Daily Calendar for Friday, March 14, 2025

Ember Days

Ember Days happen four times a year at the start of each season. Traditionally observed by some Christian denominations, each set of Ember Days is three days, kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Ember Days for 2023
September: 20, 22, 23
December: 20, 22, 23

Ember Days for 2024
February 21, 23, 24
May 22, 24, 25
September 18, 20, 21
December 18, 20, 21

These three days are set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer. The first of these four times comes in winter, after the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13; the second set comes with the First Sunday in Lent; the third set comes after Whitsunday/Pentecost Sunday; the four and last set comes after the Feast of the Holy Cross. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:

“Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”

Which means:

“Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, are when the quarter holidays follow.”

In Latin, Ember Days are known as the quattuor anni tempora (the “four seasons of the year”). Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months.

As with much folklore, this is grounded in some common sense since the beginning of the four seasons cue the changes in weather as well as a shift in how we keep harmony with the Earth and respect our stewardship of the Earth, our “garden of Eden.”“

Full Worm Moon

March’s full Moon goes by the name Worm Moon, which was originally thought to refer to the earthworms that appear as the soil warms in spring. This invites robins and other birds to feed—a true sign of spring! An alternative explanation for this name comes from Captain Jonathan Carver, an 18th-century explorer, who wrote that this Moon name refers to a different sort of “worm”—beetle larvae—which begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts at this time.

Born

Johann Strauss, the Elder (composer) – 1804
Lucy Hobbs Taylor (first U.S. woman dentist) – 1833
John Luther "Casey" Jones (railroad engineer) – 1864
Albert Einstein (physicist) – 1879
Lester Brown (bandleader) – 1912
Max Shulman (novelist) – 1919
Hank Ketcham (cartoonist, creator of Dennis the Menace) – 1920
Frank Borman (astronaut) – 1928
Michael Caine (actor) – 1933
Quincy Jones ( musician and producer) – 1933
Billy Crystal (actor) – 1948
Kirby Puckett (baseball player) – 1961
Steph Curry (basketball player) – 1988
Simone Biles (Olympic gymnast) – 1997

Died

Emile Erckmann (novelist) – 1899
Henry Woods (federal judge) – 2002
Thomas Winship (editor of the Boston Globe from 1965-1984, Pulitzer Prize winner) – 2002
Peter Graves (actor) – 2010
Stephen Hawking (physicist) – 2018

Events

Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin– 1794
U.S. Congress adopted the gold standard– 1900
Pelican Island (Fla.) became first National Wildlife Refuge in the United States – 1903
Women granted the right to vote in Saskatchewan– 1916
Germany began retreat to Hindenburg Line (WWI)– 1917
First U.S. concrete seagoing ship, S.S. Faith, launched, Redwood City, California– 1918
U.S. President Warren G. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report– 1923
Shirley Temple left her footprints and handprints in the wet cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood– 1935
The U.S. Army Air Corp began bombing Osaka, Japan (WWII)– 1945
Possible UFO sighted in Healdsburg, California– 1958
Gordie Howe second player in NHL history to score 500 career goals– 1962
Jack Ruby was found guilty in Dallas of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy– 1964
Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, aired its last episode– 1968
OPEC agreed to lower the benchmark price for crude oil by 15%. It marked the first price cut since the group’s formation in 1960– 1983
Marc Garneau chosen as first Canadian astronaut to go into space– 1984
Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge founded in Manteo, North Carolina– 1984
Lebanese hijacker, Fawaz Younis, brought to U.S. to stand trial, found guilty of air piracy in 1985 hijacking– 1989
The Soviet Congress elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the country’s presidency, one day after clearing the post– 1990
Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love, Tom Waits, Jac Holzman, Art Rupe, and Leon Russell were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame– 2011

Weather

Red snow and hail fell in parts of Italy and present-day Slovenia– 1813
A tornado swept through Nashville, Tennessee– 1933
At the end of a four-day storm, a record for the state of Iowa was set in Iowa City, 27.2 inches of snowfall– 1951