Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
St Giles and the Hind by the Master of St Giles (National Gallery, London) Today is the feast day of St Giles, who comes from the legendary days of Medieval Christianity. He was supposedly a 7th century prince of Athens who moved to the Rhone Valley and became a monk. He left a trail of… Continue reading The Daily: 1 September 2024
The Blueberry Moon is full at 2:26pm today. That means tonight's moonrise is closest to the full. The Moon is also rather close to Earth now, so it will seem larger than usual. The media folks, apparently feeling bereft of news that is not catastrophic, is nattering on about supermoons. I still don't know what… Continue reading The Daily: 19 August 2024
The Feast of the Assumption It is the Feast of the Assumption. In the Church calendar, this is the day Mother Mary was taken bodily up to heaven without the inconvenience of dying first. But in the older calendar of Europe, this was the time when it was recognized that the heat of summer was… Continue reading The Daily: 15 August 2024
The Hay Moon went dark at 7:13am yesterday, over 36 hours before moonset today. So the 10th new moon of my year, the Blueberry Moon, should be visible as a thin crescent following the sun down to the western horizon this evening. This month is the second of the harvest moons and the first that… Continue reading The Daily: 5 August 2024
Lammas It's the probably not-terribly-ancient festival of bread, Lammas, Hlaf-mas, Loaf Mass. This holiday is possibly an English variant on the Irish first fruits and fair festival of Lughnasadh, but compacted into one day and generally lacking any ritual or narrative. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, churches in East Anglia constructed elaborate… Continue reading The Daily: 2 August 2024
Lughnasadh It is Lughnasadh. This is my favorite time of year. Some may love midwinter twinkle; others may love the summer sun. But I live for the autumn blaze. The cooling weather, the increasing darkness, the slowing pace and renewed time for reading and introspection. The color and pageantry of fall. The scents of leaf… Continue reading The Daily: 1 August 2024
The goldenrods began blooming this week, the potatoes are starting to yellow around the edges, and the cucurbits are getting unruly. If that isn't enough evidence of a sea change, the weather here in central Vermont has been heavenly. We've been treated to a growing strand of kind blue days that open in cool fog… Continue reading The Daily: 29 July 2024
Crom Dubh Sunday In many northern communities, July is a hungry month. The spring flush of greens and quick-growing roots like radishes and beets may still be trickling out of the garden, but most have bolted and run to seed. However, those that remain are long on fiber and short on calories, and little of… Continue reading The Daily: 28 July 2024
The Romans had concerns about drought at this time of year. Three very old festivals were grouped together at the end of July to honor deities who presided over watery things. The first was the Lucaria, the clearing of the groves. This was an ancient observance even in Varro's time (116-27 BCE), and little is… Continue reading The Daily: 25 July 2024
Neptunalia Today (or tomorrow, or both) is the ancient Roman (or Phoenician) holiday of Neptunalia, one of three obscure Roman festivals that honored watery deities in the last days of July. Neptune was the Roman god of both freshwater and the seas, but this festival, which shares many similarities with the Jewish Sukkot, is focused… Continue reading The Daily: 23 July 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 