Coptic New Year (Feast of El-Nayrouz)

Members of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the native Christian church in Egypt, celebrate the New Year on September 11 because it is the day on which the Dog Star, Sirius, rises in the Egyptian sky, announcing the flooding of the Nile and the new planting season. To commemorate the martyrs of the church, red vestments and altar clothes are used on this day. A food of special significance on this day is the red date: red recalls the martyrs’ blood, the light-colored flesh of the date symbolizes their purity, and the stony pit symbolizes their steadfast faith. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

David Herbert “D.H.” Lawrence (1885)

Lawrence was an English writer whose works condemned industrial society and explored sexuality, often drawing on his own life for inspiration. Now noted for their intensity and erotic sensuality, several of his works, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover, were banned as obscene. Persecuted for being a pacifist and shunned for having a German wife during World War I, he left England forever. He died of tuberculosis in France. Lawrence once acquired a ranch in New Mexico in exchange for what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Letters of Marque

A retaliatory measure once widely employed by governments around the globe, a letter of marque and reprisal is an official commission which authorizes a private ship to attack and capture merchant vessels from a hostile power. A ship operating under a letter of marque was known as a “private man-of-war” or “privateer.” Widespread abuse on the part of privateers led a number of nations to ratify the 1856 Declaration of Paris abolishing the practice. What major power refused to sign the agreement? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Doctors thought she was psychotic, but her body was attacking her brain

Emily Gavigan was convinced that a nearby truck was following her. Someone was after her. She was a sophomore at the University of Scranton in January 2009 when the “bizarre” behavior began, said her father, Bill. Her parents noticed that she had been … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Empress Elizabeth of Austria Is Assassinated (1898)

Renowned for her beauty, Elizabeth of Bavaria married her cousin, Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, but disliked the rigid etiquette of the Viennese court. She therefore spent much of her life wandering abroad. In 1898, an Italian anarchist stabbed the 60-year-old empress in the chest with a sharpened file while she was travelling in Geneva, killing her. Her domestic life is said to been an unhappy one, marred by family tragedies like the death of her only son in what sensational incident? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Joust of the Quintain (Giostra della Quintana)

In the 17th century a tournament known as the Joust of the Quintain was held in Foligno, Perugia, Italy, to commemorate the equestrian exercises of the early Roman legionnaires. The tournament was revived in 1946, adhering as closely as possible to the original rules. Early Sunday morning there is a parade of people in Renaissance dress, accompanied by musicians and dancers. Ten “knights” representing the city’s 10 districts gallop past the statue of Mars and try to remove the ring in its outstretched hand by spearing it with the tip of a lance. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Hilda Doolittle, AKA H.D. (1886)

Born in Pennsylvania, Doolittle traveled to Europe in 1911 and stayed there the rest of her life. In England, under the influence of Ezra Pound, she became associated with the imagists and developed into one of the most original poets of the group. She combined classical themes with modernist techniques to create clear, impersonal, sensuous verse. Doolittle, who became an icon of the gay-rights and feminist movements after her death, was once involved in a love triangle with what other writers? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary