Thursday, May 10

Being born on a memorable date

My grandson Benjamin has a birthday that’s really easy to remember—Cinco de Mayo, which means the Fifth of May. It’s a Mexican holiday, mostly celebrated in the United States and in the Mexican state of Puebla. It commemorates the Mexican defeat of the vastly superior French army in 1862 (see this Wikipedia entry of the event).

My own birthday, January 25, is one of those dates on which nothing happened that most folks relate to. And that’s kind of hard for me to live with. It’s usually a couple of weeks or even longer after the date that friends write apologetically to say that they missed saying Happy Birthday. Or they simply don’t write at all, which is even worse.

So in my defense I have compiled a short list of memorable events that occurred on January 25. I hope my acquaintances can associate them with my own personal memorable date. 

January 25 in history:
Sunlight’s warmth initiates life on earth.
Wheel is invented, revolutionizes travel.
Beyond that, nothing much. Thanks for listening.

3 comments:

Susan Hurley-Luke said...

Does it help that Jan 26th is the day before Australia Day?

Daffy said...

Jan 25 is AWASH with famouse-ness!:
I particularly like Claudius wangling his way to Emperor


41 - After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
844 - Gregory IV begins & ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1139 - Godfried II the Young becomes duke of Brabant
1327 - King Edward III accedes to British throne
1348 - Earthquake destroys Villach, killing 5,000
1494 - Alfonso II replaces his father as king of Naples
1533 - England's King Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn (approximate date)
1554 - Sir Thomas Wyatt gathers an army in Kent, rebels against Queen Mary
1554 - Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
1565 - Battle at Talikota India: Moslems destroy Vijayanagar's army
1573 - Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda

Tom Hurley said...

Susan: Thanks. Actually Australia Day is on my birthday in the United States (January 26 starts in Australia while the US is still in the 25th).

Daffy: All those memorable events occurred outside the US. While evidence shows that the wheel was invented near where we live, in Raymond.