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Almanac of the Ancients:
December 2007
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by Triple Moon Goddess |
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I have been on a year long journey now through many countries, religions, beliefs, and cultures. The ancients have been brought back life to celebrate with us once again through the almanac. Hopefully many of you have used some of the celebrations in ways that honor the old and bring in the new. This will be my almanac (lucky) number 13, and will begin a new year of reviving ancient celebrations. Last month I stated that we would concentrate more deeply on a few celebrations rather than talk about all of the ones scheduled for that month. Please let me know how you like the new format. The archives will still hold all of the articles and celebrations from past almanacs if you want to revisit any particular festivities. I have enjoyed my year of almanac writing, and hopefully you have enjoyed your year of reading! So, onward and forward to a new year of the Almanac of the Ancients. Hopefully it will be a fun and informative journey for us all!
Decem, or the tenth month of the old calendar, begins the winter season for us here in the northern hemisphere. The ancients, as we have read in past articles, already considered winter to have begun. We celebrate the winter solstice, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. The ancients, and many other cultures today, may or may not celebrate these holidays, or honor them at different times during the year (how many new year celebrations did you read about this year?). There were no Christmas celebrations during the Stone Age, but there were solstice rituals! Birthdays in December honor the Archer and the Goat, and a German Pagan called Kringle.
Let us prepare a cup of hot chocolate, grab a quilt and carry the laptop to a warm and cozy spot. Let us take our monthly journey back in time to see where today’s celebrations originated, and maybe celebrate them once again as they were in the old days!
The ancients didn’t have huge Christmas celebrations. No tree, no turkey, no presents to open. The highlight of December celebrating was the winter solstice. This year on December 22 at 6:12 AM the winter solstice occurs. The solstice moves, generally from the 21st of the month to the 22nd and back again in cycles. It can be as early as th 20th and as late as the 23rd. The ancients called it “midwinter”, and did not consider it the start of winter at all. This of course applies only to the Northern Hemisphere, those in the southern are in Spring, not winter. In some parts of the world, winter is still considered to have begun on November first. This celebration goes back to Neolithic times, so it is one of the oldest traditions still carried out to this day.
This day is the shortest day of the year, meaning there are less daylight hours than any other day. It is the astronomical beginning of winter. The solstice is most widely honored by Wiccans and Pagans. The ceremonies are wonderful to attend and seem to reach back to the person you were hundreds of years ago. It is a wonderful experience, so please take the time to attend a solstice celebration if you can. When time and money allow, maybe travel to an area such as England or Ireland where standing stones still mark the passage of the sun and celebrations are still held. The Pagans are not the only ones still celebrating in a big way, and we will look into some other ways that other cultures celebrate the return of the sun.
The solstice is one of the four lesser Sabbats celebrated still to this day. Many religions consider this a highly spiritual time, there are Christian and Jewish celebrations held around the world. The midwinter was a time of hope for renewal. The ancient Romans celebrated Sol Invictus, marking the return of the sun as the days became longer. They also celebrated Saturnalia in December which was another celebration of the sun, it lasted 8 days, the largest celebration being on the day after the solstice. There is Boxing Day /St. Stephen’s Day in honor of Saint Stephen, and of course Christmas (which is all about renewal), and Hanukkah (renewal and survival). A relatively new holiday, Kwanzaa, has been added to the list.
At the end of the month we have another “renewal” celebration. New Year’s Eve. Many cultures close the door on the old and open the door on the new. We may not look at it the way the ancients did anymore, after all they didn’t starve the day away to fit into a dress or have room for extra food. They were careful with food supplies so they would last through the cold months.
In Japan, the land of the Rising Sun, there is a Shinto celebration called Tohji-Taisai. This is the Shinto Grand Ceremony of the Winter Solstice. Mountainsides are lit with bonfires to welcome the sun back. Pumpkin is a traditional food that is eaten, as it is said to look like the sun. The Japanese believed that the sun goddess Amaterasu was hiding in a cave and would come out to again warm the earth. It is said that the other gods trick her into coming out of her cave with mirrors making her think that there are other gods coming out of seclusion. The dead were also honored at this time through requiems.
In China the ancient festival is DongZhi or The Extreme of Winter. China and East Asian countries still celebrate today. The origins of the celebration are from the Yin and Yang philosophy of the world. They believe that the increase in light allows positive energy to flow more freely into the world.
In ancient Egypt the celebration was Isia. It was a 12 day celebration filled with greenery. Osiris was symbolically killed and reborn as Horus, the Sun god. The Kurds still celebrate Seva Zistane, and consider it a holy day as the light overcomes the darkness. The Zuni and Hopi people also celebrate to wake up the sun in a ritual called Soyalangwul. In Pakistan it is Chomous, where prayers are delivered to Dezao, the Supreme Being.
In Ireland there is a tomb at Newgrange. At the top of the tomb is a boxlike opening. Every year a shaft of sunlight enters the opening and lights up the tomb from the 19th to the 23rd of December. The event lasts about 17 minutes.
The ancient Mesopotamians, Sumarians, Babylonians and Persians celebrated had a Zagmuk festival that was modeled after the Isia.. They honored Marduk for battling to win over the darkness and bring light back to the world.
Many people think that only the Pagans of areas like Great Britain celebrated and still celebrate the solstice, when in fact it is still celebrated all over the world by many cultures and belief systems. Even Hanukkah is the festival of Lights, even though it is based on the miracle of having enough oil left to light the temple lamp for eight days after the temple was ransacked by the Maccabees. The menorah is still lit for eight days by Jews all around the world, bringing light back into the world.
The solstice always occurs during the tree month of the Elder. The elder is a tree that quickly renews itself after damage . We think of winter as just beginning here in the northern hemisphere. The ancients considered it half over. I think I like their way better! The days do get longer, and maybe we need to adapt to their positive way of looking at things. Sunlight is returning, the days are longer and will soon be warmer. Attend any celebration that you can that honors the solstice, maybe it will help you have a more sunny outlook!
The ancients of course did not celebrate Christmas every year on December 25. There was however a Pagan god called Kringle. The pre-Christian solstice celebration called geol (now pronounced “Yule”), began around the seventh century. The important gods in Ishtar and Mithra were said to have been born on December 25, so even though the ancients didn’t celebrate Christ Mass or Christmas, they did have that day marked on their calendar.
The Romans celebrated “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti” every year on December 25, it is the “birth of the sun” that they were celebrating. I am sure that many of you already see how Christmas ended up being on the same date! The New Testament doesn’t give a date for Jesus birth, the date came from a book named Chronographiai written by Sextus Julius Africanus around 221 AD. The Epiphany really overshadowed December 25 as a day of celebration, and December 25 did not become popular until Charlemagne was crowned on that date in 800 AD. King William I of England was also crowned on Dec. 25, and there were celebrations of feasting with evergreens and gift giving, so began our current traditional Christmas celebrations. The Puritans disapproved of Christmas celebrations and it was actually banned in Boston from 1659 to 1681.
The twentieth century brought Santa Claus and the tradition changed again. The name Santa came from Sinterklass, which is Dutch, and really has nothing to do with the Santa Claus as we know him. Kris Kringle comes from Germanic tribes who believed Odin had a big hunting party at that time of year. Since Odin had a flying horse (starting to sound familiar?), they would leave food gifts at their chimney tops. The tradition came to America via New Amsterdam (New York).
Our new calendar brings us to a new “New Years’” Celebration. It is out with the old and in with the new. There are many traditions that go with the New Year. We make resolutions, eat and possibly, drink too much, and start the year off feeling terrible...I can see the ancients shaking their heads in wonder. This type of celebrating only began in the last century. The ancients celebrated New Year on March 15. In some cultures there was an exchange of gifts, in others new leaders were selected. Enough of the new, let’s get back to celebrating like the real ancients!
Celebrate by welcoming the sun in any way you can. It can be as simple as lighting a yellow or red candle, or as elaborate as taking a trip to Australia to lay on the beach. Bring in some greenery, light candles and maybe even a bonfire. Eat foods that are symbolic to the sun like pumpkins and oranges. Drink warm drinks and cozy in warm sweaters and quilts. Bring in elder branches, evergreen, and pierce oranges with whole cloves.
Stand outside at the time of the solstice and say, “Welcome back Horus, Sol, Amaterasu, and Isia!” Our sun still does everything for us that it did for the ancients, and more. It provides power now to many items that the ancients could not even dream about! We may even depend on the sun more than the ancients did! We are just more secure in the knowledge that the sun will return, the days will get longer, and the gods are still making sure all is right with the world!
May everyone enjoy a safe, healthy, happy holiday season. Please CELEBRATE, your ancestors are counting on you !
Enjoy the solstice !
Namaste !
Gina
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Triple Moon Goddess,
Psychic Tarot Consultant
& Author
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Triple Moon Goddess has been psychic all her life, receiving her first deck of cards, 36 years ago, at age ten.
As a Psychic, she is currently reading on Keen, Kasamba, and in person, most recently, in Evansville, IN.
In addition to a BA in psychology from Montclair State in NJ., She has studied Mediumship with Denise Ilwaine, and currently studing Reiki.
She is a student who "plays Tai Chi", and enjoys playing with energy.
Triple Moon Goddess also teaches monthly metaphysical classes at the Bead Angel, in Evansville, covering different topics each month. She has also taught Tarot classes and psychic development classes; led "ghost hunts", and "seances".
She has attended many metaphysical classes, both in person and correspondance (before the internet!). She also teaches quilting!
As an avid reader, she loves to pass on everything she can to others.
She was the editor on "C.R.U.M.B.S.," a New Age self help book., and currently writing a book on tarotand readings.
She is the mother of two children, one of which is autistic, and teaches her a great deal about viewing the world through different eyes.
Email:
triplemoongoddessgina
@hotmail.com
Web:
www.Keen.com/
Triplemoongoddess
URL
www.myspace.com
/triplemoongoddessgina
Blog URL
http://blog.myspace.
com/
triplemoongoddessgina
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