The Soiscél Molaisse ('Gospel of St. Molaisse') is a cumdach, a
medieval Irish carrying case for a holy book, decorated in the Insular
style. Until the late 18th century, the case held a now-lost companion
text, meant to be carried as a pocket gospel book, as indicated by the
cumdach's small size. The text is presumed to be a small illuminated
gospel book associated with Saint Laisrén mac Nad Froích of the 6th
century, also known as Mo Laisse. The 8th-century original wooden box
was embellished between 1001 and 1025 with a silver frame, including
embossed silver plates, a front piece depicting a cross, the figures and
symbols of the evangelists, and Latin inscriptions. During the 15th
century further silver elements were incorporated, though most have been
lost. The Soiscél Molaisse is the earliest and smallest surviving
cumdach. It is now in the collection of the archaeology branch of the
National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soisc%C3%A9l_Molaisse>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1871:
Aida, one of Giuseppe Verdi's most popular operas, made its
debut in Cairo, Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aida>
1914:
World War I: British and German soldiers interrupted fighting
to celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas truce (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce>
1953:
A railway bridge at Tangiwai on New Zealand's North Island was
damaged by a lahar and collapsed beneath a passenger train, killing 151
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangiwai_disaster>
2008:
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began
attacks on several villages in the north of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, killing hundreds and committing numerous atrocities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Christmas_massacres>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
party spirit:
1. A feeling or sense of celebration or enjoyment.
2. (politics) The feeling of common purpose and togetherness experienced
or shown by members or supporters of a group, especially a political
party, sometimes accompanied by unreasonable animosity towards members
or supporters of other groups.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/party_spirit>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who works for sweetness and light, works to make reason and
the will of God prevail. He who works for machinery, he who works for
hatred, works only for confusion. Culture looks beyond machinery,
culture hates hatred; culture has one great passion, the passion for
sweetness and light.
--Matthew Arnold
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Arnold>