THE VERNAL EQUINOX On March 20, 2007, at precisely 8:07 P.M. EDT (March 21, 00:07 Universal Time), the Sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator. This moment is known as the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. For the Southern Hemisphere, this is the moment of the Autumnal Equinox. Translated literally, equinox means "equal night." Because the sun is positioned above the equator, day and night are about equal in length all over the world during the equinoxes. Also known as: Alban Eilir, Eostar, Eostre, Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Festival of Trees, Lady Day, NawRuz, No Ruz, Ostara, Ostra, Rites of Spring Many early peoples celebrated for the basic reason that their food supplies would soon be restored. The date is significant in Christianity because Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. It is also probably no coincidence that early Egyptians built the Great Sphinx so that it points directly toward the rising Sun on the day of the vernal equinox. Its ancient linkages to sun and moon worship are obvious. Christianity and other religions associate three themes with the vernal equinox: ~ Conception and pregnancy leading to birth on the winter solstice. ~ Victory of a god of light (or life, rebirth, resurrection) over the powers of darkness (death). ~ The descent of the goddess or god into the underworld for a period of three days. This is such a popular theme among religions that mythologists refer to it as "the harrowing of Hell." In an ancient Greek religion, Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was said to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25; i.e. at the time of the vernal equinox in the Julian calendar. Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation." Since the worship of Cybele was brought to Rome in 204 BCE, about 250 years before Christianity, it is obvious that if any copying occurred, it was the Christians that copied the traditions of the Pagans. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christmas' Pagan Origins Christmas was celebrated long before the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows what day that Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description his birth occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. It is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible mentions shepherds tending sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?  In ancient Babylon (2300B.C.), the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.  In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called this holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.  The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.  Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual  The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.  In 350 A.D. Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SAMHAIN (Halloween) Le Grande Sabbat Day of the Dead, Shadow Feast, All Hallows Eve, Old Hallowmas, All Souls Day, Last Harvest   The origin of Halloween comes from an old Celtic belief system known today as Wicca. Halloween is the Wiccan New Year called Samhain (pronounced Sow-in, Sah-vin, or Sahm-hayn) and is the celebration of impending darkness after the light and marks the end of the third and final harvest.    The living and the dead merged on this day in order to maintain peace between the two worlds and many of our Halloween traditions have stemmed from this. The Medieval Catholic Church changed it's holyday All Saints Day to All Hallow's Eve in an attempt to appease and control a still very pagan oriented congregation.   Costumes and masks were worn outside in order to confuse and mislead the Dead Souls that wandered that night. Druid priests of Muck Olla went to farms to beg for food and money for their houses of worship and if the farmers refused, barns would be burned and animals would dissappear. These incidents were believed to be caused by the god 'Muck' which now has come to mean trouble and chaos. This eventually lead to our Trick or Treat tradition.   The most common error, is that Halloween is celebrated to honour the Celtic God of the Dead, Samhain. The Celts had no such God. The word "Samhain" more likely came from "samhuinn", which is the Gaelic word for "summer's end". A fitting name, since that is precisely what this holiday is celebrating. Part of the mythology of the holiday is that the God dies at Samhain, and the Goddess mourns Him until His rebirth at Yule. It is Her mourning that brings about the shorter, cold days of winter. After His birth at Yule, the days begin to get longer again.   Medieval Christians feared cats, for reasons as yet unclear, and especially feared the black ones who could sneak "invisibly" around at night. It's ironic that they feared cats so much that they killed tens of thousands of them, leaving their granaries open to rats and mice, no doubt causing much food to be wasted, and leaving Europe as a whole open to the Black Plague, which was carried by the fleas on those rats and mice. Unfortunately, the millions of human deaths caused by the Black Plague were later blamed on the Gothic (Satanic) Witches the Church invented, then murdered. Cats, as "evil" animals, became associated with the "evil" witches.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ H a l l o w e e n Vodou, contrary to popular belief, is not about voodoo dolls and zombies. It is a religion with deep and ancient roots in Africa. The religion is based on the concept of respect: respect for God, the Lwa (the spirits), the community, the family, the individual, and above all, self-respect. Hand in hand with respect for the living goes respect for the dead. Halloween marks the beginning of Gede time in Vodou. The Gede family of Lwa give voice to the unknown or forgotten dead. This is a time when the Baron Samedi & Maman Brigitte, are honored with parties. Much like the Mexican Day of the Dead, Gede is a time to remember the dead and to remember that we, one day, will be among them. Many people involved in the Vodou, particularly here in the US, choose Gede time, October – November, to honor their ancestors as well as to deal with the Gede. Here in the US, many of us have few formal ways to remember our ancestors. In the past, it was customary in South Louisiana to go to church on All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and then to go to the cemetery to white wash the mausoleums of loved ones. These traditions have largely fallen by the wayside even in such tradition bound places as New Orleans. The dead, generally speaking, fall into three categories: ancestral spirits, Gede (incl. the Barons and Maman Brigitte), and those restless and mischievous dead that can cause problems. The term Gede often is used to include the Barons, the best known of which are LaCroix, Samedi, and Cemetiere and Maman Brigitte. BUT OF COURSE WE ALL LOVE A GOOD... ZOMBIE Oh yeah, the Zombi are the living dead ! A corpse that a Zobop (evil Vodou priest) raises from it's tomb and becomes an eternal slave to the Zobop. Recognized by their absent-minded manner, their extinguished, almost glassy eyes, and above all by the nasal twang in their voices, a trait they share with the Gede. So, just how does one become a Zombi ? Well, first you must absorb some Zombi Powder, of which there is no antidote: Bouga toad (Bufo marinus) which excretes psychedelic oils from it's back Sea snake Ground Millipede & tarantula Mix with Tcha- Tcha seeds (Albizzia occidentale) which will cause pulmonary swelling Consign seeds Pomme Cajou leaves Bresillet leaves (last three from the poison ivy family) All of this is ground into powder, placed in a jar and buried for two days. Afterwards when dug up: Add DieffenbachiDiodon holacanthusa seguine ('dumbcane' which contains oxalate needles that act like ground glass) Skin of the White tree-frog And oh yes...... Four species of the deadly Puffer fish which contain Tetrodotoxin (Sphoeroides testudineus, Sphoeroides spengleri, Diodon hystrix and Diodon holacantus) Final mixture is ground human skull Of course my personal favorite is: 1 oz. pineapple juice Lime juice Orange juice 1 tsp. powdered sugar 1/2 oz. Apricot brandy 2 1/2 oz. white rum 1 oz. dark rum 1 oz. passion fruit juice add cracked ice & blend, strain into frosted glass. Decorate with pineapple & cherry. Carefully float 1/2 oz. of 151 proof rum on top...... trust me, you'll be a ZOMBIE in no time !!! Peace, PoorBob     MARDI GRAS Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the high point of Carnival followed by the quiet of Ash Wednesday. It is good to remember that Carnival literally means "Farewell to Flesh" (Carnis= LATIN: "flesh" and vale= LATIN: "farewell"). Carnival is a celebration of great excess. It is a time when the flesh and all of the material pleasures that it apprehends are set ablaze in the passion of the moment. The fat, so to speak, is in the fire and one is left with the ashes on Wednesday. Carnival is usually only thought of in terms of external events and happenings. But the most important of events are internal. Carnival and The Mardi Gras are both external and internal events. Carnival, to be most effective, must take place within the Self as well as on the streets. As the Flesh is pushed to its limits through the pleasures of the streets, so must the Self be stretched to its limits through a willed violation of its "I am THIS/ I am not THAT." Only then can the Flesh and the Self join together and burn brightly enough to produce the Ashes from which Spirit will rise, renewed as the Phoenix. The Jungian Robert Johnson has described Mardi Gras in a recent interview (Parabola; vol.22, # 2, p. 22) as one of the two Festivals of the Shadow left in the USA; the other being Halloween. In his words, "(they) are highly intelligent ways of honoring the shadow...There used to be many more, but we salvaged only these 2." Le Grande Zombi is the Great Snake of New Orleans Voodoo. From Le Grande Zombi flows immense power that can be transmited from the Mombo or Houngan to those present at the ceremony.   MARIE LAVEAU ------- The VOODOO QUEEN There's much more to Voodoo than the stereotypical witch doctor fiendishly jabbing needles into dolls, and those who dreaded the wrath of a particular woman in old New Orleans would readily attest to that. The most prominent figure in the true history of Voodoo in America was Marie Laveau, the legendary "Voodoo Queen" feared and revered throughout 19th century Louisiana. The ancient rites of Voodoo -- along with a heaping helping of down-to-earth shrewdness -- propelled her to a profound level of influence among the common folk and the aristocratic gentry alike, a feat nearly unimaginable for a black woman in the oppressive days of slavery. Join the PHMS Mailing List If the link above doesnt pull up you email, send you email address to poorbob@bellatlantic.net