O Blessed Day (solution)

by Seth Schoen and Vera Yin

The text at the top of this puzzle says that, if the world doesn’t end this year, there will be a lot of holidays to celebrate! This puzzle is about some of those holidays, from the well-known to the somewhat obscure.

Each of the days in the calendar contains a Latin clue describing a (usually secular and sometimes humorous) holiday, from the point of view of residents of the United States. If you translate these clues and identify the holidays to which they refer, you can find a particular date in 2012 on which that holiday will be celebrated or anniversary will be observed.

Each of the saints clued by the biography has a feast day observed on one of the holiday’s dates. By identifying the saints and matching their feast days to the holiday dates, you can associate each day in the calendar with one saint.

The clues about the saints are needed because multiple saints can have a feast day on the same day, and some of the saints we’ve referred to are rather obscure.

The descriptions are mapped this way:

Clue	Translation	Holiday	Date	Saint [Clue]
hac die celebrantur dies natales duorum ducum qui hac die non nati sunt	On this day are celebrated the birthdays of two leaders who were not born on this day.	Presidents’ Day	February 20	Eleutherius [Arians beat me up]
hac die simiae honorantur et ab aliquibus in hortibus zoologicis visitantur	On this day monkeys are honored and are visited in zoos by some people.	Monkey Day	December 14	Nicasius [vandalism]
hac die opificibus honoratis vestimenta alba geri desinunt	On this day, when workers have been honored, white clothing ceases to be worn.	Labor Day	September 3	Gregory the Great [music]
hac die propter lusciniae diem natalem nosocomae ubique honorantur	On this day, because of the birthday of a nightingale, nurses everywhere are honored.	International Nurses’ Day [Florence Nightingale’s birthday]	May 12	Nereus [Old Man of the Sea]
haec dies saepe non exstat	This day often does not exist.	Leap Day	February 29, in leap years	Oswald [presidential assassin name]
hac die potentissimus hominum aliquid fortissime sed laete, non irate, iacit	On this day the most powerful of men throws something very strongly but happily, not angrily.	Opening Day (Major League Baseball)	April 5	Vincent Ferrer [schisms; compromise]
die post hanc diem vir solus ac inermis stetit, agmen vehiculorum militarium obstruens	On the day following this day a man stood alone and unarmed, blocking a column of military vehicles.	Six/Four	June 4	Ninnoc [Brittany, where Ninnoc is also called Candide]
hac die personati mittuntur liberi ut dulcia in viis petant	On this day children are sent forth masked to request sweets in the streets.	Halloween	October 31	Foillan [Cnobheresburg]
hac die focalia permulta donis dantur	On this day extremely many neckties are given as gifts.	Father’s Day	June 17	Rainerius of Pisa [bad weather]
hac die magistri donula a discipulis suis accipiunt	On this day teachers receive little gifts from their students.	National Teachers’ Day	May 8	Odger [hierodeacon]
hac die crustis dulcibus rotundis consumptis mensuratio commemoratur	On this day mensuration is commemorated when sweet round pastries have been eaten.	Pi Day	March 14	Matilda of Ringelheim [charity]
hac die omina hiemalia umbra accipiuntur	On this day wintry omens are taken from a shadow.	Groundhog Day	February 2	Theodoric of Ninden [German bishop]
hac die illa res in qua etiam nunc, dilectissimi lectores lectricesque dilectissimæ, occupati estis incipit	On this day the thing that you, dearest readers, are even now busy with begins.	MIT Mystery Hunt Kickoff	January 13	Hilary of Poitiers [Hammer of the Arians / can’t touch the doctrine of the Trinity]
hac die spoponderunt aliqui vitas, fortunas, honoremque sacrum suos	On this day some pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.	Independence Day	July 4	Elizabeth of Portugal [wife of the Farmer King]
hac die interfectus est vir præclarus inter eos quorum lingua hæc sententia scripta est	On this day a man famous among those in whose language this sentence is written was assassinated.	Ides of March	March 15	Louise de Marillac [social workers]
hac die filiolæ ad officinas parentium suorum adducuntur	On this day little girls are taken to their parents’ workplaces.	Take Our Daughters To Work Day	April 26	Anacletus [“called back” third pope]
hac die loquuntur homines inter se miro modo, arrte haud historiæ fideli, tamquam prædones	On this day people talk amongst themselves in a remarkable way, with an arrt hardly faithful to history, like pirates.	International Talk Like A Pirate Day	September 19	Theodore of Canterbury [Constantiople, Canterbury]
hac die nihil ab aliquibus, qui societatem suam nimis avidam pecuniæ esse opinant, emitur	On this day nothing is purchased by some people who consider that their society is too covetous of money.	Buy Nothing Day	November 23	Felicitas of Rome [seven sons]
hac die Judæi pluviam et rorem, non tantum benedictionem, precibus suis cotidianis orare incipiunt	On this day Jews begin to pray for rain and dew, not just a blessing, in their daily prayers.	60 days past the autumnal equinox	December 4	Osmund [gamut → gemot]
hac die constitutio sive suprema lex huius nationis subscripta est	On this day the consitution, or supreme law, of this nation was signed.	Constitution Day	September 17	Robert Bellarmine [Galileo]
hac die iuxta asserem robur post cenam monstratur	On this day strength is shown beside a pole after dinner.	Festivus	December 23	Frithebert [bones; Acca]
hac die laganum (id est species pastae in laminis cum caseo) celebratur, scilicet coquendo	On this day lasagna (a kind of pasta in sheets with cheese) is celebrated, by cooking, of course.	Lasagna Day	July 29	Olaf of Norway [still the King]
hac die computatur ac disputatur quid sit numerus hominum in mundo viventium	On this day it is calculated and debated what the number of people living in the world is.	World Population Day	July 11	Olga [incendiary doves]
hac die ipsissima alma terra commemoratur	On this day the nourishing Earth itself is commemorated.	Earth Day	April 22	Theodore of Sykeon [Maurice/Phocas’s nephew]
hac die flumen apud urbem magnam viridi tingitur	On this day a river amidst a great city is dyed green.	Saint Patrick’s Day	March 17	Patrick [safe for Indiana Jones]
hac die audierunt novissimi servi huius patriæ se iam liberatos esse	On this day the last slaves in this country heard that they had been freed.	Juneteenth	June 19	Romuald [Doge]
hac die vagantur cives Hiberniæ more personæ ex libro quodam dilectissimo	On this day Irish citizens wander about in the manner of a character from a certain well-beloved book.	Bloomsday	June 16	Ismael [some years ago]
hac die de illis qui choream patiuntur et de morbo eorum cogitandum est	On this day one ought to think about those who are suffering from chorea, and about their illness.	National Huntington’s Disease Awareness Day	June 6	Norbert [Prague]
hac die inventio quædam huius continentis, aut illi populi qui iam aderant, commemoratur	On this day a certain discovery of this continent, or those peoples who were already here, is commemorated.	Columbus Day / Indigenous People’s Day	October 8	Triduana [self-blinding]

The first letters of the saints’ names then read as follows:

      E N G N
O V N F R O M
T H E L A T F
O R F O O T P
R I N T

The English noun from the Latin for footprint is VESTIGE, from the Latin vestigium.