Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Take down all your Christmas ornaments by Twelfth Night to avoid bad luck for the rest of the year. — The Magpie and the Wardrobe by Sam McKechnie & Alexandrine Portelli I don't actually do this. I used to fret because I did not, or was not able to... because there are all these admonitions,… Continue reading The Daily: 5 January 2024
I have COVID again. So there may be illogic in the days ahead. Apologies... On the other hand, I am not allowed to be at work, and there isn't much work to do around the house. (And I can't do much anyway. COVID and rheumatoid arthritis don't get along. For example, my knees are swollen… Continue reading The Daily: 4 January 2024
First, a public service message on the night skies... Look for the Quadrantids tomorrow morning before dawn. This shower has meteors falling at rates of up to 25 per hour. If you must be abroad in the darkness and happen to look north, it's likely you'll see something beautiful blazing a trail to Earth. wes… Continue reading The Daily: 3 January 2024
In my part of the world, this is the season of Midwinter. The nights are long and days are short. It is the time for snow angels, sledding, skiing, and ice fishing... except... it's not. Last week, ice fishers on the Upper Red Lake in northern Minnesota needed rescuing when the lake ice they stood… Continue reading The Daily: 2 January 2024
New Year's Day is definitely one of those holidays that feels out of joint. To me, this date, this point in the solar year, lacks ties to reality. It is historically wrong. When the Romans created these two new months, January and February, and set their state calendars to begin on 1 January, that date… Continue reading The Daily: 1 January 2024
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
By My Solitary Hearth 