Tuesday, the 3rd of February, 2015 is the 34th day in 2015 and in the 6th calendar week.
General Events:
Setsubun 2015
February 3, 2015 in Japan
Setsubun is celebrated on February 03, 2015. Setsubun, also called Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony, is the day before the beginning of Spring in Japan. The name literally means “seasonal division”, but usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival. In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year’s Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come.
Where is Setsubun?
Nationwide Japan
Four Chaplains Day
February 3, 2015 in the USA
Feb. 3 is “Four Chaplains Day” in America by unanimous act of Congress in 1988. Unfortunately, it is generally not taught to the children in the schools, observed by governmental bodies, nor reported on by media. Consequently, the truly inspiring story of the Four Chaplains, who they are and why there is a day honoring them is unknown by most Americans.
The Four Chaplains – Rev. George Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alexander Goode, Father John P. Washington (Roman Catholic) and Rev. Clark V. Poling (Dutch Reformed).
It was on Feb. 3, 1943, that the troop ship Dorchester, with 900 soldiers and the Four Chaplains aboard, was torpedoed in the dead of night on its way to Greenland. The explosion ripped through the Dorchester from below the water line. Many troops drowned below decks as the Dorchester flooded and swiftly began to sink in the frigid sea.
The Four Chaplains acted to calm and aid the troops, in part by distributing life jackets to those who became separated from their own in the chaos and darkness created by the torpedo blast. When there were no more life jackets, each of the Four Chaplains, knowing that it meant certain death, took off his life jacket and put it on a soldier without one. They continued to help troops into lifeboats, until no room was left.
Then, as surviving soldiers who witnessed it later testified, the Four Chaplains went to their deaths together, their arms linked, praying for the troops and singing hymns, until the Dorchester sank and they disappeared beneath the sea, selflessly sacrificing their lives “so others may live.”
Where is Four Chaplains Day?
Nationwide USA
The Day the Music Died Day
February 3, 2015 in the USA
The Day the Music Died Day commemorates the untimely death of singers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. These three Rock singers died in an airplane crash on February 3, 1959. at the height of their popularity.
Every generation has their music idols. These three were among the top of the 1950’s generation. Those who grew up in the fifties mourned the premature deaths of their music idols. Memorials and remembrances occurred for years. Today, there are many websites memorializing their deaths, and detailing the events before and after the tragedy.
Where is the event?
Nationwide USA
Cordova Ice Worm Day
February 3, 2015 in Cordova, Alaska
In 1898 a young man named E.J. “Stroller” White was struggling to make it as a journalist in Dawson, Alaska. He got a job with the Klondike Nugget on the condition that he increase sales. Luck was with him, because a huge storm soon hit the area, and in the wake of the storm White excitedly announced that a new creature had been discovered: ice worms.
The ice worms that White described were quite bizarre. Being cold-loving creatures, the extreme chill of the recent storm had apparently caused them to crawl out of their holes in a nearby glacier in order to “bask in the unusual frigidity in such numbers that their chirping was seriously interfering with the slumbers of Dawson’s inhabitants.”
The worms soon became the talk of the town and sales of the Klondike Nugget soared as White continued to write about them. People went out on expeditions to find them, carefully listening for their characteristic chirping. And bartenders in town began serving a drink called ‘Ice Worm Cocktails.’
As the years passed and the ice worms retreated back into their home inside the glacier, the tiny creatures became something of a legend, often depicted on local postcards.
Every year the town of Cordova, Alaska celebrates the ice worm with a winter carnival that is held during the last week of January or the first week of February. The festival includes art show, a parade, dance, a survival suit race, and an election of an Iceworm queen and king.
Where is the event?
Nationwide Cordova, Alaska
Natural Events:
February Full Moon
February 3, 2015 in Eastcoast (North America)
On February 03, 2015 the moon reaches its maximum brightness. Therefore it is called full moon. Full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun. As seen from Earth, the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing the earth is almost fully illuminated by the Sun and appears round. Only during a full moon is the opposite hemisphere of the Moon, which is not visible from Earth, completely unilluminated.
The time interval between similar lunar phases is on average about 29.53 days. Therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month begins on the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th of the lunar month. Because lunar months have a whole number of days, lunar months may be either 29 or 30 days long.
Full Moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity and various “magical phenomena” such as lycanthropy. Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a full moon. They find that studies are generally not consistent, with some showing a positive effect and others showing a negative effect. In one instance, the British Medical Journal published two studies on dog bite admission to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common during a full moon, whereas the study conducted by the public hospitals in Australia found that they were less likely. Full moons trigger deer movement in North America. Hunters and fisherman rely heavily on moonphases.
Where is February Full Moon?
EST Eastern Standard Time / UTC-05
Eastcoast (North America)
Historical Events on 3rd February:
1377 – Mass execution of population (between 2,500 and 5,000) of Cesena, Italy, by Breton troops of Giovanni Acuto under the command of Robert, Cardinal of Geneva, acting as the legate of Pope Gregory XI
1509 – The Battle of Diu, between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire takes place in Diu, India.
1743 – Philadelphia establishes a “pesthouse” to quarantine immigrants
1752 – Dutch States-General forbids export of windmills
1815 – World’s first commercial cheese factory established, in Switzerland
1867 – Prince Mutsuhito, 14, becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan (1867-1912)
1882 – Circus owner PT Barnum buys his world famous elephant Jumbo
1916 – Canada’s original Parliament buildings in Ottawa burn down
1919 – The Bolshevik army is defeated in a series of clashes with the White Russians, who are fighting to reclaims the government after the 1917 revolution
1928 – Paleoanthropologist Davidson Black reports his findings on the ancient human fossils found at Zhoukoudian, China in the journal Nature and declares them to be a new species he names ‘Sinanthropus pekinensis’ (now known as ‘Homo erectus’)
1959 – “The Day the Music Died” plane crash kills musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J. P. Richardson and pilot near Clear Lake Iowa.
1962 – President Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba except for food & drugs
1986 – US President Ronald Reagan announces formation of commission of enquiry on Challenger Accident
1989 – Military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay
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