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Daily Calendar for Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Ember Days

Ember Days happen four times a year at the start of each season. Traditionally observed by some Christian denominations, each set of Ember Days is three days, kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. 

Ember Days for 2023
September: 20, 22, 23 
December: 20, 22, 23

Ember Days for 2024
February 21, 23, 24
May 22, 24, 25
September 18, 20, 21
December 18, 20, 21

These three days are set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer. The first of these four times comes in winter, after the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13; the second set comes with the First Sunday in Lent; the third set comes after Whitsunday/Pentecost Sunday; the four and last set comes after the Feast of the Holy Cross. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:

“Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”

Which means:

“Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, are when the quarter holidays follow.”

In Latin, Ember Days are known as the quattuor anni tempora (the “four seasons of the year”). Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months. 

As with much folklore, this is grounded in some common sense since the beginning of the four seasons cue the changes in weather as well as a shift in how we keep harmony with the Earth and respect our stewardship of the Earth, our “garden of Eden.”“

National Maritime Day (United States)

In 1933, Congress designated May 22 as National Maritime Day. On this day in 1819, the “first successful transoceanic voyage under steam propulsion” began when the steamship S.S. Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia. It arrived in Liverpool, England, on June 20. National Maritime Day is an occasion to honor the past and present contributions of the U.S. merchant marine during both peace and war.

Question of the Day

Why is a nautical mile different from a land mile?
The mile was originally a Roman linear measure of 1,000 paces — about 1,618 yards. (Its length has varied considerably at different periods and in different localities; the legal mile is now 1,760 yards, or 5,280 feet.) Such a linear measurement cannot be used at sea, so the nautical mile is based on the length of one minute of arc (or 1/60 of a degree) of a great circle of Earth. Owing to the fact that Earth is not a true sphere, the mile as thus defined varies considerably. Therefore, the British assigned it a standard value of 6,080 feet.

Advice of the Day

Plant marigolds around your lover’s footsteps to keep your true love.

Home Hint of the Day

Sharpen your hand scraper frequently throughout a paint scraping project. It’s the rough edge left on the scraper after you file it that removes the paint.

Word of the Day

To catch a crab
In rowing when a stroke of the oar either misses the water or digs too deeply.

Puzzle of the Day

What day of the week do chickens hate most?
Fry day.

Born

  • William Sturgeon (inventor) –
  • Richard Wagner (composer) –
  • Mary Cassatt (painter) –
  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes) –
  • Laurence Olivier (actor) –
  • Peter Nero (pianist) –
  • Paul Winfield (actor) –
  • Morrissey (singer) –
  • Naomi Campbell (model) –
  • Alastair Ralphs (wrestler) –
  • Ginnifer Goodwin (actress) –
  • Apolo Ohno (Olympic speed skater) –

Died

  • Martha Washington (U.S. First Lady) –
  • Victor Hugo (writer) –
  • Langston Hughes (writer) –
  • Thurl Ravenscroft (character voice, most well known for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes’ pitchman Tony the Tiger) –
  • Tiffany Two (oldest known cat at the time) –

Events

  • Train of 100-plus wagons left Independence, Missouri, for Oregon–
  • Representative Preston Brooks caned Senator Charles Sumner in Senate–
  • Patent granted for Wright brothers’ “Flying-Machine”–
  • The American Cancer Society was founded–
  • The Space Needle’s revolving restaurant in Seattle, Washington, was dedicated–
  • Barry Bishop and the other members of a National Geographic expedition team were the first Americans to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Barry Bishop placed the U.S. flag on top of Mount Everest–
  • First permanent IMAX theater opened in Toronto–
  • Athlete Rick Hansen completed Man in Motion World Tour–
  • Hubble telescope detected at least two more Saturn moons–

Weather

  • Northeast Maine had 6 inches of snow–
  • Lewiston, Maine, reached 101 degrees F–
  • Rains caused flooding, New Mexico–
  • Heavy rain brought the Pearl River ten feet above flood stage at Carthage, Mississippi–
  • A 2.5 mile-wide tornado touched down near Hallam, Nebraska.–
  • An EF-5 tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, causing at least 155 deaths. An evaluation by the National Weather Service estimated the tornado’s wind speeds reached 198 miles per hour.–