Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Take today with just a grain of salt: August 29 is More Herbs, Less Salt Day

According to a number of the Usual Suspects, today is More Herbs, Less Salt Day.

Holiday Insights suggests that today was chosen for this observance because, in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, the harvest of garden herbs may be at its peak.

We stress, therefore, that "herb" is here used in the sense of a food additive and not in any other, er, colloquial sense.

There's some support for today being Chop Suey Day, and that could be entertaining: One hour after you celebrate, you may feel like celebrating all over again.

As mentioned here previously, today is also the observance of the Beheading of John the Baptist. John had only one head to lose but, according to Wikipedia, that head has been found in many places:
  • Muslim tradition maintains that the head of John the Baptist was interred in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. Pope John Paul II visited the tomb of John the Baptist at the Umayyad Mosque during his visit to Syria in April, 2001.
  • In medieval times it was rumored that the Knights Templar had possession of the head, and multiple records from their Inquisition in the early 14th century make reference to some form of head veneration.
  • Some Christians believe that the head on display in San Silvestro in Capite in Rome is that of John the Baptist.
  • Amiens Cathedral claims the head as a relic brought from Constantinople by Wallon de Sarton as he was returning from the Fourth Crusade.
  • Some believe that it is buried in Turkish Antioch, or southern France.
  • It is believed that a piece of his skull is held at the Romanian skete Prodromos on Mount Athos.
  • A reliquary at The Residenz in Munich, Germany is labeled as containing the skull of John the Baptist.

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