Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The Wolf Moon goes dark today at 7:36am (what happened to this month!), so the crescent Snow Moon might be visible tonight at sunset, though it would be faint and you'd need a very flat western horizon to see it. In traditional lunisolar calendars, the Moon is not new until you can see that crescent.… Continue reading The Daily: 29 January 2025
Plough Monday Plough Monday is an ancient rustic holiday that became attached to the Christmas holiday tradition. Plough Monday may trace its descent back to the Roman Compitalia, celebrated by slaves when plowing was over. But by the mid-15th century it became the traditional end to the Christmas season, the end of the season of… Continue reading The Daily: 13 January 2025
Distaff Day, or St. Distaff’s Day, is an obscure and faded custom that has rather a bit more weight behind it that one might expect. The day is observed most often on January 7th, the day after Epiphany, the last day of the winter holidays. Less commonly, Distaff Day falls on the first Tuesday after Epiphany, being known as Distaff Tuesday in keeping with Plough Monday.
It is Epiphany, 6 January, the close of the Christmas season and the beginning of mundane time, a shift to Imbolg and the hope of spring — after we, hopefully, survive the worst of the winter weather. This is the date the Catholic Church assigned to the arrival of the Magi and also, later, the… Continue reading The Daily: 6 January 2025
Tonight is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmas and the long night before Epiphany, the festival of the Wise Men. This is the night when all the drummers show up, along with a veritable cacophony of birds; a party of lords, ladies and colorful others; and quite a few cows. I'm not sure I… Continue reading The Daily: 5 January 2025
New Year's Day is misplaced. This date has no real significance. It is tied to nothing in the solar year nor in the cultural year. It is historically wrong. When the Romans created these two new months in their calendar, January and February, and set their state calendars to begin on 1 January, that date… Continue reading The Daily: 1 January 2025
I'm on too many mailing lists again. Every year around this time, I realize that I've been inadvertently subscribed to dozens of notifications, most of which I never open. I notice this at the end of December because every last one of them is asking for money. Also, every last one of them apparently feels… Continue reading The Daily: 31 December 2024
Today, the Midwinter Moon goes dark. In my part of the world, the latest sunrises, 7:25am, began yesterday in a day of such dense fog and cold drizzle it was hard to tell when the sun was in the sky. The days are already about five minutes longer than the shortest day, and the sun… Continue reading The Daily: 30 December 2024
December 26th carries much significance. It's the second day of Christmas, in which two turtledoves show up (according to the carol). This year it is also the second night of Hanukkah, the festival of the miracle of the lamps. But it is the first night of Kwanzaa. I like this holiday though I don't do… Continue reading The Daily: 26 December 2024
Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ-child, the savior deity of the Christian faith. Today is also the birthday of Mithras the cult deity of the Roman legions, who began his existence as a sun god, the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, of which the emperor was the earthly avatar. Today… Continue reading The Daily: 25 December 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 