fredag den 14. marts 2025

Brooding The Dates That Count

I know it's silly, but I've always felt that some dates are special, so to speak. It's a kind of superstition that I have to confess to, and which I don't know how to explain - not even to myself. However, the fact that the calendar of each year - except leap years - contain the same set of months, weeks and days that is repeated year by year, but most often on different weekdays, intrigues me. To me, it somehow adds to the mystery of time and fate, which actually only is a mystery because I chose to see it that way. For instance, I've always found it "symbolical" that Adolf Hitler died on the date, (but not the year) of my birthday: It feels good, like an achievement ....

This gentleman, Karl Marx, who was the spiritual father of Communism, died on the 14th of March 1883, i.e. 142 years ago. That was after the birth of the last zar of Russia, Nicholas II (1868-1918), and they never met, although the ideas of Karl were used against Nicholas and his family when they were killed. Somehow I find it interesting, that Nicholas abdicated on a date very close to the anniversary of the death of Karl: The 15th of March 1917. On that day, the more than 300 years old Russian Empire vaporated, so to speak. 

As we know from William Shakespeare, the 15th of March is a very special day of the calendar: In his play about Julius Cesar we find the famous quote by a fortune-teller "beware the Ides of March" which is just another way of writing this specific date. Somehow, that date has been associated with misfortune and doom, which it certainly was for Julius Cesar who was murdered in 44 BCE on the 15th of March. However, I suspect that it only had its bad reputation because of Shakespeare, as I'm not sure when this superstition started out.

 

When it comes to "bad days", the Danes have an expert on dangerous days in the nobleman and astronomer, Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). He made a special calendar of 32 days that he saw as ominous, just "bad" or unlucky: Something to watch out for. 

Based on the Julian calendar:

 
  • January 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 29
  • February 11, 17, 18
  • March 1, 4, 14, 15
  • April 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 29
  • May 10, 17, 18
  • June 6
  • July 17, 21
  • August 20, 21
  • September 16, 18
  • October 6
  • November 6, 18
  • December 6, 11, 18
  • (From Wikipedia)
  • These specific days were supposed to be unlucky to perform certain tasks such as getting married, starting a journey, and so on. 

    Superstition? Yes, and I hope that nobody let themselves get caught up in it in modern times, but at the same time I'm glad that my birthday was of a date very close to, but not the same as, one of the "unlucky days" .... 

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_15 

     

    https://www.idm314.org/ 

     

    https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-honesty-day-april-30 

     

    https://www.britannica.com/on-this-day/March-14 

     

    https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/news/the-assassination-of-rasputin/ 

     

    Wikipedia

     

     

     

     

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