Today, Japan commemorates Sen no Rikyu. Born in 1522, he was one of the most influential tea masters of Japan. Rikyu emphasized the wabi aesthetic, which stressed rusticity and simplicity in the tea ceremony and tearoom. 

Born in 1879 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourgish-American  photographer.

Above: The Pond-Moonlight, 1904

In 1971 East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.

The Feast of the Annunciation.

Image: The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1898)

Born in 1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer.

Above: White Sands, 1946

Born in 1935 – M. Emmet Walsh, American actor.

Above: Walsh in Blood Simple.

Born in 1880 – Hans Hofmann, a German-born American painter.

Above: Combinable Wall, 1961

Born in 1928 – Fred Rogers, American television host.

Born in 1874 – Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian philosopher.

“It is equally true to say that the place of the Son of God is in the heart and that his place is on Golgotha. This is the world’s tragedy. The paradox of the cross is that it is born of the world’s evil, and it is the world’s salvation from evil.”

In 1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled Tibet for India.