Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A happy birthday and a bit of synchronicity

Today is my birthday. But that is not actually what I want to tell you. No. I really want to tell you about this lovely bit of synchronicity that happened a few weeks ago.
On the 12th of April, the Cape Times crossword puzzle had this clue:
10 Ac: Part of the rosary, we hear, for the ancient monk.
L'Usband, who is a boff at cryptic clues, immediately shouted: "Bede! Bede!"
Now, I collect rosaries, I have them from all over the world: USA, France, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Scotland (but not England - dang, I forgot to get one when I was there!), France, Czech Republic, Argentina, and of course, South Africa. So I do know that rosaries are made from beads, but not being English and not being religious and furthermore, being a total illiterate when it concerns history, I had never heard of Bede. L'Usband had to inform me that the chappie was an ancient monk and was actually known as the Venerable Bede.
Wow.
Two days later, on the 14th, to be exact,  I was working on a proofreading project, and looked up BC and AD in Wikipedia to confirm that this dating system does not have a year zero (proofreaders learn all kinds of interesting things, it is about the only perk of the job) and who do I find? Yep, old Bede again:
"The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, finished in 731. "
But that is not all! The very next day I am in the Kalkbay Bookshop, and I look at their Sale table, where they have a book with a rather striking typeface on the cover - The Dangerous Book for Boys Yearbook. Not the kind of book I would normally pick up, but the cover attracted my attention. I immediately paged to my birthday (as I always do in these types of book). Jeez, what can I tell you? There it was, in big bold letters with a picture and all:
25th of May - the Feast Day of the Venerable Bede ...
















Happy Feast Day, Mr Bede!

11 comments:

Denise Kiggan said...

Happy Birthday to both of you!
How cool that you know a lovely word like synchronicity and used it in such a sweet true life story!
Have a happy, happy day!

Sarah said...

I love things like this! Happy birthday to you and the Venerable Bede!(Is a feast day the same as a birthday? It sounds as if it has the same kind of outcome anyway)

hanna-happenings said...

So this Bede sure wants to tell You something!
How great! I love when synchronization happens like this! Good for You to capture it, and thanks for charing.
Happy Birthday!

nathalie et cetera said...

wooooohhhh! spooky! :)
happy birthday to you both!

Leenie said...

Well, well! I learned a lot in a very short time. Synchronicity is not a word I use every day but it certainly applied to your odd chain of events. Sometimes I think we see such things because we are super aware of something specific. But that was more than unusual.

Hope you celebrate your feast day well and set a place for the Venerable Bede. (gonna have to check out the produciation--I KNOW it shouldn't sound like bidett. ;D

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday! I am Catholic and although I am not a church goer (due to my distrust of and disillusionment with the clerics) I say the rosary daily. Your blog about St. Bede is awesome. You might want to investigate further if indeed during his time there were 6 mysteries. I was told that there used to be 6 but some pope changed it to 5 mysteries. I wonder if this is a fact.

Linda Sue said...

LOVE it when this sort of thing happens- your happening is really wonderful! I think that you should have a Bede cake and some Bede pudding, Bede wine . Happy birthday to you! some people would call this WORD from upstairs and maybe start a cult , you, of course, being the chosen one...Let me be the first to fall at your Bede toes and kiss the hem of thine garment.( new religion/cult there's money to be made!)...think about it.Wouldn't involve much, just make up a story and start collecting cash...
I hope your day is well spent, have a happy happy celebration! LOVE!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday - I hope you have had a wonderful day!! I agree with Linda Sue, this could be the start of a whole new religion/cult. Snous could be your oracle and you can interpret her snufflings - I think her first pronouncement might involve the consumption of cake no longer being sinful!!

aimee said...

what a cool object to collect! i'd say that's reason enough to plan trips around the world!

Jesse said...

Belated Happy Birthday! That's a lovely story!

Kat said...

Ditto the belated wishes above!