Happy Spring! Vernal Equinox 2010
Posted: March 19, 2010 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Aurora, chocolate, Eos, equinox, festival, holiday, Ostara, party, Ushas 1 Comment »
The Spring Equinox is the dawn of the new zodiacal year in the Northern Hemisphere. 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.
Celebrate Diwali, India's Festival of Lights!
Posted: October 1, 2009 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Diwali, festival, India, Ramayana, SAM Leave a comment »I just added subscription capability for all of you who have asked to be informed of updates to the blog. See it over there on the right? Just add your address and you’ll get an email when a new post has been posted. I also added a “tag cloud” so you can find individual posts more quickly. The words that are bigger are the tags I use most.
Diwali is a five day festival which has as its “center day” the New Moon day that ends the month of Ashwin and begins the month of Kartika, beginning on the 13th day of the dark half of Ashwin (Ashwin 28th) and ending on the 2nd day of the bright half of Kartika (Kartika 2nd). It is celebrated in India and Nepal and commemorates the homecoming of Rama, hero of the Ramayana after his 14 year exile and defeat of Ravana.
The Seattle Art Museum is celebrating Diwali on Saturday, October 3. The Diwali Ball will feature:
Bollygrooves music by DJ Aanshul
Live Indian music and dance performances
Signature cocktail, wine and beer
Indian tapas by Saffron Grill
Henna and Diwali surprises
Learn more about the Ramayana.
