Ante Diem IV Kalendas November

Modern Date : October 29th

Ante Diem IV Kalendas November
Fourth Day to the Kalends of November

This is one of the dies comitiales when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

This day continues the Isia, the Festival of Isis. Isis was widely worshipped in the Roman empire. Isis was the Egyptian mother goddess. Although a foreign deity, Isis was honored with a temple at Rome. Professional singers, musicians, and dancers, mostly female, would perform at the temple during this festival. The performance involved actors playing the parts of Isis and Nephthys in the mystery plays celebrating the death and resurrection of Osiris. These were perhaps the oldest mystery plays on earth, predating even those of Mesopotamia.

October was the eighth month of the old Roman calendar and was sacred to the goddess Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis. The name October comes from Octo, meaning eight (March used to be the first month)


Laylat al-Qadr
In the Islamic calendar, this day is Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, commemorating the first revelation of the Qur'an to the prophet Mohamed by the Archangel Gabriel and also especially honoring Khadija, wife of the prophet and transcriber of the Qur'an.

Old copies of the holy book are restored, and beautiful new copies are made ready, in time for this day. Special readings of the sacred text, in addition to the readings regularly done at worship, are held at mosques, at other public places, everywhere. This feast begins a holy festival week culminating in the last day of Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan.


St Ida of Leeuw
This fourteenth century Cistercian nun had a passion for copying and correcting liturgical books which makes her seem a great candidate for to be the patron saint of proofreaders.


Uinal of Rebirth
In the Mayan calendar this day begins the Uinal of Rebirth, the eleventh of the 20-day Uinals in the current cycle of the Tzolkin, or 260-day calendar (6 Imix, Tzolkin 201). The symbolic bird for this uinal is the Scarlet Macaw, the energy principle that of flowering.