with them.

That was when Nagisa realized that he really could depend on the two women. He did begin to show affection, albeit in his own kuudere way, much more often.

For example, he was a lot less snarky when correcting their grammar, math, etc., and he genuinely smiles and compliments them all the time.

Kotoko gave the first hug. She was so overwhelmed with emotion, that she shamelessly, unapologetically hugged both Komaru and Toko!

Uncle. Makoto. Is. Their. Favorite. Person. In. The. History. Of. Everything.

NOW, LET'S GET INTO HOLIDAYS WITH THIS FAMILY-

Komaru and Toko totally put all five of the kids in therapy for their trauma.

None of them are upset with it, though. They actually appreciate it.

New Year's is a surprisingly fun holiday with this family!

Kotoko, Masaru, and Monaca stay up to watch the ball drop with Komaru!

Nagisa, Jataro, and Toko are all out before eleven o'clock.

The four that are awake do fun things while waiting for the ball to drop!

For example, Monaca reads them her favorite books! She takes requests, though, and if one of them requests a specific story, she will try her best to read it. Komaru makes sure not to request anything too difficult for someone her age.

Masaru gets them all to play ping-pong with spoons and mini cupcakes.

The rounds are as follows: Masaru vs. Monaca, Masaru vs. Kotoko, Masaru vs. Komaru, Komaru vs. Monaca, Komaru vs. Kotoko, and Kotoko vs. Monaca.

Kotoko paints all their nails. Yes, even Masaru's. Masaru genuinely doesn't care, and he wants his the brightest, boldest red color she has. Komaru goes for a paler green. Monaca goes for bright green. Kotoko gets her nails painted by Masaru and Monaca; one hand for each of them.

Kotoko ends up with a half pink, half black handset, courtesy of Monaca and Masaru, respectively.

Toko and the others are disappointed that they missed all the festivities, but Komaru reassures them that there's always next year.

Valentine's Day is another fun holiday for them!

Jataro saves up all his allowance for almost four months in order to buy everyone presents!

Precious babey-

Jataro ends up giving Komaru a Ouija board, tuna eyeballs, and a new electric fan to talk to.

Yes, Jataro has witnessed her strange habits, and is curious of them.

He gets Toko a little clip-on nightlight to help her through her fear of the dark. She clips it to her shirt twenty-four-seven, and always makes sure that it has batteries.

Masaru is given a cool red basketball with his name written in white letters. He never plays with it, though, preferring to keep it in a safe place, where it won't get dirty or broken.

Nagisa is gifted a large encyclopedia. It's a simple gift, but he appreciates it, and gives Jataro a long, genuine hug.

He gifts Kotoko with a cute book with kawaii, adorbs stickers. Surprise, surprise, everybody wakes up with their faces stickered, and there are stickers all along the walls, floors, and appliances. Anybody who comes over thinks it's cute, and that only encourages Kotoko to "spread [her] adorbs-ness everywhere"!

He gives Monaca a sewing machine, because Monaca had brought up her love of fashion. He thought that maybe she would want to design her own. Monaca burst into tears, exclaiming that she felt so selfish for accepting a gift from someone she used to treat so cruelly. Of course, Jataro reassures her that that's in the past, and they're siblings now. Monaca ends up with a soft smile, and hugging the life out of a very blushy, flustered Jataro.

When St. Patrick's Day rolls around, Monaca puts her Valentine’s Day present to use! She makes cute green outfits for everyone, and takes their senses of style into account. Masaru's is designed like a jersey, Kotoko's has lots of glitter and frills, Komaru's and Toko's are designed like schoolgirl uniforms, Nagisa's is formally styled, Jataro's is leathery, and her own looks steampunk.

Kotoko convinces everyone to go look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or at least some leprechauns.

They didn't find any. :(

April Fool's Day is a D A N G E R O U S day to exist, as long as they live with Masaru.

Masaru is basically a miniature Kokichi Ouma when it comes to pranks.

He switched the sugar for salt once, and Kotoko ended up sick for two weeks, considering she eats too much of it, and probably eats it in spoonfuls.

Mother's Day is a fun one! They split Mother's Day up into five days, that way each kid got to spend time with each mother.

On the first day, Toko took Masaru to a basketball game that she had scored third-row tickets to prior to Mother's Day. He cheered so loud, and it warmed her heart to see his joy at her surprise. Masaru ended up giving her a pack of colored chalk for her to write on her chalkboard with. Komaru ended up taking Nagisa to watch Harry Potter in a theater with her, after realizing they had both read the book. In return, he gave her a meal of tuna eyeballs that he cooked, himself. They weren't perfect, but... he tried. :'3

On day two, Toko took Nagisa to go write short stories together. They googled writing prompts, and each used the same one to comprise a story of under five thousand words in ten minutes. Then, they judged and gave constructive criticism to one another. He gave her high-quality pens to write down her ideas with. Meanwhile, Komaru took Jataro to plant a garden of vegetables in the backyard, and tend to it everyday. Sometimes, Jataro talks to their plants when he feels lonely. He gave her a pretty rock. Again, he tried. :'3

On day three, Toko took Jataro on a food tour, where she drove around and they got a small snack from every food place they drove past, eventually ending up with a whole big meal! He gave her a pretty flower. All the while, Komaru took Kotoko to a fashion show where they showcased pretty glittery idol clothes and lolita clothes. She gave Komaru a song she had written in her honor. Yes, Kotoko actually spent weeks writing a song for Komaru, and even got the other Warriors to play the instruments for the music. Masaru played guitar, Nagisa played the piano, Jataro played the drums, and Monaca played the bass. Of course, Kotoko was the vocalist. (Band AU?)

On day four, Toko took Kotoko to a Morning Musume concert. I swear, everyone must have had bleeding ears from how loud Kotoko screamed for it. She ended up getting an autograph and a picture with Tanaka Reina, so she was a very, very happy girl. She gave Toko a pink card that had a painted sweet message on it and was practically swimming in pink glitter. Meanwhile, Komaru took Monaca to play video games and order Monaca's favorite food. It was something simple, but something Monaca really appreciated. They played Pac-Man, Super Smash Bros., Sonic The Hedgehog, and Crash Bandicoot. And they had tons of fun. Monaca gave her a cute new outfit, made in steampunk design, that she made, herself.

On day five, Toko took Monaca to a planetarium, where they looked at all the beautiful constellations. Monaca, being the smart cookie she is, told her all their names, what they represented, etc.! And at night, they went stargazing for real, Monaca pointing out her favorite constellations again. Monaca gave Toko an invention of hers: a program she designed that filters out spelling errors, grammar errors, etc., and suggests new ideas when writer's block comes around. Meanwhile, Komaru took Masaru to play laser tag! Komaru got "shot" sixteen times, while Masaru got "shot" three times. The two made jokes about it the entire way home, and it was just an overall fun day. He gave her the baseball that he had batted to hit the final, winning home run in his last game. It was the only winning baseball he had ever hit, so Komaru felt quite special receiving the gift.

Now, onto Father's Day~!

Genocide Jack takes an hour to spend with each kid!

He plays soccer, basketball, and baseball with Masaru for the first hour!

He reads stuffy, boring novels with Nagisa for the second hour.

He cooks the best, most fanciest meal with Jataro for the third hour!

He acts out movie and show scenes with Kotoko for the fourth hour.

He helps Monaca make inventions and sew for the fifth hour!

He refuses all of their gifts in return, however, as he doesn't believe that children who have been hurt in the past, just as Toko herself was, should be allowed to pay homage to adults.

Despite them not technically being his kids, he cares enough to step into that role for them, Toko and Komaru allowing him to do so.

The fourth of July is great!

Genocide Jack brings up the idea of taking the kids to a carnival for it, to which Toko and Komaru agree.

They all get facepaints, funnel cakes, and they ride all the rides!

They play most of the games as well, and win eight or nine stuffed animals!

It becomes an annual tradition to take the kids to the carnival for the Fourth Of July!

For Halloween, of course they're all the cutest things!

Masaru is Yasutaka Okayama. Nagisa is Albert Einstein. Jataro is Frankenstein's Monster. Kotoko is a Fairy Princess. Monaca is female Izuku Midoriya.

Kotoko has no issue using her cuteness to get extra candy.

When Thanksgiving rolls around, it's always fun!

Toko and Komaru prepare dinner the night before, while the Warriors aren't allowed downstairs. They have to call if they want something, like water, and there is a bathroom in the attic.

In the morning, when the actual cooking happens, Kotoko and Masaru beg to help, but only Nagisa is allowed to, because Nagisa is the responsible one.

Even so, they invite their family members that they are still in touch with, such as Uncle Makoto, Aunt Kyoko, Aunt Aoi, Uncle Byakuya, Uncle Yasuhiro, and even Genocide Jack makes his "grand appearance".

Honestly, it shouldn't even be surprising at this point.

Christmas is another fun time!

They do Secret Santa, but Komaru and Toko make sure that they get each other.

Masaru gets Jataro; he ends up getting Jataro a whole new array of spices and flavorings for his cooking hobby! Jataro appreciates this greatly, and uses it whenever he cooks.

Nagisa gets Kotoko; he gets her a toy microphone that works like a real one, just on a smaller scale. Nagisa can now consider himself the reason "One Room Sugar Life" is belted through the house at two in the morning every day.

Jataro gets Monaca; he buys her a whole stack of fashion magazines with her beloved Big Sis Junko in them, along with new fabric to sew with. She appreciates the gifts, and assures Jataro that he can revel in despair with her when she obtains it.

Monaca gets Masaru; she gifts him with a ping-pong set, a table tennis set, and an air hockey set. Masaru is surprised that she cared enough, to which Monaca replies, "Monaca is a changed person now. Monaca cares about you now."

Birthdays are the same as Christmas, but all their efforts focus on that one person.

They grow to all love each other very much, and all of them would happily die in defense of the others.

Monaca even eventually gives up on her obsession with Junko, hope, and despair, with their help.

All the Warriors will forever appreciate everything that Toko and Komaru have done for them.

Overall, just a completely wholesome family.

[astormyjet]

Winter of 2018 - Summer of 2021 TIME FILES WHEN YOU’RE IN YOUR 20s!!!!

OH BOY. It’s been three years (or more) since I updated this. “Time is a weird soup!” to quote a fave. I guess I quit tumblr around the time there was a purge of content and creators and a smack down on a lot of the fandom communities. Tumblr has always been something of a crapshow though so I’ve been more productive with my time than I was in some ways, but I’ve also found other ways to waste my time. *cough twitter/netflix/youtube/MTGArena cough*.

General Life Achievements since 2018 -JLPT N3 GET in 2019! -Blackbelt GET in 2018! -TESOL 120 Hour and BE 50 Hour Cert from online provider GET in 2021 -STUDENT LOAN BANISHED (Thank you grandparents) -Survived Apartment flooding in early 2020. -Mystery anxiety related illness and chronic pain in my left leg from early 2020 - Present. -A mythical 6th and 7th year on the JET Programme. -Started posting on Instagram a lot more about my wanderings around Matsuyama/Uwajima. Mainly old buildings and stray cats. @astormyknight -Surviving so far in Japan with old rona-chan.

2018 was rough. I was given an additional school in the first semester (March to July) as we had someone find a better job. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a rough go especially when I was transferred that August after three fantastic years at Tsubaki JHS and ES and only a semester there. I legit went through the five stages of grief - which I think is another reason I stopped blogging. I was given my current base school along with four other schools. Going from 2(3) to 5 schools was a bit of an adjustment. I still feel a bit spread out.

That said, I keep running into teachers and students who were at the Tsubaki’s. The teachers shuffle around every April, so it's always a lottery with which new faces are going to be old friends (or enemies…). A couple of kids moved and transferred into my current schools from Tsubaki too. So I have one kid I can say I've been teaching for 6 out of the 7 years I've been here!

One of the kids who was in JHS 3rd grade when I first got here (in 2015!) hangs out around one of my favorite cafes, so I got chatting with him recently. He's in his second year of nursing school - his class nearly broke me in the first year, it was really a trial by fire with those kids. I was 22 then, and he’s 20 now, so it was interesting chatting to him about that first year of teaching. His younger sister was one of my favorite students too, she was in the group of kids that graduated in the March of 2018, the year group that went through Tsubaki JHS with me - they’re newly minted University students now!

This Thursday morning when I was cycling in to work, a kid who was 2nd year JHS when I left  (so 2nd or 3rd year JHS now) pulled up with their Mum in a van and got their mamachari out of the back to bike to school. The franticness of it all was hilarious. Their Mum legit sat on the horn until I pulled over. I was so happy to run into this kid, even at social distance and both of us late to work/school - because we both remembered each other and as they were going around the corners they were yelling each time they turned and humming the old elementary school directions chant and pelting me with questions about what I’ve been up to.

I've had so many students and schools now, that everything is kind of running into a blur. I remember flashes of kids faces and voices, random memories of in class or out of class shenanigans out of the blue. Also, I now, more than ever, have issues remembering kids' names, but I still know their faces (even with their masks), whose homeroom class they were in, who their friends were and which club they were in. I get random flashbacks to past conversations with them when I see them on the street or we run into each other. I feel bad because the first thing former students ask is ‘Do you remember my name?’ and I always have to be like, ‘Honestly, no, but I remember you did this on x day, x month in x classroom’.

Socially in 2018 -2019 - a few of our friends went home and things shook up a little. Our DnD group changed a bit - one of our players stepped into the role forever DM (THANK YOU RALPH). From memory the newbies were great - some of them just went home at the start of last month and it’s weird not seeing them around (JESS DO YOUR BEST!). I think we only have one or two people left from that rotation. There’s no 6th year ALTs, and only two 5th years.

Aug 2018 - Aug 2019 was the year of Hiura - my mountain school. Dang man, they were so cool. The students of the JHS and the ES combined barely hit 30, so each class was between 3-10 students depending on the grade. It was easier to get to know the kids, their abilities and their goals than it has been for me at other schools. I miss it so bad, being in nature once a week did my country-kid heart so good! The bugs! The frogs! The river! The mountain! The monkeys! The lizards! The dilapidated houses and hidden shrines!!!! The random crabs in the English room...I forgot that there was such a thing as freshwater crabs, and being right next to a river, the invasion wasn’t as out of place as I first thought...  

The area is so picturesque and calming. Every week up there was a small adventure (after getting over my motion sickness from the bus ride up). The kids were constantly pranking either myself or the main English teacher. There was always some new weird bug or lizard in a tank to be educated about. There were chickens on the way to the JHS that used to escape from their cardboard box prisons to run riot on the gardens. There were old people to freak out with my youth and foreignness! The kids also got to do a lot of extra classes, sumiyakai (making charcoal the traditional way), planting and maintaining rice paddies, setting up vegetable gardens, raising fireflies, conserving a special breed of fire lily (only found in this particular mountain valley) and another rare flower, wilderness training ect.

I wish I could have stayed there a lot longer but SOMEONE (read...the BoE) decided that schools had to be shuffled again(thank goodness the dude who has it now was able to keep it from the 2021 shuffle, he's the best fit for the school). I had so many good memories from there, I wish I had been more consistent in writing it down. I do have a bunch of photos and videos from there though, so that's nice. The only thing I don’t miss is the bus trip up and down - not only was it motion sickness, there was a healthy dose of fear each ride as the driver brought us perilously close to the edge of the mountain drop…

2019 - 2020 was interesting. With the school I got given instead of the Hirua’s I was roped into more demonstration lessons which was a lot of pressure because I was also involved quite heavily with the JHS observation and training lessons too. They were somewhat rewarding, the third graders are now super smart 5th graders, but the teachers  who need to embrace the new curriculum and ways of teaching really haven’t taken on anything from the lessons....

Outside of work as well, I was given the chance, thanks to an ALT buddy of mine, to join in with the local festival. It's been one of the biggest highlights of my time here, and I am gutted it’s been cancelled for the last two years, but I understand the reason…. I was able to travel to Okinawa too during that summer for an international Karate seminar with the Dojo I train with. I met the head of the style I currently practice and a bunch of people from around the world. I also got to see Shuri castle before it burned down. So that was a stroke of luck. One of the places I want to go when/if we get out of this pandemic is Okinawa. I want to see more of those Islands so bad. Just before the whole pandemic thing too - I managed to see the Rugby World Cup, a Canada vs NZ match, I even ran into Tana Umanga in Oita city!!!

2019 - 2020 was supposed to be my last year on JET, so I was frantically Job hunting. I went to the Career Fair in Osaka in early Feb/Late January 2020. I applied and got interviewed for a position in Sendai in early Jan 2020. In the end though - the Rona hit. We started hearing whispers of it around the end of 2019, then the cruise boats happened, and then Japan refused to cancel the Olympics...every holiday season there is a new wave of infections, my nurse friends in Tokyo are struggling....my teacher friends in more populous areas of Japan are struggling…

JET couldn't get new ALTs for 2020-2021, I took the extra year when it was eventually offered, as the one job I had managed to get a serious offer for was hesitating because with the rona setting in, things were uncertain. There was a lot of time spent adjusting to the new rules surrounding what we could do in class with the kids as well as textbook change. Schools shut on and off during the spring months. 

I also got a reminder of my mortality mid May with an unrelated illness which is still smacking me around a bit - stress/age, it does things to the human body it has no right to. It's only been in the last three months I’ve been able to exercise like I used to, I’ve put on a bunch of weight I can't shrug off (one part medication, another part diet) My relationship with food needs to change, and I really need a kitchen that allows me for more than one pan meals. I also need to figure out what to do with a left leg that is in constant pain from the knee down and a heart that misses beats when stressed out (mentally and physically…). 

My apartment also got flooded by the guy upstairs at one point, I spent most of late February/early March living in a hotel while my walls and floor got redone - I think this was one of the things that really stressed me out and kicked my anxiety right up a notch, it was right when things were getting REALLY bad with rona-chan in Hokkaido and schools were shutting down here as it was filtering into the prefecture and so Japan closed schools for the first time…

Classes in covid times have been weird. We’ve been wearing facemasks full time since the early stages of the pandemic (March 2020) - so I admit that I get a bit pissed off seeing both Americans and New Zealanders back home bitching about just having to start wearing them full time in public. I have asthma and have been suffering with the things on during the 30*C plus with high 90s humidity summers. Teachers were offered vaccines late July 2021, just days before the Olympics were open - and I finished my two shots in the middle of August. But the overall distribution and take up of the jab has been slow.  As mentioned above, we can't play a lot of the games we used to play with kids in classes anymore, and a lot of the activities outlined in the textbook curriculum need to be adjusted too, so we’ve had to be creative. We use hand sanitizer a lot more too. One of the things I miss the most though, is eating lunch with the kids.

Socially from summer 2020 - now 2021 we played a lot of DnD and board games, both online and in person when we could. There were no new ALTs again for the 2021-2022 JET year, and those of us who were in 6th year were offered a 7th. Four out of six of us took it. As a whole we’re down from a peak of 38 ALTs for Junior High and Elementary school to 22 for now. We hopefully will get a new person at the end of September, and 4 more in November. Which will bring us to 27. This has led to ANOTHER round of school shuffles.

Summer vacation has been weird the last two years. With rona-chan, we haven’t really been able to travel. All the summer festivals (all the Autumn and Winter ones too!) have been cancelled, so the changing of seasons just feels, wrong. I dunno. There is so much we all miss from pre-rona-chan, and so much that doesn’t happen that makes this just feel like one long long unending year of sadness, coldness, raininess, unbearable heat and repeat. I’m tired. Time is going so fast, but so.dang.slow.

I lost my favorite school (AGAIN GDI!!!) and gained the school I taught a semester at in 2019....I had my first day there on Wednesday. Schools actually started back on September 1st so there was some drama as the BoE didn’t communicate fast enough about our school changes. We legit got told on the 27th of August (on a Friday) our schools were changing effective September 1st, but somehow some of our schools found out on the Monday 30th August. In July we were told we would be changing schools at the end of September, so.a lot of ALTs and schools were left short changed, not having opportunities to say goodbye to co-workers or students/having their planning for the semester more or less thrown out the window too. I love my job. I really dislike the way the BoE treats us, the Japanese assistant language teachers and our schools.

The new school I have is used to having an ALT there twice a week, who plans all the lessons and executes them. I’m at three elementary schools. I'm only at each once a week, I want to plan, but being that I miss an entire lesson in between visits, it's going to be difficult to do so. Not impossible, but being that I'm already doing it for two other schools, who are at two different places in the textbook ah…….. From what I have talked to my new supervisor about though, it sounds like the teachers have taken on more of the lesson planning and I'll be able to contribute ideas when I'm there. I just want to and wish I could do more without being confused all the time. (This is all usually done in my second language too, not in English so extra levels of confusion and miscommunication abound).

 I feel like this at my JHS too a lot of the time. I want to contribute more, but even with constant communication with my main in school supervisor (who is a badass and pretty much on the same page about everything with me) I still feel about as useful as tits on a bull. Especially now that classes have been cancelled and or shortened, there's less time to do stuff. Any game or activity I plan is usually cut in favor of making up time in the textbook. When I'm in class, I'm back to being a tape recorder, the fun police and general nuisance.　

Also in the last week...my two of my schools were  shut due to students testing positive for the rona. This is the second time my schools have had a scare in the last 8 months. And by shut, I mean the students were all at home, but the teachers  all had to come into the office. Because why not I guess….. I mean,  the cases increasing is really not unexpected with the amount of people who were travelling over obon and the increase of cases due to the Olympics/Japan being slow on vaccinating/delta being the dominant strain/Japan's leaders doing relatively little except asking shops and restaurants to limit people coming in at one time and closing before 8pm. I know my schools weren't the only one shut either - but still High Schools were having their sports days this week. I kept on seeing groups of kids hanging in the park after, so that was a little bit nerve wracking.

It's just frustrating - we’ve been on half days to “minimize the risk of infection” for kids and teachers, as if only being at school from 8am through to 1pm is going to reduce the risk.  My schools have only just started testing out Microsoft teams and Zoom lesson equipment. Thankfully our school’s run in this time was contained real quick, the family was super good about informing us when they got their results back, and the fact they needed to be tested. The homeroom teacher and the students from the same class were the only ones tested, and they all came back clear, which was nice. But the information came back so SLOW. 

I’m a little irritated because I found out on Wednesday night what was going on, and even if I am vaccinated, I am super worried that I will end up being the covid monkey due to being at different schools three days out of five. I think other than being worried that I will catch it myself and get real sick, my biggest fear is that I will be protected from bad symptoms from the vaccine, but still be able to pass it onto some of my more vulnerable friends and students. The whole thing is a mess.  

Other than Covid and BoE drama, life is good. I’ve had a couple of other big changes - both fantastic and not so great, but yeah.  I have my health (and health insurance!) for now. I have a job, for now. I have a sense of existential dread for the next 12 months, but we’ll see where we end up. Life post JET is going to be way less cushy and I am TERRIFIED. I mean, I have a BA in Eng/Ling and no idea what to do with it…..because I am NOT suited for academia.

TLDR: Love my job. Don’t like the system. What is life? Future scary. 

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.10

Holidays

ASPCA Day

Black Hole Day

Commodore Perry Day

Day of the Builder (Azerbaijan)

Dust the Ceiling Fan Day

Encourage a Young Writer Day

Every Day Is Earth Day

410 Day

Frances Perkins Day

Global Work From Home Day

Godfather of Soul Day (South Carolina)

Golfer's Day

Humane Day

Hung Kings Festival (Vietnam)

Internal Troops Day (Tajikistan)

International Day of Sterilization Sciences

International Safety Pin Day

International Spy Day

Juan Santamaria Day (Costa Rica)

Judas Tree Day (French Republic

Lachesis Asteroid Day

Larry the Lobster Day (SNL)

National Biomechanics Day

National Bookmobile Day

National Calvin Day

National Erase Your Self-Negativity Day

National Farm Animals Day

National Femboy Day

National Hug Your Dog Day

National Library Outreach Day

National Love Our Children Day

National Nana Day

National Report IRS Tax Fraud Day

National Rubber Day (Thailand)

National Siblings Day

National Sprint Car Day

National Tamara Day

National Transplant Financial Coordinator Day

National Youth HIV and AIDS Awareness Day

Ram Navami (India, Nepal)

Safety Pin Day

Salvation Army Founder's Day

Semana Santa (Nicaragua)

Siblings Day

Son-in-Law Day

World Baton Twirling Day

World Day of West Syndrome

World Homeopathy Day

World Jaguar Day

World Sindhi Language Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cinnamon Crescent Roll Day

Tipopils Day (Italy)

2nd Wednesday in April

International Day of Pink [2nd Wednesday]

International Provenance Research Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Bookmobile Day [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

Festivals Beginning April 10, 2024

Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors Conventtion (Middleton, Wisconsin) [thru 4.14]

Feast Days

Aequinoctium Vernum X (Pagan)

Alfredo Sauce Day (Pastafarian)

April 10th Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Bademus (Christian; Saint)

Ben Nicholson (Artology)

Chocolate Overindulgence Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Clicksnizz (Muppetism)

Cybelle's Day (Ancient Roman Great Mother Goddess)

Day of Bau (Goddess Mother of Ea; Ancient Babylonia)

Feast of Bau (Ancient Babylonia)

Feast of Rivers and Seas (Ancient Sumerian)

Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)

Fulbert of Chartres (Christian; Saint)

Holy Mother Earth Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

James, Azadanus and Abdicius (Christian; Saints)

Jean-Baptiste Isabey (Artology)

Kenneth Noland (Artology)

Macarius of Ghent (Christian; Saint)

The Martyrs under the Danes (Christian; Martyrs)

Mechtildes (Christian; Saint)

Michael de Sanctis (Christian; Saint)

Mikael Agricola (Lutheran)

Paternus of Abdinghof (Christian; Saint)

Paul Theroux (Writerism)

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Episcopal Church)

Pytheas (Positivist; Saint)

Sun Dances Day (Everyday Wicca)

William of Ockham (Anglicanism)

William Law (Anglicanism)

Islamic Moveable Calendar Holidays

Eid al-Fitr (Islam; 1 Shawwal) (a.k.a. …

Aïd al Fitr (Morocco)

Aid-El-Fithr (Burundi, Ivory Coast, Tunisia)

Aïd el-Fitr (Gabon, Mauritania)

Aïd el Fitre (Djibouti)

Aïd el Segheir (Burkina Faso, Mauritania)

Djouldé Soumaé (Cameroon)

Eid

Eid Al-Fater (Eritrea)

Eid Al Fetir (Ethiopia)

Eid al Fitr (Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, Yemen)

Eid al-Fitr (Kosovo)

Eid-e-Fitr (Iran)

Eid’l Fitr (Philippines)

Eid-ul-Fiter (Bangladesh)

Eid-Ul-Fitr (Sierra Leone)

Eid ul-Fitr (Maldives)

Eidul Fitr (Pakistan)

Festival of Breaking the Fast

Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (Brunei)

Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1442 Hijriyah (Indonesia)

Hari Raya Puasa (Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Malaysia, Singapore)

Idd el-Fitre (Uganda)

Iddi El Fitry (Tanzania)

Ide el Fitr (Comoros, Mayotte)

Id el Fitri (Nigeria)

idi Ramazon (Tajikistan)

Idulfitri (East timor)

Id-ul-Fitr (Parts of India)

Ied-Ul-Fitre (Suriname)

Iyd ul Fitr (Uzbekistan)

Korité (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo)

Kuthba-e-Ramzan (India)

Lesser Bajram (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Lesser Eid

Ozara Baramy (Turkmenistan)

Orozo Ait (Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan)

Ramadan Bairam (Suda)

Ramazan (India)

Ramazan Bajram (Macedonia)

Ramazan Bayram (Azerbaijan, Cyprus)

Ramazan Bayramy (Turkey)

Ramazan Hayit (Uzbekistan)

Sugar Feast

Sweet Eid

Uraza-bairam (Kosovo)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Dismal Day (Unlucky or Evil Day; Medieval Europe; 7 of 24)

Egyptian Day (Unlucky Day; Middle Ages Europe) [7 of 24]

Fatal Day (Pagan) [7 of 24]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [13 of 30]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [20 of 60]

Premieres

Th Baby Seal (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

The Barber of Seville (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1944)

Birds of a Feather (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1965)

The Boundary Bounders or Some Like it Show (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 39; 1960)

The Carpet People, by Terry Pratchett (Novel; 1971)

City of Angels (Film; 1998)

Come On In! The Water’s Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1968)

Daredevil (TV Series; 2015)

Deep Freeze Squeeze (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1964)

Donald’s Snow Fight (Disney Cartoon; 1942)

East of Eden (Film; 1955)

Elton John, by Elton John (Album; 1970)

Even in the Quietest Moments…, by Supertramp (Album; 1977)

Excalibur (Film; 1981)

Ex Machina (Film; 2015)

Fear of a Black Planet, by Public Enemy (Album; 1990)

Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (Animated Film; 1992)

For the Stars, by Elvis Costello with Anne Sofie Von Otter (Album; 2001)

A German Requiem, by Johannes Brahms (Choral & Orchestral Work; 1868)

Going to Blazes (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

The Great Gatsby (Novel; 1925)

Hannah Montana: The Movie (Film; 2009)

Hound About (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

House of Wax (Film; 1953) [1st Color 3-D Film]

The Infernal Machine, by Jean Cocteau (Play; 1934)

Kubla Khan (Poem; 1816)

Newsies (Film; 1992)

Observe and Report (Film; 2009)

People Are Funny (Radio Game Show; 1942)

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, by A Tribe Called Quest (Album; 1990)

Pipeye, Pupeye, Poopeye, and Peepeye (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1942)

The Player (Film; 1992)

Psycho, by Robert Bloch (Novel; 1959)

Saint Louis Blues, by W.C. Handy (Song; 1925)

The Secret of My Success (Film; 1987)

She Was the Acrobat’s Daughter (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

Sonic Temple, by The Cult (Album; 1989)

Titanic Requiem, by Robin Gibb (Orchestral Piece; 2012)

12 Angry Men (Film; 1957)

The Two Ronnies (UK TV Series; 1971)

Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry (Novel; 1947)

The Washington Whirl or Rocky Off the Record (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 40; 1960)

Today’s Name Days

Ezechiel, Gernot, Holda (Austria)

Bonifacije, Ezekijel, Magdalena, Sunčica (Croatia)

Darja (Czech Republic)

Ezechiel (Denmark)

Hindrek, Imre, Indrek, Ints (Estonia)

Tero (Finland)

Fulbert (France)

Engelbert, Ezechiel, Gernot, Holda (Germany)

Anaksimenis, Dimosthenes, Dionisis, Epaminondas, Eteoklis, Fokion, Hercules, Herakles, Homer, Ifestion, Isocrates, Maximos, Miltiadis, Parmenion, Pelopidas, Pericles, Philopimin, Pindaros, Polyvios, Promitheas, Socrates, Sofocles, Themistoklis, Theofrastos, Thiseas, Timothy, Xenofon, Zinon (Greece)

Zsolt (Hungary)

Terenzio (Italy)

Anita, Anitra, Turaida, Zīle, Zilite (Latvia)

Agna, Apolonijus, Margarita, Mintautas (Lithuania)

Ingvald, Ingveig (Norway)

Antoni, Apoloniusz, Daniel, Ezechiel, Grodzisław, Henryk, Makary, Małgorzata, Michał, Pompejusz (Poland)

African, Maxim, Pompie, Terentie (Romania)

Igor (Slovakia)

Ezequiel, Miguel (Spain)

Ingvar, Ingvor (Sweden)

Caley, Callie, Cayla, Cayley, Ezechiel, Ezekiel, Ezequiel, Torey, Tori, Torrance, Torrence, Torrey, Tory (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 101 of 2024; 265 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 15 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 25 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 2 (Jia-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 2 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 1 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 11 Cyan; Foursday [11 of 30]

Julian: 28 March 2024

Moon: 5%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 17 Archimedes (4th Month) [Aristarchus]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 23 of 92)

Week: 2nd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 21 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Man (Human Being) [Half-Month 8 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 4.24)

Shawwāl [شَوَّال] (Islamic Calendar) [Month 10 of 12] (Raised)

[sagehaleyofficial]

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (11.24-11.30.21):

NEW MUSIC:

Bleak Soul announced the details of their new full-length titled Shouting with Nothing to Say. The album will be dropping on March 11 via Beth Shalom Records.

The Wonder Years released a new holiday song titled “Threadbare.” It's the band's first Christmas song since 2008, following their previous song “Christmas at 22.”

Frank Turner shared a new track from his upcoming album FTHC titled “Miranda.” The album will be released on February 11 via Xtra Mile Recordings/Polydor.

Halo West shared a new track titled “Ghost” featuring vocals from The Dangerous Summer’s AJ Perdomo. It's the third song the band have released this year, following on from “Make Believe�� and “(Un)forget.”

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Trash Boat announced that they will be heading out on a tour across the United Kingdom early next year. The tour kicks off in Tunbridge Wells, England, on March 3 and ends in Brighton, England, on March 20.

My Chemical Romance announced that they are going to be rescheduling their shows in Australia and New Zealand. Previously set to be taking place in March next year, the band will now be playing them in 2023.

Avril Lavigne performed her latest single “Bite Me” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The music video has racked up just over eight million views in less than two weeks.

Movements shared more footage from their performance at Studio 4, the home of producer Will Yip. The band performed their songs “Skin to Skin” and “Fever Dream,” which follows on from their performance of “Tunnel Vision.”

Turnstile, Can’t Swim, Higher Power and numerous other bands were recently added to the lineup of 2000trees Festival 2022. The festival will be taking place between July 6-9 at Upcote Farm in Cheltenham, England.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Bowling for Soup's Jaret Reddick and Rob Felicetti announced that they will be rescheduling their acoustic tour of the United Kingdom until 2022. The band will also be touring the coastal towns of the UK in April.

Neck Deep’s Dani Washington provided a live playthrough video of the band’s track “Smooth Seas Don’t Make Good Sailors.” The band are set to tour the United Kingdom alongside nothing,nowhere., Higher Power and happydaze early next year.

Hot Milk shared footage from their hometown show in Manchester of their song “I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I'm Dead.” The band's new EP of the same name is out now.

OTHER NEWS:

CITYROCKS, the biggest rock band in Central Europe, played a cover of Green Day’s hit song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” during their latest flash mob. The performance took place at Bánffy Castle in Bontida, Romania.

On a recent episode of Netflix’s Arcane, Against the Current’s Chrissy Costanza taught a senior citizen how to play League of Legends. Her band recently released an EP titled Fever earlier this year.

Stand Atlantic’s recent single “Deathwish” surpassed 10 million streams on Spotify. It is now their second biggest song on the platform, with only “Lavender Bones” above it with nearly 15 million streams on Spotify.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley”!

[noragami-ru-manga]

Chronology of Noragami

To match the events in Noragami with real-life data, we’ve used everything: festivities mentioned, important events that have occurred in Japan, natural disasters, seasonal flower blossoming, study trimesters, exams and school holidays, moon phases that have appeared in the manga, solar and lunar eclipses, Hiyori and Yukine’s birthdays, Hiyori’s diary, and even Yato’s clothes.

Several members of Noragami_ru Manga discussed the series and its time frames, armed with both inspiration and critical thinking. There was a lot of information to process; some of the manga events were very easy to match with the calendar, while others really fell out of the timeline. A prime example is chapter 73. It was impossible to reconcile with any given date and broke the straight string of the events that did line up. Sometimes Hiyori’s diary would cavort and list its dates at random. However, we do know that the events of Noragami happen within the time frame of a little over a year. This one’s easy to check and  prove. The manga started when Hiyori met Yato, several days later they found Yukine and a year later, right after his first birthday, Yukine was accosted by Mizuchi and ended up stinging Yato. Yato then decided to end his father’s attacks once and for all and went to confront him.

Adachitoka started working on Noragami in 2010, and the first chapter was published by Kodansha in January 2011. These dates were the first ones to come to mind. Naturally, other years were carefully examined; members of the fandom stocked up with “magnifying glasses” and “microscopes” and meticulously checked and double-checked several other calendars and tried to reconcile them with the events of the manga. But years 2010-2011 were the ones that fit the best, and very soon you’ll see why. Get ready, dear members, readers and (un)expected guests. We can’t promise you over-the-top fun times. But we hope that you will be pleasantly surprised and look at Noragami and its amazing universe in a different light. Let’s go!

This is our first main clue:

Hiyori says that it’s been two weeks since she first met Yato and became a half-ayakashi. The same day in the evening, they’ll find Yukine. “We had an early snow that day… I wonder if that’s why Yato named him Yukine?”, Hiyori will recollect a year later. It was 29 November, the end of 2010. The sky is overcast, it’s snowing, the moon can’t be seen so it’s impossible to match its phase with the calendar. But we will reconcile memorable dates with moon phases later.

Here we can see young moon behind the trees. It’s an early winter evening; Hiyori comes home and brings Yukine along. Judging by the moon phase, it’s sometime between 10-12 December 2010. Hiyori’s parents come home and say that they’ve been at the class reunion. Those are usually held on Saturdays. If so, the date is 11 December.

The encounter and the first fight with Bishamon happen during fool moon:

First signs of indelible blight start showing on Yato’s skin; Nora appears and tries to persuade him to give up on Yukine and use her instead. The fool moon at the picture looks like it’s been marred by dirt. Date-wise these coincide with 20-21 December 2010. A full lunar eclipse happened that night in real life. In Japan it could be seen in the evening, after the moon rising. Here is a quote from the Russian Wikipedia: “Since this lunar eclipse coincided with winter solstice, 21 December became “the darkest day” in the last 372 years. The next lunar eclipse on 21 December will happen only in 2094”.

The next is “Christmas” chapter (22-26 December). Yato is wearing a Santa cap, there’s a festive shop sign on the wall:

In chapter 9 Hiyori goes on a temple visit to Tenjin’s shrine and New Year’s celebration with her friends. She miraculously avoids death on 1 January:

7 January to 25 March is the last school trimester in Japan. Hiyori is wondering where Yato is. It’s the 3-4th lunar day, when there’s no moon yet, but there are signs of a very slim crescent.

Yato’s epiphany in girl’s bathroom

Soon enough, Yato and Yukine will have to go through misogi – the ablution ritual.

By the way, these two important events changed places in the anime. There, Yato was dying from blight sometime near the end of December, perhaps on that same “darkest day” of the lunar eclipse. Several days later, on New Year’s, Nora set her ayakashi on Hiyori.

Yato meets up with Nora during another full moon. Why can’t they just sleep on these moonlit nights?

Is it 20 January 2011? Or is it already 18 February?

Yukine meets Suzuha when the first spring flowers start blooming:

Hiyori is graduating from middle school and preparing to enter high school. Plumes are blooming (which means it’s either February or March), and Hiyori has her promotion exams coming when she is kidnapped by Kugaha. Yato and Yukine rash to Bishamon’s residence to rescue the girl:

Yato engages Bishamon in battle on the night of the crescent moon:

If we try to match first flowers blooming on the ground with plum blossoming, then it can’t be February, which means it’s the beginning of March. A crescent like this generally appears on 7-9th lunar day. Date-wise it lines up with 10-12 March 2011. The date that interests us is 11 March, since it was a memorable one for Japan. A huge earthquake occurred that day on the eastern cost of Honshu, resulting in a giant tsunami. Nearly 16 thousand people died and 2.5 thousand went missing.

In Noragami this event leads to the gods’ council in Takamagahara:

Bishamon manages to prove that her fall was the sorcerer’s doing, so the Heavens start their hunt on Ebisu. As a result, the actual perpetrator who’s used Aiha and Kugaha to set two warrior gods against each other goes unpunished, whereas Ebisu becomes a scapegoat.

Sakura starts blooming when Hiyori enters high school:

First trimester begins on 1 April. Hiyori is ignoring Yato. According to the calendar, it’s the new moon. Fujisaki enters the scene.

However, as soon as Suzuha’s sakura starts blooming, Hiyory gathers Yato and Yukine, Tenjin, Kofuku and Bishamon and their shinki for flower gazing. There’s even a date this time – 13 April.

The events of chapter 26 happen in early May. End of April – beginning of May are holidays in Japan, which Hiyori spends at home with her parents. Her diary, which we will examine later, is absolutely blank during this time. Hiyori’s mom says that it’s only May, but the water reservoir is empty. There’s also a newscast on TV about possible water shortage in summer, possibly due to abnormal weather conditions

This time Nora appears on a moonless night and kidnaps Yato. Two weeks later Hiyori is seen looking for Yato, asking Daikoku and Tenjin about him. She is doing it with a purpose, since she has plans for 8 May.

Hiyori’s diary here deserves special attention:  

It’s easy to match the dates with the calendar. For example, 10th is a Monday, January, therefore, 11th is a Tuesday. The next page of the diary has another Monday on it – 17th. The dates on the second frame are hard to match with anything, but there’s a mention of the picnic on the third one – 12-13 April, the days are Tuesday and Wednesday. On the fifth frame the pages with dates from 25 April to 7 May are empty. But there’s a trip to Capyper Land scheduled on Sunday.

Yato says he’s been living at his father’s for a month when he is sent to rescue Ebisu from Yomi:

Hiyori’s friends make her go to Capyper Land with them on one of the May weekends. Yukine has been in Takamagahara for a while, where the time flow is different from Earth’s, which is why he’s lost track of time for a bit and only realizes that summer is coming when he meets Hiyori:

There’s unrest in the Heavens. A storm is also brewing on Earth, as noted by Mayu:

2011 was an unlucky year for Japan. Typhoon Songda approached the country at the end of May. Here’s an extract from a real-life news article: “Disasters come treading on each other’s heels. Typhoon Songda, which has been raging near Japan, is approaching Fukushima-1 nuclear station. Bad weather might cause floods and landslides, which the experts fear might result in another radiation leak”.

During old moon Yato is still in Yomi with Ebisu. Storms are raging in Japan and in Takamagahara. A partial solar eclipse is approaching, which you’d think would bother the goddess of sun herself. In Japan it’s supposed to happen early in the morning on 1 June. But?.. Apparently off-screen, Amaterasu lifts her divine ass and goes searching for… the god of the moon, who went missing from the world of the living?

Amaterasu helps rescue the gods from Yomi. When Yato flies out of the vent straight into Hiyori’s arms, it’s already 15 June – there’s a full moon in the sky. According to the calendar, there was a full lunar eclipse that night. Yato is covered in dirt and blight:

After meeting with the reincarnated Ebisu, Yato releases Hiiro:

Judging by these frames, it was Hiiro who used to cut Yato’s hair. Sometime later it starts growing out, so Yato has to pull it into a ponytail since he doesn’t have his free hairdresser now. Though he will get one in Takemikazuchi several months later.

Yato misses Hiyori’s birthday on 28 June. However, he takes her to Capyper Land on one of the weekends. School holidays start on 20 July. Hiyori is seen wearing either dresses or sundresses. It’s also summer when Hiyori sees Yato’s memories and learns about the god’s greatest secret.

Hiyori starts going to school in chapter 48, so it’s September. The month does not begin well: Fujisaki asks the girl to leave Yato alone, and she challenges him. Right after that he uses the second brush from Yomi to summon ayakashi. Those cause chaos at the hospital that Hiyori blames herself for and starts turning into an ayakashi, going further away from the Near shore. It was also in the beginning of September 2011 that tropical storm Talas approached Japan, resulting in 59 casualties. The damage it caused is considered to be one of the biggest ones in the last 20 years. It’s no wonder Hiyori is blaming herself for the disasters; after all, as early as March, right after Yato’s battle with Bishamon and the unrest in Takamagahara and on Earth, Tenjin said to the girl that Yato did that because of her and nearly turned into an aramitama (raging spirit).

In chapter 53 Yukine is secretly reading Hiyori’s letters and says that they haven’t seen each other in two months:

Which means it’s the beginning of November. Fate brings Yato to another Iki and returns him to Hiyori once more. Their ties are written straight with crooked lines.

Yato starts preparing for Kamuhakari and makes clothes for Yukine and himself. Kiun appears and demands that he attends the divine council itself as well. It means that apart from feasting on free food, which was Yato’s intention, he will also have to participate in boring god meetings.

Tama the cat, who also appears at Kamuhakari, ruins this whole line of calendar match-ups. She died in June 2015, not long before chapter 58 was released, and Adachitoka honored her this way.

Bishamon misses Kamuhakari because she goes looking for the burial hafuri. Kazuma comes to Iwami. Full moon is shining through the window, which means it’s 11 November:

Hiyori goes back home from the festivities while Yato has to stay at the boring part of Kamuhakari. The girl notes that it’s been three days since she came back, and recalls that it’s been a year since she met Yato. It happens around 14-16 November. She also thinks that they should throw a party for Yukine, cause it’s almost a year since they found him (two weeks after she met Yato). Yukine’s birthday will be on 29 November. But a lot of events will happen in Takamagahara before that.

By the way, the time flow in Takamagahara is just as messed up as in Yomi. One day for Yato is the same as three days for Hiyori. The moon is old again. And the time in Takamagahara flows three times faster:

There’s also a peculiarity to Yato’s clothes.

“Yato comes to Kamuhakari in white clothes. But then the battle with the Heavens begins. Yato loses his divine white sleeve in his fight with Takemikazuchi. Then only the white cape remains. Finally, he appears in front of Amaterasu dressed in black.

We don’t know how long the battle lasted, but the time in Takamagahara flows differently than on Earth. It’s possible that it’s been two weeks on Earth between the beginning of Kamuhakari and Amaterasu’s trial. Also, during the new moon (when the side of the Moon facing the Earth isn’t lit by the Sun) the sun and the moon go side by side; sometimes the moon overshadows the sun a little, partially or completely. Yes, I’m still hoping an eclipse happened during the trial. Compare this: when Bishamon was at the brink of falling into the state of aramitama, her blight was dark. But Yato’s is black, and the stains it left on Amaterasu’s clothes are black”. (Ivan)

And the calendar? A partial solar eclipse happened on 25 November 2011. Japan was not supposed to see it. However, a black spot landed on Amaterasu and scared her.

“I think that’s the whole point, that the solar eclipse wasn’t seen in Japan. It could only be seen in Antarctica and partially in South Africa and New Zealand. So the picture in chapter 71 is correct. Amaterasu is showering every god and shinki present with her sunlight, then the eclipse starts. Yato, who is tired of the battle and tormented by his shinki’s sufferings, catches his “wave” and tries to make the eclipse happen in Japan as well (albeit figuratively – by striking down the sun goddess), but Take interrupts the moon god’s show of power. Amaterasu looks somewhat tired throughout the trial; maybe she isn’t feeling well, among other things?” (Yana)

The full moon in chapter 73 messes up all the calculations once again.

See, there has already been a full moon not that long ago. Hiyori had spent a day at the Kamuhakari, then waited for Yato’s return for three days, and there’s only one week left till Yukine’s birthday. There can’t be a full moon twice in two weeks’ time. Perhaps Adachitoka started the chapter with Ebisu’s kidnapping as an extra first and then turned it into a full chapter; they added the mention of Yukine’s birthday but either left the moon the way it was drawn for the extra or simply forgot about it.

The next chapter messes up the dates again.

27 November is on Monday in Hiyori’s diary and there’s a note “Fujisaki-senpai was absent again today”. The thing is, 27 November 2011 is Sunday. It was Monday in 2017, when the chapter was released. It was a hard year: one of the mangakas had to take a long sick leave, and the manga soon went on a 14 month long hiatus.

Sometime before the birthday the Heavens summon Yato and he’s questioned by the sacred treasures and then Amaterasu herself.

Yato wakes up covered in blight after Yukine’s birthday. Take’s shinki conduct another misogi, and Yukine admits that Nora kissed him the day before.

Yato goes looking for a shinki that can help him take down Fujisaki. Amaterasu has set a deadline for him on Ooharai, the Great Purification ritual (30-31 December). There has to be a crescent moon in the beginning of December – a very slim one, shaped as a bow. Kazuma comes to Yato and becomes his shinki.

In chapter 79 the dates in Hiyori’s diary are correct: 28 November is Monday, 29 November – Tuesday.

And it’s almost full moon in Chapter 81 when Yukine starts wondering about his past, with the crack on his name growing.

Please focus your attention on the top frames with the moon. Keep your hands on the table and lift your eyes off the bottom frames.

The next full moon is on 10 December 2011, and it’s supposed to be a lunar eclipse, too. Unfortunately, since chapter 81 there hasn’t been any other chapter that had a full moon in it. However, we do have Hiyori’s words in chapter 85 about missing the chance to spend Christmas with her friends. It means that the events of the latest chapters take place between Christmas and New Year’s.

Ooharai is near.

***

Author of chronology: Yana Tarasova

Inspired, came up with ideas and then checked and double-checked them: Darina Episheva, Yana Tarasova, Amoeba Proteus, Ivan Ivanov

Comprised into an article by: Ivan Ivanov

English translation by: Anastasia Bazheeva

[thewatchau]

Holidays of Duilintinn: Major Holidays

Most of the lore in the upcoming series will be edited compilations of dozens of posts from the last two years. While there are some minor new details sprinkled throughout, I’ve attempted to post significant new information in a “Watch AU Fun Fact” post so you don’t have to read all of these HUGE posts to find them.

Other Posts in this Series:

Duilintinn’s Major Holidays: Bondsfest (February) • Founding Month (April) • Fairsweek (June) • Remembrance Week (August) • Draoidhtíde and Hallows’ Eve (October) • Féilltaing (December)

Duilintinn’s Minor Holidays:  Trade Season (July)

Duilintinn’s Personal Celebrations: Name Days • Marriage Traditions

In This Post

Summary

Themes

Common Traditions

Trivia

Summary

Duilintinn’s major holidays emphasize the cultural value placed upon finding a community and a place in the world. 

Some originate in ancient Feadhainn tradition, some were brought to the valley by Waldren during the Occupation Era, and some were established after Duilintinn’s founding. 

Themes

Duilintinn celebrates a total of six Major Holidays, each based around a certain month with their own specific theme:

Bondsfest - February - Celebrates relationships of all types

Founding Month - April - Celebrates new life and the founding of Duilintinn

Fairsweek - June - Celebrates self renewal and future goals (typically career-based)

Remembrance Week - August - Celebrates Duilintinn’s ethnic history

Draoidhtíde - October - Celebrates magic, culminating in Hallows’ Eve

Féilltaing - December - Celebrates personal growth, progress, joy, and contentment

In addition to their own unique themes, the first three holidays of the year share an overarching theme of Renewal, while the last three share an overarching theme of Growth. The former ones focus on highlighting and reminding oneself of things to be grateful for and celebrate in your life, while the latter ones are focused on spreading that joy to others. 

Both renewal and growth play a role in all holidays, but one is more prominent than the other depending on the half of the year. Renewal is at the beginning because it’s the new year, with a fresh new start, while growth is at the end because you’re learning from and sharing the impacts of this renewal in preparation for the next year to come. None of these holidays will ever fit perfectly into these two categories, especially as the traditions and significance of each celebration evolve with time. 

Common Traditions

The official festivities for Duilitinn’s major holidays typically take place the second week of the month. While the celebrations vary from holiday to holiday, they all usually include:

Time off work (with some exceptions, see below)

Community festivities with fancy food, games, music, and other entertainment

Gift-giving

Travel

However, that doesn’t mean that the celebrations or traditions don’t also continue during the rest of the month. Generally, the first week of the month is for preparation, the second is when the biggest celebrations take place, and the third and fourth weeks are typically observed as a time for reflection upon the themes of the holiday. 

That being said, it varies from place to place and family to family on how rigidly these dates are followed. Many communities spread their celebrations out through the whole month. Others will pick a specific date to be their “celebration day” before going back to life as usual. It just depends. 

Time Off Work

During holiday celebrations, it’s very common for businesses to let people have the whole week off. There are no laws mandating that this is a requirement, but if someone did try to make people come to work without giving them at least a few days for the celebrations, there would be a lot of raised eyebrows in the community. This is a big deal because, with Duilintinn’s cultural emphasis on finding one's place in the world, a “hostile workplace” (to borrow a real-word term) would carry a much higher downside for employers than it does in the real world. Not only would people be validated by the community if they decided to leave a job like that, but the employer would be unlikely to gain other employees, since reputation is a big deal. 

In cases where a job is essential, either to the continued functioning of society or to the celebration of the holiday itself, people of similar occupations within a community (or occasionally several communities, if there are only a handful in the area) will come together to create a temporary group enterprise. Thanks to this collaborative effort, the workers can then take shifts, only working for part of the holiday instead of the entire thing. In addition, the services of these occupations typically cost more during the holiday week. 

These two factors heavily encourage people to purchase goods needed for a holiday celebration ahead of time. Often, the busiest week for these occupations is not the holiday week itself, but the week immediately before it!

Of course, there are also times when someone cannot afford to take a week off. In these cases, people will usually take at least a few hours off during the week to engage with some of the festivities, but continue work for the rest of the week. Many of the occupations that need to remain open during holiday festivities offer high-paying, short-term employment to people whose jobs have closed down for the week but still need the extra funds. This helps bolster their numbers while they are understaffed, while simultaneously providing a service to the community. 

Food and Events

All holidays feature music, community games, food, and events on a local level. The biggest of these events are held in the major population centers, such as the regional capitals and the capital city of Cordoire. Watch garrisons and outposts will also host their own festivities for Duilintinn’s holidays.

Large community meals are a common holiday tradition. Oftentimes, many people will use their time off work to help prepare several courses as a group. These courses usually include fancier, time-intensive versions of the herbed breads and cheese that are so popular in Duilintinn, in addition to an equally involved main course. This is a big deal because (in part, due to a lack of assigned gender roles and a cultural emphasis on pursuing ones’ passion), most of Duilintinn’s daily cuisine consists of meals that can be slowly cooked over the course of the day, and then quickly prepared into a finished meal in the evening. Therefore, meals that require constant attention are saved for special events, such as holidays.

Gifts

Gifts are given on every major holiday in Duilintinn, albeit typically smaller, simpler ones. These gifts are usually related in some way to the theme of the holiday. Popular gifts associated with each holiday include:

February -  Personal gifts from friends or family, stationary

April - Flowers, flowers, and more flowers

June - Journals, frames, display cases, etc.

August - Books!

October - Magical trinkets, costume pieces

December - Sweets, candles, warm fuzzy things :)

These are all just ideas, of course, and very generic. Many people give gifts that are much more personalized references to the themes of each holiday based on inside jokes, shared experiences, or other factors unique to the giver and recipient. 

Travel

People often travel for holidays in Duilintinn. Many travel to the regional capitals, or even Cordoire, for the large-scale festivities held in those cities. Others travel to visit family or friends. It mostly depends on preference. 

Trivia

Events of The Watch AU are lined up with real world events. Thus, the Holidays are lined up with Sean's charity livestreams, which, in 2018, were every other month on average.

[brookston]

Holidays 4.10

Holidays

ASPCA Day

Black Hole Day

Commodore Perry Day

Day of the Builder (Azerbaijan)

Dust the Ceiling Fan Day

Encourage a Young Writer Day

Every Day Is Earth Day

410 Day

Frances Perkins Day

Global Work From Home Day

Godfather of Soul Day (South Carolina)

Golfer's Day

Humane Day

Hung Kings Festival (Vietnam)

Internal Troops Day (Tajikistan)

International Day of Sterilization Sciences

International Safety Pin Day

International Spy Day

Juan Santamaria Day (Costa Rica)

Judas Tree Day (French Republic

Lachesis Asteroid Day

Larry the Lobster Day (SNL)

National Biomechanics Day

National Bookmobile Day

National Calvin Day

National Erase Your Self-Negativity Day

National Farm Animals Day

National Femboy Day

National Hug Your Dog Day

National Library Outreach Day

National Love Our Children Day

National Nana Day

National Report IRS Tax Fraud Day

National Rubber Day (Thailand)

National Siblings Day

National Sprint Car Day

National Tamara Day

National Transplant Financial Coordinator Day

National Youth HIV and AIDS Awareness Day

Ram Navami (India, Nepal)

Safety Pin Day

Salvation Army Founder's Day

Semana Santa (Nicaragua)

Siblings Day

Son-in-Law Day

World Baton Twirling Day

World Day of West Syndrome

World Homeopathy Day

World Jaguar Day

World Sindhi Language Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cinnamon Crescent Roll Day

Tipopils Day (Italy)

2nd Wednesday in April

International Day of Pink [2nd Wednesday]

International Provenance Research Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Bookmobile Day [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

Festivals Beginning April 10, 2024

Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors Conventtion (Middleton, Wisconsin) [thru 4.14]

Feast Days

Aequinoctium Vernum X (Pagan)

Alfredo Sauce Day (Pastafarian)

April 10th Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Bademus (Christian; Saint)

Ben Nicholson (Artology)

Chocolate Overindulgence Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Clicksnizz (Muppetism)

Cybelle's Day (Ancient Roman Great Mother Goddess)

Day of Bau (Goddess Mother of Ea; Ancient Babylonia)

Feast of Bau (Ancient Babylonia)

Feast of Rivers and Seas (Ancient Sumerian)

Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)

Fulbert of Chartres (Christian; Saint)

Holy Mother Earth Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

James, Azadanus and Abdicius (Christian; Saints)

Jean-Baptiste Isabey (Artology)

Kenneth Noland (Artology)

Macarius of Ghent (Christian; Saint)

The Martyrs under the Danes (Christian; Martyrs)

Mechtildes (Christian; Saint)

Michael de Sanctis (Christian; Saint)

Mikael Agricola (Lutheran)

Paternus of Abdinghof (Christian; Saint)

Paul Theroux (Writerism)

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Episcopal Church)

Pytheas (Positivist; Saint)

Sun Dances Day (Everyday Wicca)

William of Ockham (Anglicanism)

William Law (Anglicanism)

Islamic Moveable Calendar Holidays

Eid al-Fitr (Islam; 1 Shawwal) (a.k.a. …

Aïd al Fitr (Morocco)

Aid-El-Fithr (Burundi, Ivory Coast, Tunisia)

Aïd el-Fitr (Gabon, Mauritania)

Aïd el Fitre (Djibouti)

Aïd el Segheir (Burkina Faso, Mauritania)

Djouldé Soumaé (Cameroon)

Eid

Eid Al-Fater (Eritrea)

Eid Al Fetir (Ethiopia)

Eid al Fitr (Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, Yemen)

Eid al-Fitr (Kosovo)

Eid-e-Fitr (Iran)

Eid’l Fitr (Philippines)

Eid-ul-Fiter (Bangladesh)

Eid-Ul-Fitr (Sierra Leone)

Eid ul-Fitr (Maldives)

Eidul Fitr (Pakistan)

Festival of Breaking the Fast

Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (Brunei)

Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1442 Hijriyah (Indonesia)

Hari Raya Puasa (Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Malaysia, Singapore)

Idd el-Fitre (Uganda)

Iddi El Fitry (Tanzania)

Ide el Fitr (Comoros, Mayotte)

Id el Fitri (Nigeria)

idi Ramazon (Tajikistan)

Idulfitri (East timor)

Id-ul-Fitr (Parts of India)

Ied-Ul-Fitre (Suriname)

Iyd ul Fitr (Uzbekistan)

Korité (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo)

Kuthba-e-Ramzan (India)

Lesser Bajram (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Lesser Eid

Ozara Baramy (Turkmenistan)

Orozo Ait (Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan)

Ramadan Bairam (Suda)

Ramazan (India)

Ramazan Bajram (Macedonia)

Ramazan Bayram (Azerbaijan, Cyprus)

Ramazan Bayramy (Turkey)

Ramazan Hayit (Uzbekistan)

Sugar Feast

Sweet Eid

Uraza-bairam (Kosovo)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Dismal Day (Unlucky or Evil Day; Medieval Europe; 7 of 24)

Egyptian Day (Unlucky Day; Middle Ages Europe) [7 of 24]

Fatal Day (Pagan) [7 of 24]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [13 of 30]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [20 of 60]

Premieres

Th Baby Seal (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

The Barber of Seville (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1944)

Birds of a Feather (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1965)

The Boundary Bounders or Some Like it Show (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 39; 1960)

The Carpet People, by Terry Pratchett (Novel; 1971)

City of Angels (Film; 1998)

Come On In! The Water’s Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1968)

Daredevil (TV Series; 2015)

Deep Freeze Squeeze (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1964)

Donald’s Snow Fight (Disney Cartoon; 1942)

East of Eden (Film; 1955)

Elton John, by Elton John (Album; 1970)

Even in the Quietest Moments…, by Supertramp (Album; 1977)

Excalibur (Film; 1981)

Ex Machina (Film; 2015)

Fear of a Black Planet, by Public Enemy (Album; 1990)

Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (Animated Film; 1992)

For the Stars, by Elvis Costello with Anne Sofie Von Otter (Album; 2001)

A German Requiem, by Johannes Brahms (Choral & Orchestral Work; 1868)

Going to Blazes (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

The Great Gatsby (Novel; 1925)

Hannah Montana: The Movie (Film; 2009)

Hound About (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

House of Wax (Film; 1953) [1st Color 3-D Film]

The Infernal Machine, by Jean Cocteau (Play; 1934)

Kubla Khan (Poem; 1816)

Newsies (Film; 1992)

Observe and Report (Film; 2009)

People Are Funny (Radio Game Show; 1942)

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, by A Tribe Called Quest (Album; 1990)

Pipeye, Pupeye, Poopeye, and Peepeye (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1942)

The Player (Film; 1992)

Psycho, by Robert Bloch (Novel; 1959)

Saint Louis Blues, by W.C. Handy (Song; 1925)

The Secret of My Success (Film; 1987)

She Was the Acrobat’s Daughter (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

Sonic Temple, by The Cult (Album; 1989)

Titanic Requiem, by Robin Gibb (Orchestral Piece; 2012)

12 Angry Men (Film; 1957)

The Two Ronnies (UK TV Series; 1971)

Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry (Novel; 1947)

The Washington Whirl or Rocky Off the Record (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 40; 1960)

Today’s Name Days

Ezechiel, Gernot, Holda (Austria)

Bonifacije, Ezekijel, Magdalena, Sunčica (Croatia)

Darja (Czech Republic)

Ezechiel (Denmark)

Hindrek, Imre, Indrek, Ints (Estonia)

Tero (Finland)

Fulbert (France)

Engelbert, Ezechiel, Gernot, Holda (Germany)

Anaksimenis, Dimosthenes, Dionisis, Epaminondas, Eteoklis, Fokion, Hercules, Herakles, Homer, Ifestion, Isocrates, Maximos, Miltiadis, Parmenion, Pelopidas, Pericles, Philopimin, Pindaros, Polyvios, Promitheas, Socrates, Sofocles, Themistoklis, Theofrastos, Thiseas, Timothy, Xenofon, Zinon (Greece)

Zsolt (Hungary)

Terenzio (Italy)

Anita, Anitra, Turaida, Zīle, Zilite (Latvia)

Agna, Apolonijus, Margarita, Mintautas (Lithuania)

Ingvald, Ingveig (Norway)

Antoni, Apoloniusz, Daniel, Ezechiel, Grodzisław, Henryk, Makary, Małgorzata, Michał, Pompejusz (Poland)

African, Maxim, Pompie, Terentie (Romania)

Igor (Slovakia)

Ezequiel, Miguel (Spain)

Ingvar, Ingvor (Sweden)

Caley, Callie, Cayla, Cayley, Ezechiel, Ezekiel, Ezequiel, Torey, Tori, Torrance, Torrence, Torrey, Tory (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 101 of 2024; 265 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 15 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 25 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 2 (Jia-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 2 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 1 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 11 Cyan; Foursday [11 of 30]

Julian: 28 March 2024

Moon: 5%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 17 Archimedes (4th Month) [Aristarchus]

Runic Half Month: Man (Human Being) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 23 of 92)

Week: 2nd Week of April

Zodiac: Aries (Day 21 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Man (Human Being) [Half-Month 8 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 4.24)

Shawwāl [شَوَّال] (Islamic Calendar) [Month 10 of 12] (Raised)