Conference thebay::joyoflex

    I seem to remember that ecclesiastical calendars indicate the major holy
    days in red numerals. Could this be it?
    
    Bill

    I always thought it was because calendars highlighted "red letter days"
    with, well, red letters and numbers. 

    Another phrase from a similar medieval use of red in chapter
    headings and as the titles of lists is "under the rubric of...,"
    where the rubric is the heading, written in red ink.
    
    			-John Bishop

.0�< Note 619.0 by SALEM::ALIZIO >
.0�                              -< Red Letter Day? >-
.0�
.0�    I would have put this in the TRIVIA notesfile but it's not available
.0�    right now.

    I think it has been deleted.

    In French we don't have any red letter days, but sometime we
    have a day to be marked with a white stone; un jour � marquer 
    d'une pierre blanche. I don't know the origin.
    
     roger

    re: .5  'pierre blanche'
    
    Could it have come from the Napoleonic practice of using white rocks
    as distance markers on roads. 
    
    Large white rocks might have been used to indicate major
    points/locations etc.
    
    Roger

    
    I considered the fact that certain calendars do designate Sundays
    and holidays in red numerals. But then I wondered what the logic
    was for using red. It seems plausible that "red letter day" could
    in fact be an extension of the thought that special days are noted
    in red, and just changed by popular usage to mean any day on which
    something good happens. If that's true, then we have to wonder where
    the custom of using red numerals started. One of the previous replies
    covered one scenario. Are there others?
    
    It's always interesting to find out the origins of everyday phrases
    and words.
    
                                                        Paul
    

    
    
    Here's a theory;
    
       The idea of using a different color for certian days was to point
    out that they wern't in fact *work* days but instead, days of leasure
    like holidays, & Weekends. The idea of using RED was to make these
    days outstanding enough to be noticed. Any color probably would
    have worked, but RED being bright,lively,& loud made it easy to spot
    them on the calendar along with the other days in black. Also if
    you stop and think, the 3 major colors, when we think of colors
    are RED BLUE & BLACK.  Therefore, red being bright was usually used
    with black or blue to enphasize something of importance such as
    a title of something, title of "Picture Playing" at theater, holidays
    & weekends on the calendar, road signs, and probably many others.
    
                                          Chuck
    
    
    
    
    
    

    It's true of calendars, but originated in priests' missals: the
    unchanging bit of the Mass (the Proper or Canon) wasn't repeated,
    but a missal had an entry for the different prayers and readings
    to be pronounced at the Mass for each day.  Ordinary days were
    just marked `feria' in black. A word derived from feria comes
    into the Portuguese names for the (working) days of the week:
    segunda feira (Mon), ter�a feira (Tues), quarta feira (Wed),
    quinta feira (Thurs and sexta feira (Fri); colloquially, these
    are usually abbreviated to just ordinal part - so Monday's just
    `segunda' [second] and so on.
    
    Back to missals.  Sundays and holy days were marked in red.  I guess
    calendars followed suit.
    
    I expect the printer of the first missal (whenever _that_ was) just
    used whatever colour of ink was available and stood out.  Another
    possibility is that they chose red because that colour already
    had rich and holy associations - for example, cardinal's robes;
    the Irish term for a Roman Catholic used to be (still is, for all I
    know) `red socks'. And I believe gold was used in tinting glass red
    (it was in Murano in 1961, and Murano's not too far from Rome); so
    red glass implied richness.
    
    On the whole, though, I'm more inclined to think that the printer
    chose red just because red was available and clearly different from
    black. Or maybe he was working to an advance copy of DEC std 073.
    
    b

    Of course, there is a fairly obvious explanation for the use of
    red .... to denote the Holy Blood.  (At least I think it's fairly
    obvoius!)
    
    Stuart

    In the liturgical calendar there are different colors for the
    different seasons of the church year. These are the colors used
    for the altar cloth and other church 'furnishings' such as the
    Priest's robes. Lent and Advent (as times of preparation, fasting 
    and mourning) are purple. High Holy Days like Christmas and Easter 
    are white, and Good Friday is Black. There are also Sundays where
    the hangings are green and others are red. I am pretty sure that
    the red season is the fairly long time period from Easter to
    Advent.
    
    These are the colors that are used on church calendars. It seems
    reasonable that this could be the origin of 'red letter day'.
    
    Bonnie

    I'm still missing something.  Why is it a red LETTER day?
    Aren't days indicated by numbers?
    
    I pity the poor person learning the idioms of English --
    there is seemingly little difference between a "red letter"
    and a "scarlet letter"!

    Re .12 (Bob):
    
    >there is seemingly little difference between a "red letter"
    >and a "scarlet letter"!
     
    One is on a page; t'other, on a forehead.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Re .13 (Steve)
    
>   >there is seemingly little difference between a "red letter"
>   >and a "scarlet letter"!
     
>   One is on a page; t'other, on a forehead.
    
    
    We don't often catch you in obvious errors, Steve. We are talking
    about Hawthorne's novel, right? ... in which the scarlet letter was 
    stitched to the adulteress' _clothing_.
    
    Maybe you were thinking of the mark of Cain?
    
    Jim

    Re: .14
    
    Right.  Steve is right so often that I didn't dare mention that
    discrepancy without looking it up first. That in spite of watching
    the PBS version of the "Scarlet Letter" where the letter was
    sewn on the front of the dress. Maybe PBS had taken liberties
    with Hawthorne.

    �I'm still missing something.  Why is it a red LETTER day?
    �Aren't days indicated by numbers?
    
    Think `missal', not `calendar': f-e-r-i-a are letters.
    
    What confuses me is that the latin `feria' means something like feast
    (it's where our `fair' comes from), not working day.  I suppose the 
    feast in question is the bread and wine.
    
    b

    Re .14 (Jim):
    
    Actually, I was thinking of a short story, "The Hexer," that appeared
    in _Unknown Worlds_ magazine where the letter did appear on a forehead
    (but only to the guilty party).  The problem with clothing, in that
    respect, is that it can be taken off (especially in one is committing
    adultery).  
    
    That was _too_ obscure, alas.
    
    My apologies.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Ok, I'm going to change the direction of this discussion. ( Notice
    the subtle lead-in )  I took a little survey around the office and
    most people thought that "red letter day" refers to a good day.
    There also was a feeling that it could just refer to an eventful
    day.  That is what I always thought it meant.  Just an eventful
    day.  The reason I think that is because some time in the past I
    thought I heard that "red letter day" came from red marks or circles
    that women sometimes put on their calendars to keep track of their
    monthly biological duty.  
    
    I don't necessarily believe that this is the truth nor do I know
    any women who keeps track of such things with their Far Side, Garfield
    or Ziggy calendar.  However it is a diversion from the church calendar
    theory.  ( Can't get away from having a calendar in the theory though )
    
       
    -Paul 

    in re .18
    
    I kinda doubt that women circling the day that they have their
    period on a calendar would become a synonym for a special event
    (even if they were glad they weren't pregnant, in pre bc days!)
    
    :-)

    Re .19 (Bonnie)
    
    >(even if they were glad they weren't pregnant, in pre bc days!)
    
    Well, there's A.D. and B.C.  Pre B.C. days must be what was going
    on before the time that Hawking was writing about in his book ...
    :-)
    
    Re subject (a spoilsport, what?):
    
    Whatever its origins, my calendar at home has special days (holidays,
    religious observances, etc.) marked off in red.  Not the numbers,
    but the day (e.g., "Halloween") written out in small red letters.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

  re .16

>        What confuses me is that the latin `feria' means something like feast
>    (it's where our `fair' comes from), not working day.  I suppose the 
>    feast in question is the bread and wine.
    

    Indeed, the ancient Romans had a rest day called "feries" (sometimes
    "feriae") which was every 9th day; and it was a good time for eating 
    and drinking.

    A number of words derive from feries, in addition to English Fair
    that you've mentioned; German Ferien, French F�ri� and
    Foire, Spanish Feria etc ... They all contain the idea of rest,
    holiday etc ...
    
    But then a word that means rest may well get to mean work at a 
    time or another.
    In fact there's a word to designate this particular kind of evolution, 
    where a root gets to mean the opposite of its old sense - but
    I can't remember it right now.
    
     roger

    �In fact there's a word to designate this particular kind of evolution, 
    �where a root gets to mean the opposite of its old sense - but
    �I can't remember it right now.
    
    Nor can I. I was thinking of mentioning this sort of semantic
    somersault, and citing the derivation of `trivial' (from
    `tres viae' - the three ways being grammar, logic and rhetoric)
    but I didn't think anyone would believe me.
    
    b

    I thought 'red-letter day' derived from the practice of printing final
    demands for electricity bills and the like in red. Somewhat more
    mundane than litugical practice...
    
    
    Rod 

Re .0,.4

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