Abib is the Jewish first month of the ecclesiastical year, when the feast of the Passover is celebrated, and the seventh of the civil year, corresponding to the latter part of March and the first of April. It was later named Nisan. Research Abib
Ash Wednesday is the first day of lent, the seventhWednesday before Easter. Ash Wednesday is so named from the ancient custom in the Roman Catholic church of sprinkling ashes upon the heads of those condemned to do penance on this day. Research Ash Wednesday
British Boroughs originated as Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman towns from the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxon invaders who arrived in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries were farmers, not interested in repairing the roads or maintaining the Roman towns which fell into partial disuse. The Angle-Saxons at first regarded towns as 'the defences of slavery and the graves of freedom... the work of giants seen from afar'. However, when the Vikings from Scandinavia overran the east and north of the country in the ninth century, they turned to town life in the area which they conquered, the Danelaw. The commercial life of York, their headquarters from 876, was revived by Vikingenterprise, the Roman walls of Chester were rebuilt by a Viking chief, and the East Midlands came under the jurisdiction of the five newly-created Scandinavian boroughs of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Stamford and Lincoln.
The Angle-Saxons, under their kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder, not to be outdone, also created boroughs similar to those of the Scandinavian invaders, at places such as Northampton, Huntingdon, Bedford and Tamworth, and despite many setbacks, re-conquered all the territory which the Scandinavians had acquired. In 1066, the Normans in their turn came to Britain as conquering invaders, and also built new boroughs and enlarged old ones.
The Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman borough had varied functions. It was foremost a defended place or strong point surrounded by an earthen bank of oval or square shape, or by the patched-up wall of an older Roman town. In each new borough, the King settled a permanent garrison with ample reserves, sustained by landowners on whom was laid the obligation of defending the borough in time of need. In return for this, the borough and its burgesses were protected by the King's special peace. The borough was also a trading centre, with a market place and often a mint for coins. When King Edward the Elder ordained that all buying and selling should take place in a market town in the presence of a town-reeve, he ensured the concentration of trading in the growing boroughs. The borough was also an administrative centre. Indeed, many British modern counties came into being as the territories allocated by the King to the support of the defences and trading facilities of a borough, e.g. Nottinghamshire was the support for the county town of Nottingham, as its name shows. Research Boroughs
Buddhism is the religious system founded by Buddha, one of the most prominent doctrines of which is that Nirvana, or an absolute release from existence, is the chief good. According to it pain is inseparable from existence, and consequently pain can cease only through Nirvana; and in order to attain Nirvana our desires and passions must be suppressed, the most extreme self-renunciation practised, and we must, as far as possible, forget our own personality.
In order to attain Nirvana eight conditions must be kept or practised. The first is in Buddhistic language right view; the second is right judgment; the third is right language; the fourth is right purpose; the fifth is right profession; the sixth is right application; the seventh is right memory; the eighth is right meditation. The five fundamental precepts of the Buddhist moral code are: not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to give way to drunkenness. To these there are added five others of less importance, and binding more particularly on the religious class, such as to abstain from repasts taken out of season, from theatrical representations, etc. There are six fundamental virtues to be practised by all men alike, vizcharity, purity, patience, courage, contemplation, and knowledge. These are the virtues that are said to 'conduct a man to the other shore'. The devotee who strictly practises them has not yet attained Nirvana, but is on the road to it.
The Buddhist virtue of charity is universal in its application, extending to all creatures, and demanding sometimes the greatest self-denial and sacrifice. There is a legend that the Buddha in one of his stages of existence (for he had passed through innumerable transmigrations before becoming 'the enlightened') gave himself up to be devoured by a famishing lioness which was unable to suckle her young ones. There are other virtues, less important, indeed, than the six cardinal ones, but still binding on believers. Thus not only is lying forbidden, but evil-speaking, coarseness of language, and even vain and frivolous talk, must be avoided. Buddhist metaphysics are comprised in three theories - the theory of transmigration (borrowed from Brahmanism), the theory of the mutual connection of causes, and the theory of Nirvana. The first requires no explanation. According to the second, life is the result of twelve conditions, which are by turns causes and effects. Thus there would be no death were it not for birth; it is therefore the effect of which birth is the cause. Again, there would be no birth were there not a continuation of existence. Existence has for its cause our attachment to things, which again has its origin in desire; and so on through sensation, contact, the organs of sensation and the heart, name and form, ideas, etc, up to ignorance. This ignorance, however, is not ordinary ignorance, but the fundamental error which causes us to attribute permanence and reality to things. This, then, is the primary origin of existence and all its attendant evils.
Nirvana or extinction is eternal salvation from the evils of existence, and the end which every Buddhist is supposed to seek. Sakya-muni did not leave his doctrines in writing; he declared them orally, and they were carefully treasured up by his disciples, and written down after his death. The determination of the canon of the Buddhist scriptures as we now possess them was the work of three successive councils, and was finished two centuries at least before Christ. From Buddhism involving a protest against caste distinctions it was eagerly adopted by the Dasyus or non-Aryan inhabitants of Hindustan. It was pure, moral, and humane in its origin, but it came subsequently to be mixed up with idolatrous worship of its founder and other deities. Although now long banished from Hindustan by the persecutions of the Brahmans, Buddhism prevails in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Indonesia, and Japan, and its adherents are said to comprise about a third of the human race. Research Buddhism
It was once believed that 7 and 9, with their multiples, were critical points in life; and 63, produced by multiplying 7 and 9 together, was termed the grand climacteric, which few people succeeded in outliving.
Climacteric years are the seventh and ninth, with their multiples by the odd numbers 3, 5, 7 and 9 - that is 7, 9, 21, 27, 35, 45, 49, 63 and 81 - over which astrologers declare that the planet Saturn presides. Research Climacteric Years
February (named from the Roman Februa a festival of expiation or purification) is the second month of the year, having twenty-eight days, except in leap-year, when it has twenty-nine. This latter number of days it had originally among the Romans, until the senate decreed that the seventhmonth should bear the name of Augustus, when a day was taken from February and added to August to make it equal to July in number of days. Research February
The Nicene Council was the first council of Nicaea, the first general council of the Church, held in 325 A.D. to settle the Arian controversy. A second council of Nicaea, the seventh general council of the Church, was held in 787 A.D. to settle the question of images. Research Nicene Council
In the Roman calendar, the nones were the fifth day of each month, excepting March, May, July and October when the nones fell on the seventh day. Research Nones
Sunday is the seventh day of the week. Formerly, in Britain Sunday was considered the first day of the week, and some people still consider it so. In 321 a constitution of the Roman Emperor Constantine set Sunday aside as a day of rest in the towns, though the country population were allowed to work. In Britain, Edgar in 960 ordered the Sabbath to be kept holy from 3 pm on Saturday until daybreak on the following Monday and in 1677 Britain passed the Sunday Observance Act which while almost obsolete, had still not been repealed in 1920. In Wales, an act of 1881 forced the closure of all public houses on Sunday, except for railway station bars.
In 1606 Britain made it an offence, punishable by a fine, to be absent from divine worship on a Sunday, though exceptions were made for those infirm, elderly, young, insane and sick. In 1677 an Act of Charles II forbade all work on Sunday except what was necessary or had a charitable object, and the sale of goods on a Sunday was banned except the supply of meat and milk at public houses. This act remained intact until 1871 when Jews were freed from observing Sunday as a day of rest. Research Sunday
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Abib
