There are four cross quarter days, days half way between the solstices and equinoxes.
Vicki Noble says that we think we should do holidays, where as in fact, real holidays, we should wait for them to do us.
She says cross quarter days are especially powerful at doing us, changing us in ways we don't expect.
The most noticed around here is the cross quarter day between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice, Hallooween and the Day of the Dead here. It's about death, the dead, the dying of the year, people who have died. All Saint's Days is November 1st, for all the dead people. Halloween which has lost much holiness showing is the day before. The Day of the Dead is the day after and people often make altars honoring their loved dead, especially the ones who died in the last twelve months. Also the Day of the Dead is the occasion for a lot of skeleton humor, little skeletons doing everything. Death is the ultimate joke--we think we're so important.
The next cross quarter day the 1st or 2nd of February used to be called Beltane and sometimes still is by modern pagans. It lives on as Groundhog's Day, where the Groundhog is supposed to prolong the hard times by being scared of his shadow, if there is a shadow to see.
It's about intiation. Iniation is scary, and the groundhog is scared. The movie "Groundhog's Day" is about a guy doing the same boring day over and over until iniation takes--he becomes a better person.
The next cross quarter day, May Day, is the day between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solsitice. It used to be about everybody going outside and making love to remind nature to be fertile. It lives most lively now as a worker's day, workers having decent enough lives that they feel like having fun.
The next cross quarter day, coming right up, is Lammas, August 1st. It is in honor of first harvest, early fruits of the harvest before the big harvest day on September 21, Fall Equinox.
I don't really get Lammas, which doesn't seem to be observed anymore except by modern pagans, but here it comes.
I hold myself ready
Vicki Noble says that we think we should do holidays, where as in fact, real holidays, we should wait for them to do us.
She says cross quarter days are especially powerful at doing us, changing us in ways we don't expect.
The most noticed around here is the cross quarter day between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice, Hallooween and the Day of the Dead here. It's about death, the dead, the dying of the year, people who have died. All Saint's Days is November 1st, for all the dead people. Halloween which has lost much holiness showing is the day before. The Day of the Dead is the day after and people often make altars honoring their loved dead, especially the ones who died in the last twelve months. Also the Day of the Dead is the occasion for a lot of skeleton humor, little skeletons doing everything. Death is the ultimate joke--we think we're so important.
The next cross quarter day the 1st or 2nd of February used to be called Beltane and sometimes still is by modern pagans. It lives on as Groundhog's Day, where the Groundhog is supposed to prolong the hard times by being scared of his shadow, if there is a shadow to see.
It's about intiation. Iniation is scary, and the groundhog is scared. The movie "Groundhog's Day" is about a guy doing the same boring day over and over until iniation takes--he becomes a better person.
The next cross quarter day, May Day, is the day between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solsitice. It used to be about everybody going outside and making love to remind nature to be fertile. It lives most lively now as a worker's day, workers having decent enough lives that they feel like having fun.
The next cross quarter day, coming right up, is Lammas, August 1st. It is in honor of first harvest, early fruits of the harvest before the big harvest day on September 21, Fall Equinox.
I don't really get Lammas, which doesn't seem to be observed anymore except by modern pagans, but here it comes.
I hold myself ready
posted by Anne Herbert at 2:44 PM
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