Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
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
There are many ways to divide up the year. We all use several different calendars — one based on months, one based on seasons, perhaps a school calendar or a business calendar. Some cultures emphasize the moon, with varying degrees of correspondence to the solar year. Some cultures don't bother with a framework and base… Continue reading The Daily: 24 December 24
The weather is finally settling into winter. The highs are in the single digits and the lows don't bear repeating. I've got all the heavy curtains closed tight, and draft blockers are wedged tight against the thresholds. And yet the furnace is still running far too much for my comfort. I fear the next oil… Continue reading The Daily: 23 December 2024
Today, I set out to describe meaningful ritual at this time of the year... things went a bit sideways... A few years ago, I began this blog chiefly as a way to talk about how to mark time, how to meaningfully tie each Season to the seasons without creating harm and waste — and exhausting… Continue reading The Daily: 22 December 2024
Green Man in the cold morning light Today, 21 December 2024 at 4:20am, 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 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 