ides of march

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The Ides of March

***** Location: Italy, ancient Rome
***** Season: Spring
***** Category: Heavens

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Explanation

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martias)
is the name of the date 15 March in the Roman calendar. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other eight months.
In Roman times, the Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was assassinated, in 44 BC, the story of which was famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.


Vincenzo Camuccini, Mort de César, 1798


The term idūs (ides) is thought to have originally been the day of the full moon. The Romans considered this an auspicious day in their calendar. The word ides comes from Latin, meaning "half division" (of a month).
Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC, after declaring himself dictator of Rome for life.

©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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The Ides of March

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar,
"Beware the Ides of March,"
has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. But in Roman times the expression "Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a dark mood—it was simply the standard way of saying "March 15." Surely such a fanciful expression must signify something more than merely another day of the year? Not so. Even in Shakespeare's time, sixteen centuries later, audiences attending his play Julius Caesar wouldn't have blinked twice upon hearing the date called the Ides.

The term Ides comes from the earliest Roman calendar, which is said to have been devised by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Whether it was Romulus or not, the inventor of this calendar had a penchant for complexity. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:

Kalends (1st day of the month)
Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)

The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides.
For example, March 3 would be V Nones—5 days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; in other words, the Nones would be counted as one of the 5 days).
source : www.infoplease.com


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Calendar Systems of the World


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Worldwide use


Die Iden des März
Die Iden des März (von lateinisch Idus Martiae) sind eine in vielen Sprachen gebräuchliche Metapher für bevorstehendes Unheil, die auf die Ermordung Gaius Iulius Caesars am 15. März des Jahres 44 vor Christus Bezug nimmt.

Nach Plutarch warnte der Augur Titus Vestricius Spurinna Caesar am Tage vor dem Anschlag mit den Worten: „Cave Idus Martias“
(deutsch: „Hüte dich vor den Iden des März“).

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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

Ides of March ...
anyone remember
the history teacher?

Gabi Greve
Japan, March 15, 2009

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Ides of March---
a math teacher defines
the median of a sample

- Shared by Fred Masarani
Joys of Japan, March 2012


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Ides of March
a squirrel trapezes along
the high tension wire

Angelee Deodhar
India, March 2013



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Related words

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Sunflower (himawari)

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Sunflower (himawari)

***** Location: Japan, Europa
***** Season: Late Summer
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

sunflower, himawari 向日葵 (ひまわり)
"sun wheel", higuruma 日車（ひぐるま）
"sun wheel plant", nichirin soo 日輪草（にちりんそう）

Russian sun flower, roshia himawari ロシアひまわり
Indian Mallow, tenjiku aoi 天竺葵（てんじくあおい）
.... hyuuga aoi 日向葵（ひゅうがあおい）

canopy flower, tengai bana 天蓋花（てんがいばな）






The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas in the family Asteraceae, with a large flowering head (inflorescence). The stem of the flower can grow as high as 3 metres tall, with the flower head reaching up to 30 cm in diameter with the "large" seeds. The term "sunflower" is also used to refer to all plants of the genus Helianthus, many of which are perennial plants.
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Worldwide use

American Sonora

Sunflowers
Sonoran Saijiki


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Things found on the way

... Canopy (tengai) 天蓋 in a Buddhist Temple


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Sunflower - Flower of Flames




Sunflower, the Japanese can also read "Flames are covering everything", which is exactly what happened when Takagaki Mondo's home burned to the ground one chilling night in February.
He kept on working as a potter and one of his works is this object of Bizen earth and color, to be hung at the wall.
Now it is in the GokuRakuAn Gallery.

Takagaki Mondo at GokuRakuAn


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Himawari Daruma Doll


© PHOTO :　だるまさん色々



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HAIKU

sunflowers
drops of rain
and whispers

Rositza Pironska, Bulgaria, May 2008


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It's The Garden State.
I'd like to see sunflowers
dotting the Turnpike.

Read more haiku from New York
©　The Sunflower Project

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sonnenblume blickt
kraftlos zur erde, sehnt sich
nach wärme und licht

©　Ute Dewitz


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baking clay ...
the himawari doll
smiles

Heike Gewi, Yemen, 2008


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every day
she waits patiently -
lady in the shadow

Gabi Greve, August 2010
with PHOTO



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sunflowers --
black seedheads turned
to the earth

The sunflowers follow the sun faithfully from morning to night while growing, flowering and maturing. But in winter, when the seeds are ripe and the plant dies back, the heavy heads bend and turn towards the soil, where the seeds will spring to new life after the winter.

I hope that mentioning the black seedheads places the haiku in winter...

Isabelle Prondzynski
. Kigo Hotline



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Related words

***** Sunflower in Kenya
topic for haiku

cold grey morning -
the sunflower bowing
east

cold grey sunset -
the sunflower bowing
west

Partrick Wafula


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Robin, the Bird

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Robin

***** Location: Europe, America
***** Season: Various, see below.
***** Category: Animal

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Explanation


The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory songbird of the thrush family.
kigo for spring

quote
The American Robin is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
It was also depicted on the 1986 Birds of Canada series Canadian $2 note, but this note has since been withdrawn. Robin's egg blue is a color named after the bird's eggs.

The Tlingit people of Northwestern North America held it to be a culture-hero created by Raven to please the people with its song.

The Robin is considered a symbol of spring.
A well-known example is a poem by Emily Dickinson, "I Dreaded That First Robin So". Among other 19th-century poems about the first robin of spring is "The First Robin" by Dr. William H. Drummond, which according to the author's wife is based on a Quebec superstition that whoever sees the first robin of spring will have good luck.

American popular songs featuring this bird include "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along", written by Harry M. Woods and a hit for Al Jolson and others, and "Rockin' Robin", written by Roger Thomas and a hit for Bobby Day and others.

Although the comic-book superhero Robin was inspired by an N. C. Wyeth illustration of Robin Hood, a later version had his mother nicknaming him Robin because he was born on the first day of spring. His red shirt suggests the bird's red breast.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Robin redbreast
non-seasonal topic

Can be seen during all seasons, often in winter. It is also related to Christmas.



Look at a ROBIN Christmas Card.


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The Robin has a fluting, warbling song in the breeding season, when they often sing into the evening, and sometimes into the night, leading some to confuse them with the Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos). Nocturnal singing in urban Robins occurs in places that are noisy during the day, suggesting that they sing at night because it is quieter, and their message can propagate through the environment more clearly. Daytime noise outperformed night-time light pollution as a predictor of nocturnal singing activity in urban robins in Sheffield, England.

Culture
The robin was held to be a storm-cloud bird and sacred to Thor, the god of thunder, in Norse mythology. More recently, it has become strongly associated with Christmas, taking a starring role on many a Christmas card since the mid-19th century.[28] The Robin has also appeared on many Christmas postage stamps. An old English folk tale seeks to explain the Robin's distinctive red breast. Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the Robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the Robin's breast, and thereafter all Robins got the mark of Christ's blood upon them.

An alternate legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory. The association with Christmas, however, more probably arises from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red uniforms and were nicknamed "Robin"; the Robin featured on the Christmas card is an emblem of the postman delivering the card. Robins also feature in the traditional children's tale, Babes in the Wood; the birds cover the dead bodies of the children.

Britain does not have an official national bird. The Robin was the most popular bird according to readers of The Times in the early 1960s. Following this, despite some lobbying, the British government did not actively promote the concept of an official national bird. The Robin was used as a symbol of a Bird Protection Society for a few years only.

Two English professional football clubs, Bristol City and Swindon Town are nicknamed "The Robins"; the nickname is derived from both clubs' home colours being red. A small bird is an unusual choice, though is thought to symbolise agility in darting around the field.[31] In addition to the football club, the Swindon Robins is the full name of the local Speedway promotion. It is also the nickname of the English Rugby League team Hull Kingston Rovers. The nickname is derived from the club's home colours, of white with a red band, linking to the redbreast of the Robin.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Worldwide use

Japan



Japanese Robin
(Erithacus akahige, formerly Luscinia akahige)
kigo for summer

Japanese Robin, red breast, komadori 駒鳥 (こまどり)


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

Autumn sunshine -
a bird on a leafless twig,
in solitude...

D.V.Rozic


Tomislav Maretić, Croatia, 2007

Robin is a kigo for Spring, but here they are only singing birds in the Autumn.


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***** Birds of Summer Japan

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Spring Cleaning

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Spring Cleaning

***** Location: USA, Europa
***** Season: Spring
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

The most common usage of spring cleaning refers to the yearly act of cleaning a house from top to bottom which would take place in the first warm days of the year typically in spring, hence the name. However it has also come to be synonymous with any kind of heavy duty cleaning or organizing enterprise. A person who gets their affairs in order before an audit or inspection could be said to be doing some spring cleaning.

The origins of spring cleaning probably dates back to the Iranian Norouz, the Persian new year, which falls on the first day of spring. Iranians continue the practice of "khooneh takouni" which literally means "shaking the house" just before the new year. Everything in the house is thoroughly cleaned, from the drapes to the furniture.

Another possible origin of spring cleaning can be traced to the ancient Jewish practice of thoroughly cleansing the home in anticipation of the spring-time holiday of Passover (Hebrew: פסח pesach). In remembrance of the Jews' hasty flight from Egypt following their captivity there, during the eight-day holiday there is a strict prohibition against eating anything which may have been leavened.

Jews not are not only supposed to refrain from leavened foodstuffs (known in Hebrew as חמץ chametz), they are expressly commanded to rid their homes of even small remnants of chametz for the length of the holiday (Exodus 12:15). Therefore, observant Jews conduct a thorough cleaning of the house, followed by a traditional hunt for chametz crumbs by candlelight (called bedikat chametz [Hebrew: בדיקת חמץ]) on the evening before the holiday begins.
©　Wikipedia

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Worldwide use

Germany

Osterputz, cleaning the home before the Easter Holidays.


Osterputz ...
und im Kaukasus blüht
der Tee

　© Ramona Linke

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Japan


cleaning at the end of the year
kure no sooji, kure no oo sooji くれのそおじ


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kigo for the New Year

hakizome 掃初 (はきぞめ) first cleaning
... hatsubooki 初箒（はつぼうき）first (use of the) broom
... hatsusooji 初掃除（はつそうじ）
... fukihajime 拭始（ふきはじめ）beginning to clean
. Cleaning the home, broom and more 　　



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Things found on the way


. Jewish Holidays - Passover .


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HAIKU

after spring cleaning--
breathing space between
closet hangers

Carole Macrury, 2007

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spring cleaning -
dust swirls
in a sunbeam

Shanna Moore, Hawaii

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>spring cleaning --
>young woman laughs at her
>baby picture

>- Jim Mullins
More in the Shiki Archives

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spring cleaning-
the scent of lavender
on those letters

©　angelee / Ukku Spring Haiku 2006

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From WHCworkshop members 2007

spring cleaning
an old letter
makes her smile

Bill Kenney

... ... ...

spring cleaning ...
in the closet a large hole
where his clothes were

Ella Wagemakers

... ... ...

spring cleaning -
dog's fur
into dust bunnies

peter

... ... ...

our last spring cleaning -
so many boxes filled
for charity donations

Elizabeth Fanto

... ... ...

spring cleaning --
I throw away all tese books
I regret now

Tom Maretic

... ... ...

spring cleaning . . .
rearranging boxes of books
till next spring

Dina E. Cox

... ... ...

spring cleaning
making space
for his shoes

Paula Fisher

... ... ...

spring cleaning
over ~ i sing raag Bhairav
in twilight breeze

Narayanan Raghunathan, India

... ... ...

clearing the attic
do I know the people
in this faded photo . . .

Bill Kenney

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Related words

***** Spring (haru, Japan)

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