Today is:

6 January 2009 (Gregorian)	24 December 2008 (Julian)	10 Tevet 5769 (Hebrew)	11st day 12th month 4706 (Chinese)
9 Muharram 1430 (Islamic)	16 Pausa 1930 (Saka)	6 Mokkarakhom 2552 (Thai)	7 Sharaf 164 (Baha'i)
17 Dey 1387 (Persian)	28 Tahsas 2001 (Ethiopian)	22 Dhanu 1184 (Malayalam)	28 Koiak 1725 (Coptic)
22 Margazhi 107/22 Sarvadhari (Tamil)		The Moon is Waxing

YESTERDAY:
Monday, 5 January

TODAY:
Tuesday, 6 January

TOMORROW:
Wednesday, 7 January

Guru Gobind Singh's Birthday (Sikh)
Twelfth Night (Christian)

Day of the Kings
Day of the Three Magi
Dia de Los Reyes (Puerto Rico, Three King's Day)
Epiphany (Christian)
Feast of the Theophany (Orthodox Christian)
Holy Day of The Blackmen

Ashura (Islam)
Baptism of the Lord Jesus (Christian)
Nativity of Jesus Christ (Orthodox Christian, Orthodox Christmas)

Beltane

by Frann Leach

A Celtic pagan fire festival when bonfires are lit, traditionally celebrated on May Eve, the day before May Day. In Wales it was customary to eat oatcakes, in other parts of Britain, gingerbread.

'Young men and maids, old men and wives' used to set off a-maying after midnight on May Eve, with much merriment. At dawn they would return, singing May carols and laden with hawthorn (may), blackthorn and other greenery and flowers to decorate their houses. People who expressed disapproval (suspecting that there was more going on than the simple gathering of greenery) often found their houses adorned with alder and nettle. The word nuts in the old song 'Let's go gathering nuts in May' is probably a corruption of 'knots', the old word for posies or bunches of flowers.

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Frann ("Tiggsy") Leach is the webmistress and owner of Which Day and TheWebsiteDesign.co.uk. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Beltane

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