Red letter day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day) is any day of special significance.
The term originates from Medieval church calendars. Illuminated manuscripts often marked initial capitals and highlighted words in red ink, known as rubrics. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed the saint's days, feasts and other holy days, which came to be printed on church calendars in red. The term came into wider usage with the appearance in 1549 of the first Book of Common Prayer in which the calendar showed special holy days in red ink.
Many current calendars have special dates and holidays such as Sundays, Christmas Day and Midsummer Day rendered in red colour instead of black.
On red letter days, judges of the English High Court (Queen's Bench Division) wear, at sittings of the Court of Law, their scarlet robes (See court dress). Also in the United Kingdom, other civil dates have been added to the original religious dates. These include anniversaries of the Monarch's birthday, official birthday, accession and coronation.
The term "red letter day" is colloquially used to indicate any date of personal significance.
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[edit] Roman Use
Pliny the Younger appears to have used the term "Red Letter Day" in one of his letters, c. 100 BC. See the translation by Betty Radice.
[edit] Alternative
Red letter day was a 19th century naval term used to distinguish between gunpowder charges used for gunnery practice stored in boxes marked with black letters and the more powerful charges used for engagement, marked with red letters.[verification needed]
[edit] Trivia
- In Aladdin's "A Whole New World" the Princess says, "every moment red-letter" not "every moment gets better".
- In Bruce Almighty, when the dog finds a body in the park Bruce says "I call that a red-letter day for any canine unit."
- 'Red Letter Day' is the name of one of the chapters in the video game Half-Life 2, wherein Gordon Freeman's teleportation goes awry, causing the Combine to notice his return and subsequently igniting the series of events that occur in the rest of the game.
- 'Another red letter day' is the first verse in Queen's "Friends Will Be Friends" from their 12th album A Kind of Magic released in 1986.
- 'Red Letter Day' is a track from the album 'Brassbound' by The Ordinary Boys.
- 'Red Letter Day' is a track from the album 'Bilingual' by the Pet Shop Boys
- 'Red Letter Day' is a track from the album 'In Recovery' by Inspection 12.
- 'Red Letter Day' is the name of an EP named for its title track, which also appears on the full legnth Something To Write Home About by The Get Up Kids.
- 'Red Letter Days' is the name of a UK based company that pioneered the concept of giving experiences as unforgettable gifts.
- 'Red Letter Day' is also mentioned in the 2006 Eskimo Joe song Black Fingernails, Red Wine from the album of the same name.
- 'Red Letter Days' is also the name of an album (2002) by The Wallflowers.
- 'Red Letter Day' is also a track from the album 'Sheltering Tree' by Newsong.
- November 5th 1955 was mentioned as a 'Red Letter Day' in the movie Back to the Future as the day that Doctor Emmett Brown bumped his head whilst hanging a clock and awoke with the vision of the Flux Capacitor "which makes time travel possible"
- 'Red Letter Day' is mentioned by Prince John in the 1973 Disney movie "Robin Hood" whilst explaining a trap set at the Championship Archery Tournament to catch Robin Hood by offering a kiss from Maid Marian.
- 'Red Letter Day' is the name of a band from South Florida in the late 1990s
- 'Red Letter Day' is the name of a band from Reading, PA / San Francisco, CA in the early to mid-1990s (as well the title of their 1996 CD).
- The band Buffalo Tom released an album entitled Big 'Red Letter Day' in 1993
