I’m reading a book* (about dragon-slaying) in which St George’s Day is mentioned. I decided that this was a useful piece of useless information to know, so I decided to remember it. And then I realized that with this new acquisition, I now knew the names and dates of precisely two saint’s days, which is a fairly pathetic haul, if you ask me. In my defense, I’m not catholic, and have never been a member of any church. So who can beat me?
I’ll leave a few blank lines, so you can get your bids in before you scroll down.
My only bingos were St George’s Day, April 23, and St Stephen’s Day, Dec 26. Although I suppose Dec 25, Jesus Christ’s Day also counts.
For the sake of interest, I went and looked up my birthday on a list of catholic saints’ days, and found there are no less than 23 of them, none of whom had I heard of.
As I am also not Catholic, I’m not well-versed on what it takes to attain sainthood, but I thought there was a quite rigorous (possibly for want of better term) selection process. Yet your birthday also happens to be that of 23 saints’ days? Maybe I was wrong about the selection process!
My birthday happens to be that of seven saints’ days. I had heard of precisely zero of those saints.
Prior to JP2, the Catholic church tried to be fairly sparing about conferring sainthood, lest the whole concept get devalued. They even went through the calendar of saints a turfed out a bunch that had likely been co-opted pagan gods rather than Christian heroes. Popular Saints like St Brigit and St Christopher both got demoted.
But when Karol Wojlyta became pope, he blew the doors open. He saw sainthood as great advertising, and saw no reason to restrict it to the holiest of the holy. So, the church has been declaring saints holus bolus in the past few decades, and every new saint requires a day. Only there aren’t any more days in a year than there used to be. In the medieval era, Saint’s days were unique. You could say “St Swithin’s day” (As Billy Bragg does - July 15) and everyone would know what you mean. Now. there are so many saints that no casual observer can keep them straight.
If there’s 23 on my birthday and 7 on yours, the average is 15. 15 x 365 = 5,475. I dunno how many saints the church now claims, but that number means most will be obscure to any but specialists.
OTOH St P’s day is Mar 16?
The date is an essential part of this question. If you can’t name the date without googling, you lose. Of course, I can’t police that, but this is the contest, and your’re on your honour.
Saint Nicholas’s day is actually Dec. 6. I only know that because the excellent Swiss dopplebock Samiclaus is made on Dec. 6 each year.
I once read an article in the newspaper about Saint David’s day, which is March 1. He’s the patron saint of Wales, and the only reason I remember this is because the last sentence of the article said something like “If you see someone wearing a leek on his hat on March 1, you know he’s Welsh.”
It’s odd what you remember.
By the way, Simon, I received Salt Fat Acid Heat for Christmas from my wife. Thanks for clueing us in to it – I’m really enjoying it, it’s the perfect book for a cooking geek with a chemistry background.
It’s a good thing I was raised Presbyterian instead of Russian Orthodox (my mom’s and dad’s traditions, respectively), otherwise I’d really start nitpicking.
But I can’t play the challenge anyway, because I have no sense of occasion. I can hardly remember the holidays at all even with their accompanying buildup and hype blaring in my face; I’m always off in my own little world. I’m like, “Yeah, yeah. Fuzzy bunnies and eggs that look like Michael Portillo. I think it’s supposed to be Easter sometime off in the distance, right? - What? Tomorrow?” Even this upcoming weekend comes as something of a surprise every time I remember it’s going to be the New Year. Then I thought, All Saints’ Day should let me off the hook!, but even so I had to look it up because I still wasn’t 100% sure. I have to look up the date for St. Paddy’s and St. Valentine’s Days every time. Every time, even with people telling me. I simply keep forgetting. I probably wouldn’t even remember my own birthday except that I stand to get a free drink at the bar for it. Sigh. I’m such a knave.
I bought this for my wife on Simon’s suggestion also, and it has been a big hit, she really enjoys it. I’ve only read the Forward and the Introduction; my wife is a much more enthusiastic cook than I am.
Yup. My sister’s birthday. Pretty much every family friend thought they were originally clever in telling my parents they should have named her Pat…groan.
St. Lawrence of whom Augustine said “The merit of this saint is evident to everyone. For who has prayed to St. Lawrence and not had his prayer answered?”
Any guesses?
St. Augustine has always been my favorite saint. I incorrectly guessed his Feast Day though. Apparently, it is celebrated on August 28th, the day that he died. He is apparently the patron saint of brewers, printers, and theologians. He is also prayed to for the alleviation of sore eyes (as according to his wiki and a Catholic website cited in the wiki).
I also misguessed St. Lawrence of Rome’s feast day. St. Lawrence is August 10. St. Lawrence apparently got assigned to cooks, the poor, and the alleviation of back pain.
This book is set in a slightly reskinned Huron County, Ontario. As this is where Goderich, home of the excellent Celtic College and Celtic Roots Festival, is, I’ve actually spent something like ten weeks in that area, and it was really fun to try to spot locations I know in the book. I remember the salt mine and the high school both having fairly major roles…
That’s where I’d placed it, too. My parents used to write books about Ontario rural history, so I spent many summers in the 70s getting hauled around the dustier parts of southern Ontario.
One of the pieces I do is a solo Folk Opera based on (libretto!) a short story by Somerset Maugh called “Winter Cruise”.
Part of the story hinges on St Sylvester’s Day - December 31st, which was traditionally observed in parts of Germany more than Christmas was. Or so I’m told.
Another song is a paean to Mugwort (wonderful stuff!) which has the chorus:
“Mugwort, Mugwort, tonic herb of the best sort!
Hear me sing its praises in this simple little tune!
Keep the moth and fleas away
with the plant that’s harvested on St. John’s day;
And I’ll have you all remember, that’s the 24th of June!”
So there are two more for your collection. Oh, and St. Brigid’s day - 1st February. (although I always do Imbolc on the 2nd…)
St. Lawrence is August 10. St. Lawrence apparently got assigned to cooks, the poor, and the alleviation of back pain.