The day is also known as “Ma Ri” (the day of horse).

Today is the Sixth day of lunar new year. According to the legend, the ghost of poverty is a son of Zhuan Xu (an emperor among the Three Emperor and Five Sovereigns in ancient China).

 He was short and weak, and liked wearing ragged clothes and eating poor porridge. Even when people presented him with new clothes, he would not wear it until he ripped it apart or burn it. So, he got the name of “the man of poverty”, and with time passing by, he gradually became the ghost of poverty.

Also, according to tradition, families should clean their toilets because the God of toilets will come to inspect the cleanliness of your bathroom.

In the agriculture society, before plumbing, Chinese farmers called someone to clean the manure pit every 3 to 5 days. This is the day to clean the manure pit (Man it always sucks when you have to clean the manure pit.)


It's National Tortellini Day



And it has something to do with Venus di Milo's belly button


February 13, 1932 -
The Our Gang short, Free Eats premiered on this date. This marked the introduction of George "Spanky" McFarland to the Our Gang comedies.



He and his brother Tommy auditioned for Our Gang in the Spring of 1931, with Spanky passing a screen test easily. Tommy also appeared in many Our Gang film in bit roles.


February 13th, 1966 -
The Rolling Stones returned for their third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date.







Their performances had been taped the day before.


February 13, 1972 -
Bob Fosse's film version of the musical Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey premiered on this date.



British author Christopher Isherwood, who originated the character of Sally Bowles in his short story Goodbye to Berlin, enjoyed the attention the movie Cabaret brought to his career, but felt Liza Minnelli was too talented for the role. Sally, an amateur talent who lived under the delusion she had star quality, was, according to Isherwood, the antithesis of "Judy Garland's daughter".


Today in History:
On February 13, 1542, Henry VIII of England's Vth wife, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery on this date.



Given the track record of Henry's other wives, one would have figured out marrying Henry was not a career with a lot of advancement possibilities.


On February 13, 1883, German composer and posthumous Hitler idol Richard Wagner, best known for writing the soundtrack to Apocalypse Now, died on this date.





Almost exactly eleven years later (February 12, 1894), Hans von Bulow, German pianist and composer, and the first husband of Wagner's wife Cosima, also died on this date.


February 13, 1945 -
An estimated 135,000 people, mostly women and children, died in the firebombing of the 13th-century city of Dresden, a revenge bombing that had no real military justification, which had begun on this date.



Kurt Vonnegut was one of just seven American prisoners of war in Dresden to survive, in an underground meatpacking cellar known as Slaughterhouse Five.


February 13, 1950 -
 ... Chauffeur me! I will chauffeur you!...





Peter Gabriel, singer, was born on this date.


February 13, 1953 -
Transsexual Christine (formerly George) Jorgenson arrived in New York with much fanfare on this date.



She had had sex change operations performed in Denmark by Dr. Christian Hamburger, becoming the first successful surgical transgender. Upon return, she became a cabaret actress
.


The excess parts of George went on to become the other half of the famous East German TV Comedy Duo, Gunther and Smeckel.


February 13, 1959 -
Barbara Millicent Roberts, noted American Idol contestant, Ballerina, Fashion model, Movie producer, Movie star, Rock star, Radio City Music Hall Rockette, Aerobics instructor, Olympic gymnast, Olympic figure skater, Tennis star, WNBA basketball player, Dentist, Medical doctor, Nurse, Pediatrician, Surgeon, Veterinarian, United States Army officer,United States President, UNICEF Summit diplomat, Ambassador for world peace, Firefighter, Police officer, Canadian Mountie, Astronaut, Flight Attendant ( for both American Airlines & Pan Am ), NASCAR driver, Pilot, Cowgirl, Chef, Paleontologist, McDonald's Front Desk and Flight Attendent, etc. was introduced by Mattel in California on this date.



What have you done with your life? (There is some debate whether or not today or March 9th is actually her birthday.)


February 13, 1960-
France conducted its first nuclear test, code-named “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Desert Rat). The day marked the beginning of a series of four atmospheric nuclear tests at the Reganne Oasis, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.



The test also sets France on the path to building the country’s nuclear capacity, acquiring nuclear aircraft, missiles and submarines. France is happy to remind it's neighbor, Germany, that she has the bomb and Germany does not.


February 13, 1961 -
Henry Lawrence Garfield (Henry Rollins), singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, stand-up comedian, author, actor, activist and publisher, was born on this date.



And he will mess you up if you don't believe he is a sensitive soul.


February 13, 2004 -
Astronomers announced the discovery of the largest "diamond" in the universe on this date.  The diamond was actually a white dwarf star which was found to be very similar in composition to a diamond.



It was nicknamed "Lucy" after the Beatles' hit Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.



And so it goes.