DECEMBER 31  —JOHN WYCLIFFE
Leader of the dangerous Lollards, 13th century English spiritual revolutionaries.

DECEMBER 31, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
NEW YEAR’S EVE. ANNUAL WORLD PEACE MEDITATION. In Germany, prowling demons & spirits of darkness must be routed this night by mummery & lots of noise. People used to dress in straw clothing with deerskin masks of animals & run through the streets, clanging bells & dragging chains.

Mobile, Alabama: COWBELLION HERD ESCAPADE & REVEL honors Michael Krafft, who founded mystic society, “Cowbellion de Rakin” in 1830 first of all the mystic societies and krewes which stage the Mardi Gras extravaganzas in Mobile and New Orleans.

JAPAN: NAMAHAGE. Men dressed as devils go door-to-door screaming “Any good-for-nothings here about?”

ALSO ON DECEMBER 31 IN HISTORY…
1320 —British religious radical reformer John Wycliffe born, Yorkshire, England.
1384 — Religious radical reformer John Wycliffe Dies, Lutterworth, Leicestershire.
1877 — French radical painter Gustave Courbet dies, Vevey, France.
1996 — Mayan shaman Lacandonista Chan k’in Viejo dies, Chiapas, Mexico.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective. The 2010 Autonomedia Calender is now available on the Autonomedia site.