15 Dec 2020 – RANDOM Times •

15# Mumming: another unusual Christmas tradition

15 Dec 202016 Dec 2020 Leo S

Just as Wassailing, Mumming is an ancient pagan custom too, and basically an excuse for people to have a party at Christmas. It means literally “making diversion in disguise” and the tradition was that men and women would swap clothes, put on masks and go visiting their neighbors, singing, dancing or putting on a play with a silly plot. Not by chance, the leader or narrator of the mummers was dressed as Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, if you prefer. The custom of Mumming might go back to Roman times,…

Viareggio: a statue for Ettore, the cat friend of fishermen

15 Dec 202010 Dec 2020 Danilo G.

Ettore was abandoned in a cardboard box along the pier in Viareggio, Italy. It was 1997, and from that moment on this special cat has no longer had a home or a human owner, but countless different homes and friends. Especially the local fishermen, who went back and forth every day along the pier, becoming his family. The leftovers of the fish constituted the dinner of little Ettore, who patiently awaited his daily ration every day. It was a cat that entered the hearts not only of fishermen, who saw…

#TodayInHistory – December 15

15 Dec 202010 Dec 2020 randomcollabs

December 15 – Some important events on this day. 533 👉🏼 Byzantine General Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron 1256 👉🏼 Hulagu Khan captures and destroys Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut, in present-day Iran, part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia 1488 👉🏼 Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming 1st known European to sail round the Cape of Good Hope 1582 👉🏼 Spanish Netherlands, Denmark and Norway adopt the Gregorian calendar 1593 👉🏼 State of Holland grants patent on windmill with a…