tree topper

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

A decorative ornament placed on the top of a Christmas tree, often in the form of a star or angel.


Vlogmas

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

Only the bravest online celebrities dare to take on Vlogmas. […] Are you ready to give Vlogmas your very own spin? How would the intro to your Christmas countdown look?

2016, Vlog It!: The Yearbook, Scholastic Children’s Books, →ISBN:

What motivated you to open up about your student debt at this point? […] [Aja Dang:] Then I opened up during Vlogmas. Vlogmas is during December, you vlog every single day. There’s not necessarily a rhyme or reason for it, you just do it. You show people your day. My day happened to be trying to pay off my student loan payment for the month.

2018 May 23, Amanda Duberman, “This Influencer Is Using YouTube To Speak Frankly About Student Loan Debt”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 2019-02-14:

I was going to say, when we talk tomorrow, we need to discuss your strategy for Vlogmas.

2019, Sophie Ranald, Out with the Ex, in with the New, Bookouture, →ISBN:

And, on the countdown to Christmas, the couple go one step further – recording a video every single day in December, as part of ‘Vlogmas’.

2022 November 1, “Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley”, in Best:

(Internet) A Christmas celebration that involves publishing a vlog every day in December until Christmas.


Advent wreath

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

Local custom gives us an “Advent Tree” or “Advent Wreath”: the trees are diminutive Christmas trees, which bear one candle for each Sunday in Advent; the wreaths are wooden rings with as many holes as there are days before Christmas Eve, decorated with fir green, and gay ribbons, and hung up over the dining-table, one candle being added every night till the circle is complete.

1929 December 28, “Correspondence: A Letter from Oberammergau. [To the Editor of the Spectator.]”, in The Spectator, volume 143, number 5296, page 972:

(Christianity) A usually evergreen wreath adorned with four (or sometimes five) candles, the first of which is lit on Advent Sunday, followed by the lighting of an additional candle on each subsequent Sunday.

adventskrans

usually evergreen wreath adorned with four candles


TDoR

Transgender Day of Remembrance
w:Transgender Day of Remembrance

(LGBTQ) Initialism of Transgender Day of Remembrance.


Yule lad

Calque of Icelandic jólasveinn. Compare also Yule swain.

One of several trolls, children of the ogress Grýla, who, according to Icelandic folktales, arrive one each day from December 12th through December 25, and leave one each night from December 25 through January 6. The Yule lads are associated with tricks and mischief, but also with carrying off naughty children in a burlap bag and eating them.


Santa Clause

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

...each a good knife & some candy & put in their stockings for Santa Clause.

1978, Calvin Fletcher, “December 1857”, in The Diary of Calvin Fletcher, volume 6, page 153:

I can only sympathize with a teacher whose conscience is of such extreme dimensions that the corroboration of the "Santa Clause myth" causes a pang; and I should surely....I hope that few teachers of our fair Canada are burdened with such a troublesome conscience as your correspondent of Dec. 1st. Let us have Santa Clause in all his magnificence.

1906, Gideon E. Henderson, Matthew Parkinson, editors, The Canadian Teacher, page 511:

The section features several letters from children addressed to Santa. 14 letters are addressed "Dear Santa Clause", two are addressed "Dear Santa", and one is addressed to "Dear Old Santa Claus", which also mentions him by his full name two more times with the same spelling.

1908 December 17, The Jeannette Dispatch, Little Folks Write Good Old Santa Claus, page 9:

But since at times it is almost impossible to get at that time of the year, it became necessary to use some other methods of receiving and distributing the many presents from Santa Clause...Under the breakfast plate on Christmas morning a note is often placed, telling where Santa Clause has hidden the first present...There is a Christmas plum pudding made over a wire frame, covered with brown burlap and with raisins sewed on for decoration. This makes an excellent receptacle for the things brought by Santa Clause...

1910, Lenora Makelim, “Christmas Suggestions.”, in The Oregon Countryman, volume 3, pages 40–41:

Old Santa Clause, and him be me...They wuz no Santa Clause when he...

1915, James Whitcomb Riley, “What "Old Santa" Overheard”, in Riley Songs of Friendship, page 161:

...Was the chance that I might see Santa Clause....For you see my time has come, I'm Santa Clause.

1920, The Virginia Reel, Virginia Reel, Incorporated, page 19:

Susie wiped away the tears, and turned to look out of the window. Perhaps she said to herself, "perhaps Santa Clause has something for me after all!" Now, the sad, really dreadful part about it was that Santa Clause didn't have one single thing for Susie in his pack.

1922, Silas Xavier Floyd, Alice H. Howard, “A Christmas Present.”, in The New Floyd's Flowers Illustrated Stories Especially Arranged for Colored People, Austin Jenkins, page 184:

Dear Santa Clause: It would please me very much for you to send me a flashlighter.

1934, Pacific Telephone Magazine, Fun For All, page 11:

...and hope my dad and brothers Snake out tan bark to get a little money to buy things with One Xmas Santa Clause gave us three or four sticks of candie and a ornge^([sic])

1974, Eliot Wigginton, The Foxfire Book, volume 1, Anchor Press, page 16:

I understood all about Santa Clause, the baby Jesus and everything.

1984, Richard Gordon, The Bulldog and the Bear: A Play in Two Acts, S. French, page 74:

A year later, in Lynch v. Donnelly, the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island had erect a large Christmas display each holiday season in a privately owned park. This display included a Santa Clause house, reindeer, a Christmas tree, and carolers...

1990, Shlomo Slonim, editor, The Constitutional Bases of Political and Social Change in the United States, Praeger, page 77:

If we only remembered it was Christmas & not Santa Clause day.

1990, Emily Carr, Nan Cheney, Humphrey N. W. Toms, “22 December 1940”, in Doreen Walker, editor, Dear Nan, page 281:

"Well, Nutty Buddy's sick, too sick to have Santa Clause," said Yabbett. "Hope I'm not too young to have Santa Clause." She questioningly looked to Sam. "No you're not, twirp. No one's too young for Santa Clause." And Yabbett, leaning a bit closer to Sam, whispered very low, "Is Molly too old for Santa Clause?" "No twirp, no one's too young for Santa Clause and no one's too old for Santa Clause."

2001, Bonnie Gulan, Story Lady, chapter 2, in Lost Adventures of the House of the Seven Cats, page 24:

"Santa Clause?" Ellen asked, then rolled her eyes at her own question, "I mean, yes, sure, every kid learns about Santa Clause." "No," Mr. Stevens' smile faded and he plucked the leaf from the tree, “Every kid doesn't learn about Santa Clause, because every adult knows that Santa is a 'make believe', and overused flying, ho-ho-ho commercial."

2001, William D. Noe, Roberta J. Noe, Odds and Ends, Xlibris Corporation LLC, page 163:

"I think I saw Santa Clause." the child said, pushing up on her arms to eventually sit upright, her feet under her.

2012, Fernan M. Gruber Jr., Santa's Reindeer Hay, AuthorHouse, page 2:

The book repeatedly spells the name as 'Clause', including on the title and back cover: Do you know that Santa Clause is a real person? Do you know the true story of where Santa Clause [...] Just Call Me Nicholas, The Story of the Birth of Santa Clause will answer all of those questions and more. From Coach Kie’s Kid Collection comes this timeless lovely story about the birth of Santa Clause dating all the way back to the beginning.

2020 November 26, Coach Kie, Just Call Me Nicholas: The Story of How Santa Clause was Born:

Dear: Santa Clause. I wish you a merry Cristmas! Can you give me all big, small, and tiny meemeows I don’t have? [...] Dear Santa, Thank you for sending Wrinkle too! For Christmas I would like a black kitten. (PLEASE!!) Was there a Santa Clause before you?

2022 December 20, “Letters to Santa”, in The Northside Sun:

Dear Santa Clause, Thank you for the clothes you brought me last year. How are you and Mrs. Clause doing?

2022 December 21, “Letters to Santa Claus”, in Gazette-Journal:

2022 December 23, “Santa Clause comes early for one lucky person”, in City of Ballarat:


happy Near Year

From everyone here at "Chum central."

2002 January 1, Helpful GM, “CL: Happy near year”, in comp.sys.mac.games.adventure (Usenet), retrieved 2023-01-01:


Chunjie

/ˈtʃʊnˌdʒiːə/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 春節 /春节 (Chūnjié, “Spring Festival”).

bor

Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year#English

(chiefly China) Synonym of Chinese New Year.


Makar Sankranti

en-noun

Makar Sankranti (plural Makar Sankrantis)

Borrowed from Hindi मकर संक्रांति (makar saṅkrānti).

bor+

मकर संक्रांति

A Hindu harvest festival, usually observed in 15 January, marking the first day of the Sun's transit into Capricorn.


Poush Sankranti

en-noun

Poush Sankranti (plural Poush Sankrantis)

Borrowed from Bengali পৌষ সংক্রান্তি (pōuś śoṅkranti).

bor+

পৌষ সংক্রান্তি

A Bengali harvest festival, observed in 14 January (29 Poush), marking the first day of the Sun's transit into Capricorn.


Magh Bihu

Borrowed from Assamese মাঘ বিহু (magh bihu).

An Assamese harvest festival, observed in 14 January (29 Puh), marking the first day of the Sun's transit into Capricorn.


asantaist

From a- + Santa + -ist, based on atheist.

Nearly everyone but small children are asantaists, while the same is true of aunicornists — even if they have never once decided as an absolute fact, or even as a matter of faith, that unicorns do not exist.

2016 January 30, Nicholas Bittner, The Roads Around Religion, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 11:

(rare, humorous) A person who does not believe in Santa Claus.


Da Jiu Festival

(Hong Kong) A Taoist ritual and festival for requesting peace and harmony in a locality.


Tuen Ng Festival

Partial calque of Cantonese 端午節 /端午节 (dyun¹ ng⁵ zit³), from Chinese 端午 (Duānwǔ, “Opening of the Seventh”), one name for the day of the festival in the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Doublet of Duanwu Festival.

der

Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival#English

(Hong Kong) Synonym of Dragon Boat Festival.


like a kid on Christmas morning

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-like a kid on Christmas morning.wav

like a kid at Christmas
like a kid at Christmas#English


like a kid at Christmas

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-like a kid at Christmas.wav

(simile, informal) Very delighted and excited.

think all one's Christmases have come at once


Steak and Blowjob Day

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Steak and Blowjob Day.wav

A satirical unofficial holiday on March 14, on which women are supposed to provide a man with a steak dinner and oral sex, by way of compensation for the gifts given by men to women on Valentine's Day.


independence day

en-noun

independence day (plural independence days)

An annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood.

Onafhankelijkheidsdag

official holiday, for instance in Suriname


menologium

menologium (plural menologiums or menologia)

From Medieval Latin mēnologium, from Ancient and Byzantine Greek μηνολόγιον (mēnológion), from μήν (mḗn, “month”) + λόγιον (lógion, “writing, record, announcement”), itself from λόγος (lógos, “writing, recording”). Doublet of menologion, menologe, and menology.

ménologe

a monthly list of information, particularly in Christian contexts

menology

chiefly Mesopotamian contexts or inexact

A calendar of the days of the month or of all the days of the year divided by month, particularly as a table of information divided in this way and

(Roman Catholicism, uncommon, often capitalized) Synonym of martyrology, a hagiography of Catholic saints.


menologion

en-noun

menologion (plural menologions or menologia)

From Byzantine Greek μηνολόγιον (mēnológion), from Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn, “month”) + -ο- (-o-, “-o-”) + λόγιον (lógion, “writing, record, announcement”), from λόγος (lógos, “writing, recording”) + -ιον (-ion, “-ion: forming related nouns”). Doublet of menologe, menologium, and menology. See horologion.

doublet

In order to make a preliminary study of the text of the menologion on the basis of evidence from the MSS accessible, the area of greatest uniformity was sought.

1936, Morgan Ward Redus, The Text of the Major Festivals on the Menologion in the Greek Gospel Lectionary, Studies in the Lectionary Text of the Greek New Testiment, Vol. II, No. 2

Synonym of menologium, particularly in Greek, Byzantine, and Eastern Orthodox contexts.


Cake and Cunnilingus Day

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Cake and Cunnilingus Day.wav

Steak and Blowjob Day
Steak and Blowjob Day

A satirical unofficial holiday on April 14, on which women are supposed to receive cake and oral sex, celebrated as a female response to Steak and Blowjob Day.


weekiversary

The two, who are adorably celebrating their "weekiversary" in the shots, both snapped selfies by the beach, indicating they chose somewhere by the ocean to celebrate their first seven days as husband and wife (the lovebirds did not reveal the exact location of their getaway).

2014 July 2, Alyssa Toomey, “Newlyweds Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard Share Romantic Honeymoon Pics, Celebrate "Weekiversary"”, in E! News:

This couple celebrates their “weekiversary” every week, without skipping. Ever. […] The responses on their weekiversary posts have dropped from dozens of “You two!!” and “Cutest couple ahhhhh!!” comments in the early days of their relationship to just a single comment from one of their moms.

2018 March 24, Krista Burton, “Are You Really in Love if It’s Not on Instagram?”, in The New York Times:

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


Pokrova

Borrowed from Ukrainian Покрова (Pokrova) or Russian Покров (Pokrov).

Intercession of the Theotokos (feast on 14 October)


Spooktober

Blend of spook + October, from the association of Halloween with October.

(humorous, chiefly Internet) Synonym of October


Green Christmas

Little Christmas
Little Christmas#English


spooky season

en-noun

spooky season (countable and uncountable, plural spooky seasons)

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

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I’m not sure why it’s October, maybe because it’s spooky season and the scariest thing that could happen to you would be cancer.

Once October hits, we're ready for spooky season and while we loved telling scary stories in the dark when we were kids, not everyone loves horror. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but I hate scary movies.

But it’s heartening that we can have something like There’s Someone, a just OK movie with a diverse cast — a somewhat goofy slasher we'll all probably forget when spooky season ends.

(slang) The days leading up to, and including, Halloween.


gingerbread house

gingerbread house (plural gingerbread houses)

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

A novelty confectionery in the shape of a house, with walls, roof and sometimes chimney made of dense, crisp gingerbread, held together with frosting and decorated with candies; popular especially at Christmastime.


Whamageddon

An informal game played during the 24 days before Christmas, in which players try to avoid hearing the popular song "Last Christmas" by Wham!.


Christmas Adam

Reinterpreting Eve (“evening or day before (another day)”) as the name Eve, and referencing how, in Genesis, Adam came before Eve.

Bob ended up at the discount store on “Christmas Adam,” buying just with creative recipes! about every Nerf gun the store had, plus a shopping cart full of other fun surprises. The evening before, the children had participated in a Christmas music pageant […]

2012 March 6, Michelle Duggar, Jim Bob Duggar, A Love That Multiplies: An Up-Close View of How They Make It Work, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 53:

"Happy Christmas Adam," James greeted him. [...] It was a family custom to call the twenty-third of December Christmas Adam, because it was the day before Christmas Eve, and Adam had come before Eve. Levi nodded to James now, glancing around again. “Happy Christmas Adam to you, too. Is everything all right?” James leaned on the counter[…]

2017 December 1, Regina Scott, His Frontier Christmas Family, Harlequin, →ISBN:

"[…] to the games on on Christmas Adam." Layla's eyes popped open, and she counted in her head. "That's in two days. I haven't done the shopping for the games that are already on my list. Gracious." She sliced the turkey breast[…]

2023 August 22, Regina Walker, Miracle Inn, Regina Walker:

(humorous) The day before Christmas Eve.


vicennals

From Latin vīcennālia, from vīcennis (“20-year”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming festival names”), from vīciēs (“twenty times”) + annus (“year”) + -is (“forming compound adjectives”).

(historical, rare) Synonym of vicennalia: the festival and religious ritual held on the 20th anniversary of a Roman emperor's reign.


vicennalia

vicennalia (plural vicennalia or vicennalias)

vicennalia (plural)
vicennalias (plural)

From Latin vīcennālia, from vīcennium (“20-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from vicennis (“20-year”) + -ium (“forming abstract nouns”), from vīciēs (“twenty each”) + annus (“year”) + -is (“forming compound adjectives”). Equivalent to vicennium + -alia.

Apart from the Vicennalia, 136 was an eventful year for the imperial family: the serious illness of Hadrian in the spring, the adoption of Aelius in the summer and the death and consecration of Sabina at the end of the year.

1971, P.V. Hill, "The Dating and Arrangement of Hadrian's COS III", Mints, Dies and Currency, p. 52

The exact timing of the tenth and twentieth anniversaries, the decennalia and the vicennalia, has already been discussed at length. The most straightforward solution, that it took place on the emperor's dies imperii ten years after the accession, has its adherents. However, a date earlier in the year, perhaps even the day of the beginning of the tenth year, may also be considered—at least in the second century AD.

2005, Jakob Munk Højte, Roman Imperial Statue Bases from Augustus to Commodus, p. 157

As a chronological list of Roman emperors makes clear, several rulers reign long enough to enjoy their decennalia, but relatively few were fortunate enough to celebrate their vicennalia, their twentieth imperial anniversary; and from the second century onwards Constantine alone ruled long enough to celebrate a tricennalia.

2012, Gary Forsythe, "Magna Mater and the Taurobolium", Time in Roman Religion, p. 111

(historical) The festival and religious rituals celebrating a Roman emperor's 20th year of rule.


decennalia

decennalia (plural decennalia or decennalias)

decennalia (plural)
decennalias (plural)

From Latin decennālia, from decennium (“10-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from decennis (“10-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to decennium + -alia.

Seven pieces celebrate the Decennalia of Arcadius, which were due on Jan. 15, 393.

1915, Arthur Evans, "Notes on the Coinage and Silver Currency in Roman Britain from Valentinian I to Constantine III", Numismatic Chronicle..., 4th Ser., Vol. 15, p. 436

(historical) The festival and religious rituals celebrating a Roman emperor's 10th year of rule.

Antoninus Pius
Julian the Apostate
decennalia


tricennalia

tricennalia (plural tricennalia or tricennalias)

tricennalia (plural)
tricennalias (plural)

From Latin trīcennālia, from trīcennium (“30-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from trīcennis (“30-year”) + -ium (“forming abstract nouns”), from trīciēs (“thirty each”) + annus (“year”) + -is (“forming compound adjectives”). Equivalent to tricennium + -alia.

In 336, the city was ready. Constantine the Great could celebrate his Tricennalia, his thirty-year jubilee, in his new capital. One year later, he was baptised and died.

2008, Jona Lendering, “Constantine's City”, in Livius:

(historical) The festival and religious rituals celebrating a Roman emperor's 30th year of rule.


quindecennalia

quindecennalia (plural quindecennalia or quindecennalias)

quindecennalia (plural)
quindecennalias (plural)

From Latin quīndecennālia, from quīndecennium (“15-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from quīndecennis (“15-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to quin- + decennalia, quindec + ennalia, or quindecennium + -alia.

There is evidence, that the quindecennalia, of fifteenth anniversary of Trajan's proconsular authority, and of his adoption to the empire, was celebrated in 111, or the year after Pliny's arrival in Bithynia.

1837, Edward Burton, Lectures upon the Ecclesiastical History of the First Three Centuries..., Vol. II, "Lecture XIV", p. 40

There is good literary evidence for Honorius' tricennalia in 422, which is at the end of perfect quinquennial sequence from 393, as well as consular vot xxx mvlt xxx solidi, though there do not appear to be any vota coins marking his quindecennalia or quinta quinquennalia.

1988, Richard W. Burgess, “Quinquennial Vota and the Imperial Consulship in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, 337-511”, in Numismatic Chronicle, number 148, page 85:

On 1 January 112... the year opened with a series of celebrations to mark the quindecennalia of the emperor's ascension.

1997, Julian Bennett, Trajan Optimus Princeps: A Life and Times, page 186:

(historical) The festival and religious rituals sometimes observed celebrating a Roman emperor's 15th year of rule.


Apple Gifting Day

Apple Gifting Day (plural Apple Gifting Days)

A traditional celebration where individuals exchange apples as a symbol of good health for the upcoming year, observed annually on January 1.


Commitment Day

A day dedicated to displaying affection and devotion to loved ones, observed annually on January 1.


Ridván

A twelve-day-long festival in the Baháʼí Faith commemorating a declaration by Baháʼu'lláh that he was a Manifestation of God.


Ayyám-i-Há

Borrowed from Classical Persian اَیَّامِ هَاء (ayyām-i hā', “Days of Ha”).

bor+

اَیَّامِ هَاء

A period lasting four or five days before the last month of the Baháʼí calendar, celebrated by Baháʼí Faith believers as a festival.


birthmonth

A person is said to have died on his birthmonth if the month of his death is the same as the month of his birth. Accordingly, if a person was born on March 1, 1797, and died on March 31, 1850, he died on his birthmonth; […]

1973 December, David P. Phillips, Kenneth A. Feldman, “A Dip in Deaths Before Ceremonial Occasions: Some New Relationships Between Social Integration and Mortality”, in James F[ranklin] Short, Jr., editor, American Sociological Review, volume 38, number 6, Albany, N.Y.: American Sociological Association, →ISSN, page 679, columns 1–2:

License expires end of licensee’s birthmonth.

1975, Warren L. Cruikshank, John D. Burke, Real Estate Sales and Brokerage: Preparing for the Licensing Exams, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Book Company, →ISBN, page 178, column 2:

The flowers are chrysanthemums, totem flowers of my birthmonth.

1991 July, James Alan Gardner, “Shadow Album”, in Kim Mohan, editor, Amazing Stories, volume 66, number 3 (whole 560), Lake Geneva, Wis.: TSR, Inc., →ISSN, page 28, column 2:

Choose from our selection of classic handcrafted Mother’s Rings set with lustrous stones to mark the birthmonth of each child.

1993 November 26, Smith & Neil Jewelers, “Mother’s Rings® Are Made For… Memories”, in Paul R. Lopes, editor, The Wanderer, volume 2, number 46, Mattapoisett, Mass., page 65:

July, his [Julius Caesar’s] birthmonth, is named in his honor.

1996, Daniel D. Pearlman, Faun Bernbach Evans, Raymond H. Clines, Guide to Rapid Revision Workbook, 3rd edition, Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon, →ISBN, page 161:

Stating any assumptions that you make find an expression for the probability that in a group of n people at least two of them share the same birthmonth. Deduce the smallest n for which the group is more likely than not to include at least two people sharing the same birthmonth.

[1998?], Gwyn Evans, John Reynolds, Statistics Module S1 (Modular Mathematics), [Cardiff]: RND Publications Ltd, →ISBN, page 16:

At the birthdate shown (1900 census - but the census gives his birthmonth as March!?) he would have been 19 when the war ended in the Spring of 1865.

1999, Aubrey Hampton Payne, Payne-Golding Family History: Wiley Payne (1851) & Nancy Jane Golding (1858), Their Ancestry to Colonial Virginia, Their Descendants through c1995, Waban, Mass.: WabAnawan Publishing, →ISBN, page 104:

We called him ‘October’ for his birthmonth.

2002, Stephanie Brooks with Karen Mannion, Seahorses: Connemara and Its Ponies, [s.l.]: Meredith Praed, →ISBN, page 155:

If you have collections that represent the twelve months (such as birthmonth angels) you can arrange them around your candle.

2004, Janina Renée, By Candlelight: Rites for Celebration, Blessing & Prayer, Saint Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 164:

If there are 5 people in a room find the probability that at least two people have the same birthmonth. (Assume all 12 birthmonths are equally likely.)

2005, Larry Rabinowitz, Elementary Probability with Applications, Wellesley, Mass.: A K Peters, →ISBN, page 45:

His May birthmonth (known as the “5th moon” of the Chinese lunar year) is ruled by the sage Snake.

2006, Janine Burke, The Sphinx on the Table: Sigmund Freud’s Art Collection and the Development of Psychoanalysis, New York, N.Y.: Walker & Company, →ISBN, page 412:


Selfish Seventies

The 1970s characterized by a rise of self-indulgence and narcissism in American society.


reverse Advent calendar

en-noun

reverse Advent calendar (plural reverse Advent calendars)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-reverse Advent calendar.wav

A reverse Advent calendar consists of collecting long-life food items and toiletries which you then donate at the end of the 24 days. You could add one item per day or donate as many as you like and are able to. You could also create a reverse Advent with a group of friends or family and add one item per person per day.

2020, Eilidh Gallagher, Green Christmas: Little Changes that Bring Joy and Help the Planet, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 51:

Sarah said that if Helen wanted either Playmobil or Lego she’d have to hurry as they sell out early, and that she would be doing a reverse advent calendar and buying something for the food bank every time she shops in December. That rather shut everyone up and they all agreed they’d do it, too.

2021, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Everyone Is Still Alive, Orion Publishing Group, page 76:

We also work with food charities closer to home. Every year in the UK we encourage our community to take part in our reverse advent calendar with a twist. Instead of taking food as you would with a traditional advent calendar, customers put food into their box each day of December. We then collect up all of the full boxes of food and deliver them to our food partner. This helps ensure support is given to people in need at this difficult time of year and collectively has a big impact.

2023, Giles Humphries, Myles Hopper, Mindful Chef: Healthy You, Happy Planet, Random House, page 69:

The activity of storing away a non-perishable food item, toiletry, clothing item, or other essential item each day during the Advent period, often starting on December 1, then donating them on Christmas Eve to local food banks, shelters, charities, or other organizations that support individuals and families in need.


Palentine's Day

(informal) A holiday in celebration of friendships and every other form of platonic love, celebrated annually on February 13, or less commonly on February 14.


Christmas Capital of the Philippines

en-proper noun

the Christmas Capital of the Philippines

After the Giant Lantern festivals held every Christmas in the capital of the province, San Fernando.

(Philippines, chiefly Pampanga) A nickname for Pampanga.


Kwaak Taanba

Borrowed from Manipuri ꯀ꯭ꯋꯥꯛ ꯇꯥꯟꯕ (k͟waak taanba).

bor+

a Meitei festival held on the 10th of Mera of the Meitei calendar.


Summerween

2012. Blend of summer + Halloween. Originally coined in animated TV series Gravity Falls.


Ningol Chakkouba

Borrowed from Manipuri ꯅꯤꯉꯣꯜ ꯆꯥꯛꯀꯧꯕ (neengol chaakkouba).

ꯅꯤꯉꯣꯜ ꯆꯥꯛꯀꯧꯕ

a traditional Meitei festival celebrated and held on the second day of Hyangei (October-November).


Sajibu Cheiraoba

Borrowed from Manipuri ꯁꯖꯤꯕꯨ ꯆꯩꯔꯥꯑꯣꯕ (sajeeboo cheiraaʼoba).

ꯁꯖꯤꯕꯨ ꯆꯩꯔꯥꯑꯣꯕ

an annual Lunar New Year festival celebrated by Meiteis on the month of Sajibu.


Snegurochka

the Snow Maiden, a character in Russian folklore who assists her grandfather Ded Moroz in bringing gifts to children every New Year.


Double Seventh Festival

By analogy with the Chinese and English names of the holidays on similar doubled dates in the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar such as the Double Fifth and Ninth Festivals.


Magpie Festival

From the importance of the Magpie Bridge (鵲橋) in the legends surrounding the Chinese holiday.


International Day of the Girl Child

At its fiftieth session in February 2006, the CSW identified the girl child as its "priority theme," and it collaborated with UNICEF to organize an expert group meeting on the girl child and build momentum toward creating an International Day of the Girl Child.

2019 October 16, Ashwini Tambe, Defining Girlhood in India: A Transnational History of Sexual Maturity Laws, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN:

A holiday celebrated on October 11 that aims to raise awareness of the challenges and issues faced by girls around the world


International Day of the Girl

International Day of the Girl Child#English

Alternative form of International Day of the Girl Child


Christmas in July

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

A second Christmas celebration sometimes held on July 25th, centered on secular activities and entertainment such as social gatherings, seasonal entertainment, and shopping.


samhainophobia

Can someone be cured of samhainophobia, or any of the related phobias mentioned above? Yes, indeed.

2012 October 28, David DiSalvo, “Are You or Someone You Know Samhainophobic?”, in Forbes:

While samhainophobia is not a distinct diagnosis in the DSM-5, the fear of Halloween may meet the diagnostic criteria for a specific phobia.

2020 June 3, Lisa Fritscher, “Could You Have Samhainophobia or the Fear of Halloween?”, in Verywell Mind:

Likely exacerbating the situation for samhainophobia suffered is the fact that the vast majority of Americans celebrate Halloween each year.

2020 October 30, Kashmira Gander, “What Is Samhainophobia? The Extreme Fear of Halloween That Makes Some People Physically Sick”, in Newsweek:


samhainophobe

However, in news that samhainophobes may welcome, the percentage of Americans who say they are planning to celebrate in 2020 has dropped from 70 percent to 58 percent from previous years, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statista.

Aside from the above symptoms, which mostly happen when triggered, a samhainophobe can also experience more generalised symptoms that can present all year but tend to intensify at Halloween.

2023 January 26, Laura Allen, “What is Samhainophobia?”, in CPD Online College:

One who exhibits samhainophobia; one who is afraid of Halloween.


samhainophobic

en-adj

samhainophobic (comparative more samhainophobic, superlative most samhainophobic)

more samhainophobic (comparative)
most samhainophobic (superlative)

If you’re samhainophobic, you should probably stay home today.

2006 October 31, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Face Your fears”, in Chicago Tribune:

Did you know that many Serbs are pretty samhainophobic?

(Can we date this quote?), Olivera Tolimir, “Halloween in Serbia: Learn 4 Serbian Tricks to get a Treat”, in Belgrade Language School:


Black Saturday

(Australia) February 7, 2009, a day of devastating bushfires in Victoria, Australia, which killed 173 people.


Kali Puja

Kali + Puja, based on Sanskrit काली (kālī) and Sanskrit पूजा (pūjā). Literally means "reverence of Kali".

(Hinduism) A festival celebrating the goddess Kali, held at around October and November.

Deepavali

other Hindu festivals celebrated at the same time


Thaipusam

Borrowed from Tamil தைப்பூசம் (taippūcam).

bor+

A Hindu festival celebrated on the first full moon of the Tamil month of Thai.


Feast Week

Due to the fact that many families serve large meals for Thanksgiving

(Canada, US, especially college basketball) The week surrounding Thanksgiving Day.


Dumpling Festival

From the tradition of consuming zongzi during the holiday.


Rouketopolemos

Greek Рουκετοπόλεμος (Рouketopólemos, literally “rocket war”)

bor

Рουκετοπόλεμος

A traditional Easter event in the town of Vrontados (Βροντάδος) on the Greek island of Chios, in which rival church congregations fire large numbers of home-made rockets across town, attempting to hit each other's bell towers.


The Decameron , like Boccaccio's other writings, is thick with allusions to stories and passages in the Comedy; Boccaccio also transcribed and composed a commentary on the poem. In the early 1350s, he compiled the first biography of Dante; it remains a unique and indispensable source.

2001 July 29, R. W. B. Lewis, “'Dante'”, in The New York Times:

However, after the 1980s, the "North-South dipole" disappeared and snowpack declined across the entire range, indicating temperature is playing an increasingly important role in snowpack levels. This West-wide decline appeared to occur only one other time in the tree-ring record during the 1350s and early 1400s when temperatures were nearly as warm as today.

2011 June 9, Laura Petersen, “1,000-Year Record Shows Unusual Snowpack Declines -- Study”, in The New York Times:

After c.1400 the scale of, and profits from, dairy farming declined greatly.⁶⁹ Similarly, in the 1390s cattle rearing began to level off in many parts of the country, but continued to expand until the early fifteenth century in certain areas of northern and southern England.⁷⁰ Chicken prices fell from the volatile highs of the 1350s and 1360s and remained stable throughout the 1380s and 1390s, albeit at a higher level than in the pre-plague period.⁷¹ In the 1380s demesne poultry rearing contracted and became less commercialized, perhaps due to a transfer of production to the peasant sector.⁷²

2021, Mark Bailey, After the Black Death, page 245:

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

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


By the time this mysterious knight died in the 1360s, his book was available in every European language, including Dutch, Gaelic, Czech, Catalan, and Walloon.

2001 December 2, Giles Milton, “'The Riddle and the Knight'”, in The New York Times:

Though, like Wright of Derby, hardly a world-famous name, Veneziano was a leading light of the later 14th-century Venetian art scene and this finely preserved, highly characterful 1360s panel, unearthed from another long-established British collection, was deemed by scholars to be an exceptional example.

2017 December 8, Scott Reyburn, “Can ‘Salvator Mundi’ Turn the Tide for Old Master Sales?”, in The New York Times:


Certainly Sibbald's account of Falkland makes no mention of Gedde's apifacture in the Royal Park, nor is there any physical sign of it in Slezer's view of the Palace and surrounding countryside drawn in the early 1690s

1994 July, DJ Bryden, “John Gedde's bee-house and the Royal Society”, in Notes and Records of the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, volume 48, number 2:

In the later 1690s Rewse became a successful thief-taker, reaping large rewards for the capture of Jacobite conspirators, clippers, and coiners.

2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 63:

Wildlife biologist Stanley Temple hypothesised that perhaps the dodo tree was dependent on its seeds passing through the digestive system of dodos in order to properly germinate and that the handful of individuals in the 1970s were the last remaining trees from seeds that passed through a dodo in the 1690s-1700s when they went extinct.


We must go beyond the miserable confines of now. Real foresight means envisioning the world 100 years from now, being unafraid to ask searching questions about what visual culture will mean to the societies of the 2100s and beyond.

2018 December 14, Ben Parker, “The 10,000-year clock and the importance of durable design”, in CNN:

The mission will also provide information that could help protect Earth from a possible collision with Bennu. The Empire State Building-sized asteroid has a 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth near the end of the 2100s, according to NASA.

2022 September 23, Jon Michael Raasch, “Sample of Empire State Building-sized asteroid set to crash down in Utah desert”, in Fox News:


Hock Tuesday

(historical) The Tuesday of the old festival of Hocktide.


Betwixtmas

Thank the blessed baby Jesus, then, for Betwixtmas, which begins, according to my calendar at least, on 27 December. This special four-day period is nestled between the messy aftermath and clean-up duties of family Christmas and the exhausting-sounding New Year’s Eve party I will almost certainly flake out of at the last minute.

2021 December 26, Emma John, “Families have had their fun. Now, for us singletons, let the magic of Betwixtmas begin”, in The Observer, →ISSN:


Laba Festival

A partial calque of the Mandarin form of Chinese 臘八節 /腊八节 (Làbājié), named for its occurrence on the 8th day (八) of the 12th month of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar, sometimes known by the name Là (臘月) from an ancient end-of-year sacrifice.

A moveable Chinese festival day occurring between December 30th and January 28th on the Gregorian calendar, historically variously associated with propitiatory end-of-year sacrifices, ancestral veneration, and the Enlightenment of the Buddha, now chiefly observed by the consumption of Laba porridge.

Vesak

other celebrations of the Buddha's enlightenment