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Red Letter Day




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 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.


ROMAN USE

Pliny The Younger appears to have used the term "Red Letter Day" in one of his letters, c. AD 100. See the translation by Betty Radice.


HALF-LIFE 2

Isaac Kleiner announces a "Red Letter Day" to Gordon Freeman in the testing of his new teleporter


THE GET UP KIDS

The song "Red Letter Day" by The Get Up Kids appears in the E.P. '' Red Letter Day And Woodson '' and the full-length album, '' Something To Write Home About ''


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.


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