November 25th (tomorrow) is Windmill Blessing Day. In days of old, many millers in Holland would bless their windmills on or around this date each year.
Did you know that the millers of the windmills had a system of secret communication. By positioning the blades of the mill in specific configurations their neighbors would be told if - a child had been born, a death had occurred. During the war Denmark was invaded by Germany. The millers increased their ‘vocabulary’ of blade positions to warn neighbors of German troop movement. It became a silent ‘underground communication’ that went unnoticed by the German invaders. So Blessings to the windmills who helped to win their country’s freedom.
This is so interesting, @Berta! I had never heard of communication by windmill nor windmill blessings before- thanks so much for sharing it! It reminds me a bit of how lighthouse keepers communicate to ships with nothing but flashes of light My family used to maintain a lighthouse a generation back, and I know there’s a whole series of signals but all I remember is:
1 flash
4 flashes
3 flashes
Is the signal for “I love you” in lighthouse communication
I didn’t know 143 was a meme too- that’s awesome! Curious which came first… makes me wonder, while reminding me of yet another meme: does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?