January 05, 2005
The Old Farmer's Almanac
I was intrigued by the calendar marking special "red letter" days - there are a few of them right off the bat here in 2005 . . . Also i hear it's good for predicting eclipses, should you ever get thrown back in time and captured by angry natives.
January 5 - Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night, the eve of January 5, is in English folk custom the end of Christmas merrymaking and in ancient Celtic tradition the end of the 12-day winter solstice celebration. On Twelfth Night, it was customary for the assembled company to toast one another from the wassail bowl. In Old English, wassail means "Be in good health," but the term also was applied to the drink itself (usually spiced ale). Also today Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia. Damn that's randomly handy!
--Christian Morgenstern, trans Max Knight