7th July 2021
7 July - 16 July FRAVARDIGAN Zoroastrian (Kadmi)
In the Fravardigan festival the immortal souls, together with their fravashis (the guardian spirits of departed ancestors, half man/half bird), come to reside in the place of worship. Many Zoroastrians take time off to pray, recite the five Gathas and cleanse their houses. Daily samples of sacred food are tasted by them during the daily ceremonies.
World Chocolate Day
World Chocolate Day is nothing short of a special tribute to mankind’s greatest culinary invention. (Sorry Bread or even Pizza!) Chocolate can enhance and help to create the most luxurious desserts and can even be enjoyed and indulged on its own. Some of the most popular chocolate bars are plain and simple. If this is the one for you, try going for a high cocoa percentage with low added sugar.
Macaroni Day
You can buy a box of low-fat macaroni and cheese made with powdered nonsense. I’m not worried if I’m using four different kinds of cheese and it’s high in fat. It’s real food. That’s what’s more important.
Tom Colicchio
Macaroni has played a major role in the lives of so many people, from their first encounters with it as children served up as macaroni and cheese, with slices of hot dog or peas in it, to kindergarten when they started making macaroni art to take home to their parents. Pasta is delicious in all shapes and sizes, but there is something very special about that bent, elbow shape that brings so many people back to better days and fond memories of their childhoods.
Strawberry Sundae Day
We all love cooling down with a cold, fruity treat on a hot day and Strawberry Sundae Day honours a dessert loved by millions around the world. Created with sweet toothed people in mind, Strawberry Sundae Day is the perfect excuse to sit in the garden and cool down with a delicious delicacy. Strawberries are loved by children and adults alike and are a refreshing, sweet fruit. Coupled with ice cream and whipped cream to form a sundae, they taste divine. Making your own sundaes for Strawberry Sundae Day is a fun activity for the whole family to enjoy together. Older children can make them by themselves, choosing the quantities of strawberries, ice cream, cream and other ingredients as they see fit, and younger children can help make (and eat) the sundaes.
Global Forgiveness Day
Global Forgiveness Day was established to create goodwill among people and allow them to stop carrying around so much guilt and pain in their lives. It’s a day to set differences and conflicts aside and work on forgiving the hurts and finding healing. In fact, some health studies have shown that people who are willing to offer forgiveness, whether to themselves or others, are much more likely to be happy and healthy than those who withhold forgiveness! That’s a great reason to live a life cantered around forgiveness. Global Forgiveness Day was founded in 1994 by the CECA (Christian Embassy of Christ’s Ambassadors). It originally started in Canada, but as it gained popularity throughout the world, it was renamed as Global Forgiveness Day. While there is a different Forgiveness Day in August, founded by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, the Forgiveness Day on 7th July was founded by CECA. Honestly, though, both days really have essentially the same message; to forgive!
Tell The Truth Day
According to a book by M. Hirsch Goldberg, the average human being lies approximately 200 times each day, which includes “white lies” as well as avoiding the truth by omission. If that seems like a lot, then maybe the University of California research will sit a little better, suggesting that humans typically tell two lies per day, on average. But whether it’s two lies a day or 200 lies per day, this research might indicate the need for a day like Tell the Truth Day! Although telling a little white lie to protect someone’s feelings might be standard (for instance, “your new purple mohawk looks great on you!”), Tell the Truth Day was created as an opportunity to push past the surface and get honest with the world.
It is important to remember, however, that telling the truth doesn’t just give people license to go around hurting each other’s feelings, (maybe try something more along the lines of, “a purple mohawk probably wouldn’t be my thing, but if you like it, then that’s what counts!”).
Tell the Truth Day is slightly different than Honesty Day, which is celebrated in late April. Another day with a similar bent is celebrated on April 2, the day after April Fool’s Day, and the idea is to undo all of those silly little lies that were told as jokes the day before. In any case, the concept of spending a whole day telling the truth might cause some to flinch and worry, while for others it might be the standard that they live by most of the time anyway. For anyone, though, Tell the Truth Day can offer a little bit of freedom to say what’s true and possibly even start making a habit of it.
A Selection of Birthdays
1880 Otto Frederick Rohwedder, American engineer (invented the bread-slicing machine), born in Davenport, Iowa (d. 1960)
1902 James McCartney, father of Beatle Paul McCartney
1919 Jon Pertwee, Actor/entertainer (3rd Doctor, Doctor Who, Worzel Gummidge), b. London (d.1996)
1925 Yvonne Mitchell, writer (Johnny Nobody, Genghis Khan), born in London
1934 Robert McNeill Alexander, British zoologist (estimated speed of dinosaurs) born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland (d. 2016)
1940 Ringo Starr [Richard Starkey], British drummer, vocalist (The Beatles - "Yellow Submarine"), songwriter ("Early 1970"; "Photograph"), actor (Caveman), and knight, born in Dingle, Liverpool
1941 Jim Rodford, British rock bassist (The Kinks; Argent; Zombies), born in St Albans (d. 2018)
1941 Michael Howard, British politician
1941 Bill Oddie, English comedian and ornithologist
1942 Christopher "Chris" Stamp, British music producer, psychodrama therapist and manager (The Who, Jimi Hendrix), born in London (d. 2012)
1944 Tony Jacklin, English golfer (British Open 1969, US Open 1970), born in Scunthorpe
1947 Rob Townsend, Rock and blues drummer. He was the drummer for progressive rock band Family and later The Blues Band.
1948 Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt, rock guitarist (Iron Butterfly) (d. 2012)
1962 Clive "Doctor" Jackson, Rocker (Dr & Medics - "Laughing at Pieces"), born Liverpool
1965 Jeremy Kyle, English radio and television presenter (The Jeremy Kyle Show), born in Berkshire,
1970 Min Patel, Indian-born English cricketer (in Mumbai England left-arm spinner v India 1996), born in Mumbai
1970 Wayne McCullough, Irish boxer, born in Belfast
1971 Alistair Potts, British rower, born in Chertsey, Surrey
1976 Dominic Foley, Irish footballer, born in Cork
1979 Carl Breeze, British racing driver, born in King's Lynn
Today in British History
1668 Isaac Newton receives MA from Trinity College, Cambridge
1753 British parliament grants Jews citizenship
1941 World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops
1942 John Maynard Keynes takes his seat in the British House Of Lords as Baron Keynes of Tilton after being knighted
1969 Canada's House of Commons approves equality of French-English language
1981 The solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, successfully completes a 163 mile flight across the English Channel
2002 A scandal breaks out in the United Kingdom when news reports accuse MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada, supposed European Al Qaeda leader
2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, A series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the morning rush hour.
Northern Ireland
1972 Secret Talks Between IRA and British Government: Gerry Adams is part of a delegation to London for talks with the British Government
1972 7 people are killed in separate incidents across Northern Ireland
Scotland
1850 Scottish explorer Edward Eyre reaches Albany, Western Australia
Deaths in History
1307 Edward I, King of England (1272-1307), dies at 68
1537 Madeleine of Valois, French princess who briefly became Queen of Scotland after marrying James V, dies only six months after the wedding at 16
1764 William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician (b. 1683)
1771 Thomas Gray, English poet (Elegy), dies at 54
1776 Jeremiah Markland, English classical scholar (b. 1693)
1799 William Curtis, English botanist (Botanical Magazine), dies at 53
1930 Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (Sherlock Holmes), dies at 71
1970 Allen Lane, English publisher and founder of Penguin Books, dies at 67
1970 Dame Laura Knight, English impressionist artist, dies at 92
2000 Mary Armour, Scottish painter, dies at 80