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A red letter day (sometimes Hyphen ated as '''red-letter day''') is any day of special significance.

The term originates from Medieval church Calendar s. Illuminated Manuscript s often marked initial capitals and highlighted words in red ink, known as Rubric s. The First Council Of Nicaea in AD 325 decreed the Saint's Days , feasts and other holy days, which came to be printed on Church Calendar s 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 Holiday s 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 Robe s (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.


TRIVIA

  • Red Letter Day is the name of one of the chapters in the game " Half-Life 2 ", wherein Gordon Freeman's teleportation goes awry, causing the combine to notice his return to earth.

  • 'Another red letter day' is the first verse in Queen 's 'Friends will be Friends' from their 13th album 'A Kind of Magic' released in 1986.



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