TODAY IN HISTORY | May 1st

TODAY’S TOPICS

• 1709 - The Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe Opens

• 1851 - First Public Flushing Toilets

  Extras

  The Face Alphabet👄

  Sky Burial🦅

  Ticket to Valhalla🪓

  Easter Island Bodies🗿

1709 Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe

In colonial New Spain—modern-day Mexico—the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe had become a central part of local Catholic devotion. According to tradition, in December 1531, a Nahua man named Juan Diego saw a vision of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, near Mexico City. She spoke to him in his native Nahuatl language and asked that a church be built on that spot in her honor. When Juan Diego relayed the message to church officials, they demanded proof. Days later, he returned with roses in his cloak—an unusual sight in winter—and when he opened it, an image of the Virgin was miraculously imprinted inside.

That image became known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, and devotion to her quickly grew among both indigenous and Spanish communities. A small shrine was first built at the site soon after the event, followed by a more substantial church. But as the number of pilgrims increased over the decades, a larger, more formal church became necessary. Construction on a new basilica began in the late 17th century near the original site on Tepeyac Hill.

On May 1, 1709, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe officially opened to the public. The building was larger and more ornate than the previous structures and was designed to accommodate the growing crowds of worshippers who visited the shrine each year. The miraculous tilma (cloak) of Juan Diego, which bore the image of the Virgin, was moved into the new basilica for public veneration. From that point on, the basilica became one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the Americas.

Over time, the site would only grow in significance. In 1976, due to structural concerns with the original 1709 basilica, a new modern basilica was built nearby to hold even more visitors, but the old one remains preserved as a historical site. The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is now a major part of Mexican identity and Catholic faith, and her image is recognized around the world. But it was in 1709, with the opening of the first grand basilica, that her legacy as a central religious figure truly took on lasting physical form.

🤖 Ai Depiction of Event

1851 The First Public Flushing Toilet

By the mid-19th century, London was one of the most populous cities in the world—but sanitation hadn't kept pace with urban growth. Most people still relied on chamber pots, cesspits, or public bathrooms that were often dirty, smelly, and overcrowded. Indoor plumbing was a luxury reserved for the wealthy, and public access to clean and private sanitation was practically nonexistent. Health problems tied to poor waste disposal, like cholera outbreaks, were becoming more frequent, and modern solutions were desperately needed.

A major turning point came with the Great Exhibition of 1851, held at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. The exhibition was designed to showcase Britain’s industrial progress, and one of the innovations on display was the public flushing toilet system. Designed by English plumber George Jennings, these toilets were installed in the exhibition’s restrooms and connected to a working sewage and water system. For the first time, members of the general public could use a flushing toilet in a clean, supervised setting.

The toilets were a hit. Over the course of the exhibition, more than 800,000 people used the public bathroom, paying a penny per visit—a fee that covered the use of the toilet, a towel, a comb, and even a shoe-shine. This is where the phrase “to spend a penny” as a euphemism for going to the bathroom is believed to have originated. More importantly, the success of Jennings’ toilets proved that clean, public sanitation could be both practical and popular, helping to shift attitudes toward personal hygiene and public health.

After the exhibition, Jennings continued to advocate for improved sanitation in British cities, and more public toilets were built throughout the country. His designs influenced later developments in plumbing and urban infrastructure. The introduction of the flushing public toilet in 1851 wasn’t just a convenience—it was part of a broader shift toward modern urban living, and it laid the groundwork for the sanitary standards we expect today.

🤖 Ai Depiction of Event

The Face Alphabet👄
Hangul, the Korean alphabet, wasn’t just thrown together — it was scientifically designed in the 15th century to match the shape of the mouth and tongue when speaking. Created by King Sejong the Great in 1443, Hangul was meant to make reading and writing simple and accessible, especially for commoners who struggled with the complex Chinese characters used at the time. The coolest part? The basic consonants are shaped like your speech organs:
ㄱ for the back of the tongue hitting the soft palate; ㄴ for the tongue touching the front of the roof of your mouth; ㅁ for closed lips. It’s not just a writing system — it’s a linguistic blueprint of how Korean sounds are physically made.🧠✍️💬

Sky Burial🦅
In ancient Persia, particularly among followers of Zoroastrianism, the dead weren’t buried underground or set on fire — they were left atop stone towers called Towers of Silence to be picked clean by vultures. Why? Zoroastrians believed that corpses were ritually impure and would pollute the sacred elements — earth, fire, or water — if buried or cremated. So, they turned to the sky. The body would be laid out on a high platform, and nature would take its course. Vultures acted as spiritual janitors, stripping away the flesh and leaving only bones, which were later placed in a central well within the tower. It might sound grim, but to Zoroastrians, it was a respectful and ecologically efficient send-off — no graves, no smoke, just a return to nature by air mail. 🦅📦🌌

Ticket To Valhalla🪓
To the Vikings, dying peacefully in bed wasn’t an honorable ending — it was kind of embarrassing, actually. The only way to earn a spot in Valhalla, the majestic warrior afterlife, was to die gloriously in battle. Valhalla was Odin’s hall — a massive, heavenly mead hall where the bravest warriors (called einherjar) would feast, fight, and party forever. But not just anyone got in. You had to go down swinging. Those who died with courage on the battlefield were chosen by Valkyries, Odin’s shield-maiden scouts, who’d scoop up the fallen and carry them off to the afterlife. No epic death? No Valhalla. You might end up in Hel, which is Greek equivalent the Christian “Hell” — except the Greek version is FREEZING cold. So for a Viking, the goal wasn’t just to survive — it was to die well, axe in hand, reputation intact, and a table waiting in the halls of the gods. 🍗⚔️🍻

Easter Island Bodies🗿
Those famous Easter Island statues, or moai, are often shown as just giant heads — but here's the twist: many of them have full bodies buried underground. Carved by the Rapa Nui people between 1100 and 1500 CE, these stone giants can stand up to 33 feet tall, and a lot of them were partially buried over time by natural erosion, volcanic ash, and sediment. When archaeologists started digging in, they found torsos, arms, hands, and even carvings and symbols along the bodies' backs — things you’d never see from the surface. So no, they’re not just heads. They’re full-blown statues that have been shoulder-deep in dirt for centuries. Which makes Easter Island not just mysterious, but basically the world’s largest accidental game of peekaboo. 🗿🤯🫣💀💍🖋️

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