Tattoo
Chapter 1: Blood is Thicker
Chapter 1.1 in which Glory is not mindful of the store
Chapter 1.2 in which Glory is made to do something she would really rather not
Chapter 1.3 in which Glory thinks she might be sick
Chapter 1.4 in which Aaron makes a mistake
Chapter 1.5 in which Glory is made to see the error of her ways
Chapter 1.6 in which the circle remains unbroken
Chapter 2: A Farewell to Arms
Chapter 2.1 in which Aaron makes another mistake
Chapter 2.2 in which Glory reflects on her path
Chapter 2.3 in which we learn Aaron is not really a nice boy
Chapter 2.4 in which Glory speculates on the holiness of salt
Chapter 2.5 in which Glory learns of the necessity for upper body strength, but makes do with what she has
Chapter 2.6 in which Aaron tries to make amends, but is still pretty much an ass
Chapter 3: Small Sacrifices
Chapter 4: The Shape of Things to Come
Chapter 4.1 in which a doctor makes his rounds
Chapter 4.2 in which Glory is asked some awkward questions
Chapter 4.3 in which Glory adopts a pet
Chapter 4.4 in which Glory gets a surprise, but decides she should not have been surprised at all
Chapter 4.5 in which Glory explains why there are no debts where duty is concerned
Chapter 4.6 in which a shapeshifter is an enemy to no man
Chapter 4.7 in which Glory defends Toby’s right to make a phone call
Chapter 4.8 in which the nose knows
Chapter 4.9 in which good pizza is wasted on a possum
Chapter 4.10 in which the ruse is discovered and much blood is shed
Chapter 4.11 in which names are dropped and there is much frustration
Interlude
The Head I revised this page. I’m still not happy about the formatting, but I don’t think it’s going to get much better than this unless I host the pages outside of wordpress and link to them.The Arms: Right and Left Every single time I tried to post this tonight all the pictures kept moving on me! Grrrrrr! But they are up. Sorry about the formatting, but it should be understandable at least. Yeesh! And I thought I’d be taking a break by posting these in December. Silly me! lolThe Legs There some medieval signs on the legs that are not commonly seen. Particular the fixed star signs. I think they look like weird centipede-like bugs and vaguely creepy because of it. But still, fascinating. I’d like to know if other stars have similar jointed symbols, but I’ve only found these symbols for the fixed stars.The Back and Torso This is the final update of Glory’s tattoos, though I reserve the right to add more to them if I find anything worthy. 
For now, these are the tattoos which cover Glory’s body. Next week I will be taking the week off from Tattoo to recover from retail hell.
December 21st
This is the fifth day of Saturnalia in honor of the Golden Age of Saturn and Ops. Angerona or Diva, a Roman goddess, was worshiped at the Angeronalia or Divalia. Angerona is connected with Silence.
The Winter Solstice, a celebration of the sun, called Yule (from Jol in honor of Jolnir, another name for Odin), Midwinter, and Alban Arthuan (Druidic) is celebrated today. This is the oldest of all sabbats, 12000 to 20000 years old. Many sun gods were honored today, Horus, Helios, Dionysus, and Mithra. Yule ends with 12th Night when all the decorations are cleared away. The poor were traditionally given money or presents during Yule. The needy could ask for money, a practice known as “mumping” or “thomasing” in honor of St. Thomas. Fresh food and drink was laid out as a feast for roaming Yuletide ghosts. Holy and ivy, traditional Yuletide decorative plants were adopted from Odin and Dionysus. The Christmas tree may have been adopted from Yggdrasil.
The 6th Mechir is the Winter Solstice and a Feast of Isis.
_____Yule_____
Alternate Names : Alban Arthuan (Light of Arthur), Midwinter, Rebirth of the Sun, Saturnalia, Zagmuk
Despite hundreds of years in the hands of Christians, Yule is still a Pagan holiday. Marking the shortest day of the year, Yule occurs on the winter solstice when the sun rises and sets at its most southerly points. Yule usually occurs on or around December 21st (this year, it was 7:04 EST this morning). It is a Lesser Sabbat or Lower Holiday in the modern Pagan calendar, one of the four quarter-days of the year. This is the winter quarter of the year that began at Samhain and will end on Imbolc. Yule occurs when the sun is weakest, but it is also the point at which the sun is reborn, as days grow longer again. For this reason, Yule was the birthday of the main deity in many religions: Dionysus, Mithra, Helios, Horus, Oedipus, Theseus, Hercules, Perseus, Jason, Apollo, Attis, Baal, Hercules, and even Arthur to name a few. Osiris died and was entombed on December 21st.
The winter solstice is a most ancient holiday, far older than the Christian holiday of Christmas. Prehistoric peoples across Europe were building stone monuments such as Stonehenge and Newgrange in Ireland as early as 3000 BCE in order to mark the solstices. Other similar astrological monuments can be found from South America to Asia. Most modern pagans acknowledge Yule as the rebirth of the light half of the year, and some traditions perform the play of the Oak King and the Holly King, just as it is done at Midsummer, to mark the change of the seasons as one of them reigns over the other.
One of the earliest recorded festivals of the Solstice was the Zagmuk, the Mesopotamian Festival of Light. During the winter months, the Mesopotamian god of light, Tammaz, Marduk or Enlil, was held captive by the Chaos dragoness Tiamat. The 12-day festival of Zagmuk was humanity’s way of assisting the god in breaking loose from his bonds and returning the sunlight. The king was often sacrificed in effigy in order to assist Marduk in fighting the demon Tiamat and the forces of chaos. During the festival celebrating Marduk’s success, gifts were exchanged.
In Ancient Greece, the winter solstice was Lenaea, “The Festival of Wild Women.” A man (later a goat) was chosen to represent the harvest god Dionysus, who was torn to pieces and eaten by a gang of women. Later in the same ritual, Dionysus was reborn as a baby. In later traditions, the women became funeral mourners and observers of the birth.
Another pre-Christian holiday celebrated at the winter solstice is Saturnalia. Many secular Christmas traditions can be traced directly to this holiday. Saturnalia was of course named for Saturn, god of the ‘seed time’ and mythical ruler. According to Roman myth, he presided over a golden age. The celebration of Saturnalia was an attempt to return to this golden era. No wars were fought or criminals punished during the festival. In fact, most businesses were not allowed to operate at all. Feasting was the norm, and slaves were even given the same status as free men during the celebration. Everyone wore the same type of clothing in order to erase social barriers, and adults and children exchanged gifts of candles and clay dolls. Originally, Saturnalia was held on December 17th, but it was eventually combined with several other festivals to stretch from the 17th to the 23rd of December. Opalia in honor of Ops fell on the 19th and Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome, fell on January 1st.
Dies natalis solis invicti, the birthday of the invincible sun, may also have influenced both the secular and religious customs of Christmas. This was the celebration of the birth of Mithra, the warrior-god, whose story and popularity rivaled that of the Christ. The festival was most popular during the reign of the emperor Aurelian (270-275 A.D.) who attributed his military victories to the sun god. Images of Sol Invictus remained popular and appeared on Roman coinage, even into the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337 AD). Pope Julius I officially designated Mithra’s birthday as the birthday of Christ in 336.
Another holiday of the Solstice which has impacted the modern celebrations of Christmas immensely is Yule. Interpretation of the name is debatable. Some say it comes from the Anglo-Saxon Geola and means ‘Yoke of the Year,’ while others suggest it is derived from the Norse Jul, meaning ‘wheel.’ Some suggest the name comes from the Norse god Ullr, the winter god and Odin’s alter-ego. There is also some speculation it is derived from the Old English word for “jolly.” During the Norse Yule which begins on December 21st, all beings – men, gods, trolls, and the shades of the dead – converge on the earthly realm. This was a sacred time of feasting and merrymaking, when everything people did reflected on the year to come. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, up to thirteen days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year.
Many of the Norse gods were honored during the Yule celebrations, including Thor, Freya, Freyr – to whom a boar was sacrificed to ensure fertility, and Odin. As the leader of the Wild Hunt, Odin was particularly connected to the holiday of Yule, the most common time of the Hunt’s ride. Gifts were left for the ghostly riders to ensure a good harvest in the coming year.
As can be seen by its traditions, the holiday of Christmas has always been more Pagan than Christian. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin abhorred it; the Puritans refused to acknowledge it; and it was even made illegal to celebrate for short periods of history. The holiday was already too closely associated with the birth of older Pagan gods and heroes.
The first written record for Christmas occurring on December 25th appeared in 354 AD and blatantly admitted it was to supersede the Pagan holiday. Despite the fact that shepherds do not normally tend their flocks by night in the high pastures in the dead of winter, December 25th was adopted as the birthday of Jesus. By this argument, the Eastern half of the Church rejected the December date, preferring a “movable date” fixed to the moon. Today in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.
It took nearly two hundred years for a December birth to catch on. By 529, Christmas was a civic holiday. The Emperor Justinian prohibited all work or public business, and in 563, the Council of Braga forbade fasting on Christmas Day. Four years later the Council of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season. The Christian version of the Solstice spread to many countries no faster than Christianity itself. “Christmas” wasn’t celebrated in Ireland until the late fifth century, in England, Switzerland, and Austria until the seventh, in Germany until the eighth, and in the Slavic lands until the ninth and tenth.
Christmas and Yule Traditions of the Middle Ages
At one time, the Yule log was the center of the celebration. Lit on the eve of the solstice (it should light on the first try), it must be kept burning for twelve hours for good luck. The tinder used to light the log should be the ash of the previous year’s log. The Yule tree and wreaths eventually replaced the Yule log. Instead of burning the tree, candles were placed on it. While Protestants might claim that Martin Luther invented the custom and Catholics point to St. Boniface, the custom can be traced directly to Saturnalia. Modern Pagans may light candles at the stroke of midnight on the solstice to symbolize the rebirth of the god.
In areas where fruit was an important crop (like apples in England), a custom of blessing the orchards at Yuletide developed. Called saining, these rites blessed fruit trees and livestock to bring abundant food in the seasons ahead. Many of the wassail songs reflect this in their lyrics. The term wassail means ‘your health’ in Old English. The traditional bowl or cup full of mulled wine originated in the fourteenth century. The leader of a gathering would take up a bowl of wine. Shouting “Wassail!” he would toast the others and drink before it was passed to the next person with a kiss. This continued until all in the room had drunk from it.
Another symbol of Yuletide is the use of evergreen plants to decorate indoors. Evergreens were considered magical and protective simply because they were alive in a season of death. In the British Isles, it has always been the custom to decorate with flowers or greenery at all seasonal celebrations. In the winter months, evergreen plants were used. These included rosemary, gorse, bay, cypress, holly, ivy, yew, and mistletoe. The tradition of kissing under a bough of greenery first became widespread in the late 18th century. Washington Irving mentioned the ancient association of mistletoe with the Druids in a Christmas short story in 1819, around the time of the revival of interest in Druidism in England. Mistletoe was especially venerated by the Celtic Druids and believed it to be an aphrodisiac. (It should be noted however that Mistletoe is potentially poisonous and should not be used internally.)
In addition to the gifts of candles traditional to the Saturnalia holiday, gifts of coins, honey, figs and pastry were given. Though honey and figs were believed to be aphrodisiacs, they were also highly prized for their nutritional value. Honey is a natural preservative which is said to restore youthfulness to the skin. There were many other traditions of the season as well. Riddles were shared, magic and rituals were practiced, and wild boars were sacrificed and consumed along with large quantities of alcohol. Corn dollies were carried from house to house, and fertility rites were practiced.
Divinations were cast for the coming Spring. A windy Christmas was said to bring good luck, however “if Christmas on a Sunday be, a windy winter we shall see” and the Twelve Days of Christmas could be used to predict the weather for each of the twelve months of the coming year, and so on. The tree should be taken down by Twelfth Night or bad luck is sure to follow. A person born on Christmas Day could see the Little People, and a cricket on the hearth brought good luck.
By attaching Christmas to the traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the popularity of Christmas but gave up the ability to dictate how it would be celebrated by the masses. While believers attended church on Christmas day, afterward they would celebrate in a carnival-like atmosphere similar to Mardi Gras. Each year, someone was crowned the “lord of misrule” and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects. The poor wandered from house to house, demanding the best food and drink from the rich. If they were refused, the mob could terrorize them with mischief.
Christmas in the New World
It’s ironic to hear Religious Right groups portray themselves as the great defenders of Christmas when their spiritual forebears hated the holiday and even banned its celebration. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence. As part of their effort, they canceled Christmas. When Charles II was restored to the throne by popular demand, with him came the return of Christmas. This didn’t stop the pilgrims from banning Christmas in America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was against the law in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings.
Conversely in the Jamestown settlement, Christmas was enjoyed by all. After the American Revolution however, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Although Christmas became popular in the South as early as the 1830s, other regions were apathetic. Christmas did not become a federal holiday until June 26, 1870. As late as 1931, nine states still called for public schools to remain open on Christmas Day. Factories and offices in New England were often open on Dec. 25, and many Protestant churches refused to hold services.
Americans re-invented the holiday, changing it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. Old customs were unearthed as people looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated. Although most families quickly adopted the idea of Christmas and assumed that their celebrations were how it had been done for centuries, America had reinvented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of a growing nation.
Holiday facts
- Each year, 30-35 million fir trees are sold in the United States alone. There are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, and trees usually grow for approximately 15 years before they are sold.
- The first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in the Jamestown settlement.
- Poinsettia plants get their name from Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the red-and-green plant to America in 1828.
- The Christian ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ are the days after Christmas Day until the Epiphany, the day designated for the manifestation of Christ to the Magi, on 6th January.
- The Salvation Army has been sending Santa Claus-clad donation collectors into the streets since the 1890s.
- Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was the product of Robert L. May’s imagination in 1939. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the Montgomery Ward department store.
- Construction workers started the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in 1931.
