28 March 2013
maundy
[mawn-dee]
noun
1. the ceremony of washing the feet of the poor, especially commemorating Jesus’ washing of His disciples’ feet on Maundy Thursday.
2. Also called maundy money. money distributed as alms in conjunction with the ceremony of maundy or on Maundy Thursday.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English maunde < Old French mande < Latin mandātum command, mandate (from the opening phrase novum mandātum (Vulgate) of Jesus’ words to the disciples after He had washed their feet). See mandate
Today’s aphorism
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.
– James Michener
On this day
28 March 1930 – Turkey changes the name of Constantinople to Istanbul and Angora to Ankara.
28 March 1939 – end of the Spanish Civil War, with Nationalist General Francisco Franco taking control of Madrid after a 3 year war against the Government of the Second Spanish Republic, which was led by President Manuel Azaña. Franco established a fascist dictatorship which lasted for 36 years. The Civil War had been fought between Fascist and Republican forces. The Republicans were comprised of a number of socialist, communist and anarchist forces. The Soviet Union backed the Republicans, but opposed other socialist forces such as the POUM (Workers Party of Marxist Unification), PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party), CNT (Confederationo of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions) and others.
28 March 1964 – The Beatles have 10 hits in the Billboard charts at the same time.
28 March 2008 – President George W. Bush states that the USA is not in recession, but just slowing down and that tax cuts will stimulate spending. The US National Bureau of Economic Research declared the USA recession started in December 2007 and ended in July 2009.
28 March 2008 – The Pew Centre reports that the USA has the highest number of incarcerations in the world, at 2.3 million, which surpasses the number of prisoners in China, Russia and Iran. The USA also has the highest rate of imprisonments in the world as a percentage of population.
28 March 2013 – Maundy Thursday.
29 March 1946 – birth of Billy Thorpe, English-born Australian rock legend. Front man for ‘Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs’. Died 28 February 2007.
29 March 1971 – Charles Manson and three of his followers are sentenced to death for the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others. California abolished the death penalty in 1972, before the death sentences could be carried out. Even though California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, Manson is still held in prison.
29 March 1971 – A court martial finds Lieutenant Calley guilty of murder for his role in the massacre of 500 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai. Calley had been in charge of Charlie Company, 11th Infantry Brigade, which had raped, maimed, assaulted and murdered civilians living in My Lai. Calley was the only one of 26 members of Charlie Company to be convicted. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but on the instructions of President Richard Nixon the following day was released to house arrest at Fort Benning, Georgia. During this time his sentence was cut to 10 years and he was paroled, only having served three and a half years while under house arrest. Many people protested the sentencing, claiming he was a scapegoat. Others were horrified that he was the only one in the chain of command to be charged and convicted.
29 March 1973 – America’s direct involvement in the Vietnamese War ends with the withdrawal of last USA troops from South Vietnam.
29 March 2013 – Good Friday.
30 March – Land Day, annual day of commemoration for Palestinians following the events of 1976 in which the Israeli government announced its plans to expropriate large amounts of Palestinian land for Israel. Land Day is recognised as a pivotal event in the struggle over Palestinian land and Palestine’s relationship to Israel.
30 March 1853 – birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, dutch painter.
30 March 1878 – the USA buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
30 March 1981 – US President Ronald Reagan shot at close range by John Hinckley, who was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Also shot were Reagan’s press secretary, a Washington police officer and a Secret Service agent. None were injured fatally. Reagan underwent emergency surgery. He was released from hospital on 11 April 1981 and is the first president to survive an assassination attempt.
30 March 1987 – an anonymous buyer purchases the Vincent Van Gogh painting, ‘Sunflowers‘ for $36.3 million.
30 March 2002 – the Queen Mother dies at the age 101.
31 March 1992 – the Warsaw Pact ends. This was a defence treaty between the Soviet Union and Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe.
31 March 2005 – death of Terry Schiavo who was the centre of the most prolonged right-to-die case in U.S. history. She had collapsed in 1990 from a cardiac arrest and entered a coma from which she did not recover. Doctors declared her to be in a ’persistent vegetative state’. Her husband petitioned the court in 1998 to remove her feeding tubes, but her parents opposed the request. The case ran from 1998 – 2005 with numerous petitions to either remove the tubes or to keep them in. Terry died 13 days after her feeding tubes were removed on order of the court in 2005.
31 March 2013 – Easter Sunday.
1 April – April Fool’s Day.
1 April 1918 – the Royal Air Force is founded in England. It’s first planes were the Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Camel, Bristol F2B fighters, and Royal Aircraft Factory’s SE5s, which were used during World War I.
1 April 1999 – Europe adopts the Euro as a common currency.
1 April 2012 – Aung San Suu Kyi wins a Burma by-election. Suu Kyi had been under house arrest for around 20 years following the military take-over of Burma in 1990.
1 April 2013 – Easter Monday.