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Talk:Angel of death

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Select Cross-Cultural and Historical Personifications of Death

This extensive introduction includes some of the more well known, along with some lesser known Death "incarnations", and I use that term loosely, as in many cultures, the Angel of Death can be quite an adept shapeshifter. We have tried to cull together as much information and as many examples of Death in personification as possible. I'm certain that there are many more. To include them all, we would have a page of encyclopedic proportions! Prior to The Azrael Project, if one were seeking information on the Death entity, you would literally need to research thousands of books and pour through stacks of research papers. With this project, you need look no further than here to begin your journey.

One of the earliest known depictions of a personified Death was found at Catal Huyuk, a Neolithic settlement in Anatolia dating from the 7th Millennium B.C... Death takes the form represented by gigantic black birds of vulture-like appearance menacing headless human corpses. Many Stone Age cave paintings depict Death as a winged being, tall and extremely thin and pale in complexion. In these earliest renditions, Death was not given a name, simply an image, that to the people of that day, was representative of a major force or "deity". Something much larger than life that could never be appeased, no matter how many "sacrifices" were given unto It. The assignation of names and titles, and even personality, came much later as the world grew "larger" and more diverse in the eyes of man. When humankind literally separated himself from the animal kingdom and began to think about the meaning of life, while always having the recognize the inevitability of Death.

We begin with Azrael, a name of Hebrew derivation. While not the earliest known appellation, it is probably the most recognized name given the Angel of Death in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic world. Literally meaning "whom God helps", Azrael remains at all times a legate of the supreme consciousness, which for the multi-cultural aim of this book, we shall refer to as the "Godsoul".

From Islamic teachings, it is written that "when Michael, Gabriel and Israfel failed to provide seven handfuls of earth for the creation of Adam, the 4th angel on this mission, Azrael, succeeded, and because of this feat, he was appointed to separate body from soul". (Encyclopedia of Religion & Ethics- Hastings). It is said that Azrael keeps a scroll containing the name of every person born in the world. The time of death...is not known to Azrael. When the day of death approaches, Allah lets a leaf inscribed with the person's name drop from his throne. Azrael reads the name and within forty days must separate the soul from the body. He is often described, in the Koran, as a "divine being endowed with immense power so awesome that he had to be restrained in 70,000 chains of a thousand years journey's length each. By the Godsoul's command; it is written, Azrael spread his wings and opened his eyes and upon seeing this spectacle, the angels fainted away." It is further stated that Azrael was given "all of the powers of the heavens to enable him to master death." The Koran also recorded the following statement of a man engaging in conversation with Death: "When people lament and weep too much over the death of a person, the Angel of Death will stand at the door and say, 'what cause have you for such violent complaint? I am only the messenger of God and have done His bidding, and if you rebel against Him, I shall return often to take one of your house."

Although this passage may seem overly ominous, it typifies man's personal interaction with a personified Death, particularly in the pantheon we are discussing, so heavily influenced by religious fear and the dominance of their God. Nearly all historical literature treats Death as a divine creation of the Godsoul for purposes of separating the soul from the body at the time of passing. This is well exemplified in the following excerpt, also from Moslem teachings: "When a righteous person dies, the Angel of Death comes with a host of divinity carrying sweet odors of paradise and makes the soul leave the body like a drop taken out of a bucket of water. Though, when a wicked person dies, Death comes in the company of demons, who pull the soul out as with iron spits."

In Jewish literature, it is written that "Azrael appears to our spirit in a form determined by our beliefs, actions and dispositions during life. He may even manifest invisibly so that a man may die of a rose in aromatic pain...or of a rotting stench." In Islamic lore, it is said that "Azrael, the Angel of Death, is veiled before the creatures of God with a million veils and that his true immensity is vaster than the heavens, and the east and the west are between his hands like a dish on which all things have been set to balance." It is further written, "that when the soul sees Azrael, it 'falls in love', and thus is withdrawn from the body as if by a seduction."

In some Jewish folklore, the Angel of Death is called Sammael (Samael), meaning the "drug of God" since it was believed that his sword was tipped with gall. In the Talmud, 'Abodah Zarah 20', Sammael is described as "altogether full of eyes. At the time of death, he (the Angel of Death) takes his stand above the place of ones head with his sword drawn and a drop of poison suspended on its tip." Often, Death is depicted as bearing some form of weapon or energy directing instrument; a knife, a sword, a scythe, a shaft of light, or a rod of fire, to name a few. Perhaps one of the more pronounced cases of Death's visitation in this example, is the tale of Joshua ben Levi, a Talmudian scholar. When time came for him to die, the Angel of Death (Sammael, in this case) appeared to him whereby Joshua demanded to be shown his place in 'paradise'. When the angel consented to this, Joshua demanded the angel's knife so that Death would not use it to frighten him on the way. This request was also granted, whereupon Joshua sprang with the weapon over the wall of paradise. Death, who by Talmudic law was not permitted to enter, caught hold of Joshua's garment; but Joshua swore that he would not come out. The Godsoul then declared that Joshua should not leave paradise unless he was absolved of his oath. The Angel of Death then demanded back his knife, and, upon Joshua's refusal, a heavenly voice rang out, "Give him back the knife because the children of men have need of it!" Mankind understands the symbolic power of weaponry. In Joshua's case, the image of the knife symbolizes power over life and death, as well as the means to inflict death at higher command.

While Azrael was the most prominent name mentioned in this culture, in certain Arabic lore, Death is occasionally referred to by another name, Iblis, as in the Arabian Nights Tale, The Angel of Death and the Proud King; And Iblis came (to the proud king)...so the king bowed his head to him and he said, 'I am the Angel of Death and I purpose to take thy soul.' Replied the king, 'Have patience with me a little whilst I return to my house and take leave of my people and children...' 'By no means so,' answered the angel; 'thou shalt never return nor look on them again, for the fated term of thy life is past.' So saying, he took the soul of the king...and departed thence."

Longfellow makes mention of Azrael in a poem included in Tales of a Wayside Inn, wherein a Spanish Jew tells a tale of Azrael and King Solomon. The king is entertaining a "learned man" who is a rajah. As they walk, a figure in the twilight air is gazing intently at the man. The rajah asks Solomon: "What is yon shape, that, pallid as the dead, is watching me, as if he sought to trace in the dim light the features of my face?" The king calmly tells his guest that it is Azrael, the Angel of Death. The man then asks Solomon to get him as far away from Azrael as possible. With the aid of his magic ring, the king sends him off to India. Azrael asks Solomon who the man was who left so suddenly. The king gives Azrael the name, and Azrael thanks the king for sending the man off to India, since he was on his way "to seek him there."

Osiris is the Egyptian embodiment of the "Death Energy". Although not necessarily considered the "personification" of Death in particular, (as the Egyptian pantheon is divided into may higher and lower aspects) he is described in ancient texts as a "dark lord, having beautiful yet terrible dark eyes and an equally dark complexion: He is also said to have reached a height of five and a half yards! Egyptian concept of a true, anthropomorphic personification of the Death entity was best exemplified as Anubis (who is actually an "aspect" of Osiris). While Osiris is considered "God of the Dead", Anubis is the "Guardian of the Dead" whose function was to weigh the heart of the deceased against a feather to determine the soul's place in eternity.

Seker, is an even older version of Egyptian Death personified, particularly in the area of ancient Memphis. He was said to be enthroned in a region of utter blackness and is depicted in the form of a mummy and called the "greatest god who was in the beginning and dwelleth in darkness." Originally, as "death gods" go, Seker and Osiris had many attributes in common, and the eventual fusion of the two was the result of the triumph of Osiris over the many "lesser" and varied Egyptian death gods. While Seker represented death as absolute and final, Osiris represented the death which was merely a temporary point of transition. Egyptian mythology is rife with Death allegory. This excerpt from the Coffin Text of the Middle Kingdom (circa 2160-1580 B.C..) vividly shows how the Egyptians personified Death very realistically: "Save me from the claws of him who takes for himself what he sees: May the glowing breath of his mouth not take me away."

We could no doubt spend this page alone detailing the many, varied incarnations and aspects of Death in the Egyptian pantheon. However, there are far more specific books available on general Egyptian history and belief that would cover that in length.

Thanatos, the Greek embodiment of Death is described as "the figure of a priest in sable garments and the twin brother of Morpheus (sleep)." The Greeks endeavored to exclude any thought of his gloomy nature by viewing him as a "gentle god, who came quietly upon the dying." Here, again, Death is personified with a secondary aspect, Charon, the ferryman who carries the souls of the dead across the Lethe, (which means 'river of forgetfulness'). It is from this culture that we get the concept of "paying the ferryman" for passage to the other side. If no payment was rendered unto him, usually the equivalent of a farthing or penny, the soul was destined to wander beside the river eternally. Hence, the practice of putting pennies on a dead man's eyes.

Charon, himself, was not a part of Greek mythology until approximately the 5th Century BC., when an inscription praised him as "You who release many men from toil." He is often portrayed as a stern and formidable old man who insists that the rules of passage be respected. This is well illustrated in Bullfinch's retelling of an incident first described by Virgil: "Charon, old and squalid, but strong and vigorous...was receiving passengers of all kinds into his boat. Magnanimous heroes, boys and unmarried girls, as numerous as the leaves that fall at autumn, or the flocks that fly southward at the approach of winter. They stood pressing for a passage and longing to touch the opposite shore. But the stern ferryman took in only such as he chose, driving the rest back. Aeneas, wondering at the sight, asked the Sibyl, 'Why this discrimination?' She answered, 'Those who are taken on board the bark are the souls of those who have received due burial rites; the host of others who have remained unburied are not permitted to pass the flood, but wander a hundred years, and flit to and fro about the shore, till at last they are taken over.' Aeneas, displaying the sacred golden bough, finally persuades Charon to make an exception and allow him, one of the living, to cross into the realm of the dead in order to bury a fallen comrade and see his father. " It is from the account of this highly unusual round-trip that we have some of history's most detailed impressions of the "lower world" in which the souls of the dead are to be found. "Charon with eyes like burning coals herds them in, and with a whistling oar flails on the stragglers to his wake of souls." (from Dante's Inferno, 1300AD). Although, in classical mythology, Charon is usually imagined as a grim and solemn figure with an awesome task to perform, he has also been portrayed with humor, and even tender passion.

It is interesting to note that the name Charon is also mentioned in Etruscan history as "The god of the dead" replete with an image painted in the tomb of Orca-Tarquina (5th century BC). It is highly likely that Charon was "imported" into the Greek pantheon from this contemporary region.

Modern Greek folklore has transmuted the concept of Charon into a whole new personification. Death is no longer the withered ferryman, but rather the driver of the "death coach". In many parts of Greece, it is believed that, as time passed on and men became less connected to their gods (i.e., more concerned with material gains rather than spiritual pursuits) Death had to venture into the land of the living to retrieve souls. Hence, the personification of the death-coach, a black plumed, funerary coach pulled by huge black horses and driven by a faceless driver with burning eyes, who is in effect, Death Himself. Still today, in the age of motorized transport, if one were to hear the prance of hooves coming down the road, all ears are tuned in the hopes the coach doesn't stop in front of one's home. It is believed that if the death-coach stops to claim a soul, the driver would dismount and knock twice on the door signaling that someone in that house had just died.

To the ancient Romans, Orcus was the god of death and was described as a "pale divinity, almost devoid of flesh and furnished with immense, black wings." His function was to carry the souls of the dead to the underworld, which they believed was literally a place beneath the earth's surface. Here, as well, Death is personified with more than one aspect. Februus, of Etruscan origin, was also an incarnation of Death in ancient Rome. He had a whole month set aside as 'the month of the dead', our equivalent of February. Death also had a third aspect, a female personification, Libitina, the Goddess of Funerals. This triumvirate of deities comprised primary Roman belief. However, there was still another, more pronounced and detailed female Roman personification of Death. Her face was seldom portrayed, nor were temples dedicated to her, or were sacrifices offered her, as they were to Orcus, her male equivalent. Today, her very name has sunk into such obscurity that it is seldom mentioned when the gods and goddesses of antiquity are reviewed. Her name was Mors, (a familiar derivation of much of our current reference to death) and she was worshipped by the ancients and often sung about by their poets. This female deity, remembered today mostly from Roman verse, was a reigning personification of Death. It was Mors, pale, wan and emaciated...whom the poets describe as "ravenous, treacherous and furious, roving about...ready to swallow up all who came her way." She was manifest as a black robed, dark winged figure who might, like an enormous bird of prey, hover above her intended victim until the moment came to seize it. In M.A. Dwight's 1864 epic, Grecian & Roman Mythology, it is noted that "Mors was not so honoured with temples and sacrifices because Death is inexorable, inaccessible to entreaties and unmoved by prayers and offerings." Death in the form of this deadly, female hunter is a striking figure to contemplate, especially when we consider that most contemporary personifications portray Death as masculine, if a gender is specified at all, and that, in fact, women much more than men, provide care and comfort to the terminally ill. Mors appears then to represent, the type of very powerful female deity who laid claim to many cultures, as well as to human imagination, before the patriarchal god became the dominant image.

There is also another interesting correlation to the image of Mors. Within the often blended pantheons of ancient Etruscan and ancient Roman, there is mentioned another feminine anthropomorphism of Death; Tuchulcha (from the Etruscan) who is described as a bird-like being with snakes for hair, whose menacing stare, it is said, could kill with but a glance.

In the Hindu/Tibetan pantheon, Shiva (Siva) is the penultimate archetype of Death, again, with a secondary aspect called Mahakala, who is Death personified. Shiva is referred to as "the formed", and Mahakala, "the formless" embodiment of the Death energy. This passage from Aghora, At the Left Hand of God by Robert Svoboda describes them best; "Mahakala has no limitation of any kind whatsoever, at least in the universe we know. He has no form at all, none. At least Shiva manifests a form we can concentrate on. Mahakala, being the utterly formless, which means He can assume all forms at will."

Shiva is attributed as a "compassionate yet terrible divinity whose sight made even Vishnu, (the Hindu/Tibetan aspect of the great Godsoul) wince". Mahakala is said "to make everyone cry, and cries himself out of the joy of releasing imprisoned souls." Rudra, is another name found in this complex pantheon. Literally translated, it means 'the crier" or "he who makes others cry." Rudra is the ancient name for Shiva, and in texts "is so called because he makes everyone cry who comes into contact with Him because He separates them from their limited existence to which they are tightly attached." Of Rudra, it is further written, "By my magnanimity I have removed this individual from all the pains and miseries of existence, and the fellow was not even aware of my presence. Now he is truly at peace. People are fools to cry for their dead; They should cry for themselves."

In Svoboda's Aghora, it states, "Everyone is afraid of dying, which explains why no one is willing to love Mahakala. Only two persons in all our scriptures have loved Mahakala, and both of them became immortal...Destruction is necessary but, unfortunately, no one is willing to face Death. Even for Rama and Krisha, who were real incarnations of God, there was one moment of shock, one tremor, when Mahakala appeared before them...The sight of Mahakala is so terrible that even God incarnate quails before Him..."

There are a variety of "faces" of Death in Indian culture, dependant upon particular religious "sects" and beliefs. Kali, a feminine aspect of Death comes immediately to mind. Although, she is referred to more as "the Destroyer" or "the Devourer", no doubt she embodies the same energy as Mahakala. Kali, "The Black Mother", is portrayed rather frightfully. She is naked, dishevelled, wild-eyed and maniacal. In her hands she brandishes a blood-stained knife and a bloody human head. A necklace of skulls lies on her breast. She is often depicted, in Indian art, as having one foot on Shiva, who is lying on the ground like a corpse. Kali has many different names and faces in Indian culture.

Yama is called the "King of Death" in Buddhism, and certain Hindu pantheons. He is also referred to as judge of the dead, evaluating their activities while on earth to determine their fate after death. He is described as having "flesh of green or black, and robes of blood-red. He wears and crown and a flower in his hair and has many eyes, legs and arms. Each appendage bearing mystic implements and human skulls." (Much like the images of Kali.). Another of Yama's names is Vajra-Bhairava, which literally means "terrible lightning". Yet another name that pops up is Daikoku-ten, of Oriental Buddhist origin, and is pretty much the equivalent of Siva/Mahakala. He is called "the Great Black One".

There are numerous tales from India's vast apocryphal texts of human interaction with Yama. One in particular describes "that it is difficult to prevail on Yama when he comes at the appointed hour to seek his victim on earth. However, the gentle and beautiful Savitri, wife of Satyavan, succeeded in persuading the god of death to give her back her husband...As Yama was bearing away Satyavan's soul, his wife followed obstinantly...until Yama was so moved by this fidelity and love, that he offered her fulfillment of her wish, provided she did not ask to have her husband brought back to life!"

Emma-O is referred to as "the King of the Dead" in ancient Oriental Buddhism. It is said that he became Death because he was the first man to die. His description is one of a red-faced, angry looking deity with a coarse beard, attired in judges robes with a berreta bearing the sigil of a king. In his right hand, he has a tablet, the emblem of official authority. In his left hand, he holds a staff with two accusing faces on top; one called "The Seeing Eye", and the other, "The Sensitive Nose". Emma is still part of the popular pantheons of Buddhism throughout Japan and China.

Secular Chinese Buddhism has another name for the Lord of Death, Yen-wang, whose job it is to decide when one's time is up. He then severs the mystical cord that connects body to soul. It is from Eastern beliefs that we get the concept of the "silver cord", that etheric "umbilical" that connects body to soul until the time of death.

In the modern Japanese pantheon, the "Goddess of Death" is called Yuki-Onne, which literally means "the Snow Queen" who "chills to numbness those she takes so as to make their transition as peaceful and painless as possible." She also serves to cut the cord at life's end.

Hel was labeled the "goddess of Death" in the Germanic and Scandinavian lands. She was said to dwell in "the land of shades called Niflheim". Her face was portrayed as half normal, and half the colour of the night sky (much like images of Shiva). It was said that Odin (the Germanic equal to God) "gave her power over nine worlds, so that she could determine where everyone should dwell after death." There are a lot of feminine Death personifications in this part of the world. There is also mention of Freya, leader of the mysterious Valkyries, (the airborne horsewomen of death) as being a prominent Death allegory in Norse mythology. Also, from this part of the world, we get the name Kalma, a death goddess of Finnish origins, where we also find the name Nga, "God of Death". In certain ancient Finnish folklore, Tuonela was the "Domain of Death", and is surrounded by "Death's river". The dead are carried across the waters by "Death's Maiden" at the darkest moment of night.

In many Slavic and Baltic lands, Death appeared simply as a woman dressed in white who carried souls to "Vela", a world shrouded in grey mist and cold. Folklore, particularly that of the Black Forest region, is rife with "Grim Reaper" type images, and/or Death generally personified as a withered farmer with scythe in hand who doubled as Lord of the Harvest. This concept still remains with us throughout many Pagan traditions where deities are heavily tied into the seasons, and nature in general.

In Polish tradition death is personified as a female. She is believed to be a skeleton (or at times a skeleton covered with skin) wearing a black cloak and holding a scythe. Death has also a special name. People call her "Kostucha". This archaic name means "bone lady". The oldest text about her is from 15th century (circa 1460) and it is actually the longest Polish Medieval text It's title is "Conversation between Master Polikarp and The Death" ("Rozmowa Mistrza Polikarpa ze Smiercia"). In this story Polikarp, who was a wise and religious man, asked God to show him Death. One evening, when he was praying alone in church, he saw a strange person. He described it as a skinny, pale female without nose or lips (something like a corpse - or "moira" in Polish) with yellow eyes crying tears of blood. She was "the Death" sent to him by God. Then, the Death answered the questions asked by Polikarp. From this conversation we know that she was born from the apple which Eve passed to Adam It is said that. She is powerful, and that no one can hide from her neither under the ground, nor under the water. Everyone is equal before her. it does't matter if you are poor or rich, sinner or saint. She is irreconcilable and incorruptible

Another, similar image is derived from ancient Celtic and Gaul; Sucellos, the "Harvester of Souls", who was described as a "mighty striker with scythe in hand". This entity was also called Silvanus in southern Gaul. We get much of the origin of our current Grim Reaper imagery from this part of the world. In certain Celtic pantheons, Death is again, given aspects. One of the more well known is the female triplicity known as The Morrigan, "the Queen of Shades". Consisting of actually three spirits, it was personified as a large, black crow or raven, much like the Roman Mors, sweeping down to catch its prey. Another, lesser known Celtic personification was Ankou, known in Brittany and rural Ireland by the sound of his creaking cart traveling the roads at night, picking up his latest victims. He need only open his cart door, or touch his intended, and life would flee. This, too, is a similar mythos, alikened to modern Greek folklore mentioned earlier, even though they were culturally, worlds apart.

In certain early Welsh folklore, the name Gwyn Ab Nuud is mentioned as "god of the hunt who gathers lost souls and escorts them to the land of the dead on a white horse."

Quetzalcoatl was the god of the west and of magic in ancient Central America. Depicted as a plumed serpent with two faces, one of life, and one of death. He was both creator, and destroyer. Lord of Life and Death, and the embodiment of the Death energy whose personified aspect was called Miquiztli, literally meaning "death". If we go further north, into Mexico, we find the name Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec "God of Death" whose function was to guide the souls of the dead safely to the next world. The name Kukulcan is also briefly mentioned as a "manifest Death", but this appears to be more of a latter corruption of Quetzalcoatl.

In present day Mexican folk art, the personified Death is called Santa Muerte, "Saint Death" and is depicted as a white-robed skeleton. In one hand He holds the scales of balance, and in the other, either the earth, or the more traditional scythe. During Mexico's "Day of the Dead" celebrations on November 2nd, one can find depictions of Death throughout Mexican culture, from its local shops, to churches and elaborate home altars, to candy and children's toys.

Baron Samedi is Death personified in the Haitian Voudon pantheon, and is described quite vividly, as a tall, black man sporting a tail coat and top-hat. He has a long, white beard and eyeless sockets in his head. When invoked, he acknowledges by flapping his coat tails and tipping his hat. He is said to be a very educated speaker, yet his comments and mannerisms can be quite lewd. Offerings of rum are sure to get one into his good graces. Here, as well, we find that Death has other aspects; Baron Cimitere, who is literally, "Ruler of the Cemetery", and his counterpart, Baron LaCrosse, who is the "spirit of the Shadow of the Cross". These grand loa (or great spirits) are often accompanied by petra loa (demi-gods) called the Gede Loa, or "Spirits of the Cemetery".

The Haitian feminine form of the Loa of Death is the pale, thin and wraithlike Madam Brigette, who serves very much the same function as Baron Samedi, but with a few more Kali-like attributes of "whirlwind-like change and balance". If we trace Voudon tradition back to its African source, we find the name Oya, whose name translates to mean "she who tears". Goddess of storms, hurricanes, radical change and Death, she is portrayed as a whirlwind who literally rips away the veil between this world and the next. Wearing grass skirts or costumes of multi-coloured rags, she is a fierce and steadfast guardian of the cemetery, particularly over the souls of women. She has also found her way into the Santeria religion where she fills a similar role as Baron Cimitere; as one who watches over the dead and guides their passage.

African culture is particularly rife will archetypal Death images. The Egungun, of West Africa are a group of "spirits of Death" who appear only as cloth draped entities and are known to dance at various festival and tribal functions. Gaunab is another of the many African personifications of Death. Referred to primarily as "Chief of the Dead", his function and images are very similar to that of a counterpart found in the Congo, who is not mentioned by any specific name, but simply as "one of the sons of the great god Ngai. (This is not the only culture where Death is referred to as "the son of" someone. In Polynesia, for example, Hine-Nui-Te-Po, or "The Great Lady of Night" is mentioned as being the "mother of Death").

There are numerous, oral tribal legends telling of human interaction with Death in African culture. For instance, in Baganda legend, "Kintu, the first man, was permitted, after many trials and tests, to marry one of the daughters of heaven. God sends the pair to live on earth and gives them gifts, including a hen. He told them to hurry lest they meet Death (the bride's brother), and not to come back if they had forgotten anything. The woman forgets the hen's feed and goes back for it despite the warning, at which God, in His displeasure, grants Death's request to accompany them. Kintu appeals to God, who relents and sends another of His "sons" (called Digger) to take Death back to heaven. Silence was ordained during the pursuit as Digger chases Death who has hidden in the ground, but the cries of children break the spell of silence and Death is allowed to remain on earth and strike down all living things."

There is another, very odd African story, told by folks living on the shores of Lake Kivu, which shows God trying to save men from death but giving up in exasperation. According to this tale, God made man to be immortal and kept a close watch on Death who was always trying to pick quarrels with men and provoke them to a fight which He knew He would win. One day God was away and Death killed and old woman. She was buried. But, after a few days, her grave began to heave as if she were coming back to life. Her daughter-in-law poured boiling water on the grave and beat it with a pestle saying "Die: what is dead should stay dead!" The grave was then quiet and the old woman was really dead. God returned, and seeing that the old woman was not there, asked what happened. When he was told, he said he would hunt Death down. Death fled...and met another old woman to whom he said, "Hide me and I shall reward you." She let him hide under her skirt and he entered her body. God caught them and decided that, since she was so old, it would be best to kill her and tear Death from her body and kill him as well. But Death slipped through God's fingers, and this time, persuaded a young girl to hide him in her belly. God despaired: if human beings kept on thwarting his efforts to save them, he might as well give it up as a bad job. So, he let Death do as he pleased.

One of the strangest stories of all comes from the Ewe-speakers of West Africa. Yiyi the spider (a panthaic demiurge) cadged meat from Death during a famine. Death had plenty of meat because he had made a great clearing in the forest and set traps in it. In return for continual supplies, Yiyi gave Death his daughter in marriage. Death told his new wife not to go through the clearing when she went to fetch water. But, one rainy day she did and was caught in a trap. Her husband chopped her up for the larder! When Yiyi discovered what had happened, he attacked Death with a knife and ran away in terror to the village with Death in pursuit. Death had never been to the village before, and as he lay in wait for Yiyi, he amused himself by shooting at the women as they went down to the river for water. He then realized that here was game enough, and he had no need to set traps for animals.

The Chippewa Indians have a unique legend about Death. It is said that once there was a great magician who came to the Chippewa nation wanting to make them immortal. He advised them to give "amicable greeting to the first stranger who would come to visit them". Unfortunately, for them, the Indians turned aside from a man carrying a basketful of rotting flesh, taking him for Death, but gave affectionate welcome to Death, Himself, in the guise of a pleasing young man.

Tales like these, are as abundant as the tribes of mortals that have walked the earth. Another example, from the Aborigines of New South Wales tells how, in the beginning, the Godsoul forbade the people to go near a certain hollow tree in which bees had made their nest. The men obeyed, but the women wanted the honey. Finally, one of the women hit the tree with an axe, and out flew Death in the form of a bat which now claims all living things by touching them with its wings.

There are numerous other "names" of Death and stories like these to be found. Although, as mentioned earlier, to include them all in this volume, would make it a task of encyclopedic proportions. Nearly every culture on earth, and no doubt beyond, has had its version of an anthropomorphic Death. A few others we thought merited mention, include one from Melanesia, where Death is called Marawa, the "Giver of Death" and is said to work hand in hand with Qat, "The Giver of Life".

In Iranian mythology, death was closely associated with time, so that Zurvan, the deification of Time, was regarded as the god of Death. Murdad is another name that we find in the Persian pantheon. And, if we look into Zoroastrianism, we find Murdad's androgynous counterpart, Mairya.

In ancient Mesopotamia, the Babylonians named the death god Uggae; but he does not figure notably in their mythology under this name. More well known was Mot, whose name, again, means death. Here, as earlier seen, he is aligned to the harvest. He was personified in a rather horrific manner, similar to that mentioned in the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, in which is written, that Enkidu, the unfortunate friend of Gilgamesh dreams of his coming death as seizure by an awful being; "He transformed me, that mine arms were covered with feathers like a bird. He looks at me and leads me to the house of darkness, to the dwelling of Irkalia; To the house from which he who enters never goes forth."

Another name found in Sumerian-Babylonian mythology is Ereshkigal (Ereshigal), the Sumerian "goddess of Death and the under-world". She was known as the dark sister to Inanna, fertility queen of heaven and earth, and ruler of the "land from which there is no return".

Haida, the Canadian Indians of Queen Charlotte Island have a death god duality called Ta'xet and Tia. One is god of violent death, and its counterpart, that of a peaceful passing.

In Falasha lore, the Angel of Death is Surial, "the trumpeter". It is said that Moses received all his knowledge from Suriel. This "angel" is also mentioned in The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans as "Sauriel the Releaser".

In Christian theology, Death is not graced with a name, but is referred to by description as an "intelligent being" in Job XXVII-22, and in Revelations VI-8, as "sitting on a pale horse and His name was Death". This is echoed in earlier, Gnostic texts, particularly The Book of Enoch; "And I looked and saw a pale horse and the one seated upon it had the name Death." In Christianity, the archangel Michael was once considered the original incarnation of the Angel of Death in earlier texts.

To bring encounters such as these into a more contemporary forum, I'd be amiss not to mention one of the more publicised modern day accounts which appeared in Newsday, a well respected New York daily newspaper. The encounter experienced by a well known and respected Long Island doctor is today, a documented case history. Following, is an extraction from Dr. Julian Kirchick's partially published journal: "It was an apparition, a frightening thing that at first scared me witless! I don't know whether it was real or not, but I knew it was Death! I was sitting at my picturesque backyard pool, which was surrounded by rose bushes. I was startled by a rustling in the bushes about twenty feet away. I rose to investigate. After taking about two steps, I suddenly stopped short. There was a ghastly intruder, the face of Death! He was dressed in a monk-like robe with a large hood and large sleeves which hung low. The tissue-like skin drawn tightly against the skull...eyes which seemed absent from the hollow eye-sockets seemed to pierce my very soul. His bony hand beckoned to me in a benign gesture. 'Come to me,' he seemed to say..." Dr. Kirchick died shortly after this encounter of a illness he was unaware of at the time the experience happened.

Despite enormous cultural differences, the basic countenance of Death is uniquely universal. Often described, as we have seen, as a tall, often winged, dark enshrouded (skeletal or emaciated) being surrounded either by darkness, or by a blue or purplish radiance. His "eyes" are striking, if not mesmeric "pools of black water", as described in Midrashic legend where awesome depictions of Death's appearance are rich!

It is curious to note, that in many of these cultural pantheons, Mors (Death) and Amor (Love) are inextricably entwined. The Greek Thanatos and Eros are said to be nearly twins. In many cases Death has been known to appear as a handsome youth, and Love, as the withered corpse. In Hinduism, Yama (Death) and Kama (Love) are said to be in eternal union, much like Shiva and Shakti (his bride) are locked in eternal embrace to keep the universe in balance. This concept is echoed in numerous instances where a personified Death and a personified Love are present.

The power of the archetypal Death entity lies not in the many names given It. These are, of course, man-made, not divinely assigned. The power of the presence of a personified Death lies in the resident and residual energies attached thereto, which have become "energized" over time with psionic vibrations of the thoughts, meditations, evocations, prayers and faith via the millions of impressions directed at, and attributed to the Spirit of Death throughout history. The collective energy of so much focused thought has literally made the formless manifest and accessible.

Considering the way modern society treats D/death as something "evil" or "malevolent", it is interesting to note that in nearly every one of the preceding examples, Death remains at all times, a legate of the Divine Consciousness. Death is, in principal, the personification of a particular divine aspect of will, developed from a functional expression of the Godsoul that has evolved into a relatively independent personality with a distinct character of Its own. Dion Fortune stated an excellent observation on modern mans view of Death in her 1942 book, Through the Gates of Death; "We must get out of the way of thinking that death is the ultimate tragedy...It is only the man sunk in matter who calls the Angel of Death the great enemy. His esoteric name is the Opener of the gates of Life."

title: Talk:Angel of death


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Supergalactic coordinate system

The supergalactic coordinate system is a reference frame for the supercluster of galaxies that contains the Milky Way galaxy, referenced to a local relatively flat collection of galaxy clusters used to define the supergalactic plane.

The supergalactic plane is more or less perpendicular to the plane of the Milky Way; the angle is 84.5°. As viewed from Earth, the plane traces a great circle across the sky through the following constellations:

 * Cassiopeia (in the Milky Way galactic plane)
 * Camelopardalis
 * Ursa Major
 * Coma Berenices (near the Milky Way galactic north pole)
 * Virgo
 * Centaurus
 * Circinus (in the galactic plane)
 * Triangulum Australe
 * Pavo
 * Indus
 * Grus
 * Sculptor (near the galactic south pole)
 * Cetus
 * Pisces
 * Andromeda
 * Perseus

History
In the 1950s the astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs recognized the existence of a flattened “local supercluster” from the Shapley-Ames Catalog in the environment of the Milky Way. He noticed that when one plots nearby galaxies in 3D, they lie more or less on a plane. A flattened distribution of nebulae had earlier been noted by William Herschel. Vera Rubin had also identified the supergalactic plane in the 1950s, but her data remained unpublished. The plane delineated by various galaxies defined in 1976 the equator of the supergalactic coordinate system de Vaucouleurs developed. In years thereafter with more observation data available de Vaucouleurs' and Rubin's findings about the existence of the plane proved right.

Based on the supergalactic coordinate system of de Vaucouleurs, surveys in recent years determined the positions of nearby galaxy clusters relative to the supergalactic plane. Amongst others the Virgo cluster, the Norma cluster (including the Great Attractor), the Coma cluster, the Pisces-Perseus supercluster, the Hydra cluster, the Centaurus cluster, the Pisces-Cetus supercluster and the Shapley Concentration were found to be near the supergalactic plane.

Definition
The supergalactic coordinate system is a spherical coordinate system in which the equator lies in the supergalactic plane.

By convention, supergalactic latitude is usually abbreviated SGB, and supergalactic longitude as SGL, by analogy to $b$ and $l$ conventionally used for galactic coordinates.
 * The zero point (SGL = 0°, SGB = 0°) lies in the constellation Cassiopeia, coincides with (lx = 137.37°, bx = 0°) and was chosen for convenience to lie along the line where the supergalactic plane intersects with the galactic plane. In J2000 equatorial coordinates, this is approximately RA = 2.82h, Dec = +59.5°.
 * The origin essentially coincides with the Earth, because the supergalactic plane is identified as a plane observed from Earth.
 * The north supergalactic pole (SGB = 90°) lies in the constellation Hercules at galactic coordinates ($l_{z}$ = 47.37°, $b_{z}$ = +6.32°), or approximately RA = 18.9h, Dec = +15.7°.

The transformation from a triple of Cartesian supergalactic coordinates to a triple of galactic coordinates is

\begin{bmatrix} x \\ y \\ z\end{bmatrix}_\text{gal} = \begin{bmatrix} \cos l_x \cos b_x & \sin l_z \cos b_z \sin b_x - \sin b_z \sin l_x \cos b_x & \cos l_z \cos b_z \\ \sin l_x \cos b_x & \sin b_z \cos l_x \cos b_x - \cos l_z \cos b_z \sin b_x & \sin l_z \cos b_z \\ \sin b_x & \cos b_z \cos b_x \sin\left(l_x - l_z\right)                      & \sin b_z \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix}x \\ y \\ z\end{bmatrix}_\text{superg} $$ The left column in this matrix is the image of the origin of the supergalactic system in the galactic system, the right column in this matrix is the image of the north pole of the supergalactic coordinates in the galactic system, and the middle column is the cross product (to complete the right-handed coordinate system).

The corresponding cartesian coordinate system allows points to be specified by coordinates (SGX, SGY, SGZ). In this system the supergalactic z-axis points towards the north supergalactic pole, the supergalactic x-axis points towards the zero point, and the supergalactic y-axis is perpendicular to both.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Supergalactic coordinate system


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Clevedon

Clevedon is a seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies along the Severn Estuary, among small hills that include Church Hill, Wain's Hill (topped by the remains of an Iron Age hill fort), Dial Hill, Strawberry Hill, Castle Hill, Hangstone Hill and Court Hill, a Site of Special Scientific Interest with overlaid Pleistocene deposits. It features in the Domesday Book of 1086. Clevedon grew in the Victorian period as a seaside resort.

Facilities and functions
The seafront has ornamental gardens, a Victorian bandstand and other attractions. Salthouse Field has a light railway running round the perimeter and is used for donkey rides in the summer. The shore consists of pebbled beaches and low rocky cliffs, with an old harbour at the western edge of the town, at the mouth of the Land Yeo. The rocky beach has been designated as the Clevedon Shore Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Clevedon Pier, which opened in 1869, is one of the earliest surviving examples of a Victorian pier. On 17 October 1970, two outward spans collapsed when the seventh set of legs from the shore failed during a routine insurance load test. A trust was eventually formed and the pier and its buildings were restored and reopened on 27 May 1989, when the Waverley paddle steamer berthed and took on passengers. Other landmarks include Walton Castle, Clevedon Court, the Clock Tower, and the Curzon Cinema.

Clevedon's light industry is located mainly in industrial estates, including Hither Green Trading Estate near the M5 motorway junction. It is a dormitory town for Bristol. The town is home to educational, religious and cultural buildings and sports clubs.

History
The name derives from the Old English, cleve meaning "cleave" or "cleft" and don meaning "hill".

Wain's Hill is an univallate Iron Age hill fort situated approximately 1 mi south-west of Clevedon. The hill fort is defined by a steep, natural slope from the south and north with two ramparts to the east.

The 1086 Domesday Book mentions Clevedon as a holding of a tenant-in-chief by the name of Mathew of Mortaigne, with eight villagers and ten smallholders. The parish of Clevedon formed part of the Portbury Hundred.

Two small rivers, the Land Yeo and Middle Yeo, supported at least two mills. The Tuck Mills lay in the fields south of Clevedon Court and were used for fulling cloth. Other mills near Wain's Hill probably date from the early 17th century.

Victorian Clevedon changed from a farming village into a popular seaside town. The Victorian craze for sea bathing was met in the late 19th century by saltwater baths next to the pier (since demolished, though foundations remain), and bathing machines on the main beach.

Clevedon was the site of St Edith's Children's Home for almost 100 years until it closed in 1974. It was run by nuns of the Community of the Sisters of the Church, an international body in the Anglican Communion living according to the Gospel values of poverty, chastity and obedience. The building on Dial Hill is listed, so that the outside has changed little, but now contains private flats.

Clevedon was served by a branch line from Yatton opened in 1847, six years after the main line, but closed in 1966. The station site is now Queen's Square, a shopping precinct. The town was headquarters also for the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway, which connected the three named coastal towns. It opened to Weston-super-Mare in 1897, was extended to Portishead ten years later, but closed in 1940. Its trains crossed the road in the town centre, known as The Triangle, preceded by a man with red and green flags.

The first large-scale production of penicillin took place in the town. In 1938 Howard Florey was working at Lincoln College, Oxford University with Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley when he read Alexander Fleming's paper on the antibacterial effects of Penicillium notatum mould. He arranged for this to be grown in deep culture tanks at the Medical Research Council's Antibiotic Research Station in Clevedon, enabling mass production of the mould for a medicine injected into forthcoming World War II soldiers suffering from infections.

Governance
The town has seven electoral wards. Their area and population are the same as mentioned above.

Clevedon falls within the non-metropolitan district of North Somerset unitary authority which replaced the Woodspring district, having formerly been part of Somerset, and between 1974 and 1996 within the county of Avon. Until 2010 the parliamentary constituency was still called Woodspring. Following the review of parliamentary representation by the Boundary Commission for England in Somerset, this seat was renamed North Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP), currently Liam Fox of the Conservative Party. It was part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament during the UK's tenure in the European Union.

The town council is based at Clevedon Town Hall, which was constructed in 1860 as a school.

Geography
Clevedon is situated on and round seven hills called Church Hill, Wain's Hill (topped by the remains of an Iron Age hill fort), Dial Hill, Strawberry Hill, Castle Hill, Hangstone hill and Court Hill, the last a Site of Special Scientific Interest. On a clear day there are far-reaching views across the Severn estuary to Wales. When visibility is good, the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel can be seen. The tidal rise and fall in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel can be as great as 14.5 m, second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada.

The seafront runs about half a mile from the pier to Salthouse Field, with ornamental gardens, a Victorian bandstand, a bowling green, tennis courts, crazy golf and other amusements. Marine Lake, once a Victorian swimming pool, is used for boating and for a small festival once a year where people can try out new sports. Salthouse Field has a light railway round its perimeter and is used for summer donkey rides.

The shore at Clevedon marries pebbled beaches and low rocky cliffs, with the old harbour at the western edge of the town, at the mouth of the Land Yeo river. There John Ashley conceived of the idea for The Mission to Seafarers. The rocky beach has been designated as Clevedon Shore geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is the side of a mineralised fault running east–west adjacent to the pier and forms a small cliff feature in dolomitic conglomerate on the north side of Clevedon Beach, containing cream to pink baryte along with sulphides. Minerals identified include haematite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, galena, tetrahedrite, bornite, pyrite, marcasite, enargite and sphalerite. Secondary alteration of this has produced idaite, Covellite and other Copper sulphides.

"Poets' Walk" is a footpath round Wain's Hill and Church Hill to the south-west of the seafront. The upper town contains many other footpaths through parks and wooded areas laid out in the 19th century. The name recalls poets who visited Clevedon, including Coleridge in 1795 and Tennyson in 1834. The local nature reserve covers Church Hill and Wain's Hill and includes calcareous grassland, coastal scrub and woodland.

Climate
Clevedon, like the rest of South West England, has a temperate climate, generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C. Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than in most of the United Kingdom due to the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest, with mean daily maxima around 21 °C. In winter, mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C or 2 °C are common. In the summer, the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, but convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. Most autumn and winter rainfall results from Atlantic depressions, at their most active in those seasons. In summer, much of the rainfall is caused by the sun heating the ground, leading to convection, showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is about 700 mm. About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August the lightest winds. The dominant wind direction is from the south-west.

Demography
The town had a population of 21,957 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001. Of these almost 20 per cent were over the age of 65 years and 98.8 per cent were white. Almost three-quarters of the population described themselves as Christian, with 17.4 per cent having no religion and another 7.3 per cent not stating any religion. Of the 15,408 people between 16 and 74, 72.4 per cent are economically active.

Economy
Clevedon has light industry, mainly on industrial estates such as Hither Green, near the M5 motorway junction. It is also a dormitory town for Bristol. The Clerical Medical pensions and investments group, part of HBOS, was based in the town on the former site of the Hales Cakes factory, but after its closure, North Somerset Council began talks on taking over the lease. Percy Daniel & Co are organ builders, whose work includes that of Brentwood Cathedral.

Yeates Removals was set up in 1910, using horses and carts for general haulage in Clevedon and surrounding areas. The company has always been run by family members.

Landmarks
Clevedon Court is on Court Hill, east of the town centre and close to the Bristol road. It is one of the few remaining 14th-century manorial halls in England, built by Sir John de Clevedon in about 1320. Since the early 18th century, the house has been owned by the Elton family, which did much building work on the house and many improvements in the town. Although the house itself now belongs to the National Trust, the associated estates are still owned by the Elton family. Sir Edmund Elton (1846–1920) was a potter at the Clevedon Elton Sunflower Pottery, who produced unusually shaped ware in richly coloured glazes, including a gold glaze of his own invention.

Walton Castle is a 17th-century fort located on Castle Hill that overlooks the Walton St Mary area at the northern end of Clevedon, built some time between 1615 and 1620. It was designed as a hunting lodge for Lord Poulett, a Somerset MP. The English Civil War saw the decline of Poulett's fortunes, and by 1791 the castle was derelict and being used as a dairy by a local farmer. In 1978, the castle was purchased for £1 by Martin Sessions-Hodge, who restored the building to its former glory.

The Royal Pier Hotel is a Grade II listed building next to the pier. It was built in 1823 by Thomas Hollyman, and originally called The Rock House. In 1868, the building was expanded by the local architect Hans Price and renamed Rock House & Royal Pier Hotel, later shortened to Royal Pier Hotel. After its closure in 2001 the building fell into disrepair, but it has since been converted into luxury apartments.

Clevedon Pier opened on Easter Monday 1869. It is now one of the earliest UK examples of a Victorian pier still in existence. After a set of legs collapsed during an insurance load check on 17 October 1970, it fell into disrepair until 1985, when it was dismantled, taken to Portishead dock for restoration, and rebuilt in 1986. In 2001, it was upgraded to a Grade-1 listed building, The Paddle Steamer Waverley and Motor Vessel Balmoral offer day trips by sea from Clevedon Pier to points along the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary. Adjoining the pier is the contemporary Toll House, built in the style of a folly castle and provided to house the pier-master.

Clevedon clock tower in the town centre is decorated with "Elton ware". It was completed in 1898 and donated by Sir Edmund Elton to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The Curzon cinema dates from 1912, for Victor Cox, and is one of the world's oldest purpose-built, continuously operated cinemas.

Clevedon Marine Lake opened in 1929. After becoming derelict and disused after the 1960s, it was restored in 2015 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The market hall on Alexandra Road was designed by the local architect Hans Price. A monument known as the "Spirit of Clevedon" was erected near the seafront to mark the Millennium. Unveiled in June 2000, the 5 ft sculpture cost £9,000. It was designed by local citizens and includes panels and plaques representing the town's history and community. Its base contains a time capsule with information on the town.

Education
Clevedon School is a secondary comprehensive school serving the town and surrounding rural areas, with some 1,200 pupils in years 7 to 11 (Lower School) and 12 to 13 (Upper School or sixth form). It has regained Language College status.

There are six primaries: Mary Elton Primary School, St John the Evangelist of Bath and Wells Academy Trust Church of England School, All Saints C of E Primary School and St Nicholas's Chantry CEVC Primary School.

Mary Elton (née Stewart of Castle Stewart) the second wife of the Reverend Sir Abraham Elton, endowed local schools in the 19th century: the Mary Elton Primary School in Holland Road, Clevedon, is named after her.

St John's the Evangelist Primary School was formerly based on the current site of Clevedon Library. It moved to its current site on the Fosseway in 1991 and was opened by Anne, Princess Royal.

Yeo Moor Primary School, opened on 19 April 2010, amalgamated infant and junior schools that shared the site. The footballer Jack Butland attended Yeo Moor School and Clevedon School.

St Brandon's School was an independent boarding school until 1991 and a co-educational infant and junior school until 2004.

A drama company, Take The Lead, from Clevedon School, has put on productions in the town.

Religious sites
There are several churches serving the town, including St. Andrew's church, built in the 13th century although there are thought to be Saxon foundations under the present building. It is the burial place of Arthur Hallam, subject of the poem In Memoriam A. H. H. by his friend Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

The Church of St John was built in 1876–1878, by William Butterfield for Sir Arthur Elton. The Church of All Saints was built in 1861 by C E Giles. The tower of Christ Church, on Chapel Hill, is an important landmark in Clevedon, erected in 1838–1839 to designs by Thomas Rickman, in an early 14th-century style.

The Copse Road Chapel is an Independent Evangelical Church, built in 1851 and attributed to Foster and Wood of Bristol, which also designed the United Reformed Church in Hill Road. The Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception is served by the Franciscan order.

Railways
The nearest railway station is Yatton on the Bristol to Exeter line, served by Great Western Railway. Clevedon was previously served by a branch line from Yatton, which closed in 1966. The site of the town station is now called the Triangle or Queen's Square. The Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway also served the town.

Sanitation
In 1863, Sir Arthur Elton, 7th Baronet of Clevedon Court was largely responsible for the creation of the Clevedon Waterworks Company, which had built the first water works and sewage treatment works in Clevedon by 1867. Features included reservoirs to the north of Dial Hill and Old Street pumping station. As the population increased, the water works proved inadequate and a new pumping station was created on Tickenham Road in 1901, some 1.2 mi to the north-east. The new site could be seen from Clevedon Court, and the 8th Baronet, Sir Edmund Elton, took exception to the designs of the engineer James Mansergh. The Waterworks Company employed the architect Henry Dare Bryan to improve the appearance of the buildings, which included the pumping station, a coal shed and store, a lodge for the foreman, and the boundary wall and gates. The original pumping station was reused as a fire station. The new pumping station contained a vertical triple-expansion engine manufactured by the Scottish company Glenfield and Kennedy. This was upgraded to a Marshal horizontal compound engine in 1916, in turn replaced in 1938, when a steam turbine was fitted. The boiler house, engine house and chimney are grade II listed, as largely unaltered buildings in Domestic Revival style, with the interior retaining its glazed tiling and elaborate roof trusses, although the machinery has been replaced by modern equipment, and the site is still operational. Clevedon Waterworks Company were one of the first of the smaller waterworks in the region to amalgamate with Bristol Water, which occurred on 1 January 1953.

At the pump house, water is extracted from a well, which is 110 ft deep. The upper 69 ft are lined with brick, and the well supplies around 990000 impgal of water to the public supply network each day.

Sport
The town's location makes water sports a feature. Clevedon Canoe Club at the marine lake facilitates sea paddling trips along the North Somerset coast on the Severn Estuary, and to other sites such as Wye Valley and Woolacombe. Nearby is Clevedon Sailing Club.

Clevedon Cricket Club, founded in 1874, competes in the West of England Premier League.

Clevedon Town Football Club dates back to the late 19th century. It was a founder member of the Western Football League, winning its championship in the 1990s. The club plays at Everyone Active Stadium, formerly Hand Stadium. Another Non-League football club, Clevedon United F.C., plays at Coleridge Vale. Swiss Valley Rangers FC, founded in 2000, are a junior football club, based at Clevedon School, that has teams from ages under 6 to ages under 18.

Clevedon Bowling Club, formed in 1910, has gained several international honours.

Other facilities include Clevedon Golf Club, with a Par 72, 6,500-yard course, Riding Centre, a Rugby Club, and several others.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Mendip TV transmitter. Because of its proximity to Wales, BBC Wales and ITV Cymru Wales can also be received from the Wenvoe TV transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Bristol, Heart West, Greatest Hits Radio South West (formerly The Breeze) and Radio Clevedon, a community based station.

The town is served by the local newspaper, North Somerset Times.

Culture
Writers linked with the town include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who spent some months in a cottage in Clevedon, after his marriage to Sara Fricker, William Makepeace Thackeray, a frequent guest of the Elton family at Clevedon Court, and George Gissing (The Odd Women is set here).

The final scene of a 1993 movie, The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Christopher Reeve, refers to Clevedon, where it was filmed. The television movie Cider with Rosie (1998) also has scenes filmed there. Scenes from the 2010 film, Never Let Me Go, starring Keira Knightley were filmed in Clevedon in the summer of 2009. Clevedon has its comic book superhero, Captain Clevedon.

Clevedon has been twinned with Ettlingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, since 1980, Épernay, France, since 1990, and Middelkerke, Belgium, since 1991.

Clevedon, in particular St Andrew's Church, was one of the settings for the town Broadchurch, a detective drama first aired on ITV on 4 March 2013.

Notable people
In birth order:
 * Edward Tyson (1651–1708), scientist and physician, is seen as the pioneer of modern comparative anatomy.
 * Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), writer and father of Hartley Coleridge, spent his honeymoon in Clevedon.
 * Jane Euphemia Saxby, (1811-1898) poet and hymn writer
 * Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849), writer and son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 * Arthur Hallam (1811–1833), poet and subject of Tennyson's elegy In Memoriam A.H.H., is buried in Clevedon.
 * Sir Arthur Elton, 7th Baronet (1818–1884), politician and local benefactor
 * Emma Jane Guyton (1825–1887, born Worboise), novelist and editor, died in Clevedon.
 * Frances Freeling Broderip (1830–1878), children's writer, died in Clevedon.
 * Mortimer Sloper Howell (1841–1925), colonial magistrate and Asiatic scholar
 * Edward Raymond Turner (1873–1903), an inventor of colour cinema
 * Sir Arthur Elton, 10th Baronet (1906–1973), pioneer documentary film maker
 * Jan Morris (1926–2020), author, travel writer and The Times journalist who participated in and announced the first ascent of Everest in 1953
 * David Bryant (1931–2020), three-times world outdoors singles bowls champion
 * Graham Tripp (born 1932), county cricketer
 * Bob Anderson (born 1947), world professional darts champion
 * Sir Clive Cowdery (born 1963), businessman in insurance and financial services
 * Brady Haran (born 1976) YouTube video producer, lives in the town.
 * John Pitts (composer) (born 1976), famed composer and beloved Clevedon School teacher, taught in the town for many years
 * Kate Reed (born 1982) British Olympic runner (Beijing 2008) 10,000 m
 * Tuppence Middleton (born 1987), film and TV actress, grew up in Clevedon.
 * Luke Spiller (born 1988), lead singer and band member of The Struts grew up in Clevedon.
 * Jack Butland (born 1993), England international and Stoke City football goalkeeper

title: Clevedon


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Corbridge

Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, 16 mi west of Newcastle and 4 mi east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.

Etymology
Corbridge was known to the Romans as something like Corstopitum or Coriosopitum, and wooden writing tablets found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda nearby suggest it was probably locally called Coria (meaning a tribal centre). According to Bethany Fox, the early attestations of the English name Corbridge "show variation between Cor- and Col-, as in the earliest two forms, Corebricg and Colebruge, and there has been extensive debate about what its etymology may be. Some relationship with the Roman name Corstopitum seems clear, however".

Roman fort and town

Coria was the most northerly town in the Roman Empire, lying at the junction of the Stanegate and Dere Street, the two most important local Roman roads.

The first fort was established c. AD 85, although there was a slightly earlier base nearby at Beaufront Red House. By the middle of the 2nd century AD, the fort was replaced by a town with two walled military compounds, which were garrisoned until the end of the Roman occupation of the site. The best-known finds from the site include the stone Corbridge Lion and the Corbridge Hoard of Roman armour and sundry other items. In Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, the town of Hunno on the Wall is probably based on Corstopitum.

The Roman Town is now managed by English Heritage on behalf of HM Government. The site has been largely excavated and features a large museum and shop. The fort is the top-rated attraction in Corbridge and is open daily between 10 and 6 in the summer and at weekends between 10 and 4 in the winter.

Buildings
The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew is thought to have been consecrated in 676. Saint Wilfrid is supposed to have had the church built at the same time as Hexham Abbey. It has been altered several times since, with a Norman doorway, and a lychgate built as a First World War memorial. The Church is built largely from stone taken from Hadrian's Wall to the north, and the entrance to the Church is through glass doors given by Rowan Atkinson (known for Blackadder and Mr. Bean) and etched in memory of his mother, a parishioner.

There are only three fortified vicarages in the county, and one of these is in Corbridge. Built in the 14th century, the Vicar's Pele is to be found in the south-east corner of the churchyard, and has walls 1.3 metres (4 ft) in thickness. The register for St Andrew's dates from 1657. Later on in the town's history, Wesleyan, Primitive and Free Methodist chapels were all built too. Even older than the Vicar's Pele is Corbridge Low Hall, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century, with one end converted to a pele tower in the 15th century. The main block was remodelled in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the building restored c. 1890. Corbridge Town Hall was designed by Frank Emley and completed in 1887.

A number of fine Victorian mansions were developed on Prospect Hill to house successful industrialists and local businessmen in the late 19th century, after the arrival of the railway facilitated commuting to Newcastle.

Border warfare
Corbridge suffered, as did many other settlements in the county, from the border warfare which was particularly prevalent between 1300 and 1700. Raids were commonplace, and it was not unusual for the livestock to be brought into the town at night and a watch placed to guard either end of the street for marauders. A bridge over the Tyne was built in the 13th century, but this original has not survived. The present bridge, an impressive stone structure with seven arches, was erected in 1674.

Governance
Corbridge is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham, Guy Opperman of the Conservative Party is the Member of Parliament.

Prior to Brexit, for the European Parliament its residents voted to elect MEP's for the North East England constituency.

For Local Government purposes it belongs to Northumberland County Council a unitary authority. An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward includes Corbridge and Sandhoe. It had a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,191. The Parish itself is run by Corbridge Parish Council which elects 10 Councillors on 4 year terms; one of them is selected by members of the council to be Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively on 1 year terms. They meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month. The Meetings take place at Corbridge Parish Hall.

Transport
Corbridge is bypassed to the north by the A69 road, linking it to Newcastle and Carlisle. It is also linked to Newcastle and the A1 by the A695 which passes about 1 mi away on the south side of the River Tyne.

The 685 and 602 bus routes link the town to Tyneside and Carlisle. Service 685 also provides a link to the town of Hexham.
 * Buses

The town is served by Corbridge railway station on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, also known as the Tyne Valley line. The line was opened in 1838, and links the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear with Carlisle in Cumbria. The line follows the course of the River Tyne through Northumberland.
 * Railway

Passenger services on the Tyne Valley Line are operated by Northern and ScotRail. The line is also heavily used for freight.

The railway station is about 1 mi away on the south side of the River Tyne.

Fairs and shows
Stagshaw Bank Fair, traditionally held on 4 July, was one of the most famous of the country fairs. It included a huge sale of stock, and was proclaimed each year by the bailiff to the Duke of Northumberland. The Northumberland County Show, an agricultural event, was held in the fields outside Corbridge each year before moving to Bywell in 2013.

The Corbridge Steam Fair and Vintage Rally is held every year in June to celebrate steam engines. There are also classic cars, trucks and tractors.

Corbridge Festival has taken place since 2011 and is usually held on the last weekend of June or the first in July. Headliners have included The Coral and Fun Lovin' Criminals. The festival now includes three stages and up to 50 bands.

A Midsummer’s Evening in Corbridge marks the summer solstice each year with performers, stalls and late night shopping in the village from 4pm to 9pm.

Each year on the first Monday in December, the village hosts Christmas in Corbridge with carol singing, food stalls and late night shopping.

Notable people

 * Born in Corbridge
 * Alan Brown (footballer) (1914–1996), professional footballer and manager
 * Graham Carr (born 1944), professional footballer, manager and scout
 * Mary Flora Bell (born 1957), woman who at age 11 was convicted of the manslaughter of two younger boys
 * Steve Bruce (born 1960), professional footballer and manager
 * John Blackburn (1923–1993), thriller writer
 * Maggie Telfer (1959–2023), health activist
 * Lived in Corbridge
 * Dame Catherine Cookson (1906–1998), author
 * Carol Malia, BBC Look North presenter
 * Rachel Unthank, Folk Musician
 * Ruth Ainsworth (1908–1984), children's writer of the "Rufty Tufty Golliwog" series

title: Corbridge


text:
National Diet Library

The National Diet Library (NDL) (国立国会図書館) is the national library of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the National Diet of Japan (国会) in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope to the United States Library of Congress.

The National Diet Library (NDL) consists of two main facilities in Tokyo and Kyoto, and several other branch libraries throughout Japan.

History
The National Diet Library is the successor of three separate libraries: the library of the House of Peers, the library of the House of Representatives, both of which were established at the creation of Japan's Imperial Diet in 1890; and the Imperial Library, which had been established in 1872 under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.

The Diet's power in pre-war Japan was limited, and its need for information was "correspondingly small." The original Diet libraries "never developed either the collections or the services which might have made them vital adjuncts of genuinely responsible legislative activity." Until Japan's defeat, moreover, the executive had controlled all political documents, depriving the people and the Diet of access to vital information. The U.S. occupation forces under General Douglas MacArthur deemed reform of the Diet library system to be an important part of the democratization of Japan after its defeat in World War II.

In 1946, each house of the Diet formed its own National Diet Library Standing Committee. Hani Gorō, a Marxist historian who had been imprisoned during the war for thought crimes and had been elected to the House of Councillors (the successor to the abolished House of Peers) after the war, spearheaded the reform efforts. Hani envisioned the new body as "both a 'citadel of popular sovereignty,'" and the means of realizing a "peaceful revolution." The Occupation officers responsible for overseeing library reforms reported that, although the Occupation was a catalyst for change, local initiative pre-existed the Occupation, and the successful reforms were due to dedicated Japanese like Hani.

The National Diet Library opened in June 1948 in the present-day State Guest-House (former Akasaka Detached Palace) with an initial collection of 100,000 volumes. The first Librarian of the Diet Library was the politician Tokujirō Kanamori. The philosopher Masakazu Nakai served as the first Vice Librarian. In 1949, the NDL merged with the National Library (previously called the Imperial Library) and became the only national library in Japan. At this time the collection gained an additional million volumes previously housed in the former National Library in Ueno.

In 1961, the NDL opened at its present location in Nagatachō, adjacent to the National Diet. In 1986, the NDL's Annex was completed to accommodate a combined total of 12 million books and periodicals. The Kansai-kan (the Kansai Library), which opened in October 2002 in the Kansai Science City (Seika Town, Sōraku County, Kyoto Prefecture), has a collection of 6 million items. In May 2002, the NDL opened a new branch, the International Library of Children's Literature, in the former building of the Imperial Library in Ueno. This branch contains some 400,000 items of children's literature from around the world.

Though the NDL's original mandate was to be a research library for the National Diet, the general public is the largest consumer of the library's services. In the fiscal year ending March 2004, for example, the library reported more than 250,000 reference inquiries; in contrast, it recorded only 32,000 requests for research from the National Diet.

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the NDL suspended library services to the public on March 5, 2020. The NDL reopened to the public on June 11, 2020, with a maximum of 200 visitors per day based on a lottery-style drawing, with prospective visitors being required to register beforehand for a chance to be selected. On June 22 2023, this restriction was lifted.

Main collection

As Japan's national library, the NDL collects copies of all publications published in Japan. Moreover, because the NDL serves as a research library for Diet members, their staff, and the general public, it maintains an extensive collection of materials published in foreign languages on a wide range of topics.

Important special collections
The NDL also has eight major specialized collections: Modern Political and Constitutional History; Materials Concerning the Postwar Occupation of Japan; Laws and Preliminary Records; Science and Technology; Maps; Music; Foreign Books About Japan; and Rare Books.

Modern political and constitutional history
The Modern Political and Constitutional History Collection comprises some 300,000 items related to Japan's political and legal modernization in the 19th century, including the original document archives of important Japanese statesmen from the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century like Itō Hirobumi, Iwakura Tomomi, Sanjō Sanetomi, Mutsu Munemitsu, Terauchi Masatake, and other influential figures from the Meiji (1868–1912) and Taishō (1912–1926) periods.

Materials concerning the postwar occupation of Japan
The NDL has an extensive microform collection of some 30 million pages of documents relating to the Occupation of Japan after World War II. This collection include the documents prepared by General Headquarters (GHQ) and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP), the Far Eastern Commission (FEC), and the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Team. (The originals of these documents are in the possession of the United States National Archives.)

Laws and preliminary records
The Laws and Preliminary Records Collection consists of some 170,000 Japanese and 200,000 foreign-language documents concerning proceedings of the National Diet and the legislatures of some 70 foreign countries, and the official gazettes, statutes, judicial opinions, and international treaties pertaining to some 150 foreign countries.

Science and technology
The NDL maintains a collection of some 530,000 books and booklets and 2 million microform titles relating to the sciences. These materials include, among other things, foreign doctoral dissertations in the sciences, the proceedings and reports of academic societies, catalogues of technical standards, etc.

Maps
The NDL has a collection of approximately 440,000 maps of Japan and other countries, including the topographical, geological, and hydrological maps and charts dating back to the early Meiji period (1868–1912) and topographical maps of foreign countries.

Music
The NDL collects all phonographic recordings made in Japan, and presently holds a collection comprising 300,000 vinyl records and 200,000 compact disks.

Foreign books about Japan
Following the tradition established by the Imperial Library, the NDL collects foreign-language materials about Japan, including rare and ancient documents, such as reports of European missionaries visiting Japan in the 16th century.

Rare books and old materials

The NDL houses the former Imperial Library's collection of Japanese language materials from the Edo period (1603–1867) and earlier periods. The major catalogues in this collection include: (1) some 6,000 documents relating to the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), such as records of town magistrates, the shogunal Supreme Court, and the Jisha-bugyō (Commissioners of Shrines and Temples), as well as documents concerning the succession of shōguns; (2) the Itō Bunko and Shirai Bunko, consisting of 8,000 handwritten and woodblock printed books dating from the Edo and Meiji periods and concerning Japanese medicine; and (3) the Shinjo Bunko, consisting of 11,000 examples of pre-modern writings on astronomy and calendars, in addition to ancient Chinese works on the Qing dynasty, genealogy, and local history.

The Kansai-Kan
Kansai-kan (Kansai Library), which opened in Kyoto Prefecture in 2002, is the second facility of the NDL.

The NDL has transferred the following collections to the Kansai-kan: most western periodicals; books and other materials in non-Japanese Asian languages; certain scientific and technological materials (technical reports, papers of foreign academic societies, catalogs of Japanese and foreign technical standards, foreign doctoral dissertations, and conference proceedings in Western languages); scientific research reports compiled under grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; Japanese doctoral dissertations; and books on tape.

National Diet Library online resources
The National Diet Library has in recent years compiled a detailed website in both Japanese and English. Its online databases consist of the National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog (NDL-OPAC), National Diet Library Digital Collections and the Minutes of the Imperial Diet and National Diet.

National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog (NDL-OPAC)
The NDL provides an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), by which users can search the NDL's entire collection from anywhere in the world in either English or Japanese. Using OPAC to identify sources and catalog numbers, overseas users may obtain certain materials from the NDL through interlibrary loan. In addition, the NDL provides a fee-based reproduction service for scholars residing overseas. As of June 2017 NDL-OPAC is planned to end at the end of December 2017 and new online services will be launched.

National Diet Library Digital Collections
NDL Digital Collections provinces various online materials such as rare books, audio-visual materials and the materials whose copyrights has expired. The contents consisting of Digital Library from the Meiji Era and Rare Books Image Database (to be mentioned later) are now availablable on NDL Digital Collections. NDL Digitalized Contents was renamed to be NDL Digital Collections in 2014.

Digital Library from the Meiji Era
One of the most important features of the NDL's website is the Digital Library of the Meiji Era (近代デジタルライブラリー). The Digital Library is the digital descendant of the Maruzen Meiji Microfilm, the product of an ambitious project to microfilm the NDL's entire collection of Meiji era books, a collection of some 60,000 volumes. The digital library contains actual images of these works, which are divided into ten main categories based on Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC) : (0) general (総記); (1) philosophy (哲学); (2) history (歴史); (3) social sciences (社会科学); (4) natural sciences (自然科学); (5) engineering and manufacturing (工学・工業); (6) industry (産業); (7) arts and athletics (芸術・体育); (8) language (語学); and (9) literature (文学). The images are not coded, so text searches are not possible; however, Japanese-language searches for the title, author, publisher, subject, and table of contents of the works in the database are possible. Meiji period periodicals are not included in this collection. Digital Library from the Meiji Era was merged into NDL Digital Collections in 2015.

Rare Books Image Database
The NDL's website also contains the Rare Books Image Database (貴重書画像データベース) a collection of digital images from 37,000 illustrated books published before the Edo Period. Japanese-language searches by title, author, and call-number are possible in this database. Rare Books Image Database was integrated into NDL Digitalized Contents (now NDL Digital Collections) in 2012.

Minutes of the Imperial Diet and National Diet
The NDL provides a database of the minutes of both the Imperial Diet and the National Diet, the only one of the NDL's online database that is full-text searchable. All minutes from the National Diet's inception in May 1947 through the present are searchable online. At present, only minutes from the last two (91st and 92nd) sessions of the Imperial Diet (November 1946 through May 1947) are available.

Japan Search
Japan Search is a web portal launched on 25 August 2020 and operated by the NDL for integrated searches across multiple databases hosted by the various partner organizations. As of March 2023, the service worked with 38 aggregators and drew on over 28 million items of data from 198 databases.

Standards
In addition to its library services, the organization is also involved in standard activities in areas related to bibliographical and search and retrieve standards. Areas of work include, National Diet Library Dublin Core Metadata Description (DC-NDL), and National Diet Library Linked Open Data (NDL LOD).

title: National Diet Library


text:
Mary Devenport O'Neill

Mary Devenport O'Neill (3 August 1879 – 1967) was an Irish poet and dramatist and a friend and colleague of W. B. Yeats, George Russell, and Austin Clarke.

Early life and education
Mary Devenport O'Neill was born Mary Devenport on 3 August 1879 in Barrack Street, Loughrea, County Galway. She was the daughter of RIC sub-constable, John Devenport, and his wife Bridget (née Burke). She attended the Dominican convent, Eccles Street, Dublin before enrolling in the Metropolitan School of Art from 1898 to 1903. In 1900 she won the year's prize in the School of Art. She appears to have considered teaching as a career, as she is listed on the college register as a teacher in training from 1901 to 1903. It was while an art student that she started to correspond with the writer she admired, Joseph O'Neill. Their relationship developed, and the couple married on 19 June 1908, settling in Kenilworth Square, Dublin.

Career
Many of her husband's friends disapproved of her modern and unconventional ideas, but she was popular with "the Rathgar Group" who attended George Russell's Sunday salons. After a few years, O'Neill established her own salon referred to as "Thursdays at home", attended by Russell, Padraic Colum, W. B. Yeats, Richard Irvine Best, Frank O'Connor, Francis Stuart and Iseult Gonne. She became particularly close to Yeats, who she confided in. Yeats recorded their weekly consultations in his diary while working on A Vision (1925). In his Oxford anthology of English verse from 1936, he included one of O'Neill's poems. In 1917, she contributed lyrics to her husband's play The kingdom maker. She published her only book in 1929, Prometheus and other poems. After this she occasionally contributed primarily modernist plays and poetry to The Dublin Magazine, The Irish Times and The Bell. O'Neill collaborated with Austin Clarke from the Lyric Theatre Company on her plays Bluebeard (1933) and Cain (1945).

Later life
O'Neill suffered with poor health, which saw her and her husband spending extended periods in the south of France and Switzerland. They sold their home in Dublin in August 1950 and moved to Nice, with the intention of settling there. However, due to rapidly depleting finances they were forced to return to Ireland in April 1951. From then they rented a cottage in Wicklow from their friend Con Curran. When her husband died in 1953, O'Neill went to live with relatives in Dublin. She died there in 1967.

title: Mary Devenport O'Neill


text:
Ron McDole

Roland Owen McDole (born September 9, 1939) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Early life
McDole graduated from DeVilbiss High School in Toledo, Ohio in 1957.

Buffalo Bills
McDole played at left defensive end for the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League from 1963 to 1970 after spending the 1962 season with the AFL's Houston Oilers, anchoring the left side of the Bills' great defensive line.

The Bills finished tied with the Boston Patriots for the AFL's Eastern Division title in 1963, losing the playoff game to the Pats. They would win the division for the next three years, together with two American Football League championships, in 1964 and in 1965. McDole and his defensive linemates (left tackle Jim Dunaway, right tackle Tom Sestak, and right end Tom Day) held the opposition without a rushing touchdown in 17 straight games over the 1964–1965 seasons. McDole was the defensive team captain during those years, an AFL All-Star in 1965 and 1967. He was selected to the All-Time All-AFL second team.

Washington Redskins
From 1971 through 1978, McDole was a key defensive player at left defensive end for the NFL Washington Redskins, under head coach George Allen from 1971 to 1977, and, in his final year, under head coach Jack Pardee. By that time, he was quite slow, not a big threat as a pass-rusher, but very stout against the run, rarely out of position, and quick to seize opportunities for turnovers. In 1972, the Redskins won the NFC championship game of the 1972–73 NFL playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys, when they limited the Cowboys to 3 points, 96 rushing yards on 21 carries, and, despite Roger Staubach as their quarterback, to 73 net passing yards, as McDole held his own against the opposing right offensive tackle, Rayfield Wright, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. However, the team lost Super Bowl VII to the Miami Dolphins, though the defense gave up just 253 total net yards and allowed only 14 points.

Career
McDole has the most interceptions ever by a lineman, with 12. He is also ranked #44 on the all-time list of games played in the NFL.

Personal
Teammate Sonny Jurgensen gave him the nickname "The Dancing Bear" after showing off his moves at a Georgetown nightspot.

title: Ron McDole