While the clothes of the '80s were too flashy and fantastic for denim to gain much of a foothold in fashion, the ‘90s were ripe for a denim revival. The first wave of ‘90s fashion denim was dark and stiff, similar to the pristine denim of the '50s in all but its high price, which, for a pair of high-status jeans by a designer such as Helmut Lang, could be several hundred dollars.

2003, Nancy MacDonell Smith, The Classic Ten: the true story of the little black dress and nine other fashion favorites:


Santa hat

It is Boxing Day in a football ground, and all we can do is sprawl over the plastic, hurling instructions and vague encouragement. The seat is an extension of the sofa, the match another Pick of the Day in the Radio Times. Some are wearing Santa hats, some have been drinking only six or seven hours after last stopping, guzzling away, topping up their levels to reach pie-eyed delirium.

2016, Daniel Gray, Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football:

A red and white hat associated with Santa Claus, approximately conical with a white bobble on top.


Santa suit

my 8th grade social studies teacher quit his job at Old Navy during college because he refused to wear a Santa suit

2023 December 25, Lucinda DiFiore, Twitter:

A red and white costume associated with Santa Claus, normally including an ostentatious black belt


Egg Saturday

(Christianity) The Saturday before Ash Wednesday. At the University of Oxford, the pace eggs are provided for the students on that day.


hanukkiah

en-noun

hanukkiah (plural hanukkiahs or hanukkiot or hanukkioth)

hanukkiahs (plural)
hanukkiot (plural)
hanukkioth (plural)

Borrowed from Hebrew חֲנֻכִּיָּה (khanukiyá).

Some might say that the hanukkiah is decorations, but it isn't; the hanukkiah is a ceremonial object, with specific, non-decorative purposes. Perhaps the Stars of David that many string about are appropriate Jewish decoration?

2005 December 23, Jonathan Safran Foer, “A Beginner's Guide to Hanukkah”, in The New York Times:

As a child of Holocaust survivors, there was nothing, no family relics. The celebration was very modest, with a very small hanukkiah, and my mother was a great maker of latkes. I now luckily have many different kinds of hanukkiahs.

2010 November 17, Rima Suqi, quoting Daniel Libeskind, “Daniel Libeskind on a New Show of Menorahs”, in The New York Times:

The candelabras lit on Hanukkah are technically called hanukkiahs. They have eight candles plus one more, a shamash, that is used for lighting the others.

[2023 December 7, Jacey Fortin, “For Some, the Symbols of Hanukkah Bring Extra Concern This Year”, in The New York Times:

(Judaism) A nine-branched menorah used during Hanukkah.


haunted house

haunted house (countable and uncountable, plural haunted houses)

بَيْت أَشْبَاح

house believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences

Lisette can't wait to create a haunted house on Halloween night.

An amusement attraction in which a building or series of rooms is decorated to frighten the people who pass through.


Golden Week

(Asian holidays): Borrowed from Japanese ゴールデンウィーク (Gōruden Wīku), equivalent to golden + week.

Any of several extended holidays celebrated in China and Japan, usually early in May.

(US politics, colloquial) A period of early voting time during Ohio's election season in which citizens can register to vote and cast an absentee ballot on the same day.


correfoc

Borrowed from Catalan correfoc (literally “run [through] fire”).

bor

The correfoc (‘fire run’) is a frenzy of pyromania. Groups of horned devils dance through the streets, brandishing tridents that spout fireworks and generally flouting every safety rule in the book.

2013, Time Out Barcelona, 15th edition, Ebury Publishing, →ISBN:

Any of several forms of parade-like celebrations in Catalonia involving pyrotechnics in the middle of a crowd.


Divine Mercy Sunday

en-proper noun

Divine Mercy Sunday (plural Divine Mercy Sundays)

(Roman Catholicism) The Sunday after Easter.


Red Nose Day

From the red plastic false noses sold on this day to raise money.

A day, usually every other year, on which the Comic Relief organisation encourages the public to engage in fundraising for charity.


teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties

Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties


melomakarona

From Greek μελομακάρονα (melomakárona) or μελομακάρονο (melomakárono).

bor

μελομακάρονα

Earlier in the day, his mother had prepared soup for the female lead and melomakarona, or Greek honey cookies, for the crew.

2007 January 14, Jeff Vandam, “Lights, Camera, Honey Cookies: A Soap Opera, Greek Style”, in New York Times:

Greek honey macaroons with crushed walnuts, traditionally served at Christmas.


kyBP

Initialism of kiloyears before present; thousands of years before present.


May 35th

Calque of Chinese 5月35日; a euphemistic form of June 4th, as though May (which has 31 days) had been lengthened to include it.

This is known within China, to the people who know about it, as the June Fourth Incident. More recently it has been referred to covertly as May 35th.

2009 June 4, Shih-Chieh Ilya Li, “Today in China, May 35th”, in Pah (Usenet):

(euphemistic) The anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre on the fourth of June, known in China as the June Fourth Incident.


Abbot of Misrule

en-noun

Abbot of Misrule (plural Abbots of Misrule)

(usually capitalized) One elected to preside over the Christmas revelry in noble households and elsewhere in England during the 15th and 16th century; Lord of Misrule.


Bloomsday

From the name of Leopold Bloom, protagonist of Ulysses + -s- + day.

I happened into a meeting of the James Joyce Society last Bloomsday (June 16) at the Gotham Book Mart in New York, an unlikely stop for me; for such gatherings usually have the odor of formaldehyde about them. But not this one.

1993, William Kennedy, Riding the Yellow Trolley Car, →ISBN, page 132:

An annual celebration (on 16 June, in Dublin and elsewhere) of the life of Irish writer James Joyce and the events depicted in his novel Ulysses.


mensiversary

Blend of Latin mēnsis (“month”) + anniversary, perhaps through French mensiversaire.

blend

How flourishes the King of Clubs? I always observe its mensiversary in my fancy.

1805 June 1, James Mackintosh, edited by Robert James Mackintosh, Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, volume 1, published 1835, letter to Richard Sharp, page 250:

(rare) A day that marks an exact month (or specified number of months) since the occurrence of a significant event.

monatreveno

day that is an exact month (or specified number of months) since the occurrence of an event


holiday season

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-holiday season.wav

What are your plans for the holiday season?

(US, Canada) The period of the late fall and early winter when several holidays occur, such as Halloween, American Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa


Mothering Sunday

From the former British custom of visiting mother churches (q.v.) at Mid-Lent, which by the English Civil War had passed on to servants receiving leave to go a-mothering, visiting and providing small gifts to their families. Revived as a national tradition in the early 20th century after the model of Mother's Day in the United States.

...on Mothering Sunday, when all the ‘servant-lads’ and ‘servant wenches’ are, in some parts of the country, set at liberty for a day, to go and see their mothers...

1838, William Howitt, Rural Life in England, page 159:

Mary, it's twenty good year—twenty-one, come Mothering Sunday—'Since he was here at the farm.

1880, Arthur Joseph Munby, Dorothy, page 66:

"Mothering Sunday," the fourth Sunday in Lent, when absent sons and daughters—particularly the young apprentices—would return to their homes with some little present for both parents, but more especially for the mother... Imagine the... pride of the mother in the simple gift, and the admiration of the small brothers and sisters who gathered around and longed for the time when they also would be out in the great unknown world and could come "a-mothering."

1894 March, Mary B. Merrill, “Mothering Sunday”, in Mary Mapes Dodge, editor, St. Nicholas: a monthly magazine for boys and girls, volume 21, part 1, page 388:

Mothering Sunday is a British, Christian tradition. The Americans celebrate ‘Mother's Day’ later in the year.

2007, Susan Elkin, 100 Ideas for Secondary School Assemblies, page 12:

(UK) The fourth Sunday of Lent, three Sundays before Easter, now especially as a day to honor one's mother.

Laetare Sunday

usual liturgical name in Catholicism & Anglicanism

Refreshment Sunday

in reference to the customary relaxation of Lenten abstention on this day

Sunday of the Five Loaves

in reference to Catholic practices on this day


Sunday of the Five Loaves

From the traditional Gospel reading at mass, retelling the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitude.

Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday#English

(archaic) Synonym of Mothering Sunday: the fourth Sunday in Lent.


plygain

en-noun

plygain (usually uncountable, plural plygains)

A Welsh custom of singing carols at dawn on Christmas morning.


Wren Day

(Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man, Newfoundland) A celebration on December 26 where people, especially boys, hunt a fake wren and parade it upon a decorated pole.


Charlie Brown tree

Charlie Brown tree (plural Charlie Brown trees)

A reference to the animated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) based on the comic strip Peanuts by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000), in which the title character Charlie Brown picks an unattractive Christmas tree to decorate. The selection of the tree represents a protest against the commercialization of Christmas.

There is a place in our Christmas for a Charlie Brown tree—as the Children's Tree.

1985, Lasley F. Gober, The Christmas Lover’s Handbook, or, How to Plan the Merriest Christmas—Ever!, White Hall, Va.: Betterway Publications, →ISBN, page 137:

As Regina put it, "It was the ugliest, skinniest Charlie Brown tree you ever saw."

1998, Liz Curtis Higgs, “Humor and Marriage: Are You Married to a Funny-baked Ham?”, in Help! I’m Laughing and I Can’t Get Up: Forty Reasons Why Life is More Fun after the Big 4-0, Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, →ISBN, page 89:

Trees grown in the wild are naturally sparser trees with fewer branches. In the industry these are sometimes referred to as "Charlie Brown trees," after the pathetic, droopy specimen that Charlie Brown selected for the Christmas pageant in his eponymous cartoon classic.

2005, Kevin Cuddihy, Phillip Metcalfe, “O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree: All about Christmas Trees”, in Christmas’s Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Kris Kringles, Merry Jingles, and Holiday Cheer, Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, →ISBN, page 44:

She liked to think of it as a Charlie Brown tree, worthy of pity, not just a plain old ugly tree.

2005, Janell M. Ramos, Waiting for Odysseus, 2nd edition, Visalia, Calif.: Goddess Guild Publishing, →ISBN, page 136:

By today's standards these "Charlie Brown" trees of my childhood were haphazardly decorated creations at best; but to my brother, sisters and I, they were some of the most beautiful creations we had ever laid eyes on.

2011 December, J. D. Eident, “Cedar-scented Memories (This Story Appeared in the December 2011 Edition of the ‘Good Old Days’ Magazine)”, in Once More a Mindful Gatherin’ (In Verse & Prose), [United States]: J. D. Eident, published 2012, →ISBN, page 213:

A Christmas tree considered unattractive and undesirable by normal standards, often small and sparse.

A Charlie Brown Christmas
Charles M. Schulz
Charlie Brown
Peanuts


like turkeys voting for Christmas

En-au-like turkeys voting for Christmas.ogg

Because turkeys are commonly eaten at Christmas, turkeys voting for (an early) Christmas would be hastening their own death. The phrase is thought to have been coined by the British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon (1944–1986) who used it to express opposition to the 1977 Lib–Lab pact. It was popularized by the British Prime Minister James Callaghan (1912–2005) who used it in the House of Commons in March 1979 when his Labour Party lost a vote of no confidence: see the 1977 and 1979 quotations.

coinage

The next morning [14 December 1977] the Liberals held a two-and-a-half meeting at which Steel let them have their head. Only two MPs, Howells and Johnston, said they were willing to continue the Pact. The opponents were delighted. […] ‘Us voting for the Pact is like a turkey voting for Christmas’, said David Penhaligon

[1977 December 14, Alistair Michie, Simon Hoggart, “The Wispy Beards Strike Back”, in The Pact: The Inside Story of the Lib-Lab Government, 1977–8, London: Quartet Books, published 1978, →ISBN, page 156:

The minority parties have walked into a trap. If they win, there will be a general election. I am told that the current joke going around the House is that it is the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas.

[1979 March 28, James Callaghan, Prime Minister, “Her Majesty’s Government (Opposition Motion)”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 965, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2022-12-07, column 471:

Many of the responses to proposals, particularly regarding deregulation, were unsupported: it would have been like turkeys voting for Christmas in some respects.

1998, Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, “Conclusions”, in Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, editors, Urban Planning and the British New Right, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 247:

Bear in mind, however, that for some purchasing people, deciding to use an agent is a little like turkeys voting for Christmas.

2001, Trevor Kitching, “The Internet – the New Frontier for Scam Merchants”, in Purchasing Scams and How to Avoid Them, Aldershot, Hampshire, Burlington, Vt.: Gower Publishing, →ISBN, page 90:

The anti-divorce rallying cry of Fine Gael’s Alice Glenn, ‘Women voting for divorce is like turkeys voting for Christmas’, captured the sense of fear felt by many at the economic consequences of divorce for women.

2002, Frances Gardiner, Mary O’Dowd, “The Women’s Movement and Women Politicians in the Republic of Ireland, 1980–2000: Introduction”, in Angela Bourke et al., editors, The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, volumes V (Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions), New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 233, column 1:

like turkeys voting for an early Christmas

(British, simile, humorous, of an action) Self-defeating; serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer of the action.

James Callaghan
Lib–Lab pact
Oxford University Press

sahata omaa oksaansa

of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer

scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis

肉屋を支持する豚 (nikuya wo shijisuru buta, literally “pigs who support butchers”)

пчёлы про́тив мёда (pčóly prótiv mjóda, literally “bees against honey”)


boxing day

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-boxing day.wav

(business, marketing) The day or days (boxing week) following Christmas (December 25th) when stores have large reductions.


boxing week

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-boxing week.wav

Derived from boxing day (“the day after Christmas”).

(business, marketing) The period after Christmas (December 25th) until New Year's (or longer), when stores offer large discounts.


Chrismahanukwanzakah

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Chrismahanukwanzakah.wav

Etymology tree
English Christmasblend.
English Hanukkahblend.
English Kwanzaablend.
English Chrismahanukwanzakah
Blend of Christmas + Hanukkah + Kwanzaa.

etymon

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah! Merry HanuKwanzMas! (Whew... that covers everyone, right?)

2005 December, “Diversity Calendar 2006”, in Cincinati Magazine, volume 39, number 3, Emmis Communications, →ISSN, page 66:

How could Fox ever win its holiday war now? Surely all would be lost, and the nation would be forced to endure another Chrismahanukwanzakah.

2007, Joseph Minton Amann, Tom Breuer, Fair and Balanced, My Ass!: An Unbridled Look at the Bizarre Reality of Fox News, →ISBN, page 247:

Have a Blessed Chrismahanukwanzakah and a Spectacular New Year!

2009 December 16, "John H", “Approval ratings not the best...”, in rec.boats (Usenet):

(humorous) A fictional holiday in December combining aspects of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa into one festival.


Schützenfest

A "marksmen's festival": a traditional festival or fair in Germany or Switzerland, featuring a target-shooting competition.


In addition to glazed ceramics we have, for the first time, actual remnants of wood — not simply imprints in the earth like those found at An-Yang. The first discovery of these woods was an accident, occurring at railroad excavations of the early 1930s in the South China province of Hunan, at the city of Ch’ang-Sha.

1964, Sherman E. Lee, “Chinese Art of the Shang and Chou Dynasties”, in A History of Far Eastern Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 49, columns 1, 2:

Note the presence in the foreground of the fronds of ailanthus, often called “ghetto palm,” now ubiquitous in Baltimore but apparently already common in the 1930s.

Their business model of the 1920s and 1930s, which had catapulted the business to undreamt-of heights, had then turned into something of a ball and chain.

2011, John Bradley, Cadbury's Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate's Best-Loved Brand:


In the 1920s, the golly was used as a trademark for Robertson's Marmalade, and a little cut-out paper figure was popped into the stone jars between a circle of greaseproof paper and the lid.

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 163:

The history of fish-farming in nondesert areas here, mostly in the Galilee region near the sea, dates back to the late 1920s, before Israel was established as a state.

2007 January 2, Dina Kraft, “From Far Beneath the Israeli Desert, Water Sustains a Fertile Enterprise”, in The New York Times:

referring to the rapid economic expansion and modernization of the period


As in his living room, a 1910s wooden pillar by Constantin Brancusi ($19 million to $25 million) will be placed not far from a 1910s armchair by Eileen Gray carved with dragons ($2.5 million to $3.8 million), two 1920s red-lacquered palmwood benches by Gustave Miklos ($2.5 million to $3.8 million), an ivory-inlaid 1910s cylindrical table by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann ($88,000 to $114,000) and a surprisingly staid pair of 18th-century walnut sofas ($38,000 to $63,000).

2009 February 20, Eve M. Kahn, “Flickery Images of Black Life Back Then”, in The New York Times:


paschal candle

(Christianity) A large symbolic white candle used at Easter.


Paschal troparion

en-noun

Paschal troparion (plural Paschal troparia)

(Christianity) In the Eastern Orthodox church, a traditional hymn sung at Easter (Pascha)


Great Lent

A calque from a language with traditional Orthodox practice, where this fast is called "great" to distinguish it from the Advent and Dormition fasts, likely Calque of Byzantine Greek Μεγάλη Νηστεία (Megálē Nēsteía).

calque

Μεγάλη Νηστεία

Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity

(Christianity) In Eastern Christianity, the period of fasting before Pascha.

Մեծ Պահք (Mec Pahkʻ, literally “Great Fast”)


Paschal

From Latin paschālis; ultimately from Hebrew פסח (pésakh). Doublet of Pascal and pascal.


Eastery

en-adj

Eastery (comparative more Eastery, superlative most Eastery)

more Eastery (comparative)
most Eastery (superlative)


Easter egg roll

en-noun

Easter egg roll (plural Easter egg rolls)

A competition, held at Easter, in which an egg is pushed along a lawn.


Victory Day

Any of various public holidays in various countries to commemorate victories in important battles or wars in the countries' history.

عِيد اَلنَّصْر

a day to commemorate victories in important battles or wars in the countries' history


semicentennial

From semi- (“half”) + centennial (“100 year, 100th anniversary”), q.v.

prefix

The city celebrated its semicentennial last year.

golden jubilee (50th anniversary of a coronation)

golden wedding (50th anniversary of a marriage)


The novel he lends his name to is an account of that life, taking more or less the form of a memoir set down in the years immediately after World War II by an old man mentally preparing for death, not quite at home in the twentieth century (and a little proud of it, stubbornly clinging to his eartrumpet), whose significant memories reach back to the early 1890s and beyond.

2000, Bill Manhire, Doubtful Sounds: Essays and Interviews, page 124:

The new hygienism beginning in the 1890s, on the other hand, dealt with the most private and intimate: clothing, the bedroom, personal cleanliness.

2005, Miriam R. Levin, Cultures of Control, page 96:

[…] the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel, during which prostitutes in the poor areas of 1880s and 1890s London became the victims of an infamous string of throat slittings.

2011, Paula Leverage, Theory of Mind and Literature, page 94:

Nineties

abbreviation; nowadays, however, mostly referring to the 1990s rather than the 1890s

The period from year 1890 to (the end of) year 1899; almost the same period as the 10th (and last) decade of the 19th century, which, however, was the years 1891 to 1900.


Copeland, like most slaves, is woefully underdocumented; we know that she somehow became literate, migrated to New York in the 1880s and found a job in domestic service.

2009 March 8, Baz Dreisinger, “A Transracial Man”, in The New York Times:

Beginning in the 1880s, the curette quickly became the popular choice for those doctors on the lookout for instrumental aid in cases of pregnancy loss.

2019, Shannon Withycombe, Lost: Miscarriage in Nineteenth-Century America, Rutgers University Press, unnumbered page:


Compared to this litany, the 2010s look a little uneventful, don’t they? Even if you declare Obamacare a big [expletive] deal and grant Trump’s election world-historical significance, even if you bring in European dramas like Brexit and the Syrian refugee crisis, even if you pretend self-driving cars are really happening (just as soon as they learn to drive in rain …) … even then, the last decade’s disruptions don’t quite measure up.

2019 December 28, Ross Douthat, “The Decade of Disillusionment”, in The New York Times:

Until the mid-2010s, the ROSCOs 'made hay while the sun shone', taking advantage of growing passenger demand and expanding services to find homes for their rolling assets - in some cases, well beyond their expected design lives.

2023 June 28, Ben Jones, “Are we getting rid of our (still useful) rolling stock too early?”, in RAIL, number 986, page 28:

[Chappell] Roan draws from the mega-pop of the 2010s, from Lady Gaga to Taylor Swift – then laces it with sexually frank asides and lavish doses of camp, and performs it with a maximalist, absurd aesthetic indebted to drag, John Waters and Freddie Mercury.

2024 August 9, Laura Snapes, “It’s a femininomenon! How Chappell Roan slow-burned her way to stardom”, in The Guardian:

The period from year 2010 to 2019; almost the same period as the second decade of the 21st century, which, however, was the years 2011 to 2020.


Looking back at the 2020s from our vantage point in 2030, the first great event was the complete destruction of Donald Trump’s Republican Party. As the former Republican consultant Mike Murphy had noticed, there were roughly 300 state and federal elections during the Trump years and Republicans did horribly in most of them.

2020 January 2, David Brooks, “A Ridiculously Optimistic History of the Next Decade”, in The New York Times:

In higher education a similar transformation is being pulled forward: Colleges were expecting a grim landscape in the later 2020s, because 2010s birthrates were so low, but now a decline in foreign enrollment and an acceleration of online learning will threaten marginal state schools and possibly close small liberal-arts colleges much sooner.

2020 June 27, Ross Douthat, “Waking Up in 2030”, in The New York Times:

To pull off a roaring 2020s, we should prepare to manage a boom, not fight it.

2021 June 15, Mike Konczal and J.W. Mason, “How to Have a Roaring 2020s (Without Wild Inflation)”, in The New York Times:

The period that started on January 1, 2020 and will end on December 31, 2029; almost the same period as the 3rd decade of the 21st century (which, however, started in year 2021 and will end with year 2030).


65. How many 10's in 100? How many 100's in 1000?

1831, Henry Bartlett Maglathlin, Benjamin Greenleaf, The complete arithmetic: oral and written, page 43:


epact

From French épacte, from Latin epactae, from Ancient Greek ἐπακταί (epaktaí, “intercalary days”), feminine plural of ἐπακτός (epaktós, “brought on or in, added”).

der

the time (number of days) by which a solar year exceeds twelve lunar months; it is used in the calculation of the date of Easter

epakti

the time by which a solar year exceeds twelve lunar months


financial year

As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them.

2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22:

(British, accounting) Synonym of fiscal year


Wenceslaus

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Wenceslaus.wav

Latinization of a Slavic (Old Czech) name, from Proto-Slavic *Vęťeslavъ (from *vęťьjь (“greater, more”) + *slava (“fame, glory”)). Doublet of Vyacheslav.

der

A male given name from the Slavic languages.


Wenceslas

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Wenceslas.wav

Good King Wenceslas look'd out, On the Feast of Stephen; / When the snow lay round about, Deep, and crisp, and e-ven: / Brightly shone the moon that night, Though the frost was cru-el, / When a poor man came in sight, Gath'ring win-ter fu-el.

1854, John Mason Neale, “Good King Wenceslas”, in J. M. Neale, T. Helmore, Carols for Christmas-tide: The Condensed Vocal Parts, London: Novello, →OCLC, page 37:


juneteenth

en-proper noun

juneteenth (countable and uncountable, plural juneteenths)

Alternative letter-case form of Juneteenth


Vesak

Vesak or Visakha is a spring celebration that commemorates Buddha's birth, enlightenment, death, and passing into nirvana. It is the most important Buddhist holiday in Asia, although its observance varies according to national tradition. […]At Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles for example, Vesak extends over a weekend and draws hundreds of people.

2012, Richard Hughes Seager, Buddhism in America, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 167:

A Buddhist holiday celebrating the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha.


Seven Sleepers' Day

June 27 in Germany (Siebenschläfertag), a day whose weather is supposed to determine the average weather of the next seven weeks.

National Sleepy Head Day
National Sleepy Head Day

July 27 in Finland and Scandinavia, known as the National Sleepy Head Day in Finland


Mid-Autumn Festival

en-noun

Mid-Autumn Festival (plural Mid-Autumn Festivals)

A calque of Chinese 中秋節 /中秋节 (Zhōngqiūjié).

A harvest festival celebrated by ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese people, held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar (between early September and early October).


Cyber Monday

(US, marketing) The Monday after Thanksgiving, regarded as a day when many people shop online.

الِاثْنَيْن الْإِلِكْتْرُونِيّ

the Monday after Thanksgiving, regarded as a day when many people shop online


Santa sack

A sack used for transporting Christmas presents.


Christmas star

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Christmas star.wav


Ghost of Christmas Past

A fictional ghost in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, who visits Ebenezer Scrooge in order to show him his past, especially certain events of past Christmases that contributed to his later distaste for Christmas.


Saint David's Day

The feast day of Saint David, patron saint of Wales, celebrated in Wales on March 1.

Gouel Dewi

the feast day of Saint David, patron saint of Wales


quinquennalia

quinquennalia (plural quinquennalia or quinquennalias)

quinquennalia (plural)
quinquennalias (plural)

From Latin quīnquennālia, from quīnquennium (“5-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from quīnquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to quinquennium + -alia.

(historical) The festival and religious rituals sometimes observed celebrating a Roman emperor's 5th year of rule.


Super Saturday

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Super Saturday.wav

(US) The last Saturday before Christmas, a major day of revenue for retailers.

Coordinate term: Super Tuesday

(US politics) A Saturday on which a large number of U.S. states hold caucuses (elections) for the process of nominating presidential candidates.


Moravian star

Named after the Moravian church, which first commercially produced them at Herrnhut.

A (usually illuminated) star, made of a geometric solid such as a rhombicuboctahedron to which a large number of pyramidal points are attached, a popular Advent or Christmas decoration in Germany and other places having Moravian congregations.


Plough Monday

The traditional start of the English agricultural year, generally the first Monday after Epiphany.


Plough Sunday

The Sunday that immediately precedes Plough Monday.


Halloweener

Someone who takes part in Halloween, particularly a trick-or-treater


Christmas cheer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Christmas cheer.wav

Food and drink, especially alcoholic beverages, consumed around the Christmas holiday.

The message of the astronauts, however, was not primarily one of Christmas cheer, and had nothing to do with the "Prince of Peace" or the "spirit of the season." Instead, it consisted of a dramatic reading of the first ten verses of the Book of Genesis, the story of the creation of the world.

1990, Rowland A. Sherrill, Religion and the Life of the Nation: American Recoveries, page 152:

The joyful and generous attitude expected of people at Christmas.


Newtonmas

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Newtonmas.wav

Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist, recommends celebrate Newtonmas on December 25th and ten extra days representing the interval between Newton's birth dates on the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

2008 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The 10 Days of Newton”, in The New York Times:

(humorous) December 25 through January 4, Isaac Newton's birthday (in the Gregorian calendar).


Green Monday

Synonym of Clean Monday, in Cyprus, the seventh Monday before Easter, used as the beginning of Lent in Greek Orthodoxy.


Green Monday

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Green Monday.wav

From green in its sense of “environmentally friendly”.

(US, marketing) The Monday before Christmas, used as a shopping event to order last-minute gifts for shipping before Christmas Day.


Laetare Sunday

From Latin Laetare (“Rejoice!”), the first word of the introit of the day's mass, traditionally a Latin translation of Isaiah 66:10.

(Roman Catholicism) Synonym of Mothering Sunday: the fourth Sunday of Lent.


Now, you know that the classical analytical explanation of agoraphobia of the early 1900s was that it represented a street phobia because the patient equated streetwalking with prostitutional activity[…]

1981, Donald F. Klein, Judith G. Rabkin, Anxiety: new research and changing concepts:

There are never-published treasures like British entrepreneur William Turner's scenes of Shanghai life in the early 1900s — probably taken with a homemade pinhole camera.

2010 May 3, Don Morrison, “The Capture of Shanghai”, in Time:

A period that began on January 1, 1900 and ended on December 31, 1909; almost the same period as the 1st decade of the 20th century, which, however, was from year 1901 to (the end of) 1910.


oneties

From one + -ties (“plural of -ty”), in imitation of the names of other decades (twenties, thirties, etc).

Our readers — and contributors — are apt to elect a good deal according to years. The seventies and eighties, we may suppose, are concerned for the large educational and cultural interests of their Alma Mater; the nineties are deep in the practical and business activities; the noughties are not naughty, but still young enough to sport a fantastic costume at reunion and let the college wag as it will; the oneties are the really wise as to what the college ought to be, especially on its athletic side, but as contributors modest.

1914, Amherst College, “Amherst graduates' quarterly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 4, page 6:

Marking its thirty-fifth anniversary, the Class of 1910 University College, first of the "Oneties", held its seventh five-yearly reunion and the third under wartime conditions, during Commencement week.

1945, Alumni association, University of Toronto, “University of Toronto monthly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 45, number 9, page 232:

(nonce word) The second decade of a century: the 1910s, the 2010s, etc. The tens.


Twelfthtide

Plough Monday, next after that Twelftide is past, / bids out with the plough, the woorst husband is last. / If ploughman get hatchet or whip to the skreene, / maides loseth their cock if no water be seene.

1580, Thomas Tusser, “The Ploughmans Feasting Daies”, in W[illiam H.] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. … The Edition of 1580 Collated with those of 1573 and 1577. Together with a Reprint, from the Unique Copy in the British Museum, of “A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie,” 1557 (Series D., Miscellaneous; vol. 8, nr. 21), London: Printed for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill, published 1878, →OCLC, page 180:

The Earl of Shrewsbury to Sir John Talbot. […] Therefore I will propose all the ways that I can think of and desire your opinion which is the safest, whether by a coach that often passes by here in its way to London, but the inconvenience of that is that it goes no more till towards Twelfthtide, or else by my own horses either publicly or privately, or else post.

1678 December 14, Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Report on the Manuscripts of the Duke of Bucculech & Queensberry, K.G., K.T., Preserved at Montagu House, Whitehall (Cd. 930), volume II, part 1 (The Shrewsbury Papers), London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office by Mackie & Co. Ld., published 1903, →OCLC, page 28:

The custom of eating twelfth cake, and especially of drawing for king and queen, on the Epiphany, or twelfth day, or twelfth tide, or old Christmas day (January 6), as it is variously termed, is antique. In the ancient Calendar of the Romish Church, is an observation on the fifth day of January, the vigil of the Epiphany, "Kings created or elected by beans;" and the sixth is called "The Festival of Kings," with the additional remark, "that the ceremony of electing kings was continued with feasting for many days."

1828 December 20, “Popular Superstitions. [Chapter II. The New Year.]”, in The Extractor; or Universal Repertorium of Literature, Science, and Arts: Comprehending, under One General Arrangement, the Whole of the Instructive and Amusing Articles from All the Reviews, Magazines, and Journals. The Whole Carefully Compiled, Digested, and Methodised, volume I, number VIII, London: Printed for the proprietor, and published at The Extractor Office, 150, Fleet Street, →OCLC, page 280:

The cost of the Revels at Christmas, New-year-tide, Twelfth-tide and Shrovetide, all falling within the four months from the end of October, 1573, to the beginning of March, 1573–4, was 672l. 14s. 2d.: it included the expenses of preparations, &c., for plays and masks (each mask having its torchbearers), a list of which, as performed at Christmas, New-year-tide, and Twelfth-tide, is given as follows, in the account of the Office of the Auditors of the Imprest.

1831, J[ohn] Payne Collier, “Annals of the Stage, from the Year 1558 to the Year 1575”, in The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of Shakespeare: and Annals of the Stage to the Restoration, volume I, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, page 207:

SUPERNATURAL BEINGS OF TWELFTHTIDE. In the greater part of the north of Germany the belief is not yet wholly defunct, particularly among the peasantry, of the wandering of certain supernatural beings during the twelve days of Christmas; […]

1852, “North German Customs and Superstitions”, in Benjamin Thorpe, compiler, Northern Mythology, Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany and the Netherlands. Compiled from Original and Other Sources, … In Three Volumes, volumes III (North German and Netherlandish Popular Traditions and Superstitions), London: Edward Lumley, Southampton Street, Bloomsbury Square, →OCLC, page 153:

[T]he highlight of medieval Twelfthtide festivities was the food, where a variety of meats, sweets, and drinks were served.

2010, Michele Sinclair, chapter 4, in The Christmas Knight (Zebra Historical Romance), New York, N.Y.: Zebra Books, →ISBN:

Vevčani has held a Twelfthtide carnival on 13 and 14 January every year since the middle of the 6th century. The 12 days after Christmas, which in the Orthodox calendar is on 7 January, are meant to be a time when evil spirits are at their most active with regards to wreaking havoc on the coming year.

2012 May, Thammy Evans, “Pelagonia, Prespa and Pelister”, in Macedonia: The Bradt Travel Guide, 4th edition, Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire: Bradt Travel Guides, →ISBN, page 200:

(archaic or obsolete) The season including Epiphany (the twelfth day after Christmas) and the evening of the preceding day (Twelfth Night), regarded as the end of the Christmas season; Epiphany itself.


Hilary term

Hilary + term. The name Hilary is from the Latin Hilarius (“Latin name of Saint Hilary of Poitiers”), hilarius (“more cheerful, more joyful”), from hilarē (“cheerful, joyful”), from hilaris (“cheerful, light-hearted, lively”), from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful, glad, happy, joyful, merry”), from ἵλαος (hílaos, “gracious, merciful, propitious; gentle, kind, mild”). The feast day of Saint Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310 – c. 367), 13 January, occurs during this term.

der

There are four terms in the year, viz. […] 2. Hilary term, which begins on the 14th day of January, and ends the day before Palm Sunday.

1813, “University Terms, and How Many are Required to be Kept for each Degree”, in The Oxford University Calendar, for the Year 1813, Oxford: Printed by Munday and Slatter, for J. Parker; and F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ames] Rivington, London, →OCLC, page 65:

(education) The second academic term of the universities of Oxford and Dublin, and other educational institutions, running from January to March; equivalent to Lent term at the University of Cambridge. The term was modelled after the legal term, but does not begin and end on the same dates.


Dionysia

From Ancient Greek Διονῡ́σια n pl (Dionū́sia), from Διόνῡσος (Diónūsos, “Dionysus”).

The greater Dionysia were held at Athens in March or April, and were celebrated with elaborate performances of tragedies and comedies.

(historical) Any of the ancient festivals held in honour of the Olympian god Dionysus, and corresponding to the Roman Bacchanalia.


Terminalia

(historical) In Ancient Rome, a festival to Terminus, the god of boundaries.


Anno Hegirae

From the Latin annō Hegirae (“in the year of the Hijra”), from annō (“in the year”) (the ablative of annus (“year”)) + Hegirae (“of the Hijra”) (genitive of Hegira (“the Hijra”)). Formed in imitation of the Christian Anno Domini.

uder

This valuable manuscript was copied Anno Hegirae 1100 (a.d. 1688).

1859, Guillaume Libri, Catalogue of the extraordinary collection of splendid manuscripts, page 154:

In the year of the Hijra (counted by the Islamic calendar).


fairy lights

en-noun

fairy lights pl (normally plural, singular fairy light)

Through the trees ahead came odd strains from the dance band in the Casino, and now I could see many twinkling fairy lights and detect moving figures.

1930, Sax Rohmer, The Day the World Ended, published 1969, page i. 13:

I managed to put quite a lot of small baubles on the top of the tree that way and helped drape the long string of fairy lights around it, […]

2010, Trisha Ashley, Twelve Days of Christmas, HarperCollins, →ISBN:

A constant, slightly defocused, dinner party with relaxed glamorous friends, carrying on just outside the kitchen door, under the fairy lights.

2023 September 23, Tim Hayward, “Not so easy does it”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 19:

(UK, Ireland) Small electric lights on a strand which are used decoratively, especially on Christmas trees.


New Year's

From New Year + -'s. Possibly influenced by New Year's Day and New Year's Eve, or by phrases such as New Year's celebrations.

We spent last New Year's at her parent's house.

Every New Year's at least one of our windows gets broken.

The holiday commemorating (the beginning of) the new year.


tin anniversary

tin anniversary (plural tin anniversaries)

/ˈtɪn ænɪˌvɜɹsəɹi/

/ˈtɪn ænəˌvɜɹsəɹi/

From the practice, popularised during the Victorian era, of giving gifts made out of specific materials on particular wedding anniversaries, such as tin for the tenth.

And a couple marrying at age 65 today can look forward to their tin anniversary, or at least 10 years of marriage.

1977 September 9, “The Golden Landmark”, in The Sumter Daily Item:

Their tin anniversary [Prince Charles and Princess Diana's] today has been kicked around by Fleet Street so hard it almost rattles, but millions of Britons and other royal-watchers around the world are wont to hear all the dirt, making publishers of racy newspapers and glossy magazines rich.

1991 July 30, Craig R. Whitney, “An Anniversary Dinner That's a Feast for Gossips”, in The New York Times:

The connection to a possible launch is that Apple opened its first two retail stores on that date in 2001; suggesting the Cupertino, Calif.-based company might be planning something special to celebrate its tin anniversary.

2011 May 17, Jameson Berkow, “Bootup: Major Apple product launch rumoured for Thursday”, in Financial Post:

(informal) The tenth anniversary of something, especially a wedding.


decaversary

where Rick and Dara took their vows. The priest
was good, and the cake was good, and the wine so kickass special
that they saved a liter to share on their decaversary.

2003, Albert Goldbarth, Combinations of the Universe, Ohio State University Press, →ISBN, page 122:

In an anniversary event perhaps second only to the 60th birthday celebrations of the People's Republic, Beijing nightclub stalwart VICS begins a month-long celebration of it's^([sic]) "decaversary" this weekend with a series of events designed to confirm its position as the city's leading drunken experience.

2010 May 7, “VICS still in the mix”, in Global Times:

The annual summer concert series is marking its decaversary by bringing back blink-182, the inaugural artist from the first Honda Civic Tour in 2001, along with My Chemical Romance, for a 40-plus date nationwide.

2011 October, Susan Segal, “Coast Calendar”, in Coast Magazine:

(informal, rare) The tenth anniversary of something.


Chaitra

(Hinduism) The first month of the Hindu lunar calendar.


Vaisakha

(Hinduism) The second month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Jyeshta

Borrowed from Sanskrit ज्येष्ठ (jyeṣṭha).

bor+

(Hinduism) The third month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Aashaadha

Transliteration of Sanskrit आषाढ (āṣāḍha).

transliteration

(Hinduism) The fourth month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Shraavana

(Hinduism) The fifth month in the Hindu lunar calendar, considered sacred to the god Shiva.


Bhadrapada

(Hinduism, Jainism) The sixth month in the lunar calendar.

ភទ្របទ

phŏəttrĕəʼbɑɑt


Aswayuja

Borrowed from Sanskrit आश्वयुज (āśvayuja).

bor+

(Hinduism) The seventh month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Kartika

(Hinduism) The eighth month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Margashirsha

(Hinduism) The ninth month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Pausha

(Hinduism) The tenth month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


Magha

In the month of Magha, a vessel laid anchor in the harbour of this town.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 1

(Hinduism) A month of the Hindu calendar, corresponding with the Gregorian January/February.


Phalguna

Borrowed from Sanskrit फाल्गुन (phālguna).

(Hinduism) The twelfth month in the Hindu lunar calendar.


paksha

(Hinduism) A fortnight in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar.


Vijayadashami

Borrowed from Sanskrit विजयादशमी (vijayādaśamī), from विजय (vijaya) + दशमी (daśamī, “tenth”).

(Hinduism) A Hindu festival marking the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura.


Purnima

From Sanskrit पूर्णिमा (pūrṇimā, “full moon night”).

uder

(Hinduism) The full moon. The day (tithi) in each month in which the full moon occurs, and marks the division in each month between the two lunar fortnight in Hindu calendar.


Amavasya

From Sanskrit अमावस्या (amāvasyā, “day of the new moon”).

der

(Hinduism) A new moon in the Hindu calendar.


Twelfth Night

Twelfe Night, Or vvhat you vvill. [title of play]

c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, page 255:

Christmas goes out in fine style,—with Twelfth Night. It is a finish worthy of the time. Christmas Day was the morning of the season; New Year's Day the middle of it, or noon; Twelfth Night is the night, brilliant with innumerable planets of Twelfth-cakes. […] Many a pleasant Twelfth Night have we passed in our time; and such future Twelfth Nights as may remain to us shall be pleasant, God and good-will permitting: for even if care should be round about them, we have no notion of missing these mountain-tops of rest and brightness, on which people may refresh themselves during the stormiest parts of life's voyage.

1840, Leigh Hunt, “XLVIII.—Twelfth Night. A Street Portrait. Shakespeare's Play, Recollections of a Twelfth Night.”, in The Seer; or, Common-places Refreshed. By Leigh Hunt. In Two Parts, volume I, London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street, →OCLC, pages 31–32:

Twelfth-Night, so called from its being the conclusion of the twelve days of Christmas, is one of the Christian versions of those natural winter holidays, which have prevailed from times the most ancient, and which are the instinctive result of the necessity which is felt for a double portion of joy and sociality at so inclement a time. […] [T]he imagination which books and Twelfth-Nights have helped to cultivate, is a great paymaster. We sit here, by our fire-side, and think of all the nights of this description which we have enjoyed; and very young and robust are we, while so thinking.

1854 January 1, Leigh Hunt, “Twelfth Night”, in The Musical Times, and Singing Class Circular, volume V, number 116, London: London Sacred Music Warehouse, J[oseph] Alfred Novello, music seller […], →OCLC, pages 314–315:

We even discover in the Saturnalia of the Romans, revels which are almost identical with those of Twelfth Night. It is to be regretted, my dear, that we should be so neglectful of the celebration of this day. As a holiday, it is scarcely remembered among us [in the United States], though in England it is still carefully observed, and the pastry-cooks' shops on this night are crowded with cakes, ornamented with many quaint and dainty devices. The Twelfth Night cake is an institution, which, even in this country, should not be allowed to crumble to pieces.

1872, Barry Gray, Cakes and Ale at Woodbine; from Twelfth Night to New Year's Day, New York, N.Y., Cambridge, Mass.: Hurd and Houghton; The Riverside Press, →OCLC, page 8:

Alton has two Twelfth Night festivals, one in the Christian Hill district's Riverview Park and the other in the Middletown area's Haskell Park. The Christmas trees of neighborhood residents are piled high and then ignited – under the watchful eye of the Alton Fire Department, of course. Why burn Christmas trees on Twelfth Night? The most popular explanation is that the blaze of burning evergreens symbolizes the star that guided the wise men to Jesus. […] The tradition continued for a few more Twelfth Nights but, without its founder's participation, gradually lost popularity and was discontinued. It was reestablished in 1980 and enjoys an even greater level of popularity […]

2010, John J. Dunphy, From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois, Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, →ISBN, pages 128 and 130:

Twelve Days of Christmas
Twelve Days of Christmas

A Christian festival marking the coming of Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas, traditionally falling on the evening of January 5 (i.e., on the eve of Twelfth Day, January 6), but also sometimes defined as falling on the evening of January 6 (i.e., on the evening of Twelfth Day itself).


leap week

In the calendar reform, a week added to usual 52, such that every year starts on the same day


leap month

In the Jewish calendar or other lunisolar calendars, an extra month added to the usual 12 months because the solar year is slightly longer than 12 lunar months.


Sankranti

There are 12 Sankrantis in a year.

(Hinduism, astronomy) The transmigration of the Sun from one Rāshi (constellation of the zodiac) to the next.


Blitzen

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Blitzen.wav

First attested in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. Named from Dutch bliksem (“lightning”), and perhaps influenced by the German form Blitz.

The eighth and last reindeer of Santa Claus.

A Visit from St. Nicholas
Santa Claus's reindeer


French Republican Calendar

the French Republican Calendar (canonical)

The republican calendar used for twelve years in revolutionary France (from late 1793 to 1805).

تَقْوِيم جُمْهُورِيّ فَرَنْسِيّ

lúakh ha-shaná ha-mahpekháni ba-tsar'fát

לוּחַ הַשָׁנָה הַמַהְפְּכָנִי בַּצָרְפַת

lúakh ha-shaná shel ha-repúblika ha-tsar'fatít

לוּחַ הַשָׁנָה שֶׁל הָרֶפּוּבְּלִיקָה הַצָרְפָתִית

францу́зский республика́нский календа́рь


Friendsgiving

en-noun

Friendsgiving (countable and uncountable, plural Friendsgivings)

That means a holiday traditionally celebrated with family could be a very lonely affair. But, never fear, this year discover the joy of a “Friendsgiving”—a Thanksgiving with friends.

2011 November 22, Alyce Gilligan, “Happy Friendsgiving”, in Relevant, →ISSN, archived from the original on 2013-02-07:

I would like to thank my friends, who make Friendsgiving the best holiday of the year.

2012, Cash Costello, Elgg 1.8 Social Networking, Birmingham: Packt Publishing, →ISBN, page 9:

Palardy, who has a learning disability and deals with medical challenges, was one of more than two dozen from the Best Buddies club — or about four tables full — who came together for a special "Friendsgiving" Italian meal in Lenox at Trottoria Il Vesuvio in a special acknowledgment of thanks to friendship shortly before Thanksgiving.

2012 November 18, John Sakata, “'Friendsgiving' celebrates friends with Pittsfield students”, in The Berkshire Eagle, →ISSN:

A Thanksgiving feast held by and for someone's friends.


Low Sunday

Likely in contrast to the solemnity of the preceding Easter Sunday.

(ecclesiastical) The Sunday following Easter.


Quinquatrian

en-adj

Quinquatrian (comparative more Quinquatrian, superlative most Quinquatrian)

more Quinquatrian (comparative)
most Quinquatrian (superlative)

the great Quinquatrian feast


Tanabata

An annual Japanese festival, starting on 7 July, celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair), said to be separated at other times by the Milky Way.


Imbolc

Uncertain; common explanations include the following:
* From Old Irish i mbolg (“in the belly”), referring to pregnant ewes.
* From Old Irish imb-fholc (“to cleanse or wash oneself”), referring to a ritual cleansing.
* Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk; milk”), though the connection between the milking of animals and the festival is not clear. Some descendants of this root have meanings related to cleansing (for example, Persian مالیدن (mâlidan, “to rub, smear”), Sanskrit मर्जति (marjati, “to clean, wipe”)), so the root could also have the sense of purification.

noncog

[T]hat the ancient Irish, at some remote period, did divide the year into the three seasons of Samh, summer, Gamh, winter, and Imbolc, spring (omitting the Foghmhar, or autumn), is quite evident from the fact, that Cormac Mac Cuileannain and the other old glossarists, explain Samhain, or November eve, by Samh, summer, and fuin, the end; that is, the end of Samh, or summer.

1862 June 10, Eugene O’Curry, “Lecture XXX. [Of Music and Musical Instruments in Ancient Erinn.]”, in W. K. Sullivan, editor, On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish. A Series of Lectures, volume III (Lectures, Vol. II), London, Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate; Dublin: W. B. Kelly; New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Welford, & Co., published 1873, →OCLC, page 217:

Invite, but never command, friendly spirits, faeries, or elementals to join you as you wish. In some traditons it is common to invite ancestors to join you, especially during the dark days from Samhain to Imbolg when it is believed that the portal between our dimensions is at its thinnest.

1994, Edain McCoy, “Appendix Three: Outline for Ritual Construction”, in A Witch’s Guide to Faery Folk: How to Work with the Elemental World: […], St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publishers, published 2004 (13th printing), →ISBN, page 354:

In the Celtic world many celebrations were built around the ancient calendar of events or great feasts. The four great feasts of the year were Samhain (1st November), Imbolg (1st February), Bealtaine (1st May) and Lughnasa (1st August). Notice that each of the feasts begins each of the four seasons of the year – winter, spring, summer and autumn.

2002, Liam Lawton, “How Can I Repay the Lord”, in Song of My People, Dublin: Veritas Publications, →ISBN, page 28:

The Festival of Imbolc commences on February eve, or January 31, and usually concludes on February 2. Imbolc has three major associations: the veneration of fire and water, the quickening of new life in the womb, and the lactation of ewes. The association of Imbolc with fire comes from its place as the midpoint between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.

2007, Judy Ann Nock, “Season Three: Imbolc: First Light in the Dark of Winter”, in The Provenance Press Guide to the Wiccan Year: Spells, Rituals, Holiday Celebrations, Avon, Mass.: Provenance Press, Adams Media, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:

Never leave incense, candles, or anything else burning when you are not in the room to ensure you will be around for many more Imbolcs to come.

2015, Carl F. Neal, Imbolc: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Brigid’s Day (Llewellyn’s Sabbat Essentials), Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn Publishers, →ISBN:

Brigid has also been described in relation to the different cycles as the Earth Mother. […] In another version of the Threshold Rites, a sheaf of wheat from the Samhain harvest was placed outside doors of homes on the eve of January 31. Some believed that the Goddess was present in the sheaf in her winter Cailleach form. Upon Imbolc, the sheaf becomes the infant Goddess Brigid once again, marking the fragile beginnings of the new agricultural cycle.

2015, Courtney Weber, “Imbolc: Brigid the Springtime Goddess, the Mother, and the Midwife”, in Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick of the Celtic Goddess, San Francisco, Calif.: Weiser Books, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, page 149:

(British, Ireland) A Gaelic and Wiccan festival celebrated on 1 or 2 February which marks the beginning of spring.

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Penguin Books
University of Wales Press

聖布里吉德節 /圣布里吉德节

Gaelic and Wiccan festival which marks the beginning of spring

Yule • Imbolc • Ostara • Beltane • Litha • Lammas


Mabon

Coined by Aidan A. Kelly around 1970 as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology.

(Wicca) A pagan and Wiccan holiday celebrating the second harvest at the time of the autumnal equinox.


winal

A period of 20 days in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.


Birds' Wedding

On 25 January in Upper Lusatia the custom of Ptači kwas (Birds’ Wedding) is observed. … Following the First World War the Birds’ Wedding began to assume a new form, and eventually developed into a popular festival which was given a new impulse after 1945.

1972, Gerald Stone, The smallest Slavonic nation: the Sorbs of Lusatia. Athlene Press. pp. 130–31

The Birds’ Wedding was a custom especially for Wendish children that went as follows: “On January 25th the children would place empty plates and saucers outside, usually on fence posts and other high places to prevent raids by dogs and cats. The next morning the children would wake up to find the dishes filled with candy and nuts supposedly left for them by the birds. [The birds] were said to be celebrating their wedding and wanted to share their gifts with neighboring humans.”

2004, Allan O. Kownslar, The European Texans, . Texas A&M University Press, →ISBN, page 120:

The Sorbs were protected under the GDR and since reunification interest in the culture has been revived through the media and colourful Sorbian festivals such as the Vogelhochzeit (Birds’ Wedding) on 25 January and a symbolic ‘witch-burning’ on 30 April.

2010, Andrea Schulte-Peevers et al., Germany, Lonely Planet Travel Guide, →ISBN, page 167:

A custom among the Sorbs (Wends) of Lusatia in Germany, whereby on the evening of 24 January children put empty plates outside, and on the morning of 25 January they find pastries, meringues and candy in the form of birds, which are said to have been left for them by birds celebrating their wedding.


Bertha Von Hillern was an amazingly fast speed and endurance walker. In the 1870s, America went crazy, and crowds of thousands gathered to see this "pedestrienne" compete strategically.

2006, Kathryn Parker, Winchester, page 82:

Absinthe ads like to trade on artists like Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec, as if the history of the green fairy began in the Pigalle neighborhood of 1870s Paris, but wormwood-infused drinks have been around for thousands of years.

2010, Paul Owens, Paul Nathan, The Little Green Book of Absinthe, Penguin, →ISBN:

Funicular railways take gradients to the extreme, running two cars in counterbalanced, contrary motion over often-perilous cliff inclines. […] Britain's first funicular railways arrived in Scarborough in the 1870s.

2021 January 13, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Spectacular funiculars”, in RAIL, number 922, page 50:


Chrismukkah

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Etymology tree
English Christmasblend.
English Hanukkahblend.
English Chrismukkah
Blend of Christmas + Hanukkah.
A similar formation can be found in German Weihnukka (from Weihnachten (“Christmas”)), and compare also Dutch Chanoeklaas, a merger of Hanukkah and the Dutch winter holiday of Sinterklaas which similarly involvies gift-giving.

etymon

Kimberly Duran of DallasNews.com, for example, referenced restaurants that served Chrismukkah foods in 2005 when Hanukkah and Christmas coincided.

2012, Joshua Eli Plaut, A Kosher Christmas: 'Tis the Season to be Jewish, page 147:

Celebrating both holidays is nothing new. But the TV show “The O.C.” helped popularize a term for it when the character Seth Cohen (played by Adam Brody) celebrated “Chrismukkah” in an episode in 2003.

2024 December 21, Remy Tumin, Claire Moses, “This Chrismukkah, Latkes and Eggnog Go Together”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

The merged holiday of Christmas and Hanukkah.


Forefathers' Day

A holiday celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 22, to commemorate the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620.


Clean Monday

From the Old Testament reading at sext on this day, Isaiah 1:16, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil...”

Clean Monday, a holiday in Greece, marks the start of the Lenten season.

2010 February 10, New York Times, page D5:

(Christianity) The seventh Monday before Easter, (Eastern Christianity) traditionally regarded as the beginning of Lent


didukh

Borrowed from Ukrainian діду́х (didúx, “grandfather spirit”).

bor

Before the meal begins the head of the household brings in a sheaf of wheat called the Didukh (from grandfather), a symbol of good harvest, which is usually placed in front of an icon.

1994, Jo Marie Powers, “Ukrainian-Canadian Breads: Shape, Symbolism and Spirituality”, in Harlan Walker, editor, Look and Feel: Studies in Texture, Appearance and Incidental Characteristics of Food, page 150:

The didukh is a sheaf of grain made from the best wheat or grain of the field. It is decorated with flowers, ribbons, a small wreath of sweet basil and other herbs, or an embroidered towel. At Christmas, the didukh is carried into the home amid traditional greetings of "Christ is born!"

1997, Ann Ball, Catholic Traditions in the Garden, page 79:

The spirits of all family members, living and dead, are believed to reside in the didukh, which also symbolizes eternal life through Christ, the fertility of the land, and bread as the staff of life.

2013, William D. Crump, The Christmas Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, Ukraine, page 420:

A Ukrainian Christmas decoration representing an offering of the best of the harvest, and consisting of wheat ears or stalks tied up with colorful threads.

дзіду́х

a Ukrainian Christmas sheaf of wheat used in rituals around Christmas and Epiphany traditionally believed to contain ancestor spirits


midnight mass

en-noun

midnight mass (countable and uncountable, plural midnight masses)

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(in particular) A Roman Catholic religious service that marks the beginning of Christmas Day.


Panathenaea

/ˌpænˌæ.θəˈni.ə/

Learned borrowing from Latin Panathēnaea, and from its etymon Ancient Greek Πᾰνᾰθήναιᾰ (Pănăthḗnaiă), a noun use of the neuter plural of Παναθηναῖος (Panathēnaîos, “Panathenian”) (in Παναθήναια ἱερᾰ́ (Panathḗnaia hierắ, “Panathenian solemnities”)), from πᾰν- (păn-, prefix meaning ‘all; every’) + Ἀθηναῖος (Athēnaîos, “of or relating to Athens, Athenian”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Ἀθηναῖος (Athēnaîos) is derived from either Ἀθῆναι (Athênai, “Athens”) or Ᾰ̓θήνη (Ăthḗnē, “Athena, patron goddess of Athens”) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

ref

From the collection of the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

lbor

VVhen Panathænea vvere celebrated at Athens, an olde man gooing to take a place vvas mockingly reiected, at the laſt comming among the Lacedemonians all the youth gaue him place, vvhich yͤ Athenians liked vvell off, then one of the Sparthans cryed out: Uerily yͤ Athenians knovv vvhat ſhould be done, but they neuer doe it.

[1578], Iohn Lylly [i.e., John Lyly], “Euphues and His Ephæbus. [Of the Education of Youth.]”, in Euphues. The Anatomy of Wyt. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 57, verso:

Panathenæa. A ſolemnity held at Athens: vvherein the vvhole city men, vvomen and children vvere aſſembled. And ſuch games, dances and plaies as vvere then exhibited; or vvhat orations vvere then and there made, they called Panathenaik.

[1603, Plutarch, “[https://books.google.com/books?id=xMdjAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP645 [An Explanation of Sundry Hard Words and Obscure Terms, in this Translation of Plutarch, […].] Panathenæa]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 645:

Ion.— […] [T]here were contests in every species of music. […] I bore away the first prize at the games, O Socrates. / Socrates.—Well done! You have now only to consider how you shall win the Panathenæa.

a. 1823 (date written), Plato, “[Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments] Ion; or, Of the Iliad; Translated from Plato”, in Percy Bysshe Shelley, transl., edited by [Mary Wollstonecraft] Shelley, The Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, new edition, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 67, column 1:

(Ancient Greece, historical) A festival formerly held annually in Athens to honour the city's patron goddess Athena, involving animal sacrifices, a grand procession, and, every fourth year, athletic and musical contests.

Panathenaia

festival formerly held annually in Athens to honour the city’s patron goddess Athena


Santaphobia

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You've done it again. It's practically Christmas Eve, and you haven't bought a single present. What's with you? Santaphobia?

1997 December 9, Anne Stockwell, Alan Frutkin, “More stuff for your stockings”, in The Advocate, page 66:

"The reason people dread Christmas — Santaphobia — is that it is a time of tradition, a time that arouses all kinds of memories," said Dr. Ponce.

1999, "Christmas scares the HELL out of millions of Americans", Weekly World News (satire), 21 December 1999, page 30

Even with 3 poses, it's not always easy to get a "natural" look. This one is the best we could manage. When we say "smile" to the kids they really exaggerate it. You can see that Delanie still hadn't gotten over her Santaphobia.

2002 December 23, © Mike, “Trio Visits Santa”, in alt.fan.mark-brian (Usenet):

(humorous) The fear of Santa Claus or Christmas.


Qingming

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 清明 (Qīngmíng, literally “Pure & Bright”).

bor

Although the Hui in the northwest do not celebrate the Han holidays of Zhongqiu, Qingming, or even Chun Jie (Spring Festival), the Hui in most of China's cities gladly participate.

2020, Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese..., p. 192

Tomb Sweeping Day
Tomb Sweeping Day#English

(chiefly China) Synonym of Tomb Sweeping Day, a Chinese holiday observed on that day.


Tomb Sweeping Day

From its former Chinese name 掃墳節 /扫坟节 (Sǎofénjié, “Sweep-Tomb Festival”), from the traditional act of cleaning one's family grave with willow branches during the holiday.

An annual Chinese holiday on the first day of the fifth solar term in the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar (April 4 or 5), during which families gather to honor their ancestors and clean their tombs. The festival is also associated with the consumption of qingtuan.


Qingming Festival

A partial calque of Mandarin 清明節 /清明节 (Qīngmíngjié), using the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 清明 (Qīngmíng, “Pure & Bright”), the solar term of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar on which the holiday is celebrated. Doublet of Pure Brightness Festival.

partial calque

Chinese lunisolar calendar
Qingming Festival


Feast of Light

From the importance of candles or light in the celebration.

1940, Emily Solis-Cohen, Jr., Hanukkah: The Feast of Light, Jewish Publication Society:

We celebrate Hanukkah, the Feast of Light, in commemoration of the Maccabees' putting an end to the sinister oppression [...]

1942, Jewish Spectator, volume 7, page 46:

Chanukah recounts the rededication of the Sanctuary which had been despoiled by the Greeks. The celebration of the eight-day Feast of Light recalls the victorious survival of the Sanctuary, not the courage of the Maccabees.

1997, The collected writings, volume 7, →ISBN, page 200:

(Judaism) Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.


Pure Brightness Festival

A calque of Chinese 清明節 /清明节 (Qīngmíngjié), from 清明 (Qīngmíng, “Pure & Bright”), one of the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Doublet of Qingming Festival.


Slavi

From Russian сла́вы (slávy, “praises”), plural of сла́ва (sláva, “glory”), from Proto-Slavic *slàva (“fame; glory”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”).

Following are three recipes for the large size pie – piroghi – one a very large size pie which the cook, Marlene Johnson of Naknek, says is excellent for "Slavi time."

1983, Cooking Alaskan, Anchorage, Ak.: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 80:

Church functions such as the Moravian Song Fests and the Russian Orthodox Christmas ("Slavi") provide opportunities for social gatherings and visiting among residents of the communities.

1986 June, “Affected Environment”, in Togiak National Wildlife Refuge: Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan, Wildnerness Review, and Environmental Impact Statement, Anchorage, Ak.: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, United States Department of the Interior, →OCLC, page 96:

Thousands of Alaskans joined believers around the world this week in celebrating Russian Orthodox Christmas. The ‘Slavi’ celebration follows the old Julian calendar, with Christmas Day on January 7. Festivities last several days as church groups visit relatives and friends, singing traditional carols and enjoying plates of food at each stop.

2016 January 8, Hannah Colton, “Nushagak Villages Celebrate Orthodox Christmas”, in KDLG: Public Radio for Alaska’s Bristol Bay, archived from the original on 2016-02-17:

Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated from January 6 through 13 in outstate Alaska, USA, wherever there is a sizable Russian Orthodox population.


Onam

A harvest festival celebrated in Kerala, India.


Guy Fawkes Day

A number of towns in East Sussex, and on the borders of Kent and Surrey, make a special feature of huge bonfires and torchlight processions with fireworks on Guy Fawkes day or an early November Saturday.

1953 January, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes: Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 68:

Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night#English

(UK) Synonym of Guy Fawkes Night, the associated revelry, traditionally including bonfires, fireworks, and the burning in effigy of the pope, Guy Fawkes, and/or the Devil.


tarawih

Borrowed from Arabic تَرَاوِيح (tarāwīḥ).

bor

Arabic تَرَاوِيح (tarāwīḥ)

(Islam) An extra prayer performed by Sunni Muslims at night in the month of Ramadan.


Actually, this ethnic situation—a “macédoine” of peoples—was complicated even more from the 1860s on when some of the Slavs in Macedonia who had always called themselves Bulgarians (and were considered so by most foreign experts) began developing a Macedonian national consciousness.

2014, Raymond Detrez, Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 305:

In the mid-1860s, Russia also experienced an outbreak of Germanophobia.

2017, Juliet Johnson, Marietta Stepaniants, Benjamin Forest, Religion and Identity in Modern Russia:

The topic of glottogony has long been a taboo in linguistics, for the very good reason that it attracts boundless speculation: when Darwinism was freshly en vogue in the 1860s, linguistic debate was inundated with such proposals to the point where, in 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned the entire topic as a hopeless exercise […]

2020, Philipp Roelli, editor, Handbook of Stemmatology […] , Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN:


Many years elapsed before the success of Kemp Town as a residential district was assured; the foundations of the estate were laid in 1823, but some houses remained untenanted until the 1850s.

1952 December 30, R. C. Riley, “By Rail to Kemp Town”, in Railway Magazine, page 832:

Born as a French satiric form with the bouffes of Jacques Offenbach in the 1850s, it moved on, like most Parisian fashions, to Vienna[…].

2007 January 9, Anne Midgette, “Retrofitting Operetta for a 21st-Century Crowd”, in The New York Times:

Before the 1850s, when women figured most prominently in textile employment, the reasons that caused women to seek paid labor—a ne'er-do-well husband, economic distress of the natal family, or a belief that factory work was a road to self-betterment—often precluded their considering an away-from-home cure.

2010, Susan Cayleff, Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health, Temple University Press, page 88:

But for Stefanie Brechbuehler and Robert Highsmith, the husband-and-wife co-founders of the Brooklyn-based design firm Workstead, the recent revamp of an 1850s residence in upstate New York not only presented them with a thrilling challenge, it also marked a celebratory homecoming after a few years spent living in the South.

2019 June 10, Mimi Vu, “How a 19th-Century Workman’s Cottage Became a Family Home”, in The New York Times Style Magazine:


During the 1830s and 1840s, ready-made standardized shoes and clothing increasingly challenged the custom-made products of small handicraft workshops.

1993, Ronald Aminzade, Ballots and Barricades: Class Formation and Republican Politics in France, 1830-1871, page 68:

Lisztomania swept across Europe. Despite their obvious sensationalism, Liszt's concerts in the 1840s established the format of our modern-day piano recital. He was the first to play entire programs from memory (not reading from music).

1996, Craig M. Wright, Listening to Music, →ISBN:

The Lumper, as they call this particular variety of pots, is a symbol of this Irish dilemma, for this is the infamous potato that failed in the 1840s and caused the great famine. The Lumper is therefore one of the most historic of all the heirloom potato varieties now preserved under the careful eye of historic museums and potato enthusiasts alike, myself included.

2013, William Woys Weaver, 100 Vegetables and Where They Came From, →ISBN, page 146:


He made his fortune during the presteel era of Pittsburgh's development — the period before Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick — beginning in the 1820s and 1830s with a start in pharmaceuticals and white lead.

2001, William Alan Blair, William Pencak, Making and Remaking Pennsylvania's Civil War, page 107:

Private companies have, traditionally, dominated Britain's railway history. The first railways were built by private individuals and groups, and by the late 1830s building a railway was considered the ideal 'get rich quick' scheme.

2024 July 24, Richard Foster, “Rail reform has never been easy”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 28:


Other winterings followed in 1795 and on four occasions in the 1820s, but one in 1834–1835 ended with the death of all members of a seven-man party.

2003, William J. Mills, Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia:

The decisions of the 1820s–50s deprived the Adygeic princes who had accepted Russian citizenship of almost all their former privileges, above all the right to convoke troops, declare war, make raids.

2018, I. S. Karabulatova et al., “Mythologization of the Abrek's Image in the Modern Caucasian Linguistic Consciousness”, in Astra Salvensis, volume 6, number 12, →ISSN, page 740:


[…] British potters in Liverpool treasonously inscribed pro-American slogans on 1810s pitchers for the lucrative export trade ($2,000 to $6,000 at William R. and Teresa F. Kurau).

2009 January 23, Eve M. Kahn, “Conversation-Piece Buys, Maybe. Intriguing Histories, Definitely.”, in The New York Times:

From the 1810s to the 2000s, the frequency of “achievement” in written American English grew elevenfold, according to a search of the Corpus of Historical American English, a database of 107,000 newspapers, magazines, novels, plays and film scripts.

2010 October 29, Anand Giridharadas, “America and the ‘Fun’ Generation”, in The New York Times:

In 2003, at Neal Auction Company in New Orleans, an 1810s mahogany armoire inlaid with ribbons and vines brought $140,000 (the presale estimate was $30,000 to $50,000).

2010 December 9, Eve M. Kahn, “Exploring the Art of Louisiana Furniture”, in The New York Times:


sunstead

From sun + stead (“place, point, spot, position”), a calque of Latin sōlstitium. Compare Old English sunnstede.

compound

Now was it the season of the yeer past sun-stead in summer and neer unto the houre of noon-stead in the day, so as they journeyed in a way full of dust, when the sun was exceeding hot; and even now they began to feel thirst and weariness already.

1600, Livy, translated by Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie, London: Printed by Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 1193:

The summer-sunnestead falleth out alwaies [in Italie] to be just upon the foure and twentie day of June, at what time as the sunne is entred eight degrees within Cancer.

1635, Pliny the Elder; Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the VVorld: Commonly Called, the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland Doctor of Physicke, London: Printed by Adam Islip, and are to be sold by Iohn Grismond, in Ivy-lane at the signe of the Gun, OCLC 926240555, book XVIII, chapter xxvi; cited in Edward Smedley; Hugh James Rose; Henry John Rose, editors, Encyclopædia Metropolitana; or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge, on an Original Plan: Comprising the Twofold Advantage of a Philosophical and an Alphabetical Arrangement, with Appropriate Engravings, volume XXV (Miscellaneous and Lexicographical, volume 12), London: B. Fellowes [et al.], 1845, OCLC 20598255, page 237

Sun-ſteads or Tropicks

1657, Plutarch, “The Table”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonly Called, the Morals, Written by the Learned Philosopher, Plutarch of Chæronea. Translated out of Greeke into English, and Conferred with the Latine Translations, and the French, by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicke. Whereunto are Annexed the Summaries Necessary to be Read Before Every Treatise. Newly Revised and Corrected, 2nd rev. and corr. edition, London: Printed by S. G. for J. Kirton, and are to be sold at his shop, at the Kings Armes in Saint Paules Church-yard, →OCLC, page 1161:

The Summer Solstice is the central point of the tropic (trepo, to turn), which begins upon the festival of Barnaby bright, and continues for three weeks. […] According to Olympiodorus, an Egyptian of the fifth century, the rising of the Dog-star was just twenty days after the estival "sunsted."

1832, The Anniversary Calendar, Natal Book, and Universal Mirror: Embracing Anniversaries of Persons, Events, Institutions, and Festivals, of All Denominations, Historical, Sacred, and Domestic, in Every Period and State of the World, from the Creation to the Present Age. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: William Kidd, 228, Regent Street, →OCLC, page 413:

Sun-stead = solstice.

1859, Philological Society, Proposal for the Publication of a New English Dictionary by the Philological Society, London: Trübner and Co., 60 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 12:

Sirius in the mouth of the watch dog vied in the dignity and importance of the significance of its ascent with the midnight appearance of Vindemiatrix in the left elbow of the headless virgin, on the horizon at the winter "sunstead" of six months later.

1908, Frank Pierce Foster with Charles Euchariste de Medicis Sajous, International Record of Medicine and General Practice Clinics, volume 88, New York, N.Y.: MD Publications, →OCLC, page 156:

Solitary Winter Sunstead and Yule (December 21) If a follower of the Old Way cannot find others of like mind to share a seasonal ritual in honor of High Valhalla, this rite may be performed by the solitary individual […]

1990, Ed Fitch, The Rites of Odin, St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 178:


Eid al-Saghir

From Arabic الْعِيد الصَّغِير (al-ʕīd aṣ-ṣaḡīr, literally “the small feast”).

bor

الْعِيد الصَّغِير


Sweet Festival

Synonym of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.


Ded Moroz

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Ded Moroz.wav

Borrowed from Russian Дед Моро́з (Ded Moróz, “Old Man Frost”).

A fictional man in Slavic culture who delivers presents to children on New Year's Eve.


Black Peter

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The companion of Saint Nicholas in Dutch folklore, depicted as a blackamoor.


Small Business Saturday

(US, marketing) The Saturday after Thanksgiving, promoted as a day for shopping at local small businesses


Selection Sunday

en-noun

Selection Sunday (plural Selection Sundays)

(US, basketball) The Sunday in March on which the teams that participate in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament are selected.

(US, American football) The Sunday in December on which the college teams that participate in major bowl games are announced.


Scout Sunday

(US) Sunday 8 February (or the closest Sunday that precedes 8 February), chosen to mark the founding of the Scouts in the United States.


Roaring Twenties

The economic boom and the “speculative orgy” that pervaded the Roaring Twenties faded abruptly during late October 1929 with the stock market crash (sometimes called the “Great Crash”) that precipitated the rise of The Great Depression.

2012, Armando Navarro, Global Capitalist Crisis and the Second Great Depression, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 13:

The 1920s, referring to the rapid economic expansion and modernization of the period.


Dirty Thirties

The 1930s, especially in reference to the Dust Bowl of the Midwestern United States.


Vertumnalia

An Ancient Roman festival in honour of Vertumnus, held on 13 August.


Krampus

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Krampus.wav

A beast in the folklore of Alpine countries, said to punish misbehaving children during the Christmas season.


happy Hanukkah

Used to express good wishes on or before Hanukkah.


Stir-up Sunday

From the opening words of the collect for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 and later (a translation of the Roman Missal's collect "Excita, quæsumus"): "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people..."

(informal, Anglicanism) The last Sunday before the season of Advent, on which families traditionally gather in their kitchens to prepare Christmas pudding.


Ordinary Time

(Christianity) A season of the Christian liturgical calendar, celebrated in two segments: from the Monday following the baptism of Jesus Christ up to Ash Wednesday; and from Pentecost Monday to the first Sunday of Advent.


bah humbug

/bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/

/ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/

A Christmas Carol
Chapman & Hall
Charles Dickens
Ebenezer Scrooge
Jacob Marley

From bah (interjection expressing contempt, disgust, or bad temper) + humbug (“balderdash!, nonsense!, rubbish!”). The words were originally spoken by the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in the novella A Christmas Carol (1843) by English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870).

Honor!—bah! humbug! Patriotism!—pshaw! / Are we to be bamboozled by such guys?

1848 January 22, “Important Official Documents”, in The John-Donkey, volume I, number IV, New York, N.Y.: Published and supplied by George Dexter, Burgess, Stringer & Co., W. H. Graham, R. G. Berford & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 126, column 2:

Only a modern Scrooge could say, "Bah, Humbug," where helping people to get enough to eat is concerned. Well, we are not going to argue that food aid has never filled an empty stomach or saved a dying child—but we will contend, in the case of the United States at least, that it has done so only inadvertently.

1976, Susan George, “Food Aid? … Or Weapon?”, in How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger, Harmondsworth, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books; reprinted Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1989, page 164

[O]nce you understand why Bah Humbug is a good term, you will see that it is going to become packed with a biblical position that could warrant every Christian to mindfully say "Bah Humbug" about the Christmas Holiday, and know what it is they are meaning. Bah Humbug is going to work succinctly.

2012, C. Matthew McMahon, Therese B. McMahon, “Scrooge Had It Right, but for the Wrong Reasons”, in Bah Humbug: How Christians Should Think about the Christmas Holiday, Coconut Creek, Fla.: Puritan Publications, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

(humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities.


Pi Day

pi + day, from the date March 14th in the month/day format (that is, 3/14), 3, 1 and 4 being the first three significant digits of the mathematical constant π.

Did you know that March 14 is Pi Day (no, π is not misspelled). Pi Day is celebrated on 3/14 or 3.14! To commemorate this remarkable ratio, we have a few circular activities. The first is the Pizza Survey. What are the students' favorite toppings on pizza? What do you like best?

1997, Louise Bock, Susan Guengerich, Hope Martin, “March Celebrations”, in Multicultural Math Fun: Holidays around the Year, Portland, Me.: J. Weston Walch Publisher, →ISBN, page 83:

As Quakers, we do not as a matter of religion celebrate any holidays (more accurately, all days are to be considered holidays because they have equal potential for revealing the Divine to us), but as a cultural matter we celebrate all kinds: Hindu, Christian, Jewish, ethnic, birthdays of famous composers, artists, writers, and scientists, π Day (March 14th – we bake several pies and divide them into fractions before eating), even some we just make up ourselves.

1999, David H. Albert, “Exits and Entrances”, in And the Skylark Sings with Me: Adventures in Homeschooling and Community-based Education, Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers in cooperation with Holt Associates/Growing Without Schooling, →ISBN, page 128:

Of all known mathematical constants, however, pi continues to attract the most attention. […] The Exploratorium in San Francisco continues to celebrate Pi Day on March 14 each year, starting at 1:59 pm.

2002, Ivan Peterson, “A Passion for Pi”, in Mathematical Treks: From Surreal Numbers to Magic Circles (Spectrum Series; a Science News Book), [Washington, D.C.]: Mathematical Association of America, →ISBN, page 17:

Whereas Pi can be approximated as 3.14, and thus March 14, 2009, is an appropriate day for "National Pi Day": Now, therefore, be it / Resolved, That the [United States] House of Representatives— / (1) supports the designation of a "Pi Day" and its celebration around the world; […]

2009 March 12, H. Res. 224 Supporting the Designation of Pi Day, and for Other Purposes, [Washington, D.C.]: United States Government Publishing Office, archived from the original on 2016-12-28, page 2:

Likewise, March 14 in North America has been π Day, since in the USA the month is written before the day ('314'). In schools throughout North America, it has become a reason for mathematical projects, especially focussing on π.

2012 June 19, Jonathan M[ichael] Borwein, “The Life of Pi: From Archimedes to Eniac and Beyond”, in David H[arold] Bailey, Jonathan M. Borwein, Pi: The Next Generation: A Sourcebook on the Recent History of Pi and Its Computation, Switzerland: Springer Nature, published 2016, →DOI, →ISBN, page 446:

March 14, or 3/14, is recognized by math geeks as Pi day. That happens every year. But as UBS’s Art Cashin notes, next year’s Pi day will be a once-in-a-century Pi day. “At 9:26:53 a.m., they can write 3/14/15; 9:26:53, which you should also recall are the first ten digits of Pi in perfect order,” said Cashin.

2015 March 14, Sam Ro, “March 14, 2015 will be a once-in-a-century thrill for math geeks”, in Business Insider, archived from the original on 2016-03-04:

Pi lovers like to celebrate Pi Day every year. In the US, they write the date with the month first, then the day and year. So in 2015, 14th March was 3 14 15, the first five digits of π. So that was a really special Pi Day when, of course, they sang their special song, Pi, Pi, Mathematical Pi, to the tune of that great song everyone danced to in the 1970s, 'Bye-bye, Miss American Pie' by Don McLean.

2016, Liz Strachan, “A Little More Pi”, in Easy as Pi: Maths Made Simple, London: Robinson, →ISBN:

March 14th, an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi).


stocking filler

stocking filler (plural stocking fillers)

A small present given at Christmas to go in a stocking


Yulefest

From Yule + -fest, possibly modelled after German Julfest. Compare also Dutch joelfeest, Danish julefest, Swedish julfest.

Through June and July, the resort celebrates Yulefest and fully decorates the venue with Christmas decorations and offer special Yuletide banquets and dining.

1996, Australian Hotelier: Official National Magazine of the Australian Hotels Association, Volume 13

“I've never been to a Yulefest celebration, but I really would like the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ in a special way right now. I don't think I was quite as thankful as I should have been last Christmas.”

2012, Jennifer Ann Ryan, Good Things Come:

It might be June, but Yulefest was a great money spinner in the Mountains with the punters wanting a pretend White Christmas. And they might just get it. Snow was forecast and the wind was howling outside. It was going to be a cold winter.

The celebration or festival of Yule; midwinter feast.


Octoberfest

From October + -fest, after German Oktoberfest.

Even though it is not yet October, the Hingham Lutheran Church held its annual Octoberfest today, complete with a full spread of German food and beer and an authentic Umpah band ("King Ludwig's German Band").

2008, Ronald B. Schram, Caroline and Papa: Growing Up and Growing Older:

The Bavarian holiday (Oktoberfest or Wiesn), or any such holiday, celebrated in late September to early October, typically featuring German music, cuisine, and beer-drinking as prominent activities.


Patriots' Day

(US) A civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775. It was previously celebrated on April 19, but since 1969 has been observed on the third Monday in April.


quindene

From Medieval Latin quindena, from Latin quīndēnī (“15 each”), from the distributive form of quīndecim (“15”). It is used for a period of 14 days owing to the Roman and medieval practice of counting inclusively.

(chiefly Christianity) The 14th day after a festival.


Thingyan

/ˈθɪnd͡ʒɑːn/

Borrowed from Burmese သင်္ကြန် (sangkran), from Sanskrit संक्रान्ति (saṃkrānti, “passage of the sun from one celestial position to another”).

der

The Burmese New Year festival, celebrated from 13 to 16 April.


The period from a year 100x to a year 100x + 9, mostly referring to 1900 to 1909 or 2000 to 2009


Vulcanalia

The Ancient Roman festival of the god Vulcan, celebrated on August 23, during which live fish or small animals were thrown into bonfires as a sacrifice.


monthiversary

I might have expected you to forget. It's our first monthiversary!

1922, Courtney Ryley Cooper, The White Desert, page 301:

The Companies make a monthly deduction from the Policy's cash value on the Policy's effective date and on each monthiversary (the same day of each succeeding month as the Policy's effective date, or, if there is no comparable valuation, the next valuation date).

1999, United States Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Docket, volume 69, page 861:

“Happy monthiversary.” “Wait... what?” “Today, it's exactly one month since we met. I kept count.”

2011, David N. Brown, Zombies Vs. Exotroopers, page ii:

(informal) A commemorative event like an anniversary, but taking place monthly rather than annually.


A founder of Unapack, Lydia Eccles, 43, said she was a Boston artist who had long been concerned with "totalitarian tendencies in technology." She said the group included anarchists, hard-core punk rockers, 60's types, eco-leftists, pacifists, militants and primativists.^([sic – meaning primitivists])

1997 December 27, William Glaberson, “A Star on Your Computer Screen”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-02-05:


Giftmas

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Giftmas.wav

(humorous or derogatory) Christmas, regarded as a consumerist event for the purchasing of gifts


half term

I have just visited him at his mother's home where he is spending half term and we reminisced while looking at his photo album.

Georgia's not a very good correspondent, which is perfectly reasonable at her age, but she didn't come down for half term and then she didn't come for Easter either.

2011, Marcia Willett, Hattie's Mill, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

“Good idea. The boy seems to be coping quite well, although I had a feeling he wasn't too happy about spending half term in Crete with his old grandpa."

2011, Patricia Fenn, Poseidon's Trident, Andrews UK Limited, →ISBN:

"We had an extraordinary February half term - I think we had 22,000 visitors in the seven days. Which actually is a bit like bedlam at times."

2020 June 3, Sam Mullins OBE discusses with Stefanie Foster, “LTM: a new chapter begins at 40”, in Rail, page 54:

(UK) A short school holiday in the middle of the term.


Matariki

Borrowed from Maori Matariki, in turn derived from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *matafiti, Proto-Eastern Polynesian *matasiti
One Maori folk etymology claims it represents ngā + mata + o + te + ariki + o + Tāwhirimātea, meaning "the eyes of the [wind] god Tāwhirimātea". In Māori legend, the Pleiades star cluster which it is named after was from Tāwhirimātea's plucked eyes.
Cognate with Hawaiian makahiki.

af

The season, in late May or early June, when the Pleiades star cluster first rises, treated as the beginning of the new year by the Maori.


Armistice Day

From being the day on which the armistice of World War I was signed.

Ημέρα Ανακωχής

11th November, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice agreement to end World War I, commemorating the fallen of that war.

(Canada) Former name of Remembrance Day.


Pride

So you can imagine how I felt about going to Pride. But when Andrea said she wanted to go, I gave it [a] shot.

2005, David Campos, Understanding Gay and Lesbian Youth: Lessons for Straight School Teachers, Counselors, and Administrators, R&L Education, →ISBN, page 115:

Nor are Pride events limited to white, affluent LGBs who can afford high ticket prices: there are youth Prides in the UK, many events have retained their political origins and offer free entry, [...]

2006, J. Fish, Heterosexism in Health and Social Care, Springer, →ISBN, page 106:

I'm in New York at the moment (omigod, it's the best place on earth, it's been five years and I'd almost forgotten) and it just happens to be Pride this weekend, which is their version of Mardi Gras, with the big parade and everything, and I just got swept up by it all.

2007, Maggie Alderson, Gravity Sucks, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

It's Pride this weekend, Tom, and Brighton will be packed again.

2012, Mark Peterson, Flesh and Blood, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

And i was goin' out to meet ya, well when i went out to meet you, i felt soooo exposed and such a minority. i never felt like that in Glasgow walkin' in the streets like that, going to Pride ...

2015, Professor Manon Tremblay, Dr David Paternotte, The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN, page 114:

A festival primarily for LGBT people, usually organized annually within a city.

Pride

a festival primarily for LGBT people, usually organized annually within a city

A movement encouraging a positive approach to personal identity amongst LGBT people.

fierté

a movement encouraging a positive approach to personal identity amongst LGBT people


Pride

Two main origins:
* A nickname from Welsh prid (“precious, dear”).
* From pride, a nickname for a vain or haughty person.


Reformation Sunday

In Protestant churches, a commemoration of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, observed on the last Sunday in October (from Reformation Day, which was originally 31 October 1517).


Kingdomtide

From kingdom + -tide, from the Festival of Christ the King that culminates the season.

(Protestantism) The period or season of the Christian church year between the seasons of Pentecost and Advent, or the second half of this period.


Back to the Future Day

It's Back to the Future Day - the date Marty and Doc crashed the future in the second of the three time-hopping sci-fi adventure films.

2015 October 20, Leo Kelion, “Back to the Future II: What did it get right and wrong?”, in BBC:

For anyone who is still confused, Back to the Future Day marks the fact that today is the date specified for the "future" setting in the 1989 Back to the Future II film.

2015 October 21, Adam Withnall, “Department for Work and Pensions fails to appeal to public with 'Back to the Future Day' tweet”, in The Independent:

Back to the Future Day is over. The exact time Marty and Doc Brown travel forward to from 1985 - has been and gone. This time round.

2015 October 21, Barney Henderson, Rupert Hawksley, Helena Horton, “Back to the Future Day live: Is October 21, 2015 turning out like the film predicted?”, in The Atlantic:

Following Back to the Future Day on October 21, the countdown to Halloween has well and truly begun.

2016 October 15, “Last Minute 'Back To The Future' Halloween Costumes That You Can Throw Together Tonight”, in Bustle:

We're one year on from "Back to the Future Day," which marked the date Marty McFly visited the future in the 1989 classic "Back to the Future: Part II." The film predicted flat screens and drones, and today it seems one more of its many forecasts for the future is on the verge of coming true.

2016 October 25, Eric Mack, “'Back to the Future' predicted this World Series, sort of”, in C/NET:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michael J. Fox was the first person to get a pair of the power-lace shoes last year, "coinciding with Back to the Future Day on Oct. 21, 2015, the exact future date in Back to the Future: Part II that Marty travels to from 1985."

2017 February 27, Kaitlin Kimont, “Where To Get Seth Rogen's 'Back To The Future' Nike Sneakers From the 2017 Oscars,”, in Romper:

The date October 21, 2015, regarded as commemorative of the movie Back to the Future Part II, in which the main characters use a time machine to travel to this date from the year 1985.


Gay Nineties

(US) The decade of the 1890s, characterised by decadence, social scandal, and the beginning of the suffragette movement.


Naughty Nineties

(UK) Synonym of Gay Nineties (the 1890s)