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Today is Lunar New Year, celebrated across East Asia. This year is the year of the Horse, associated with freedom, speed, strength, and intelligence.
The Jade Emperor is said to have held a race to decide which animals to put on the zodiac. The horse came seventh. He nearly came sixth - but approaching the finish line, the snake suddenly jumped out of his hoof, startling the poor horse.
Image source
Wassailing in Devon (1861).
Wassailing is a traditional practice in Anglosphere countries on Twelfth Night (night of Jan 5th-6th). It originated from the Old English Waes Hael (meaning "be well" or "good health).
It involves folk ceremonies at orchards, singing to the trees and making lots of noise to wake them up. Wassails are traditional songs used at these events, often with local flavour. Recently, the tradition has also returned to the U.S. east coast.
Wassailing also used to involve going door-to-door singing and offering drink, but this has been largely superseded by carol singing. This second practice hints, though, at wassailing's greater purpose: a community event to bring cheer in the depths of winter.
Image sources:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/orpost/albums/72157632138608676/with/5515922971/
(The uploader talks more about his uncle meeting Krampus there.)
https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/greetings-from-krampus/
Krampusnacht in Mitterndorf, Austria (1949).
Krampus is an old alpine folk creature that seems to have arisen out of various pagan traditions, and been mixed with the Christian devil. He comes out just before the Feast of St. Nicholas and swats naughty children with his birch branches. And later, on Christmas Eve, he return, puts them in his basket, and vanishes...
27 September 1825: Locomotion No. 1 sets off on the Stockton and Darlington railway, built by George and Robert Stephenson. This is the first ever public railway journey, and this date is considered to be the beginning of the Railway Age.
Over the next few decades, a railway boom would engulf first Britain and then the world, fuelling the industrial revolution and shrinking travel times. Poor families who had not left their village in generations would soon be able to travel great distances.
On this occasion, amid great fanfare, the engine transported around 600 people 8.7 miles - at an average of 8 miles per hour.
https://www.rferl.org/a/pictures-of-pure-joy-in-allied-countries-on-ve-day-1945/30599539.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/07/magazine/ve-day-anniversary.html
https://www.dw.com/en/ve-day-germany-europe-world-war-ii-anniversary-live-updates/live-72465894
https://ve80.com/
21:00 CET: The Wehrmacht issues their last report over the radio.
[Subtitles in link]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kS4PZlF_BM
The Guernsey Star has its priorities in order as it announces liberation. Indeed, flotillas of supplies are on the way. In the meantime, crowds gather around the Pomme d’Or Hotel in Jersey - former Kriegsmarine HQ - where the swastika is taken down and replaced with the Union Flag by troops who have just landed. The event has been delayed several times; this time because the troops were prevented from moving forwards by crowds of Jersey women hugging and kissing them.
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Morning: Vidkun Quisling, Nazi-appointed leader of Norway, turns himself in at Møllergata 19 police station. He has lived to see his name become a word for traitor; he believes that "in ten years' time I will have become another Saint Olav."
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07:14 local time: The tiny Channel Islands, off the coat of France, have remained under Nazi occupation despite their close proximity to Normandy, where Allied landings took place last year. Major-General Heine (centre) signs their surrender.
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10:31 local time: Churchill, probably somewhat drunker, appears again on the Ministry of Health balcony, conducting singing of "Land of Hope and Glory."
The Guardian reports his interaction with the crowd:
"...There we stood alone. did anybody want to give in?"
The crowd roared back a terrific "No."
"Were we downhearted?" asked the Premier.
"No," came back the answer.
Mr. Churchill: "The lights went out---." There was a great burst of laughter at this, because the floodlighting of the balcony from which he was speaking had been turned off shortly before his appearance.
There is widespread relief within the Allied lines. One British Corporal reported "instant relief – no wild cheering or running about. It was a case of thank God it’s all over and we were safe at last. We had nothing to celebrate with anyway, just compo tea and normal rations. It was if you’d had an exhausting day and you flop down in a chair at the end of it."
In the Soviet zone, however, there is widespread looting and rape, a fact that will stain the Soviet army in future.
16:00 local time: The Evening Standard is published, with the following illustration by David Low - known best for his cartoons drawn during the darkest days of the war.
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9:00 local time: President Truman announces the surrender of Germany.
"I only wish that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day."
A nativity scene from the court of Mughal India (1620-30).
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Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, England, on the 16th of December 1775 - 250 years ago. She is considered one of the great writers of the English language. Her six novels explore, often through wit and ironic prose, the lives and loves of the English upper class, often highlighting societal hypocrisy and the search for genuine love against the grain of family and class expectations.
Virginia Woolf wrote - in praise of Austen's subtlety - that "of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness."
Unfortunately Austen died "just as she was beginning to feel confidence in her own success," as she is believed to have had Addison's disease. Nonetheless her writings, which are available free online, are now considered rivals to the likes of Dickens and Shakespeare.
Krampus has not been popular; Krampus traditions were repressed by the church and by Austrian fascism because of their pagan roots. In the 1950s, it was speculated that he may harm the mental health of children, and pamphlets were distributed warning parents about him. Nonetheless, Krampus perseveres.
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On the 4th of September, 925, Æthelstan was crowned King of the Anglo-Saxons. Wearing a crown for the first time instead of a helmet, and holding a ceremony in the Frankish style, his rule marked a shift in identity and the balance of power in Northwestern Europe; he would go on to become the first King of England and one of the most consequential rulers in British history.
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Thank you for your attention to this live account of VE Day and the day afterwards.
Europe and the world begins to enter the post-war era. However, there is still much to be done. The war with Japan looks likely to grind on for a long time; even with their cities firebombed, the Japanese government stubbornly holds out. Europe is starkly divided between East and West. Some Allied commanders are even considering "Operation Unthinkable:" an assault against the Soviet Union...
In spite of widespread expressions of joy, it is noted that many people in the west are actually quite sad. People obviously do not want to be bombed and terrorised again, but there it is possible that the end of a shared community struggle prompts a sort of melancholy - something known also to the many soldiers, who are aware their time with their comrades is coming to an end.
Europe is in ruins, rationing is still in place, and it is clear the old world is dead. It is time to win the peace...
There is some confusion in Slovenia. Alexander Löhr, commander of Army Group E, has surrendered. However, he seems to have escaped, and his troops are disobeying the order. He is making his way towards Austria. An intense manhunt begins.
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Stutthof concentration camp is liberated by the Red Army. About 100 people survive; most of the others have been taken away on death marches. It is the last concentration camp to be liberated.
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11:00 local time: Josef Stalin announces that "the Great Patriotic War has concluded."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqFx4fdOgHU
22:43 CET: The German Instrument of Surrender is signed in the Karlshorst in Berlin. Wilhelm Keitel (pictured) signs for the Wehrmacht. A previous signing took place earlier in France, but it was not recognised by the Soviets, who wanted it to be in Berlin.
Keitel has barely half a year to live before he will be executed by the Allies; a threat he is probably aware of.
Evening: Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring is now firmly in American captivity. He is in a state of drug-induced delusion, believing that he can negotiate with the Allies and that he might be a post-war leader.
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Evening: in probably the most visible and excitable celebration of any of the leaders, Churchill appears on the Ministry of Health building in central London and gives an unprepared speech. God bless you all,' he told them, 'This is your victory!' he declares, to which the crowd roars back, 'No - it is yours!" Unbeknownst to him, they will vote him out in just a few months.
Famously, as crowds celebrate around Buckingham Palace, the young princesses - including future Queen Elizabeth II - anonymously mingle.
15:00 local time: Winston Churchill announces the surrender of Germany. He immediately gets into his car and drives down Whitehall, but is mobbed by crowds.
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General De Gaulle addresses the French nation. "La guerre est gagnée! Voici la Victoire! C’est la Victoire des Nations Unies et c’est la Victoire de la France!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-RNKykB7Nk