Plough Monday, an ancient rustic holiday that became attached to the Christmas holiday tradition, is on the first Monday following Epiphany (January 6). It is the traditional beginning of the agricultural year.
The Daily: 8 January 2024
Category: Nature & Weather
The Daily: 3 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
The Daily: 2 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
The Daily: 27 December 2023
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 Daily: 23 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
The Daily: 21 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
The Daily: 19 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
The Daily: 18 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
The Daily: 13 December 2023
Lucy Light Shortest day, longest night —traditional English proverb Before Pope Gregory tweaked the Julian calendar and caused a great deal of confusion, 13 December was celebrated as the winter solstice in Scandinavia. The poem by the late 16th century English writer, John Donne, “A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day” shows… Continue reading The Daily: 13 December 2023
The Daily: 12 December 2023
The Winter Sleep Moon goes dark today at 6:32pm. Tomorrow, the Midwinter Moon is a thin crescent in the evening sky. In my part of the world, sunset is as early as it's going to be. At the end of this week, the sun will set a minute later than it does today. The change… Continue reading The Daily: 12 December 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 