Tom

Today is Jāņi, a public holiday in Latvia. The previous day, Midsummer Eve (Ligo) is also a public holiday. Depending on what day of the week, these holidays fall on, then additional bridge holidays may also be declared (Latvians know how to live).

Jāņi marks the summer solstice and the shortest night of the year and it has become one of the most important holidays in Latvia. Since ancient times, this midsummer day has been observed and celebrated by many cultures. In the agricultural calendar, it was a time to celebrate the sowing of the crops and enjoy the short break before harvest began. In Northern Europe, its effects are more pronounced with very long days, which of course is contrasted six months later when the winter solstice (Ziemassvētki) results in very long nights in that part of the world.

With the Christianisation of Latvia, Jāņi was moved to St. John’s Day.

During the Soviet era, the celebration of ethnic holidays such as Jāņi were suppressed by the authorities as they were seen as nationalistic when the focus should be on the Soviet Union as a collective.

Since independence in 1990, the holiday has been reinstated and the (at least) two-day break for Ligo and St. John’s Day has proved a popular holiday period for Latvians to take some time off and enjoy the weather at this time of year.

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Cat Math

TRIANGLE

SQUARE

RECTANGLE

CIRCLE

HORIZONTAL

VERTICAL

OBLIQUE

EVEN NUMBER

ODD NUMBER

PRIME NUMBER

CONCENTRIC CIRCLES

EQUATION

MULTIPLICATION

DIVISION

PERPENDICULAR

RIGHT ANGLE

OBTUSE ANGLE

SPHERE

BELL CURVE

FIBONACCI SERIES

INFINITY

(all according to Bluebird of Bitterness)

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Today is the birthday, in 1947, of Mick Fleetwood, drummer and co-founder of the rock band Fleetwood Mac who had the 1968 UK No.1 hit ‘Albatross’ and the hits ‘Man of the World’ and ‘Oh Well. In 1977 they scored the US No.1 single ‘Dreams’ taken from their worldwide No.1 album Rumours which spent 31 weeks on the US chart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ywicffOj4

Today is Midsummer’s Day, a public holiday in Sweden and some other Nordic countries. Midsummer is one of the oldest and most important holidays in Sweden. Festivities start on the Friday before – Midsummer’s Eve (Midsommarafton).

Similar to New Year, the main celebrations take place on the eve of the day. Traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole, in Swedish called the Midsommarstången.

Some believe it originated as a symbol of fertility.  Even though the major fertility rites in ancient times, center around the beginning of spring, Midsummer was linked to an ancient fertility festival, as conception at this time would lead to a birth in March, which was traditionally seen as a good time for children to be born. Others think the shape of the pole has its roots in Norse mythology, and that it represents an axis linking the underworld, earth, and heavens. Many people will wear traditional folk costumes and listen to traditional music. It is also a holiday on which the Swedish will consume a large amount of alcohol and raucous drinking songs are a common sound during the celebrations.

Midsummer was considered to be one of the key times in the year when the power of magic was strongest and at it was thought to be a good time to perform rituals, particularly those which related to predicting the future. A tradition of this is one in which young people pick bouquets of seven or nine different flowers and put them under their pillow in the hope of dreaming about their future spouse.

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BOOKS!!!

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On this day in 1962, The “James Bond Theme”, first heard in the 1962 film Dr. No. The Bond Theme was recorded using five saxophones, nine brass instruments, a solo guitar and a rhythm section. The original recording of the theme was played by Vic Flick on a 1939 English Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe guitar plugged into a Fender Vibrolux amplifier. Flick was paid a one-off fee of £6 for recording the famous James Bond Theme motif. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9-cDa4JCwM