A dictionary of days

Twelfth Night, St Valentine's Day, Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, Anzac Day are familiar terms though perhaps we know less about them than we think. Is Twelfth Night, for instance, the night before or the night of the twelfth day after Christmas? And what do we know of Fishin' Day, Old Man's Day, and Pig Face Sunday, to name but a few. With some 850 entries, this fascinating dictionary is guaranteed to fill the gaps in our knowledge along with the blanks in our calendars.A browser's delight,- A Dictionary of Days also fills a serious reference need as a reader's guide to named days. Shakespeare, for example, refers to many special days which are largely ignored by us now. American authors mention days unknown to British readers; British authors in their turn refer to Empire Day, Waterloo Day, Trafalgar Day, etc., all of which can present difficulties for American readers. The dictionary will also be of great help to students of English as a foreign language, since many of these days are not recorded in standard dictionaries.The entries are written in a highly readable, entertaining style, including in many cases appropriate literary quotations. The book is very much a dictionary to be read rather than merely consulted. A calendar of named days is included as an appendix.