opera

Oct

2023

just like any other THURSDAY

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Aperecida, a public holiday in Brazil. Known as ‘Nossa Senhora de Aparecida’, it honors Brazil’s patron saint, the Virgin Mary Aparecida. Mary is honored with a ten-day festival in the city near São Paulo that bears her name.

Legend has it that in October 1717, after a day’s fishing without any luck, fishermen cast their nets into the Paraiba River and pulled up a small brown statue of the Virgin Mary. Then they cast their nets again and this time they came up full of fish. This was the first miracle attributed to the statue.

The area where the miracle happened grew into a city called Aparecida (meaning “she who has appeared”) and a church was built to house the statue which has now become the destination of many pilgrimages. The statue is made of clay and is about 40cm in height. The statue was a lighter shade of brown when found, but is now much darker due to years of exposure to candles and lamps around the altar.

Because of its color and because the miracle happened to a young slave boy, devotion to the statue grew rapidly, particularly among Afro-Brazilians. Our Lady of Aparecida was declared the patron saint of Brazil by Pope Pius XI in 1929. The feast day of Our Lady of Aparecida has been a National Holiday in Brazil since 1980.

Bada BING!!!

A man buried his ex-wife on a golf course so he could still continue to cheat on her.

Hockey is more enjoyable if you pretend they’re fighting over the world’s last Oreo.

People say I act like I don’t care. It’s not an act.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell introduces the new “MyCardboardBox”.

Fox News is news in the same way that cow pies are pies.

I went to the store to get Halloween decorations…Aaaand there were Christmas trees.

You know that feeling of insecurity when Microsoft Word asks if you want to save any changes when you’re sure you didn’t make any.

You never know what I have up my sleeve. Today it was a dryer sheet.

That feeling you get after you wake up from what was supposed to be a 20-minute nap and aren’t sure what day it is.

Today is the birthday, in 1935, of Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most acclaimed operatic tenors of all time, (1990 UK No.2 single ‘Nessun Dorma’, 1990 UK No.1 album ‘The Essential Pavorotti’, spent 72 weeks on the UK chart). He died on 6 September 2007 of pancreatic cancer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWc7vYjgnTs

Oct

2023

WED-NES-DAY or something…

Today is Revolution Day, a public holiday in North Macedonia. Also known as Uprising against Fascism Day, this holiday commemorates the start of the anti-fascist war on this day in 1941.

At the time of the second world war, North Macedonia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On April 6th 1941, German armed forces launched the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia quickly subjugating the nation. The area of modern-day North Macedonia was known as Vardar Banovina and axis control was divided between Bulgaria, German-occupied Serbia, and Italian-controlled Albania.

Initially, the communists in Yugoslavia had decided to remain neutral in the war and were happy enough to sit and watch the ‘imperials’ fight each other. That changed when Nazi Germany declared war on the Soviet Union. It then became the duty of every communist to resist the Axis powers, wherever and whenever they could.

The Macedonian resistance played a key part in the victory over fascism in the region. After the war, the resistance had created a renewed sense of Macedonian nationalism. The Communists, having taken a lead in the resistance would go on to overthrow the Yugoslav monarchy in November 1945 and proclaim the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Signz

I totally missed the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, amazing opera composer, two days ago in 1813. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZvgmpiQCcI

Sep

2023

FRIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

Today is Chuseok in Korea. The Harvest Moon Festival, or Chuseok (meaning ‘Autumn Eve’), is one of Korea’s most cherished holidays. It takes place on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which means it usually takes place in September. Though the dates may be similar in some years, it is not an Autumn Equinox festival. The festival is usually a three-day public holiday. If the dates fall over a weekend, an extra day may be taken on the following Monday.

According to legend, Chuseok originated as a result of a weaving competition held between two princesses in the Silla dynasty. The goal was to see which of their teams could weave the most cloth. The fierce competition lasted for a month, ending on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar during the full moon. As punishment, the losing team had to prepare a bountiful feast for the victors.

The Harvest Moon Festival is the busiest travel day in Korea with over half the Korean population traveling. Most people visit family to prepare food, honor their ancestors, and cherish relatives both living and deceased.

One of the main Harvest Moon Festival traditions is the food preparation, especially of songpyun; a traditional Korean rice cake made with pine needles. In Korean, Song means ‘pine tree’ and Pyun means ‘rice cake’.

Oddly for a festival that takes place on a full moon, the traditional shape of a songpyun is a half moon. This is said to reflect the natural optimism of Koreans – a full moon can’t get any fuller, but a half moon shows there is room for improvement.