Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The longest nights have ended in my part of the world. Today we have racked up a minute's worth of change from the solstice. Granted, this is imperceptible... but still... the changes will begin to speed up now. By January 5th, we'll be adding over a minute to every day. By January 22, sunlight will… Continue reading The Daily: 27 December 2023
The Midwinter Moon is full tonight at 7:33pm. December 26th is also several other significant dates. It's the first night of Kwanzaa. I like this holiday though I don't do anything with it. I applaud Maulana Karenga for working out a holiday that is rooted in reality and celebrates neglected cultures. You'll not be surprised… Continue reading The Daily: 26 December 2023
Happy Christmas! Most of my friends and family celebrate Christmas today. It's a complicated day filled with way too much travel, a whirlwind of tearing paper off gifts — sometimes at several houses — and more meals than any human should have to deal with in one day. I'm worn out just listening to them… Continue reading The Daily: 25 December 2023
Have you noticed that, though post-agricultural cultures are mostly patriarchic and often grossly misogynistic, much if not most of ritual, imagery, and myth is centered on women? This is because the major pagan celebrations, those that form the bones of our ritual calendar, largely honor female deities, or, if they are male, then they're only… Continue reading The Daily: 24 December 2023
In the Roman calendar, this day was Larentalia, a day to honor the household gods — the lares, spirits of place — as well as the mother of all lares and the adoptive mother of Romulus and Remus, Acca Larentia. Larentalia fell after Saturnalia and before the end of the year as a way to get right with… Continue reading The Daily: 23 December 2023
Green Man in the cold morning light Today, 21 December 2023 at 10:27pm, the sun appears to stand still at its most southern point in its apparent journey along the horizon. We call this period of slow change, where day length changes incrementally and then not at all, the solstice, the “sun pause”. In the… Continue reading The Daily: 21 December 2023
Tomorrow is the solstice. I don't often celebrate the exact day of the sun's reversal. There are plenty of long nights. I don't need to tax myself just for the sake of observing the very longest. I'm also more traditional. I tend to celebrate Midsummer's Day on the 24th, the day that most of my… Continue reading The Daily: 20 December 2023
Today is the Festival of Ops, the Opalia. Ops was the consort of Saturn. She may have been associated with fertility at some point; her holidays are tied to grain harvesting. But she is better known for presiding over abundance more generally. Her name gives us the word "opulence", which pretty much sums up how… Continue reading The Daily: 19 December 2023
I am almost caught up with all the things that need doing. I have to send out one box, but since my family does the full Twelve Days, it doesn't need to get there immediately. Which is good because the main thing that I need to ship in that box is not here yet. I'm… Continue reading The Daily: 18 December 2023
Saturnalia Saturnalia begins today. This year Saturn presides over the beginning of his holiday season. Look to the west at about 5:30pm. Saturn will be sitting just above the crescent Moon. In the north, this is also the beginning of the shortest nights of the year. For the next ten days, day length in my… Continue reading The Daily: 17 December 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 