Welcome Spring!
Posted: March 20, 2013 Filed under: Astrology, Calendar | Tags: Calendar, chocolate, Christian Easter, easter, eggs, equinox, holiday, March Equinox, Northern Hemisphere, Ostara, Roman mythology, Spring, Spring Equinox, The Equinox tradition, Wheel of the Year, Ēostre 1 Comment »
The Equinox Tradition:
Spring is the dawn of the new zodiacal year in the Northern Hemisphere. Don’t you just love the word “equinox?” I have to decide each time whether to say it with a short or long “e”. The equinoxes are the two times during the year when the dark of night and the light of day are in balance or equal. Another name for the Vernal Equinox is Ostara, from the name of a German Goddess of fertility, Oestarae.
She is the deific equivalent of the Greco-Roman goddess, Aurora, the personification of the sunrise. Consider that the Sun rises in the East and her name is where East and Easter both come from. The Christian Easter date was decided by the Council of Nicaea to fall the first Sunday after the first full Moon occurring on or after the March Equinox. This effectively removed its observance from conflicts with either Ostara or Passover. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome Autumn!
Posted: September 21, 2012 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Autumn, Calendar, equinox, fall, libra, persephone, thanksgiving 3 Comments »
Have you noticed the change in the light? The sun is already much lower in the sky at noon. Even though it still feels like Summer, the Equinox is upon us so get ready for what is known in Seattle as the season of Rain, also known as the season of Dark. Years ago my friend Jules commented that she missed the “real” seasons of Montana. I countered that we have seasons here, but she replied, ‘Inga, Mold is not a season.’ That still makes me chuckle whenever I think of it.
September 22nd is the Autumnal Equinox: The day the Sun enters Libra and the beginning of Autumn. In the same way that the Solstice marks the days of longest and shortest “light,” the Equinoxes mark the day of equal light. Nox is the Roman goddess of night so equinox literally means “equal night.” The glyph for Libra represents the setting sun expressing the balance between night and day. According to tradition, the Sun is “exalted” in Aries while halfway through its circuit along the ecliptic, it is in “fall” in Libra.
The Summer Solstice
Posted: June 20, 2012 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar Leave a comment »
Summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere on June 20, 2012, at 7:09 P.M. (EDT). The word Solstice is Latin in origin and translates as, Sol =the Sun, + stitere =standing still. Around June 21, the North Pole tilts most directly Sunward. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere experience this as the longest day and shortest night of the year. Around December 21, the Winter Solstice, the North Pole points away from the Sun giving us in the Northern Hemisphere, our shortest day, and longest night. This tilting of the Earth’s rotational axis gives us our seasons. During each Solstice, the Sun appears to both rise and set at the exactly opposite spot on the horizon. The Solar Calendars like Stonehenge and the Sun Dagger in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico operate by indicating this point.
Symbols of Summer:
The rose, the rampant vine and the bright sun. Modern symbols include flip-flops, Outdoor weddings, icy pitchers of lemonade, beach umbrellas and baseball games! Read the rest of this entry »
LYS Tour 2012
Posted: May 5, 2012 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: buy local, Calendar, King County, knitting, lys, made in Seattle, Puget Sound, yarn Leave a comment »Yes, the annual LYS (local yarn shop) tour is upon us again. 21 shops between Bellingham and Renton have put together a fun weekend of visiting and shopping May 17 – 20. Each has a free pattern and daily prize drawing and getting your “passport” stamped at all of them, gets you into a drawing for some generous gifts.
Nationwide buying statistics show that people are buying less at small shops and spending more of their money at the big craft stores like Michael’s, Wal-Mart and JoAnn’s. I am not affiliated with any LYS but I am committed to supporting my friends and neighbors by buying locally when possible. The Puget Sound area has lost three yarn shops this year, and I urge you to visit the ones we have and let them know how much we value them!
For those in the area, have you ever done the LYS tour?
For everyone, do you try to buy local or has that become less of a priority lately?
Welcome Spring!
Posted: March 20, 2012 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, chocolate, easter, eggs, Ostara, Spring 2 Comments »The Spring Equinox is the dawn of the new zodiacal year in the Northern Hemisphere. Don’t you just love the word “equinox?” I have to decide each time whether to say it with a short or long “e”. The equinoxes are the two times during the year when the dark of night and the light of day are in balance or equal. Another name for the Vernal Equinox is Ostara, from the name of a German Goddess of fertility, Oestarae. She is the deific equivalent of the Greco-Roman goddess, Aurora, the personification of the sunrise. Consider that the Sun rises in the East and her name is where East and Easter both come from. The Christian Easter date was decided by the Council of Nicaea to fall the first Sunday after the first full Moon occurring on or after the March Equinox. This effectively removed its observance from conflicts with either Ostara or Passover. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s… Groundhog day!
Posted: February 1, 2012 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, candlemas, february, groundhog Leave a comment »
Check out all the wonderful animal photos at National Geographic.com
Groundhog day is Candlemas in the old European Calendar. This is the day that Christmas or Yule decorations officially come down. Here is the full verse:
Winter Solstice 2011
Posted: December 21, 2011 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, Capricorn, holiday Leave a comment »
The Winter Solstice occurs on December 22nd this year.
At the Solstice, the Sun enters the part of the space-time continuum belonging to Capricorn. This is the official first day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The word Solstice is derived from the Latin sol, or “Sun,” and stitium, or “stoppage.” At the Solstice, the Sun appears to both rise and set at the same spot on the horizon. On or around June 21, the Summer Solstice, the North Pole is tilted most directly Sunward. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere experience this as the longest day and shortest night of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted: November 23, 2011 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, Plymouth Rock, thanksgiving, United States Leave a comment »
Celebrate the harvest, the beauty of Autumn, celebrate gratitude!
What did you learn in grade-school? I learned that Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims , who wore tall hats, leggings and big gold buckles on their shoes. They were starving when they landed at Plymouth Rock and the local “Indians” taught them to place a dead fish into the ground with each corn seed that they intended to grow. The Pilgrims were so grateful that they invited the Indians to a harvest feast in late November and served turkey and pumpkin pie with a horn-of-plenty on their table as a center-piece.
The Great Pumpkin
Posted: October 30, 2011 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, Cooking, Halloween, holiday, Home, Jack-o-Lantern, Martha Stewart, pumpkin, recipe, smoothie, Turnip, weaving 2 Comments »
The Farmer’s Almanac says that Pumpkin carving began with the Irish tradition of carving turnips. They would put candles in them and place them in windows to scare the ghosts away on the Hallowed Evening. When they moved to the US, they discovered the more plentiful, easier to carve pumpkin and the rest is history.
Halloween!
Posted: October 26, 2011 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar 1 Comment »
The traditional European festivals of Hallowe’en, Samhain, the Feast of the Dead and All Soul’s Eve’ are celebrated on or around October 31st in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is the seasonal equivalent of our May Day. Samhain, the hallowed eve’ (or Halloween) marks the true end of Summer and the beginning of Winter’s quarter of the year, the portion of the year dedicated to the night forces. Read the rest of this entry »
