Well, today is my birthday and I'm in a giving mood. I thought to make a change I'd share some things that have happened on this day, April 25th.
Firstly, I was born April 25, 1970. My mom named me after a family friend. I'm guessing she really liked the name. Anyway, years later I discovered that I was born on St. Mark's Day.
Now neither mom nor I realized this and I certainly wasn't named after him. But I did find it interesting. Perhaps there's a spiritual significance there, I don't know. (I'm a spiritual person in my beliefs, I don't follow Christianity.)
Some things that do happen on this day in the name of St. Mark are:
Italy:
In Tresnuraghes, a small village in Sardinia (Italy), a traditional Sardinian feast is held. Local shepherd families in this predominantly pastoral community offer sheep and oversee cooking them in a gesture of thanks to Providence. Other families offer bread as Thanksgiving or for favors desired. Hundreds of people, mostly from the said village, but a large number of other people as well, eat and drink to satiation together.[1]
Venice:
Saint Mark's Day (Italian: Festa di San Marco), also known as the rosebud festival (Venetian: Festa del bocolo), is a festival in Venice held on 25 April celebrating Venice's patron saint, Saint Mark. On this day, men traditionally give a single rosebud to the women they love.[2][3][4]
According to legend, the tradition originated in the 8th century, when a man of low social standing is said to have fallen in love with a noblewoman from Venice. In order to win her father's approval, he became involved in a distant war. He was mortally wounded in battle but managed to pluck a rose from a nearby rosebush for his loved one. A companion was entrusted with returning the blood-stained rose to his lover.[4][5][6]
Lithuania:
In Lithuania, St. Mark is considered the guardian of earth and harvests. There was a ban on eating meat in order to have a good harvest. People avoided "touching the earth", i.e. no plowing or digging, to give the earth a rest before the upcoming hard work of planting and harvest.[7]
Mexico:
In Paraíso, Tabasco, Mexico, Saint Mark is celebrated on the 25 April due to his patronage of that city.
Pretty cool huh? I certainly didn't realize that. So let's carry this theme of "On This Day" and see where it leads us...
Other things that have happened on this day, April 25th:
- 1660 English Convention Parliament meets and votes to restore
- Charles II
- 1792 Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas
- Pelletier
- 1846 Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of
- Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War
- 1945 "Elbe Day" - the US and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany
- on the Elbe River during the invasion of Germany in WWII
- 1953 Francis Crick and James Watson's discovery of the double helix
- structure of DNA is published in "Nature" magazine
- 1954 Bell labs announce the 1st solar battery made from silicon. It has
- about 6% efficiency.
- 1990 Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery
Wow! There's a lot going on, right? My only wish is that the Guillotine wasn't first used on this day. I mean, it's not something I want as a "notable" event, if you catch my drift...
But I do love the fact that the Hubble space telescope was placed into orbit, so I guess that makes up for it.
Now, besides photography one of my interests is in aviation. Some of the things that happened on this day in aviation history are:
1868 – Birth of John Bevins Moisant, American aviator. He designed, built and flew the first metal aircraft, an experimental aluminum plane, in 1909.
1940 – Hermann Förster is the first German night fighter pilot to shoot down a British bomber during World War II. Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109D-1, he downs a Handley Page Hampden laying naval mines off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein.
1966 – Death of Corrado Gex, an Italian aviator, politician and first pilot authorized to land on a glacier; he was killed in the crash of his Pilatus Porter while attempting to land near Castelnuovo di Ceva in Italy.
1972 – Hans-Werner Grosse sets a sailplane distance record of 908 miles in a Schleicher ASW 12.
1980 – A contingent of American military aircraft embarked on a commando raid April 24, known as Operation Eagle Claw, to rescue a group of American hostages held by Iran. On April 25, a U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky RH-53D Sea Stallion (shown above) and a U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-130E Hercules collide during an evacuation effort; eight servicemen are killed and five other Sea Stallions are abandoned at the site.
2009 – First flight of the Boeing P-8 Poseidon, a modified 737-800 with an anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare role.
Once again, pretty cool stuff! The last one is notable for me since I work for Boeing.
In the paranormal world, Oliver Cromwell was born on this day in 1599. It is said that he haunts Basing House in Hampshire.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this journey into history. Have you ever wondered what happened on your birthday?
Mark
