- See also: Red Letter Day (disambiguation)
A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day) is any day of special significance. The term originates from Medieval church calendars. Illuminated manuscripts often marked initial capitals and highlighted words in red ink, known as rubrics. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed the saint's days, feasts and other holy days, which came to be printed on church calendars in red. The term came into wider usage with the appearance in 1549 of the first Book of Common Prayer in which the calendar showed special holy days in red ink. Many current calendars have special dates and holidays such as Sundays, Christmas Day and Midsummer Day rendered in red colour instead of black. On red letter days, judges of the English High Court (Queen's Bench Division) wear, at sittings of the Court of Law, their scarlet robes (See court dress). Also in the United Kingdom, other civil dates have been added to the original religious dates. These include anniversaries of the Monarch's birthday, official birthday, accession and coronation. The term "red letter day" is colloquially used to indicate any date of personal significance.
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Roman use
Pliny the Younger appears to have used the term "Red Letter Day" in one of his letters, c. AD 100. See the translation by Betty Radice.
Alternative
Red letter day was a 19th century naval term used to distinguish between gunpowder charges used for gunnery practice stored in boxes marked with black letters and the more powerful charges used for engagement, marked with red letters.
In Popular Culture
- In the game Half-Life 2, Doctor Isaac Kleiner announces a "Red Letter Day" to Gordon Freeman in the testing of his new teleporter. It is also the title of the second level of the game.
- The song "Red Letter Day" by The Get Up Kids appears in the E.P. Red Letter Day and Woodson and the full-length album, Something to Write Home About
- "Red Letter Day" is also a song by the Christian rock band, NewSong. It was released on their 2000 album, Sheltering Tree
- The Song "A Red Letter Day" by the famous pop duo Pet Shop Boys appears on their successful 1996 CD "Bilingual."
