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 »
Winter Solstice 2012
Posted: December 21, 2012 Filed under: Astrology, Calendar | Tags: Capricorn, holiday, North Pole, Northern Hemisphere, Santa Claus, Summer Solstice, Sun, Winter Solstice 1 Comment »
The Winter Solstice occurs on December 21st this year.
At the Winter 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 »
How much do you know about Christmas?
Posted: December 6, 2012 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Christmas, holiday, literature, Merry Christmas Leave a comment »
Ho, Ho, Ho.
Okay, I took the quiz. I got 11 correct out of 22. That is only 55%
I started out with a bang but got really anxious once I started getting questions wrong. A few of these are real nail-biters too!
Try it and put your score in the comments, ok?
How much do you know about Christmas? A quiz – Royalty – CSMonitor.com.
I am seriously hoping that someone is even more culturally challenged than I am…
Come on out to Auburn this weekend
Posted: October 25, 2012 Filed under: Crafts | Tags: Auburn, bazaar, crafts, Gemstone, holiday, jewelry, pendant, Shopping, wire wrapped, wirewrap Leave a comment »
And join me at the Auburn Eagles Holiday Bazaar on Sunday!
It’s time to buy those Holiday gifts!
I’ll have lots of jewelry:
wire wrapped, gemstone pendants,
a whole basket of hemp and gemstone bracelets,
and trays of gemstone earrings.
Time: 9am to 5pm
Location: 702 M St SE, Auburn WA 98002
Related Posts:
It’s Holiday Bazaar Season!
Posted: October 1, 2012 Filed under: Crafts | Tags: bazaar, crafts, decoupage, display, holiday, mod podge Leave a comment »
I love Holiday Bazaar season! Here is what I’ve been working on today… can’t tell what it is? It is a gutted suitcase and I am decoupaging the interior to make a display for necklaces and scarves at the holiday bazaars I have scheduled for this month and next month. It is one of the first roller suitcases from Samsonite and is in great shape. I am using shredded catalogs and I am going to continue layering and then I’ll figure out a way to add pegs or hooks to hang stuff from. I think it will be handy for transport and for display. Email or call If you will be in the South King County area October/November and want to see me at a show!
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 »
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.
Happy 4th of July
Posted: July 3, 2010 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, Christmas, etsy, holiday, July, Liberty, marist, PBS Leave a comment »
July begins the second half of the year and is the seasonal equivalent of January in the Southern Hemisphere. Originally named Quintilius because it was the 5th month in the Roman calendar, it was renamed by the Emperor Augustus to honor Julius Caesar.
According to the new Marist Poll: 74% of Resident Americans know that the US declared independence from Great Britain, 20% were unsure and 6% named other countries. This is a great lead-in to my annual recommendation that everyone watch Liberty! The American Revolution. Originally broadcast on PBS in 1997, this is a great history and civics lesson that is actually fun. It is always intriguing to me that the issues dealt with by the 1st Continental Congress are the same issues dealt with by every subsequent Congress. See for yourself!
If Christmas in July is a tradition in your family, or you would like to make it one… Check out Dunthor Design on Etsy. This may be the last few days that scarves will be available in the store. I am deciding whether or not to remove them rather than figuring out the recent FTC labeling laws.
This is also the anniversary of our finding Maggie trapped in a storm drain in downtown Burien while walking Freya on a firework filled night.
Click here to read about the rescue of Margaret Liberty Duncan on that particular 4th of July back in 2004.
Summer Solstice 2010
Posted: June 17, 2010 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Calendar, Cancer, holiday, party, solstice, Summer Leave a comment »
The word Solstice is Latin in origin and translates as, Sol =the Sun, + stitere =standing still. On June 21, 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. On December 21, the Winter Solstice, the North Pole is pointed 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, icy pitchers of lemonade, beach umbrellas and baseball games!
Foods of Summer:
Grilled foods, salads, tomatoes, zucchini and lemonade.
Colors of Summer:
Brights: lime green, lemon yellow, sunny orange, sky blue.
Stones of Autumn:
Cancer is white stones like shell and pearl. Leo is gold stones like amber and tiger-eye. Virgo is blue stones like sodalite and sapphire.
Activities of Summer:
Barbecues, picnics, lawn-mowing, weeding, swimming outside.
Links:
The Chaco Canyon Sun Dagger petroglyphs
An interactive model of the Sun Dagger.
Happy Spring! Vernal Equinox 2010
Posted: March 19, 2010 Filed under: Calendar | Tags: Aurora, Calendar, 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.
