January 25 | Marjan the Lion

1976? - January 25, 2002: Age approx. 25

Marjan was a famous lion in Kabul, Afghanistan, who lived through the Soviet invasion, numerous coups d'état, the rule of the Taliban, and the War on Terror.

In about 1978, he was given to the Kabul zoo as a gift from the Cologne Zoo. He was two at the time. Soon afterward he was joined by a lioness, Chucha. Just a year later, in 1979, the Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan: fortunately for Marjan and Chucha, Kabul was not badly damaged. However when the Soviets left, civil war broke out between rival factions. Kabul, being a major point of control, was hit hard. Gunfire and rocket fire became a routine occurence at the zoo.

But it was not until 1993 that Marjan nearly met his end: an Afghan soldier, eager to show off his valour, entered the lion cage and began to stroke Chucha. She ignored him, but Marjan mauled him to death. The man's brother came to the zoo the next day and threw a grenade into Marjan's cage. Marjan jumped on it, and was horribly wounded. After several surgeries the doctors were able to limit the damage to losing an eye, his hearing, and all his teeth. They also adapted the enclosure to help him move around, as he needed a ramp to get into his den.

His troubles were not over. When the Taliban took control of Kabul, they began to torment few surviving animals at the zoo until it was pointed out that Mohammed had loved animals and kept pets.

In 2000 Chucha died, leaving Marjan in deep grief: he did not eat for a week. With the "War on Terror", US attacks commenced in 2001: there was no money to pay the zoo staff but they continued to work, and a local butcher made sure Marjan was supplied with food.

Finally in November 2001 the plight of Marjan and the other zoo animals became known outside of Afghanistan, and donations poured in. At the time Marjan was weak and thin but, thanks to his stalwart keepers, in good health. In January, however, after a parasite treatment, he suddenly declined, and died sometime during the night of January 25, 2002. At 25, he was nearly 90 in lion years.

Sources: Wikipedia, Find-a-Grave

January 7 | Shiva the tiger

August 1981 - January 7, 2000: Age 18

Shiva the tiger was famous for one thing in his life: in January 1996 he struck a blow for zoo animals everywhere when he lashed out at two drunk men who had crossed into his zoo enclosure. According to a witness, "I was shocked to see the two young men weaving about in front of a tiger with garlands in their hands." They apparently intended to put the garlands around the tiger's neck: they were said to be devotees of the goddess Durga, and wanted to worship the animal.

When one threw the garland around Shiva's neck, the tiger attacked him. His friend kicked the tiger in the face, causing it to release the first man and attack him. "I saw it all; the tiger turned and jumped on the other young man and put its head on the man's neck, and within moments, the man was apparently dead, his head dangling."

Shiva died of old age on January 7, 2000. He was 18 years and 5 months, considered a rather long life for a tiger. He had lived at the zoo since the age of two.

I selected this story months ago: it is a sad coincidence that just this Christmas a similar incident happened, although it is not clear yet whether or not alcohol or bad behaviour on the part of the humans was involved.

December 6 | Saint Nicholas

270? - December 6, 343: Age 73?

Yes! It's true! Santa Claus died on this day!

Nicholas' parents were were affluent Christians in what is now Turkey in a Greek city, Patara. Nicholas himself was an extremely pious infant. Legend has it that he carefully observed canonical feasts by abstaining from his mother's breasts on the appropriate days.

His parents died when he was quite young, and he devoted his inheritance to charitable works. The most famous story has it that he heard of an affluent man who had lost all of his money, including the dowry for his three daughters. The daughters had no prospects of marriage, and were facing life working in a brothel if something didn't change in the family fortunes. When Nicholas heard of this, he took a bag of gold, snuck up to the man's house at night, and threw it in the window. The man used the gold as a dowry, and married off his eldest daughter. Later, Nicholas returned and threw a second bag of gold into the house. Finally, with the third daughter, the father secretly kept watch, caught Nicholas in the act, showered him with thanks, and told the world what a great guy he was. This act of secret giving, combined with the proximity of his Saint-Day to Christmas has, through a complex series of transformations, given rise to the modern-day stories of Santa Claus as a bringer of gifts on Christmas Eve.

For his help to the poor, Nicholas became the patron saint of pawnbrokers. These three bags of gold morphed into the three golden balls that you see hanging outside pawnbrokers' shops in pre-literate days. He is also the saint of sailors and all things nautical, the patron saint of Greece, and the patron of children and students.

This latter association is probably because of another story: during a famine, an innkeeper caught and killed three children, pickling them in a tub of brine with the intention of selling them as ham. Nicholas found the three children and brought them back to life: this is seen in some of his statues showing three infants in a tub at his feet. Another version of the story has the three victims as adults, possibly the origin of the English legend of Sweeney Todd, the barber who murdered his customers and gave them to his girlfriend to bake into pies for her shop. Anyway, these three lucky people, whatever age they were, were revived by St. Nicholas.

Nicholas became the Bishop of the city of Myra. He was one of the participants in the First Council of Nicaea, a pivotal meeting of the Christian world that resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. The was a great controversy at the time about whether Christ was of the same substance as his Father, or whether he was simply a creation of his Father. Arius, a priest from Alexandria, espoused the latter view, which was voted down, and perhaps Saint Nicholas' contribution to the argument had an influence on that decision: he became so enraged by Arius' views that he rushed over to him and boxed his ears. (I had to look that up: it usually means striking someone on both ears at the same time. I bet it hurts.)

Nicholas' death is unusual in two respects. One, he died an old man in his bed: very unusual for a saint. Most of the early saints died in an untimely way in horrible torment. Two, his body stayed in one piece, we think. Getting the knuckle of a major saint could turn a small cathedral into a place of pilgrimage, bringing in tourists and boosting local trade. Thus most saints' bodies did not stay together, but were distributed/traded/sold for maximum merit/influence/profit. Originally his body was kept at Myra, but when the city was overtaken by Muslims some enterprising Italians "liberated" the remains, taking them to Bari, in Apulia, Italy. They have stayed there every since, oozing an oily substance known as "Manna di S. Nicola". They were examined by scientists in 1950 who concluded that Nicholas was a short man, only about 5 feet tall, and had a broken nose. Maybe Arius hit him back.

If you're wondering how the name "St. Nicholas" morphed into "Santa Claus", it was through the Germanic form of "Nicholas", which is "Klaus" (dropping the first syllable and eliding the second and third). The Dutch tradition of "Sinterklaas", based on St. Nicholas, came to North American through New Amsterdam (now New York) in the 17th century. The gift-giving, child-oriented stories of St. Nicholas are common to all Christian cultures, so the tradition was easily adopted by Christian people as they arrived in the United States.

Sources: Wikipedia, Catholic Online

October 23 | Soong May-Ling

1897 - October 23, 2003: Age 106

She was born in Shanghai in Imperial China, one of six children in the family of a Chinese Methodist minister and Bible salesman. She was educated in America, a young Chinese woman graduating with honours during the First World War. Through her husband she ruled China, then Taiwan, before retiring at his death. Her experience spanned three centuries and two millenia.

Soong May-Ling was the wife, muse, advisor, goad, and best friend of Chiang Kai-Shek, the man who ruled China until his defeat at the hands of Mao Tse-Tung in 1949. Soong and Chiang went to Taiwan, where he became President. Between then and 1975, when Chiang died, Soong gained more and more influence both in Taiwan and internationally.

When Chiang died, he was succeeded by his eldest son by a previous marriage, who was not friendly to Soong. She moved to Long Island, where her family had an estate, and then in 2000 to an apartment in Manhattan, where black-suited bodyguards cleared the lobby every time she went through. She was popularly known as "The Dragon Lady". She died peacefully in her apartment on October 23, 2003, at age 106.

Source: Wikipedia

September 5 | Sarah Winchester

September 1839 - September 5, 1922: Age 83


I begin this entry with a picture of a house because this is what makes Sarah Winchester interesting. Heiress to the family fortune of the gun manufacturer, Sarah's only daughter died as a baby and her husband died of tuberculosis 15 years later. Sarah consulted a medium who advised her that the spirits of all the people killed with Winchester rifles were angry at her family, that her daughter and husband were taken in revenge, but that she herself would be protected if she bought a house and expanded it continually. So long as construction continued, she would not die.

The spirits misled her: she did die — 38 years after she bought the house and started construction. You can get a lot of building done in 38 years: in this case a really weird house with 160 rooms and some very odd construction details (stairs that go nowhere, windows in floors, a door that leads to an 8-foot drop into a sink, etc.). Needless to say she designed it all herself. She believed that spider webs and the number 13 were lucky and so both those motifs are prominent in the decor — an odd choice for someone afraid of spirits.

She died in her sleep at the age of 85 in 1922. When the workers heard she was dead, they stopped, "even to the extent of leaving nails hammered in part way". Her safe contained locks of her daughter's and husband's hair, copies of their obituaries, and her will, written in 13 parts and signed 13 times. She left all her furniture to her niece, most of which was sold: it took eight truckloads a day for six and one half weeks to remove it all. The house was then sold and turned into a tourist attraction: see the website here for more pictures.

Sources: Find-A-Grave, About Famous People, Winchester Mystery House