Almanac: It happened yesterday

January

January is the 1st month of the year and the 31 days that compose it represent, from a climatic point of view, the heart of the winter season. The thermometer continues to fall, reaching its minimum peaks on days 29, 30 and 31, traditionally considered the three coldest days of the year and renamed "blackbird days" (there are various hypotheses, more or less legendary, on the origin of this expression). January was introduced into the Roman calendar as the eleventh month by Numa Pompilius but, although the year began in March, it was considered as the starting point for the renewal of council positions. With the Julian reform of 46 BC. C. the first day of the month was made to coincide with the New Year, but this calendar order was not maintained in all eras. In the Middle Ages, for example, the first day of the year was considered to be either March 1st (in the Republic of Venice) or September 1st (in the Eastern Empire and Russia) and it was like this until the XNUMXth century. 

January closes the celebrations of Christian Christmas with the last holiday of the Epiphany, celebrated on January 6th.

January 3, 1954: Italian television was born.

7 January 1797: the Tricolor is adopted for the first time

January 11, 1922: First insulin test

January 19, 1915: the neon lamp was patented

21 January 1951: the "13" arrives at the Totocalcio

22 January 1944: the Allies land at Anzio

23 January 1932: first issue of Settimana Enigmistica

January 27, 2000: Remembrance Day in Italy

January 29, 1886: Benz patents the first motor car

January 30, 1873: Verne, Around the World in 80 Days

January 31, 1865: Slavery abolished in America

Gleanings of wisdom

A baby elephant, wanting to one day explore the world a little, had ventured into the forest. Just as he was crossing a stream, no one knows for what reason, whether due to his clumsiness or a fortuitous circumstance, his left eye popped out of its socket and fell into the water. Although still young and inexperienced, the little elephant knew well how important it is to have both eyes. He therefore took care to immediately recover the eye that had fallen out. He dipped his trunk into the water and began to probe the muddy bottom to find it. The water all around naturally became cloudy and, although he tried to identify the lost one with his remaining eye, he could no longer distinguish anything on the bottom. The other animals, who were on the shore or who were in the water, realized his problem. Feeling sympathy and pity for him, they took care to give him some advice on what to do in such a situation. They shouted to him:

«Little elephant, calm down, the best thing you can do is stop for a moment...»

But the poor guy was too worried about finding his lost eye as soon as possible. He moved his paws gingerly and continued to stir the bottom with his trunk. The result was increasingly dirtier water all around, which excluded any possibility for him to trace the lost eye.

And the other animals insisted, shouted louder: «Elephant, oh little one... don't get so excited, stop for a moment, don't move the water..».

The cries were so loud and insistent that he finally had to pay attention to the advice that was being sent to him, he raised his head and remained still, with his trunk out of the water, to better listen to what he was being advised to do. The short time in which the bottom was not disturbed was enough to allow the current to carry the turbid water downstream. Then when the little elephant looked in front of him again, the water had magically become completely clean and with his other eye he could distinguish the lost one on the bottom, now clear.

He inserted his trunk again, this time with all the delicacy, retrieved his eye and put it back in its place. He was thus able to happily continue his walk having acquired precious additional wisdom. Strange, unpleasant, even dramatic and traumatizing things sometimes happen in life. But if you have the foresight to take time to reflect before acting and to look at things from a certain distance, if you add the prudence of listening to the opinion of someone around you, you can always find a way to get out of it well, no matter how difficult or painful the situation turns out to be.