Calendar Entry #3: Yom Ha'atzmaut & Thargelia

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays.  

 

Yom Ha'atzmaut 

Yom Ha'atzmaut is Israel's Independence Day and it celebrates the declaration of the state of Israel by The Jewish Leadership led by the then future Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, on 14 May 1948.   It occurs annually on or around the 5th of Iyar.  Iyar is the 8th month of the civil year and the 2nd month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar.   

Due to the custom of beginning celebrations at sundown on the previous day, it was decided in 2004 that if the 5th of Iyar is a Monday, then the holiday will move to the Tuesday.  Therefore, while Yom Ha'atzmaut should be set for Monday, it is actually observed and celebrated on Tuesday 10 May this year.

Thargelia

Thargelia is an Athenian festival to celebrate the birthdays of Artemis and Apollo, held on the 6th and 7th of Thargelion.  Now unfortunately my research has shown that the actual timing of this would put the dates later in May, around the 20th and 21st or the 24th and 25th depending on where you look.

The festival is mainly for Apollo, and is basically an agricultural festival where first fruits were offered to Apollo, but it was also a time when the city of Athens, or rather its inhabitants, underwent a cathartic rite of purification.

On the first day of the festival two men (there are some references that state a man and a woman) were chosen to represent the men and women of Athens.  They were usually criminals or outcasts or deemed the ugliest.  They took on the role of the pharmakos (scapegoat) and after being fed, dressed/decorated in figs and led through the city (there are some reports that say they were beaten with green sticks during this procession) they were then cast out or exiled.   It is said that during times of great strife (such as a plague or famine), the pharmakos were actually put to death.  Accounts vary, but they were either burnt on a funeral pyre with their ashes scattered at sea, stoned to death or thrown into the sea alive.  The sacrifice of the pharmakos (either in being expelled from the city or in death) was meant to purify the residents of Athens of their communal guilt.

The second day of the festival was a much more celebratory affair.  There were offerings of thanks to Apollo, a procession, and an agon or competition of sorts, where the winner was awarded a tripod that he had to dedicate in the temple of Apollo.  This was also the day that families would undertake the solemn registration of adopted children, where the children were officially given the genos and phratria of their adoptive parents.  From what I've read, although not extensively, it looks to be sort of like hapu and iwi, or clan and tribe of the family.  I'm not 100% on that so if you've studied Classics and can clarify the terms, then please do.  :)

Samhain, As Celebrated By Us

Saturday 30th April was Samhain for those of us in New Zealand.

Having been off Sabbats for a while, it was nice to have one of our group ask if she could do a ritual. The night before, I picked a pumpkin from my garden to make pumpkin soup from for our dinner after ritual. Two of our group were visiting, and on a whim, we decided to make a Jack O'Lantern with our pumpkin, not having any idea just how hard it could be to scoop firm pumpkin flesh out of a too small hole (the lid). This is why our pumpkin got four faces. Still, we had a fun night carving pumpkin faces while watching the Royal Wedding.

The ritual rocked. We each wrote a letter to the people we were hurt by, or upset or angry at. We laid it out as if we were speaking to them, and these letters were burned in our ritual fire, releasing the negative emotions that were eating at us. Then one at a time we went around our circle, offering good wishes and blessings for each other. All the while the others not currently involved were singing and chanting:

We are the old people,
We are the new people,
We are the same people, stronger than before,
Stronger than before,
Stronger than before,
We are the same people, stronger than before.

We are the old people,
We are the new people,
We are the same people, wiser than before,
Wiser than before,
Wiser than before,
We are the same people, wiser than before.

The singing and chanting got a bit silly (and headbangy) as the energy flowed more strongly around the circle, but it was a lot of fun and a very moving ritual.

After feasting, we kept going back to the ritual area as it got dark. Boris (as we'd named our pumpkin) looked awesome with his candle burning through his faces. It was kinda eerie to see his face through the trees. This was also the best time for some dark mirror scrying, some had surprising visions while others saw nothing.



This was our first Sabbat celebrated as a group with a ritual, and it was a success. Luana's cloak hanging on the trellis ensured that she was there with us.
Now we look forward to Winter Solstice!

Calendar Entry #2: Day of the Children of Nut

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays.

AKA - Day of the Living Children of Nut.

There are several myths surrounding the birth of Nut's children.  One starts with a prophesy.  Ra was told that although he was powerful, there would be another ruler of Egypt after him, a son of Nut.  Fearing that her children would try to usurp his throne Ra cursed Nut so that she couldn't give birth during any of the 360 days or nights of the year.  Heartbroken Nut went to Thoth for help.
Being the God of Wisdom, Thoth won some light from the Moon, and used it to make five new days (which obviously gives us our 365 days in the year).  It was during these five days that Nut gave birth to her five children.  Osiris on the first day, Horus on the second, Set on the third, Isis on the fourth and Nephthys on the fifth.  These days became a time of celebration all over Egypt.

Nut has been depicted as a woman with a water pot above her head with the hieroglyph for sky, or we may see her starry body bending over Geb the Earth deity, held up by Shu.

Someone in the distance sings: It's the End of the World as We Know It.

Natural Disaster by Leonardo Da Vinci

There have been many movies made about the end of days.  (Hell, wasn't there even a movie called that very thing?) The Day After Tomorrow touches closely on the day things go pear shaped, as well as that god awful thing starring John Cusack called 2012.  What both of these movies have in common (aside from some seriously bad writing) is the message that we, as the dominant species of this planet, have stuffed up and are responsible for Nature's fury against humanity. 

Before you think I'm about to start An Inconvenient Truth stylised rant, let me get to the point.  Well it's more of a question.  Do you buy into the craziness that the world is shitting itself and will come to an end sometime soon?

Let's look at the evidence before we make a snap judgment. 

The Mayan Calendar ends on 21.12.12.  There is no disputing this.  Personally I've always been of the opinion that it was because thousands of years ago a Mayan monk, who was being punished for looking a little too interested in the Chieftain's daughter, got all the way to December 21 in the year 2012 and decided that it was a good place to stop.  His hand was sore, from writing (and other activities spurred on by the scantily clad progeny of the Chieftain) figured that the advanced race of people in 2012 would know what day should come after the 21st of December and all the days thereafter, so decided that he needn't continue. 

However, conspiracy theorists would have you believe that the world is going to end on this day, because that's when the Mayan calendar ends.  They don't subscribe to my theory of the monk and his penchant for pretty young girls.  Instead they believe that because there is no December 22nd written on that calendar, that there will be no December 22nd for us.  Whatever they think will happen is varied, but basically we should all party hard, drink enough to make our livers hate us, get it on with the secret object of lust that you know you'd normally be ridiculed for even talking to by your so called mates, and try as many of those other depraved acts you've always wanted to do but knew you couldn't face yourself in the morning if you did.  (Please keep your fantasies of Sally the goat to yourselves, I beg of you). 

I'm not inclined to accept that premise.  The world is going to end on a specific day just because the calendar does?  What, are they saying the Mayans could predict when the world was going to end but couldn't avoid the annihilation of their own civilisation?  In saying this, I do acknowledge that there does seem to be something rather wacky going on in our little corner of the universe.

Let's start with earthquakes, seeing as they're foremost in our minds.  Since the year 2000 there have been a number of rather large quakes.  Some have been more destructive than others, regardless of the magnitude.  Christchurch, being hit with two biggies is obvious, but recently there has been Haiti: Jan 2010, 7.0; Sumatra, Indonesia: Dec 2004, 9.1; China: May 2008: 8.0; Chile: Feb 2010, 8.8; and the devastating one in Japan: Mar 2011, 8.9.  All these have caused significant amounts of destruction and led to loss of life.  And while I've only mentioned a few, there are many more felt everyday.

The earthquakes lead on to our next disaster, the tsunami.  When I was a little girl I had never heard of a tsunami actually hurting people on a grand scale.  Now there have been two significant ones in recent history.  2004's Boxing Day tsunami caused by the quake in Indonesia and the tsunami in Japan causing more destruction than the quake itself. 

Hurricanes, cyclones and tornadoes seem to be making more headlines as well.  Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 while Cyclone Yasi has flooded and destroyed many a home in Australia's state of Queensland while states in the US south have recently been torn apart by tornadoes.  The force of these disasters led to the destruction of homes and businesses as well as leading to the death of many of our fellow man.  

Now I could keep listing natural disasters but what would that achieve?  Does this mean that we really are looking at the end of the world?  The Hollywood movie machine would have us believe that coming up to the end, the world becomes more and more unstable, and conspiracy theorists would probably say that there is evidence of this with the large number of natural disasters we are being bombarded with.  But is that evidence real or an illusion?

Are we experiencing more disasters, more earthquakes, more hurricanes and cyclones than ever before?  According to the US Geological Survey (www.usgs.gov), the number of earthquakes has probably not increased, nor have their magnitude.  What has happened is that our level of technology has advanced, along with the number of seismic monitoring stations; therefore we're able to detect more of them.  This doesn't mean that they're more frequent now than before, just that we're more aware. 

I hear an argument coming from the cheap seats.  These disasters are more destructive now than in the past. More people are dying.

Well let's look at this.  The earth hasn't changed.  Mother Nature hasn't suddenly gotten PMS and become bitchier.  People have changed. Throughout the centuries the way we live has changed.  In earlier times people lived in single storied dwellings, so that when a hurricane hit, or the earth rumbled, there wasn't the same level of destruction as we see with our current high-rise buildings. 

In addition, population density means that while there may only have been a handful of people who lived in disaster struck areas in the past, more people are hurt and more fatalities are counted because there are simply more people in the same area of land.  Think about the Haiti or Pakistan earthquakes.  Millions of people live in those areas; hence the numbers of affected people are significantly higher than Christchurch. 

·         Pakistan 2005 - population: Approx 170 million, death toll:75,000

·         Haiti 2010 - population: Approx 10 million, death toll:316,100

·         Christchurch 2011 - population: Approx 400,000, death toll: 180ish

Where we live has also changed.  With increased populations people are spreading out into those more disaster prone areas.  Additionally by overpopulating some areas we're making it so that when a disaster hits, it hits us hard.

 After reading this you may think that I'm sure the world is fine and that we're just a bunch kids holding on for dear life to the merry-go-round called Earth as it spins out of control.  That we're merely passengers in our own lives, not affecting the planet with how we live.  That is not so.  I have strong environmental beliefs, but this blog article isn't about that.

It's about the doomsday predictions that people are beginning to believe because they are scared.  That's all it comes down to really.  It's what conspiracy theorists and doomsday advocates love to peddle.  Fear. 

In the past ignorance was our greatest ally.  We didn't know that the disasters were occurring so we had nothing to fear.  The world's media, through 24 hour television, keeps them plastered in front of us, so while it may happen on the other side of the world, we're no longer unaware. It doesn't mean that more disasters occur, just that, like with the earthquake technology, we're more aware of them.

Unfortunately, the conspiracy theorists and doomsday nuts use anything they can as evidence of their theories.  The end of the Mayan calendar, the increased news coverage given to natural disasters, the seeming increase in intensity of these disasters all play into the fear flavoured kool-aid that they're trying to market. 

My question to you readers is this, do you buy the brand of fear they're selling? Do you think the world is really coming to an end?

Calendar Entry #1: Yom HaSho'ah

I had meant to do this on each day to correspond with the Calendar.  I totally forgot until just now, realising that I had missed a day.  So here's the entry that was supposed to be for  Sunday May 1st.

Yom HaSho'ah

This day is otherwise known in English as Holocaust Day or Holocaust Remembrance Day.  It is observed as Israel's commemoration for the millions of Jews who passed during the Holocaust and has been a national and public holiday since it's inception in 1953.

At 10am a siren sounds for two minutes at which time people stop what they are doing, stand at attention to pay silent tribute for those who died.

Wasn't it a bit late in the year for Easter?

I couldn't stop myself from telling a friend on Facebook about the reason why bunnies are prevalent around Easter.  While I was explaining the March hare symbology I realised something.  Easter wasn't all that close to March this year, in fact, it's almost May now.  What happened?

I had to do some digging, because for some reason I've never looked into it myself.  I already knew that Easter is a moveable holiday but I hadn't realised that it was calculated by the seasons and the full moon.  I'm beginning to like it more and more for reasons other than the obvious chocoholic coma that accompanies it.

The First Council of Nicaea was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325AD in an attempt to settle some controversies within Christendom.  The main raised by Arianism over the nature of the Trinity but more minor squabbles like the timing of Easter.

It was decided that the date of Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon (Paschal Full Moon) after the Northern hemisphere's Vernal Equinox.  This can be as early as the 22nd of March or as late as the 25th of April.  Although the last time it was as late as the 25th was way back in 1943.  (There is some difference between the Western parts of the church and the Eastern Orthodox ones where some are still using the Julian calendar, so their dates can be different.  However, here in Australia, as in New Zealand, the Gregorian calendar is in use - I had fun playing with the calendar calculations... yes, geek). 

While the calculations may sound a little Pagan slanted, it should be remembered that the moon's phases were openly used for an indicator of time not just by Pagans.  The timing of the Vernal Equinox in this calculation doesn't follow the seasonal timing but rather is the ecclesiastical date set by the Church to be March 21st. 

However, there are still some Christians who either refuse to celebrate Easter because of the ties to Paganism (Ostara and the obvious bunny/egg motifs) or choose to call it Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday, because of the Pagan etymological nature of the word Easter. 

Now I know that many of you probably already knew this, and are quite possibly dumbfounded that it took me so long to cotton on to the settlement of the date.  However, we learn something new everyday, and regardless of what it's called and when it is, I still enjoy cracking into the ears of a nom nommy chocolate bunny.

After all, if Easter isn't a plausible excuse to indulge in chocolate, when is?

The Samhain 2011 - 2012 Calendar is on its way

As Debbie puts the final touches on our 2011-2012 Samhain Calendar I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog about it.   This is our fifth Pagan calendar and each year it seems to get just a little bit easier.  Debbie is such a pro at formatting the calendar now.  What sometimes takes the longest is deciding the theme for each calendar.  Once we've sorted that then it's onto the artwork.   What do we want our artwork to be of or look like?  Is it something we need to set up a lot of costumes and models for as well as hooking up a photographer?

This time we decided to focus on the moon so we enlisted the help of our very talented friend Steve Buller who spent a few months taking photos of the moon for us.  Thanks Steve :)

After the decision on artwork is done Debbie and I take different roles.  She has the technical and often times (especially when I make last minute requests) finicky job of formatting the calendar and doing all the astrology calculations.  All the wonderful work that makes the calendar actually become a calendar is at her hand.  In addition, she adds the festival days and researches what holidays/festivals/feast days fall when from as many different paths as she can find.

My job is to write the content for the calendar.  The blurbs that are found under the photos, the tiny tidbits of information that can be found scattered throughout, like the monthly moon myths we have, are my domain.  To be honest, I think I got the easy job.  And I'm not giving it up lol.

The calendar is usually done much earlier than this, but due to unfortunate circumstances, in the form of a rumbling earth, we're a little behind schedule, but that can't be helped.

Once I've finished here I'll update the website to show the upcoming release of the calendar and to enable pre-orders.  

Looking at the calendar file from Debbie while I was helping to proof it, I realised that there are a large number of festivals and feast days that I have no knowledge of.  So it has inspired me to spend this coming year looking into each of the festival and feast days that are featured and blogging about them.  This will get interesting, as I've noticed that some days are quite busy lol.