HISTORY OF THE IDES OF MARCH
According to the ancient Roman calendar, the ides fell on the 13th of the month with the exception of the months March, May, July, and October, when it fell on the 15th.
It was on March 15, 44 B.C. that the Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated. Contrary to popular belief, including William Shakespeare, Caesar was not assassinated in the Capitol, meaning the Curia Hostilia or Senate House in the Roman Forum at the foot of the Capitoline Hill (pictured at top).
Rather, Caesar was assassinated near the statue of Pompey at the Theatrum Pompeium (pictured at left in the Largo di Torre Argentina in modern day Rome), where the Senate used to meet at that time. This precinct is now a Cat Sanctuary (as you can see the cat in the center of my photo) where I counted over a dozen homeless cats. They are regularly fed by local women.
Marc Antony would have delivered his Shakespearean speech
“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears”
from the Rostra of the Forum, directly across from the Curia (pictured at right).
Dead bodies could not be kept inside the City, and Caesar was cremated in the Forum (at the location pictured on the left). Flowers are left there to this day.
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com
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Tagged as:
History,
ides,
Julius Caesar,
Rome
HISTORY OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
It seems like only yesterday that we discussed the end of Daylight Saving Time, or DST, a brilliant campaign to convince people that we’re getting more daylight each day, when in reality we’ve simply changed our clocks and then forgotten about it within two weeks. Actually, it was only back in October, or less than 5 months ago.
Indeed, the new rules for DST that began in 2007 meant an extra four or five weeks of DST each year. There are now a total of 238 days of DST, compared to the total of 210 days of DST back in 2006 under the previous rules, and the U. S. remains on DST for about 65% of the year. So think about it, DST will be in effect for most of the year. It might be more significant to recognize Daylight Losing Time.
DST begins each year at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March in most of the United States and its territories. However there are some places that have not bought into this campaign: it is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands nor the state of Arizona except for the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe DST. You can read my original full article here.
New this year: an answer to the age-old question “Does DST actually save energy?”
A Department of Energy study was released in early November 2008 showing that Daylight Saving Time does in fact save energy.
- The total electricity savings of Extended Daylight Saving Time were about 1.3 Tera Watt-hour (TWh). This corresponds to 0.5 percent per each day of Extended Daylight Saving Time, or 0.03 percent of electricity consumption over the year. In comparison, the total 2007 electricity consumption in the United States was 3,900 TWh.
- In terms of national primary energy consumption, the electricity savings translate to a reduction of 17 Trillion Btu (TBtu) over the spring and fall Extended Daylight Saving Time periods, or roughly 0.02 percent of total U.S. energy consumption during 2007 of 101,000 TBtu.
How much again? We’re talking two one-hundredths of a percent annual energy consumption reduced!
How will you spend this energy savings?
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com
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Tagged as:
History
HISTORY OF ASH WEDNESDAY
In the Western church the first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday from the ceremonial use of ashes, as a symbol of penitence, in the service prescribed for the day. The custom is still retained in the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Anglican, Episcopal and Lutheran Churches. The ashes, obtained by burning the remains of the palm branches blessed on the previous Palm Sunday, are placed in a vessel on the altar and consecrated before High Mass. The priest then invites those present to approach and, dipping his thumb in the ashes, marks them as they kneel with the sign of the cross on the forehead, with the words:
Remember, man, thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.
This ceremony is derived from the custom of public penance in the early church. Initially, for converts wishing to be baptized into the church, the fasted for 40 hours before Easter, when many baptisms were performed. This practice later became a 40-day period of prayer and contemplation, and in some cases fasting. When the custom was extended to the entire congregation is not known, although it seems to have been in common use by the late 10th century, at least in the Western church.
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com
Tagged as:
Ash Wednesday,
Easter,
History,
holiday,
Lent
