Red letter day
Any day of special significance or opportunity From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Any day of special significance or opportunity From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day) is any day of special significance or opportunity. Its roots are in classical antiquity; for instance, important days are indicated in red in a calendar dating from the Roman Republic (509–27 BC).[1]
In medieval manuscripts, initial capitals and highlighted words (known as rubrics) were written in red ink. The practice was continued after the invention of the printing press, including in Catholic liturgical books. Many calendars still indicate special dates, festivals and holidays in red instead of black.
In the universities of the UK, scarlet days are when doctors may wear their scarlet 'festal' or full dress gowns instead of their undress ('black') gown.
In Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and some Latin American countries, a public holiday is sometimes referred to as "red day" (rød dag, röd dag, 빨간 날, 紅日, tanggal merah), as it is printed in red in calendars.[2]
On red letter days, judges of the English High Court (King's Bench Division) wear, at sittings of the Court of Law, their scarlet robes (see court dress).[3] Red letter days for these purposes are a fixed selection of saints' days (sometimes coinciding with the traditional start or end dates of the legal terms during which sittings of the High Court take place) and of national celebrations, mostly associated with senior members of the British royal family (and, therefore, changing from generation to generation).
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Update needed on what will change or changed after Elizabeth II's death. (September 2022) |
The list of red letter days currently observed in the United Kingdom (and on which, if a weekday, judges of the English High Court (King's Bench Division) traditionally wear, at sittings of the Court of Law, their scarlet robes)[4] is as follows:[5]
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
Days which will never fall within the legal term are not red letter days (examples being Christmas Day and Easter Day).
A comparison can be drawn with the Red Letter Days listed 100 years ago in Dress and Insignia Worn at His Majesty's Court (1921), which are on the same principle (a fixed selection of saints’ days, plus days honouring senior members of the Royal Family), except that the modern list adds the national saints of Wales and Scotland (St David and St Andrew, not listed in 1921) although not the national saint of England (St George). The 1921 listing, in full, is:[6]
Red Letter Days on which the Judges of the High Court (King's Bench Division) wear, at Sittings of the Court of Law, their Scarlet Robes:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.