March In Like a Lamb,Out Like a Lion:Does Ancient Rhyme Predict More Climate Crises or Solutions?

MARCH IN LIKE A LAMB, OUT LIKE A LION:DOES ANCIENT RHYME PREDICT MORE CLIMATE CRISES OR SOLUTIONS?

CAUTIOUS EXIT from SUBTERRANEAN/TELOSIAN MOUNTAIN WRITERS’ WO/MAN CAVE to TREAD LIGHTLY, GUIDED BY ANGELS & NATURE SPIRIT DEVAS INTO SPRING

March May have ‘Come in like LAMB’ but her Gentle Fleece Quickly Trailed in SNOW & 100mph Gales on Donner Pass & CA I-80 2Reno

Hours after fickle month of Spring, Lady March came in on our Leap Year calendar, the young Maiden of Nature chose to reclad herself in Winter woolies, as California’s notorious 7,056ft-high Donner Pass on I-80 to Reno, Nevada was pounded with snow.

Sierra Snow Lab at Donner Pass, operated by the University of California at Berkeley, reported 23.8 inches of new snow between Saturday and Sunday morning, March 2-3, bringing total snowfall for the season to five feet. New snowfall was accompanied by 100mph gale force winds, gusting to 116mph.

“California Highway Patrol in Truckee on CA’s I-80 infamous transmontane route for rail & highway between San Francisco & Reno, NV was monitoring traffic & advised drivers that travel was “highly discouraged”.

Donner Pass reputed inspiration4 Overlook Hotel in Jack Nicholson/Stephen King 1975 movie ‘The Shining’, is popular destination.

Meanwhile in Britain—while the Northern Isles [Orkney & Shetland] & exposed areas of Sutherland like Cape Wrath were battered by gales normal for this time of year—most of the country-including Eastern shores of Scotland, Eastern Northumberland, Yorkshire & the notorious Pennines-were, like the English capital, enjoying garden birdsong, appearance of snowdrops, above mid-l., first buds of cherry & wild cherry (gean), top l. & rt., with even a sighting in downtown Aberdeen of an urban fox making himself comfortable on warm granite ‘cassie setts’ [paving slabs] in the mild weather.

It seems natural, therefore, that our thoughts should spring forward like clocks [daylight saving time U.S. springs forward March 10th; Britain March 28th] to working in the garden to cultivate favourites like the sweet pea, top rt., and dream of the scent of summer roses. Below mid l. Rosa Charles de Mills.

Ramadan, Lent & Easter Dominate March, all ‘late’ in Calendar this Year

Ramadan, ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting and prayer, begins March 10th and will last until April 8th.

Similarly this year, Easter falls ‘late’ i.e. on last Sunday in March: 31st. Because such festivals are still calculated by us earthlings according to moon cycles—mentioned in my previous blog on Carnival here—Good Friday & end of Lent will not happen until after Spring Equinox, March 23rd. March Full “Worm” Moon occurs March 24th. See Lenten origins for blindfolding children & Piñata frolics below*.

Full Moons this quarter: March Worm Moon April Full Pink Moon; & May Full Flower Moon

First come Candlemas
Syne the New Meen
The niest Tiseday efter ‘at
Is aye Festern’s E’en.
That Meen oot
An’ anither at its hicht
The niest Sunday efter ‘at
Is aye Pasche richt.’
Ancient Scots Easter calculation, Anon

And watch out for penumbral lunar eclipse visible in Americas, Europe & W.Africa from 1a.m.-5:30a.m. EDT-March 25; 10p.m. PDT March 24-2:30a.m.March 25th; followed by April 8th solar eclipse visible N.hemisphere

Traditions dominate every culture, whether we know it or not. So it’s worth looking at a favourite child’s game—being blindfolded, spun 3 times (2lose sense of direction) & then trying to smash open a Piñata.

Bright rainbow-paper toy mule Piñata hung up at children’s parties for them to smash open & grab candy & other treasures that burst out from inside wasn’t just for kids originally. In medieval Italy, on 1st Sunday in Lent, Kings of Naples & Sicily distributed gifts to peasants as a Lenten almsgiving. It came in simple earthenware pignatta, Ital. cooking pot, fr.Lat. pinea, pine cone shape.

This tradition spread to Spain, called Piñata like a pineapple Sp. piña, & when Armada came to the New World, they found a similar tradition in Mexico [of Aztec origin] which they embodied/converted in R.C. Xtian Lent.

Spanish Friars saw these as an opportunity 2convert pagan Aztecs & created seasonal piñatas filled with fruits & seeds for Lent, Easter & Christmas.

Being blindfolded was used to represent faith, that is, believing without seeing. Many other traditions from Europe were transmitted via the early [Catholic] Church as a means to convert pagan followers.

Ancients’ Knowledge of Seasons & Growth used at Sacred Sites/ Wells

The Ancient Britons aka Brittonic/Weish Druidic priests of Anglesey/Inys Mons have much to teach us 21st Century A.I.- & politically-dominated experts in garden cultivation, reforestation and agriculture. In our excitement over the phenomenon of spring bloom in deciduous plants, we may forget how heavily we rely on that mysterious range of evergreens quietly holding down roots through harshest winters, only to burst with new foliage and exuberance in warmer months. Below top l.rt Cotswolds’ iconic yews

Conifers like ancient Caledonian pine (pinus sylvestrus or Caledoniensis) come first to mind, along with cousins Monterey pine (pinus radiata, above, bottom rt.) & Pac.NW’s statuesque Douglas Fir (bottom l., pseudotsuga Menziesii)-q.v. last year’s June blog for its stature c.f. Giant Redwood Sequoiadendron giganteum, including my young plantation of Caledonian pine in my personal effort to bring rewilding & regrowth to Scots pine forests burned in 1308 by ravages of Robert Bruce’s Herschip o’ Buchan.

Yew—Guardian of Brittonic & pre-Celtic Sacred Mounds—reused in Christian Churches Symbolic of Reincarnation & to Ward off Evil

Less celebrated for its longevity and overwintering prowess, more for its poison, the evergreen Yew, above 1-3, has long been churchyard sentinel in all counties & four British ‘countries’—Scotland (& N.isles) Scotland, England, Wales/Kernow (Cornwall) N.& S.Ireland; relatively less visible in churches in U.S. or E. Europe, but prevalent in cross-channel (Brittonic) Brittany, coastal France & Portugal.

Doorway of St.Edwards church, l. above, Stow-on-the-Wold, English Cotswolds, has ancient yew ‘feet’.

Greek goddess Hecate was famed for her knowledge of herbs, poisonous plants & sorcery; Roman counterpart Hekate/sometimes moon goddess Silene linked to huntress Diana was bearer of the keys to the Underworld, protector of World’s Soul [Anima Mundi]. As she held the keys to unlock the gates between worlds and gain access to both realms, she was equally powerful in ‘Heaven & Hell’ & seen as early-Medieval Tree of Life. While early-Christian monastics advised against putting “devilish charms at springs or trees or crossroads”, legendary Celtic Druids planted yew close to their temples for use in death ritual & regeneration. Because of its association with immortality, early Brittonic/Celtic kings had the wood cut for staffs & emblems of royal regalia, to associate with its immortality & God-given power.

Until they departed Britannia c. A.D.420, Roman legions stormed ancient Brittonic strongholds including York, [called Roman Eboracum, fr. Brythonic Eburākon=place of the Yew trees]. Pre-Celtic yew=eburos.

Reputedly oldest tree in Europe, Perthshire Fortingall Yew is 5000-yrs old & stands at the gates to the kirk [pre-Xtian Pictish well] in what Ancient Brythonic Picts saw as the centre of the landmass of Scotland [Cape Wrath/John o’Groats to Whithorn, Galloway lying a stone’s throw from Glen Lyon Loch Tay Cailleach/Bodach stone shelter, oldest continuously-observed sacred pagan site in Britain maintained by (anon) guardians.

While red Yew berries contain alkaloid poison taxine, from 13thC on its strong, flexible wood was used to cut 6ft longbows, strung with hemp/flax to create powerful weapons with a range of 230 yds/m, which could shoot arrows capable of piercing chain mail. Bows & arrows were in use until rapid fire guns & cannon took over mid 16thC.

An avenue of yews at Painswick, nr. Stroud, Glos., top, rt. reaches full-height 60ft/20m.

Its poisonous berries, 2nd l. above, keep cattle and wildlife away from graveyards, so sacred burials remain intact. Its longevity is second only to Giant Redwoods, and, because of its continuous use from Ancient pagan times, it is traditionally seen as symbolic of reincarnation and life everlasting.

Nature’s Woodland Helpers Inspire us to Dive Back into our Writers‘ Den to Connect with our Inner Soul

Guided through this maelstrom of 21stC catastrophic existence by angelic forces, we are reminded by the angel/deva of the sweet pea, top,rt. that Dorothy Maclean, a Canadian gardener, communicated with the Devas, and spoke with sweet peas and the pea fairy while she worked.

Dorothy was co-founder alongside her Brit friend Eileen Caddy of Findhorn Foundation in NE Scotland. They meditated in their ‘fifties blue caravan, with Eileen’s ex-RAF husband Peter Caddy, a WWII vet. They shared a dream of international peace. And growing their own vegetables.

Among early Foundation residents was Joy Drake, who also gardened, spoke w/angels & created now internationally-celebrated set of Angel Cards rt. used daily by millions similar to drawing from a Tarot deck.

Findhorn’s Eco-village and Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic dome ‘Universal Hall’ meeting venue on shores of the Moray Firth drew followers from all over the world. Recent fire burned its Community Centre & so FF meditation Sanctuary/guest program has been discontinued. Interim spiritual ad- vice, provided by FF leader Granville Stone, is supported by a worldwide network of RP ‘Resource Persons’, of which I am one. Thus, any direction or assistance i can give in helping a fellow seeker along Nature’s path to Universal enlightenment-with the help of the angelic brigade is offered via this blog-comments are welcome.

A long-time gardener myself, associated with the RP Network since 1988, [169 people in 36 countries], I have moved from NE Scotland—where I was RP for Aberdeenshire—to being RP for Eureka, CA [2012- 2018]—currently RP for Hilo, Hawai’i/working in the Network with Elisha Southworth, RP Kailua-Kona.

Such is the way of the Universe & Great Spirit. If you are a believer, all things will come; all dreams be fulfilled.

Now. as I dive back down into my Muse-Angel-guided Writerly Cavern, I urge my fellow travellers in the Light to stay cool, & believe that Peace, and those beautiful Devas within the sweet pea [and your own faves] in the Spirit Realm are keeping us on track. ThankU Universe. ©2024MarianC.Youngblood

February Packed Full of Festivals Both Ancient & Modern—an Unholy Cultural Mix North and South of Equator

FEBRUARY PACKED FULL OF FESTIVALS BOTH ANCIENT & MODERN-AN UNHOLY CULTURAL MIX NORTH AND SOUTH OF EQUATOR

SURFACING LIKE GROUNDHOGS 2/2 to SEE SUNSHINE CAST our [WRITERLY] SHADOW, WE COWARDLY SCRIBES DIVE BACK into our WO/MAN CAVE for SIX MORE WEEKS of WINTER

Leaping into Leap Year, February has Extra Day but Clocks Don’t Spring Forward until March 10th U.S./March 28th Britain—Meanwhile Carnival Just Keeps on Celebrating…

Perhaps we should listen more attentively to the poor maligned [overworked & underground] iconic Groundhog, instead of leaping into Spring at first sign of a snowdrop or a Carnival carnation. But with pre-Celtic [Irish] Là Fhèile Brìghde, Feast Day of Bride/Brigid/Brigantia; Xtian Candlemas February 2nd comes craziness in Western world: New Orleans Carnival; Venice, Italian Carnevale, Rio de Janeiro Carnaval & all hell-literally-breaks loose, lasting till Full Snow Moon (Algonquin Groundhog moon) 2/24.

This year, mercifully, the American Groundhog may have been able to escape the usual attention in U.S. cities in the North, because not only is politics drowning out his appearance-as early voters go to polls, but both hemispheres—South and North of the Equator are making the most of extended Carnival.

In the Italian city of Venice, 2024 festival [pix above] stretches from February 3rd-23rd, thru Valentine’s day in an unprecedented 700th year anniversary celebration of the death [1324] of its native son, world navigator Marco Polo. His discovery of the Orient by sea, (living in Mongol emperor Kublai Khan’s summer residence at Shangdu); and the Middle East (Constantinople/present Istanbul) by land (along the ‘Silk Road‘, below) brought riches and new knowledge to his home port. His own account of his travels as a 17-year-old —Il Milioni— [alongside his father & uncle] opened new vistas for 14thC Europeans, who had never before tasted spices, experienced gunpowder, porcelain, or the revelation of paper money—or crocodiles!

New Orleans, Louisiana [NOLA aka the ‘Big Easy’] is best known for its Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) feasting & unrestrained revelry in U.S.Carnival capital during week before Xtian calendar’s 40-day Lenten fast, when house banquets overspill into street parties & parades go on all night long.

As Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day, lotsa purple Creole bagels & lottery tickets -along with multiple Brit./U.S.pancakes-will be consumed this year on Feb.Lucky 13th!

Word is that the pageantry of daily festivities in the lagoons of Venice, home city of Marco Polo—masquerade parades, daily costume contests & chic evening masqued balls—which begin on the eve of Valentine’s Day—will continue through Lent [traditionally a time of Roman Catholic stricture, fasting & prayer], only to end at Easter, last weekend in March! We shall see.

If Venice Carnevale—traditionally a demure, elegant sophisticated round of masqued balls, private evening parties & gondola-led water processions from Doge’s Palace*, St.Mark’s Sq. along the Grand Canal to the Bridge of Sighs—lets it hair down, it may even rival the wild & unruly 24-hour madness characteristic of Rio’s festival which is famed for lasting all day-all night for over a month. Venetian Bull Festival was traditionally a parade where a real Bull, pigs & poultry were slaughtered annually; then cooked & given as gifts to the poor in the lagoon during Carneval.

Venice may have its Festival of the Bull [2nd top l.] where gifts of food are handed from a gondola gang to other water-borne Gran Canale vessels, culminating in bull-slaughter—masqued bull—no longer real carnage! But Rio’s mile-long Sambadrome parade [above mid l. & rt.] captures over a million entranced spectators along a route where rainbow-bedecked floats interact with masqued attendees in the seats.

Masquerading as birds-on-stilts, rt. these peculiar hawk-billed creatures are part of Venetian Bull Festival where traditionally a real Bull, pigs & poultry were slaughtered annually; then cooked & given as gifts to the poor in the lagoon during Carneval.

*Doge Vitale II Michiel, 12thC Duke of Venice, in 1122 led a Venetian fleet of 100 vessels & 15,000 men to the Holy Land under flag of St.Peter, with Papal blessing from Rome; Doge=Latin, Dux, Duke.

New Moon February 10th Heralds Oriental Year of Dragon Who Reigns until January 29th, 2025: Lucky for Monkeys, Roosters, Pigs

We’ve all experienced the caravan [current slang for a mobile home]. But few of us are aware of the word’s etymology, or its 12th-15thCC origin; we think of French caravane or Medieval Latin caravana; words picked up during the Crusades, via Arabic qairawan from Persian karwan= ‘a group of desert merchant travelers’. But its true derivation is probably Sanskrit karabhah=’camel’.

Legendary Marco Polo‘s travels in the Orient & Near East rise once again in our vocabulary, because-w/his father & uncle- he travelled the Silk Road from the Eastern Mediterranean>China & Mongolia by camel

15thC map, l. of Marco Polo’s Caravan along Silk Road by camel; courtesy Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

It seems, therefore, timely and relevant to mention in this Oriental Year of the Wood Dragon, beginning Saturday, Feb. 10th New Moon, that, while the Oriental Zodiac described here contains 12 animals who ran in the mythical Jade Emperor’s Great Race, there wasn’t a camel among them!

The illustrious Dragon competed, but, as he was kind & benevolent by nature, he helped others -like Rabbit- by blowing a gust of wind to carry him over water, thus allowing Rabbit to finish ahead of him.

10 years ago I blogged about my then 7-yr old granddaughter’s story of how Dragon evolved in her ‘How Jagin got his Name’. Her paper masque, rt., with her 1st draft & final edited story here. She’s a Fire Dog!

Dragon finished 5th in the Great Race after 1. Rat, 2. Ox, 3. Tiger, 4. Rabbit.

Snake came 6th; then 7. Horse, 8. Goat, 9. Monkey, 10. Rooster, 11. Dog & 12.Boar/Pig.

This year of the Dragon, 2024, is fortunate for Monkeys, Roosters and Pigs-all behind him at the finish line. His motto: Strength is a gift to be lent, not a power to be wielded.

Because the Moon’s first ‘new’ lunar cycle this month is slow [8 days after Candlemas/Groundhog], and as we still—even in 21st Century—calculate by the ancient lunar calendar, Xtian Palm Sunday will fall on March 24th, and Easter will be celebrated #late this year: i.e. on the last day in March. And although Fat (Pancake) Tuesday [Mardi Gras] is Lucky 13th [New Orleans, above 2nd top], Venice Fat Thursday Giovedi grasso & Rhineland German Weiberfastnacht occur a week earlier this year, on Feb.8th.

A Thought Before we Muse-Captive Underling Scribes Dive Back Down our Rabbit-aka-Dragon Hole…

Does having an extra ‘Leap’ day in February account for this? I hear you ask. No. Because one calendar is [4-year leap] solar; and the other is [18.6yr Metonic] lunar cycle. ❤

And we should remember that the Ancients believed that even the old Crone of Winter-the Cailleach– appeared in February, journeying to the Magical Isle, in whose woods lay the miraculous Well of Youth. At the first glimmer of dawn, she drinks the water bubbling in a crevice of rock, and is transformed into Bride, the fair maid whose white wand turns the bare Earth green again. So—Enjoy. ❤ p.s. I’m a Fire Tiger. @siderealview ©2024MarianC.Youngblood

In Rough Seas We Need A Little Help From Our Friends

WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, WRITERS GET TOUGHER
Monthly Tough-it-Out Corner for Insecure Writers

I like to think that we (Insecure) writers have a little extra ball of energy we hold in reserve for exactly that moment when the rest of our world is collapsing or about to do so.

Graces three—embodied joy, beauty and mirth—as well as social ease

Now seems a good time to remind ourselves that, however insecure we may feel about the work we continually produce—the writing we LOVE—if we continue to brave it out through any storm, the rough seas will eventually bring calm.

And we may live through it!

ENTER GRACE—Or in Aegaean terms, THREE GRACES, daughters of ZEUS and EURYNOME

In Hellenist mythology Three Goddesses called the Graces represented grace, charm and beauty. Other qualities associated with them—
Aglaia represented elegance, brightness and splendor.
Thalia embodied youth, beauty and good cheer.
Euphrosyne encouraged mirth and joyfulness.

The KHARITES were conceived in Greek mythology as goddesses who brought festive joy and enhanced mortals’ love of life though their refinement and gentleness. Gracefulness and beauty in social intercourse are attributed to them. They are usually seen in the service or attendance of other divinities, as real joy exists only in circles where the individual gives up his own self and makes it his main object to afford pleasure to others.

“The less beauty is ambitious to rule, the greater is its victory”

The Three Graces, from an Ionian fresco, A.D.1stC

Qualities embodied in the Kharites. Graces, are that the less homage beauty or grace demands, the more freely is it given.

Interestingly, these same traits were imported en masse into the Christian ethic and named Hope, Faith and Charity—from Gk.KHARITES—Catholicism in particular emphasizing ‘charity’.

I mention these lovely beauties at this time as, in the midst of world events where ladies’ sovreignty is paramount, it may be our GRACE which will see us through the storm.

Moving Beyond the Masque to Face Reality
Also, coincidentally in traditional Roman Catholic calendar—still calculated by the Moon—we have only just emerged from the Fire Festival of Fat Tuesday—Mardi Gras—Festern’s E’en. We are now entering a time of human restriction—in Church timing 40 days of Lent—where our resources and resourcefulness will be called on.

We IWSG-ers know how to pull in our belts, don’t we? If our Cap’n.Alex can do it, so can we.

Therefore, Angels of Grace, Beauty, Patience, bless you—we are calling for just a little help from our friends. Thank you for being here.
©2017 Marian Youngblood

Fire Festivals & Persistence of Pasche

Carnival in Rio before Lent

‘First come Candlemas
Syne the New Meen
The niest Tiseday efter that
Is Festern’s E’en.
That Meen oot
An’ anither at its hicht
The niest Sunday efter that
Is aye Pasche richt.’
Ancient Scots Easter calculation. Anon.

The Calendar according to the Moon was regular as clockwork. It was reliable, you could see it in the sky and you could set your life rhythms by it. The old Scots rhyme above spoken slowly will make sense even to the least son of the soil of Ultima Thule. But non-Scots may need a little help in translation.

Festern’s E’en – as Hallowe’en – was an ancient calendar fire festival celebrated, like all pre-Christian revelry, at night. And, like Hallowe’en, it still is. Only we call it by another name: Carnival.

Translated simply, it is the evening before the ‘Feast/Festival’. With a capital F, this celebration was one of the greatest fire festivals in the Celtic Year. When it became absorbed into the Christian calendar, its importance and significance to the populace was so great, that it was deemed necessary to give it a place of prominence second only to Christmas. As such it has remained. The festival that precedes Easter is throughout the world celebrated with fire and puppetry,processional and masqued balls, dance and music and food and drink.

If you ask a South American about Carnival, ‘Carnaval’ in Portuguese, he will tell you they prepare for it all year round. In some cultures it has become almost more important than Christmas – a reversion to type, backtracking to pre-Christian times.

In Brazil, it makes complete sense to hold Carnaval precisely on its February moon date in the ancient calendar because in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires it is full-blown summer. By contrast, German Fasching, held similarly in February, is pretty chilly dancing in the noctural streets of northern Hamburg!

Terence Young's 'Thunderball' James Bond in 1965

Carnival used to be held in the Bahamas in February too, when spring is at its height and the casuarinas blow carefree along Nassau Beach. But in the summer of 1965, Chubby Broccoli and Sean Connery made a James Bond film set on Paradise Island and commissioned the Carnival Committee to stage an ‘extra’ Carnival, so they could weave festive fiery scenes into ‘Thunderball’; since then Bahamian Carnival has been a summertime festival.

London's Notting Hill Carnival

Similarly, the London Carnival of Notting Hill, begun in 1964, is held on the last weekend in August. No connection to Lent or Easter any more.

But originally, before the Gregorian calendar took over calculation and reckoning by the moon in 1582, Carnival was high festive season in that ancient stream of festivities used by Man to celebrate the return of the Light to a dark winter world.

Candlemas, as I’ve mentioned before, is the first glimpse of light waxing and adding grace to the darkest days of winter. On February 2nd – or Bride’s Day, before solar months took over as calendrical norm – the measure of light from the heavens increases to such a degree that birds begin to mate, petals on spring flowers open and the Earth softens its frozen grip.

In lunar terms, the first New Moon of the second month (Gregorian) was celebrated in every northern hemisphere culture planet-wide from prehistoric times. From Buddhist to Inuit culture the return of light to nurture the earth’s crucial growing plants was a calendar custom worth celebrating.

When Christian calendar calculators were devising Roman Church high and holy days, they took care to incorporate these ancient fire rites as an integral part of Christian culture and ‘lore’. it did not do to lose a single ‘soul’ in the transition from a pre-Christian to a Christian world.

And, as it was a long-standing tradition for local people to mark ancient quarter days – the solstices and the equinoxes – with festivals of fire, it seemed right that they should transit unaltered into the Christian calendar: marked instead with candlelight inside church buildings.

Christmas was chosen at the time of (northern) winter solstice when the ‘ignorant’ (pagan) desperately needed to celebrate the return of ‘light to the world’. Christ was called the ‘Light of the World’. The Son of the Sun.

Midsummer was fully taken up with a light celebration of its own – in northern latitudes the longest days of the year brought bountiful harvest and genuine thanksgiving by a rural population for the gifts of the earth continuously provided from midsummer through to Lammas, an August ‘cross-quarter’ day. No Church overlay was necessary; nevertheless Roman Catholicism superimposed the feast of John the Baptist on midsummer’s day and frowned heavily on pagan corn dollies and such Celtic fripperies perpetuated by an agricultural society.

The Equinoxes, however, required more serious contemplation.

Most rural (so-called ignorant) converts were aware of the movement of both sun and moon. While that may appear to us today to be rather sophisticated intellectual knowledge, it was commonplace then to note changing seasons, hours of light and dark and the phases of the moon. When equinox arrived it was – in the human mind at least – a miracle that every place on earth had exactly the same number of hours of light and dark for one earth period of 24 hours. The sun rose at 6 and set at 6 on every man, woman, child and beast on earth. The phenomenon was in itself worth celebrating. In astronomical terms, the event occurs precisely at the moment the Sun (traveling along the ecliptic) appears to cross the celestial equator, and while ancient Man may not have known that added sophistication, his life was changed by its occurrence twice in every year. In addition, he celebrated the spring (cross-quarter) festivals of Wesak, Beltane, May Day, along with any events providing an excuse for Morris and maypole dancing, The Church allowed these to continue, so long as the requisite saints were also remembered and offerings given.

While Archangel Michael was given dominion over autumnal equinox, Easter was chosen as a fitting ‘high’ celebration to take over the vernal equinoctial light-and-dark balance.

What put a spanner in the works was that – late in the seventh century – when two contemporary Christian systems were running alongside in mutual cooperation, the internal systems within the Celtic and Roman Churches came to a clash; an impasse.

Venerable Bede's 'Ecclesiastical History of the English People'

Hugely influential, powerful and wealthy King Oswiu of Northumbria had been happy to run his Christian nation along the lines of Columba’s Celtic (thirteen-month lunar) calendar issued and maintained from Iona. This Celtic doctrine conveniently recognized the King as head of religious affairs. His Anglian Queen Eanfled, a devout Roman Christian recognized not the King but the Pope as head of the Church. They might have reconciled their differences, had it not been for a calendrical anomaly which in some years had the King ordering huge feasts for Easter at exactly the moment when his Queen was still fasting in Lent. Because another such year was due to happen in AD665, with the assistance of Wilfrid, new abbot at Rippon, and recently returned from Gaul and Rome, the King called the Synod of Whitby in AD664 and led a thorough investigation into the rites and rituals of both systems. The event is described in detail by Jarrow churchman Bede (673-735) who completed his Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731.

While the Synod changed lives, split families and royal houses, even intra-kingdom alliances, thereafter church festivities centred on Easter were standardized throughout the land and celebrated in accordance with Roman custom.

Easter remained the highest festival of the Christian church until the Scots Reformation when (after 1660) presbyterian austerity superimposed simplicity, reduced dogma and a return to ‘speaking to God’ directly.

For the rest of the British Isles, however, and for descendants and dependents the world over, Easter remains one of the great festivals of the Christian calendar.

Curiously, for a celebration washed, ironed and folded so neatly by successive synthesized systems – prehistoric, early-historic, pre-Christian, Celtic and Roman Christian – Easter emerges as a supreme highlight in the Church year.

Its one concession to its pagan past is that is remains to this day a date fixed according to the Moon.

And, in order not to offend other faiths which, like Anglian Eanfled, might take offence at the bulldozing approach (e.g. Spanish Inquisition, Salem witch trials), there is a built-in mechanism of calculation which ensures that Easter and Passover never collide and that the Christian High Festival should never occur BEFORE equinox.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans, bead capital of the world

So the little rhyme above, translated, simple enough and sympathetic to Scots ears, sums up global lead-time to Pasque, Pasche, Oster/Easter, the pagan event of maiden-goddess Eostre/Ostara, the Highest Festival in the Christian Calendar: when in the High Days before the Fast of Lent, the Roman Catholic world celebrates. From Italian Carnivale to German Fasching (Fastnacht, the eve before the Fast), prelude to French Pasque, in Portuguese Carnaval and on ‘Fat Tuesday’ of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, bead-festooned feasters and revellers make merry because tomorrow their stomachs will die.

The modern gesture to Pancake or Shrove or Fat Tuesday (Festern’s E’en) is not lost on marketers for supermarket chains who do a roaring trade in maple syrup and readymix batter. It’s the ‘stock up while the going’s good’ mentality, because the body must endure the subsequent fast of Lent for a regulation 40 days. Once more the Roman Church succeeded in condensing multiple events in Christ’s life into one festival: this fast represents the period of time He spent without food while meditating in the desert.

Nowadays, nobody questions that its immediate successor in the calendar is representational of His death and resurrection, when historically the two events happened years apart. Once again, ancient symbolism is used to gloss over detail.

‘First arrives Candlemas (Feast of Bride); Then the New Moon
The following Tuesday will be ‘Fastnacht’/Fasching or Shrove Tuesday
Allow that ‘moon’ to wax and wane
And watch till the next moon is full
The Sunday thereafter will be Easter Day.’
translation by Scots descendant, non-Anon

It worked for King Oswiu in 664. I can assure you, the calculation works still!

©2010 Marian Youngblood