Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Like many people, I find the American version of Valentine’s Day and the saccharine and monochromatic view of love it promotes to be repulsive. In my younger days I assumed the whole farce was invented by the greeting card and gifting industry, along with the rise of all manner of fake holidays intended to get… Continue reading The Daily: 14 February 2025
Parentalia As February marked the last month in the ancient Roman calendar, the Romans spent this time of year setting themselves in accord with the world. The 9-day festival of Parentalia began on 13 February and culminated with the day of Feralia, which began at sundown on the 21st. Parentalia was a sacred time to… Continue reading The Daily: 13 February 2025
The Snow Moon is full today at 8:53am, so when it rises tonight it will be closest to full. This happens at about 5:30pm here in my part of the world, with sunset about fifteen minutes before moonrise. Just after sunset, Mars will be near the moon in the east; Jupiter will be overhead; and… Continue reading The Daily: 12 February 2025
5 February is St Agatha’s Day. Born in about 231 in Catania, Sicily, she is one of many virgin martyrs of early Christianity. Her story exemplifies why there are so many women among the ranks of martyrs for the faith. She was said to be a beautiful child born to wealthy nobility, but she turned… Continue reading The Daily: 5 February 2025
Tomorrow is the first 10-hour day in central Vermont. Despite Punxsutawney Phil's forecast for six more weeks of winter in 2025, it is time to start thinking about the growing season. For me, it is time to sort the seeds, check the seed potatoes, toss the inevitable pantry rot, and clean up the weeks of… Continue reading The Daily: 3 February 2025
If Candlemas be bright and clear there'll be two winters in the year. — traditional adage from Scotland Of Candles and Divinatory Beasts There are many weather marking days throughout the year. Candlemas, falling on 2 February, was the day that our ancestors began to get nervous about the spring. A fine Candlemas portends a… Continue reading The Daily: 2 February 2025
If Brigid visited your house with a blessing last night, show her your gratitude by beginning your spring cleaning in her honor. If you have a woodstove, today is a good day to clean out the ashes and begin spreading them on your garden beds. (If you live where the soils are already saline, especially… Continue reading The Daily: 1 February 2025
Today is St Brigid's Eve. Brigid (also Bride, Brighid, Breeshey, Ffraid, Britgantia or Bridget) was a goddess with unusually broad distribution throughout the lands of Celtic-language peoples. Along with Lugh (who was not her consort, nor even related...), she seems to have been the principal idea of deity for these peoples, and because both are… Continue reading The Daily: 31 January 2025
The Feast of St Brigid, or Imbolg, is an ancient holiday that falls on 1 February, midway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Brigid’s Feast Day is said to be set to this date at her request so that her day would precede the Marian Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, or… Continue reading The Daily: 30 January 2025
Snow Moon The Wolf Moon went dark yesterday at 7:36am and Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, began with all its riotous color and spark last night. Today, the Snow Moon, the fourth moon in my lunar year, is new. In my calendar this is the season of Imbolg, the stirring of spring in… Continue reading The Daily: 30 January 2025
By My Solitary Hearth 