Month: January 2009

  • Borders of the Absurd

    So, we'll call Wednesday "The Day of the Dirty Old Men." Early in the day, I was minding my own business at the register, helping to clear the line. My coworker was explaining the Borders rewards card and that it was free, when out of the blue, the old man she was talking to says quite loudly, "Oh I love it when you talk dirty to me!" (Do old men even think about what they're saying before opening their mouths??) His wife must have chastised him because then he says, "I have to have my fun!" Ick! Ick! Eww!

    But wait! It get's better! Later on, an old guy with a cane came in wanting to know if he could use his Visa gift card in the store, to which I replied in the affirmative. Later on, he comes up to me and asks me to open one of the locked cases of DVDs. So okay, no problem. But then he leads me over to the case with the porno and sports DVDs in it. Please, please, please let it be a sport DVD he wants! Nope. Porno. And then he proceeds to tell me he has this one, this one, and this one.... Gahhhhh! The only way it would have been worse is if he picked up one, showed it to me, and said, "What do you know about this one? Is it any good?" EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Whyyyyyyyyyyy????????

    Oh, it get's better...... We'll call Thursday the Day of the Unholy Stench. Now our building is quite old. Ten years, and it's never once been remodeled, though they've been promising to do so for the last five years. There are leaks in the ceiling where rain literally cascades into the store if we have a good storm. There's a huge crack in the floor of the backroom that goes from one end of the room to the other. Maybe there are more under the carpeting in the rest of the store. Hard to say. There are cracks in the walls and chipped paint. We have to call in a service person at least once a month for the bathrooms. Sometimes two out of three stalls are clogged in the ladies room. And the smell! Ugggghhhh! Sometimes I think people specifically come to our store to leave their gut bombs. They don't want to risk having their homes cordoned off as a health hazard.

    But yesterday, it was not the bathroom that was the culprit. Now several days ago, it became apparent that the drain/grease trap in the cafe was not draining properly. That's never fun because it reeks when it's cleaned. So finally, it wouldn't drain at all so they called in a repair man for that. In the meantime, some regular maintenance on the building turned up three tripped breakers, which he duly switched back on. Now apparently, in the ten years the building has been in use, these breakers have NEVER been switched on. Would you like to hazard a guess as to what they controlled?

    Well apparently, the reason the store is always so cold.... is because the heat has never been turned on in half the store and in the ten years the building has stood and maintenance people have come and gone, not a single one of them has ever thought to flip those breakers on. I don't know whether to applaud the guy who did notice or smack him. So ten years of accumulated dust and dirt and who knows, bat droppings, suddenly got flash fried. The cafe filled with smoke. Thankfully no sprinklers went off.

    Then to add to the rich aroma of burning detritus, the guy came to repair the grease trap. By the time I got there at 4pm, the smell was quite... robust. It was like some vile combination of vomit and burning hair (and I'm being charitable). Surprisingly no customers complained. Even more surprisingly, people were actually still getting food and drinks in the cafe and sitting over there where the smell was the worst. Seriously, if I'd had the choice and walked into the store to shop, I'd have done an about face. Now, I have a very strong sense of smell, but it was like a wall of odor and it moved around the store like the phantom of smell. It smelled everywhere, but sometimes you'd just walk into a particularly dense odoriferous entity, like a demon of stink. The only thing I can think is that almost everyone who was in the store had a cold. I have the beginnings of a cold myself, but.... Damn! I'm sure it hurt business. We didn't make plan at all. I seriously think we should have scrapped the day and either closed the store to customers and stayed just to get our backlog of post holiday straightening done or simply locked the doors and burned the place to the ground.

    I'm almost afraid of what today may bring.
    January 9th

    The Dirge of Isis and Nephthys to call on the soul of Osiris is commemorated today.



  • wcfq 30+1: Our own worst critics

    Why do you think it's so much easier
    to find things wrong with ourselves?
    AvenueToTheReal


    5 good things about me

    • I have very nice hair.
    • I'm pretty smart (or so I've been told).
    • I can entertain myself without relying on tv or other people.
    • I have a strong sense of right and wrong.
    • I'm frugal.

    5 bad things about me

    • My feelings are easily hurt, but I won't often tell someone that they've hurt my feelings because I want them to realize it for themselves. Plus I'm afraid they either meant to hurt my feelings or will know better how to hurt me in the future if I clue them in.
    • I'm not very good at socializing. I can talk to people and hold conversations, but I don't like parties or doing things that involve a crowd. Sometimes I think that hurts my chances of having friends because we don't "hang out." Mostly they just come to me for advice.
    • I don't have much faith in people. I don't trust them. I expect them to betray me or at least disappoint me. I keep people at arms length because I don't feel like I can depend on them when push comes to shove.
    • Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite. Not for any particular reason, but people tell me I am so nice or so smart or so insightful, etc.... and I think they are wrong.
    • I wish I was more strong-willed so that I could go completely vegetarian instead of allowing my mother to talk me into eating fowl. She says if she doesn't cook any meat for me, then she feels like she hasn't cooked for me at all, even though I'm the one who does most of the cooking.

    Hmmmm, there seem to be a big difference in these two lists. My bad list is a lot more detailed. Probably because I think about what's wrong with me a lot more than I think about what's right with me. Very few people can look at themselves objectively. People have a tendency to exaggerate, either the good or the bad (depending upon their personality). Most people who know me in the real world think I'm pretty upbeat and optomistic. My answers here, I think more than my posts, show that I am not a very optomistic person. Hey, there's another bad quality... I'm a pessimist. But on the plus side, another good quality is I'm honest. lol
    January 8th

    Justitia, the Roman goddess of Justice, is often portrayed evenly balancing both scales and a sword while wearing a blindfold, but she was originally depicted holding a cornucopia and scales. She was also sometimes portrayed holding the fasces (a bundle of rods around an ax symbolizing judicial authority) in one hand and a flame in the other (symbolizing truth).

    Galileo Galilee died this day in 1642. During his life, he was condemned for speaking the truth, that the world was round and revolved around the sun and was not, as the Church asserted, the center of the universe.

    Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers was born in 1854 and died 1918. As a prominent occult scholar, he was an author and a leader of the occult revival in the late 1880's. He had a life long fascination with magic, mysticism and Celtic symbolism that led him to hold high office in the S.R.I.A. (Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia).  He, together with Dr. William Wynn Westcott and Dr. William Woodman was a co-founder of the influential occult Order known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

    Born Violet Mary Firth, Dion Fortune, also a member of the Golden Dawn, died today in 1946.

    This is the 24th day of Mechir in the Egyptian calendar. It is the date of a Festival of Isis and celebrates the Birth of Aion.



  • WCFQ 30d: All you need is love

    Can someone live without love? Why?
    gangster_in_disguise

    This is a prickly subject. Love, I think, is essential for existence. Most people have become so disconnected from the world they do not feel the love of the world all around them. All they know is that they do not have what they want, whether it's the love of a specific person or the possession of some object which represents love. In the minds of many, love is a possession, something to be owned. When they say they love someone, it's not an expression of their feelings, it's the application of ownership. That's not love; that's lust (not as a sexual application, but as an expression of greed).

    Love is selfless and unpossessive. People should worry more about giving love than getting it. But back to the subject at hand, can someone live without love? No, I don't think so. Most people don't even know they are loved. They can't sense it. So the only way they can feel it is by giving it, and the only way they can measure it is by judging the recipient's appreciation of the gift of their love. If they give more than they feel they get, then they feel slighted and unloved.

    I think one of the reasons humanity is in such dire straights (don't look at me like that, we are) is because we've forgotten how to love. Humanity is in a steep decline. Crime and suicide are up. We're sick from lack of love and too afraid to give it to receive it. It's not until you can open yourself up to the world and give love freely that you're truly alive. This is why so many people, and younger and younger people, contemplate suicide or do other things to hasten their demise.

    So love... is probably at least as important to the continuation of life as air, food, and sleep. It's important that we receive it when we're young so we can recognize it when we're older. It's important that we learn to give it so that we can sustain others when they are feeling without love. Love costs nothing to give but is more valuable than all the gold and jewels in the world.
    January 7th

    This is the 23rd day of Mechir, a feast of Sekhmet and of Isis, ancient Egypt's New Year's Day. The decrees of Sokhit (Sekhmet) were put forth by the goddess at the end of the reign of Ra.


    The feast of Morrigan honors the Irish triple goddess of death and destruction. Remember, death is only a door through which we all must walk.


    Izanagi no-Mikoto and Izanami no-Mikoto are worshiped through offerings of flowers. The goddess is also worshiped with drums, flutes, flags, singing and dancing. During the Uzue-matsuri, each participant offers a plum branch (peach was formerly used) on which he or she has attached a slip of paper with his or her name and age (or date of birth). After the ceremony, every person retrieves his or her offering for protection throughout the year.


    St. Distaff's Day was so called because on the day following Twelfth Night, women returned to their distaffs or daily occupations. It is also called Rock-Day, a distaff being referred to as a rock.


    The Nana-kusa, Festival of the Seven Grasses, is held in Japan. In early times, the Court and people went out to gather parsley and six other edible herbs. These are traditionally powdered into stew called the nanakusa-gayu, which is eaten as part of the New Year's rituals. It is a type of rice-gruel or congee flavored with greens.



  • Crapitty, crappity, crap, crap, crap

    So I was planning on working on my webnovel today and decided to check on the tattoo pages I worked on the other day, only to see one page was missing and the other was a "draft." Well, it's great that the draft is still there... but... but... one whole page missing is not a good thing! I deleted the old pages because I had compiled those pages into one and now I have to do the whole thing over again! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! And Google didn't cache them, so I can't even cheat.

    I am not pleased.
    January 7th

    This is Twelfth Night and Old Christmas day according to the Julian Calendar. It marks the end of the Yule festivities according to old Teutonic Pagan traditions which honor the Mother goddess. On this night, the Twelfth-cake is prepared to select the Rulers of Twelfth Night. This is a large cake, usually frosted and otherwise ornamented. A bean (king) or pea (queen) or coin is placed in the batter to determine the 'king' and 'queen' of the feast. The twelfth-cake is divided among the children, and the children who find the prizes are crowned, placed on a throne, and paraded in state. If a girl finds the male token, she must name her sovereign, and if a male finds the female token, he chooses his consort.

    According to Frazer, the time between Christmas and Epiphany is a witching time. On the Lake of Lucerne at Brunnen, two female wood spirits, Strudeli and Stratteli appear on Twelfth Night according to Swiss Lore. La Befana, the good fairy of Italian children, fills their stockings on Twelfth Night. She is Italy's "Santa Claus." Flying on her broomstick, she enters through the chimney, bringing gifts for children.

    In Japan, this is Dezomeshiki. The fire brigade goes back into formation after the holiday celebration. Firemen in costumes from the Middle Ages give acrobatic performances atop ladders, and demonstrations are staged at the Palace plaza.

    Joan of Arc was born in 1412 and died May 30, 1431. It was around 1424, when she was 12, that Joan said she began to have visions of Saints Catherine and Margaret and St. Michael the Archangel. Michael had been chosen in 1422 as one of the patron saints of the French Royal army, and had long been the patron of the fortified island of Mont-St-Michel, which had been holding out against repeated English assaults.

    Apple trees are Wassailed and given libations today.

    This is the 22nd of Mechir in the Egyptian calendar, the Feast of Ptah and Horus.



  • Writer's Choice Featured Questions Week 30

    five questions for this week+1

    unfeatured questions stolen from the featured question chatboard, dated from October of 2007

    What does blogging do for you?
    foreverdrawn

    Why do we always want to be different, but want to be the normal at the same time?
    pathetic__virgins__addiction

    What came first, the chicken or the egg????
    NONA_MIA

    Can someone live without love? Why?
    gangster_in_disguise

    Do the ideals of religions founded centuries ago have a really place in today's society?
    TheLastWolves

    +1 On October 18th, 2007 AvenueToTheReal asked:
    Why are my questions never featured? What? Because they suck!? Well... psh. Go make me a sandwich...
    Today she posted a question on her blog which I think is worthy of at least being one of my "unfeatured" questions, if not a regular featured question, so....
    Why do you think it's so much easier to find things wrong with ourselves?
    (BTW, You should all visit her because she is funny as heck.)

    Answer any one or all of these questions in the coming week. I try to mix the whimsical with the serious here, so hopefully there is at least one question here for everyone.
    January 5th

    During the Alexandrian Koreion, a drama mystikon (mystical play) is performed in several acts on different levels, below the earth and upon it. The nocturnal rites of Kore/Persephone are celebrated in preparation for her return and the return of Spring to the world. During the Epiphanios (epiphany), people spend the night in the temple, singing to the accompaniment of flutes. A troop of torchbearers enters an underground chamber, sekos hypogaios. From this chamber, a naked, wooden statue is retrieved. On its forehead, hands, and knees are golden cruciform seals. This is placed in a litter and carried seven times round the inner temple.


    This is Wassail Eve in Europe. Wassail was a salutation offered on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day over the spiced-ale cup, hence called the 'wassail bowl.' It comes from the Anglo-Saxon, Waes hael, be whole, be well.


    Jeanne Dixon (1918-1997), the psychic and astrologer, was never correct in any prediction of any consequence, but she achieved a reputation as a very good psychic when the mass media perpetuated the myth that she had predicted President Kennedy's assassination. In fact, she had predicted he would never attain office.



  • WCFQ 29c: I'm supernatural

    If you had the opportunity to get supernatural powers,
    what would they be to make your life meaningful?
    readyfortheworld1


    Aside from the fact that I already have "supernatural" powers , I wouldn't mind having the ability to transmute lead into gold. Certainly my money troubles would be over! If not that, then I'd like the ability to understand any language ever written or spoken. Actually, I'd prefer the latter. I salivate at all the research I could do. (I'm such a nerd.) If both these powers were barred to me, I'd like the ability to control the weather with a thought. I'd make sure droughts and flash floods were a thing of the past and start reclaiming the man-made deserts. And finally, if none of the above, I'd like the ability to photosynthesize so that I would never need to eat again... not that I mind eating, I rather like it and cooking in general, but if I didn't need to eat, think of all the time I'd save to do other things (not to mention going to the toilet. Yuck!)! And beyond that, I'd never need to worry that the food I ate had been abused in any way.

    So I spent the day redoing the various Tattoo pages. They're no longer part of the webnovel, but are instead situated under the Character Histories. I did a bit of reformatting, and it looks a lot better, but there are still issues, and I know just enough html to clear up the initial problems. I'm really at a loss as to what I can do with the problems that remain. So, to heck with it. It's readable, so it stays the way it is until I have the time to monkey with it again.

    Tattoo will begin updating again on the 11th, so if you haven't caught up yet, this week's your last chance before I begin posting again.
    January 4th


    The Genshi-Sai, First Beginning, is celebrated in Japan. On this day, most people return to work after the Shogatsu Sanganichi. Though this is the end of the New Year's celebrations, many ceremonies will continue until Setsubun in early February.



    This is the 20th day of Mechir in the Egyptian calendar, the Day of Nut and Raet proceeding southward. The Egyptians believed that the world had been created by a divine act of sex between the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut.



    Myanmar (Burmese) Independence Day.



  • Ten and Counting

    I know that I have written about all my past lives here before but I cannot find them. I even tried googling them and no luck. Xanga really needs to have a search function that is not dependent upon tags. At this point, I have so many tags, they don't even all show up when I try to search them. I found a search button I could add, but it's javascript and Xanga rejects it. Xanga is the fail whale.

    When I was eleven, I was lynched by my fellow schoolmates. When I say lynched, what I mean is, I was followed by a mob from the school. I was spat on and things were thrown at me (garbage, sticks, whatever was on the ground), and all the while people were screaming at me (things I can't even remember any more). Aside from the fact that no one whipped out some rope and tried to hang me, this was a lynching. The principal, a pudgy little man about as round as he was tall, had to run about three blocks to break it up. When the police came to the school the following day, no one I named as being part of the mob would confess to it and so the school let it drop. We moved shortly thereafter.

    For those who spontaneously recall past lives, traumatic experiences are one of the "best" triggers, especially if something about the experience is similar to what happened in a previous life. For me, the experience of being lynched recalled a past life that occurred at some point in the Middle East (Jerusalem). Directly after I was attacked in junior high school, I started dreaming of a similar event, of being overwhelmed by a mob in primitive dress and being stoned into unconsciousness. It's impossible for me to pinpoint the time frame beyond saying it was probably BC. The dream was too detailed not to be a real memory, though obviously it was not what had occurred at school.

    In this first life that I recalled, I was an outspoken and stubborn woman. I don't know what provoked the people to form a mob and attack me aside from speaking my mind. I do know that I was trying to incite people to change their ways. They formed a mob and threw rocks at me until I was knocked unconscious, then dragged me to the city limits and set me on fire.

    Some interesting historical facts that helped me pinpoint the culture and area: In the early days of Jerusalem, Gehenna referred to the Hinnom Valley to the south of the city where trash and criminals were disposed of by burning. The word Gehenna eventually joined the word Sheol as a word for an area of the afterlife, now collectively called Hell. It is also interesting to note that worship of Moloch and Baal is mentioned in conjunction with this valley, and it seems likely to me (but not verified by any specific memories) that I may have been trying to get people to stop sacrificing their children in their temple fires or trying to save my own child. (I don't remember having any children, but I get the sense that I could have been a mother.) Moloch and Baal are Canaanite gods whose worship was often adopted by the early Hebrew tribes mainly because of their interaction with the Canaanites. Ironically, the temple to Moloch in the valley of Hinnom is said to have been built by Solomon.

    You might call this my "gateway" past life because it opened the floodgates of my memory. While this is the first life I recall, it actually falls somewhere in the middle, chronologically speaking. I have two animal lives and at least one human life before my life in the Middle East, two in Egypt which could have occurred before or after this one, one in northern Europe, possibly Scotland, and three in America. In all ten so far.

    My first two lives were as animals. I put the first because I'm not really sure when they occurred, but also because it's my personal belief that we progress from animal to human. So in my first life I was a jaguar (not sure of sex). I fell from a tree and broke my leg, starving to death before it healed. In my second life, I was a female dolphin. I was quite old (for a dolphin) when I died, and basically died by drowning because I was too weak to reach the surface and air.

    The next life and the one that I consider my first human life (though I could be wrong) occurred in South America. I believe I was an Olmec noblewoman (not much more than a child actually). There was a drought, and an evil priest and a rival of my father, told him that to make the rains come, I needed to be sacrificed. It was expected that if the need was great, nobles would make the ultimate sacrifice and go willingly to the gods to plead their case. So I was taken to a snake pit where I would have jumped, except the evil priest pushed me. That still ticks me off to this day... that even though I would have chosen to jump for my people, my choice was taken away.

    Then there were two lives in Egypt, the first as a young scribe in training and the next as a woman. I believe there are couple thousand years between the two, and that the scribe life came first, but it's really impossible to say. As a scribe, I was a young boy among other boys learning from our aged master. Every morning, one of us had to wake early and get water for our teacher, but the other boys were lazy. I got up one particular morning before dawn and no one had gone for water yet, so I went. Unfortunately, there was a thief near the well who strangled me thinking that if I came from the temple that I might have something valuable on my person. This life explains my love of hieroglyphics and writing. Long before I even had an inkling of this life, I'd been collecting hieroglyphics and symbols for year.

    In the next life, I was a mature washer woman, in my 30s. I believe I was having an affair with someone and that I went to meet him by the river, I was killed by a crocodile. I suspect this life and the one in Jerusalem explains my mistrust of relationships. This is actually the last life I recalled six years ago. My theory is that I recall lives at or around the time in this life that I died in the past life.

    Aside from my life in Jerusalem and South America, my life in northern England or Scotland was the most detailed. Sometime in the 1100s I lived as a bard in Scotland or the extreme north of England. I'd grown up with the lord of the castle, so we were very much like brothers. He was Pagan, but had accepted a Christian priest into his court in order to keep peace with his neighbors. At the time, most of his neighbors were playing at being Christian too. Any one of them would have used Paganism as an excuse to attack and take control of their neighbors' lands. Unfortunately, the priest the Church sent to us was a slimy, whiny little weasel, and maybe I was just a bit too vocal in publicly mocking him. One night while I was heading back to my room (a little drunk I admit), he snuck up in the dark and stabbed me in the back. This life (and my third) explains my mistrust for clergy and my artistic leanings. This might also explain why I won't do anything to dull my sense, and I don't like to leave my back exposed.

    In the early 1800s, I was hanged for horse rustling in the West. As a young Native American man, I was a convenient scapegoat, but I wasn't guilty. I think this life contributes very much to my sense of right and wrong, having been so badly treated when I was innocent. Though I have a tendency in all my lives to feel wronged in how I died. I believe my name was "Angry Sparrow," but I don't know what tribe I was or what that name would translate into.

    The last two lives before this one also occurred in America in the 20th century. In the first, I was male and lived in the thirties, eventually dying of stomach cancer. I have some idea of who I may have been due to certain details of what I remember, what I have read, and personal habits (which I won't mention). Since it's someone semi-famous however, I'm not going to get into it. I hate when people claim to have been someone famous. lol What is ironic is that in this life I was an atheist.

    And in the final life before this one, I was a girl in the sixties. I was about fifteen or so when I was abducted by someone. I think I knew my abductor in passing. Anyway, we were in a car in the mountains somewhere, and I knew that I'd probably die anyway, so I decided to take my life into my own hands so-to-speak. As the car went around a turn, I opened the door and jumped to my death. I didn't recall this life in chronology with the time of my death, but from about the age of thirteen till I was sixteen, I had this horrible urge to open the car door and jump whenever I was in the passenger seat. At its worst, I used to lock the door just in case I wouldn't be able to control my urge. I think this life explains my dislike of cars in general.
    January 3rd

    On the third and last day of the Japanese New Year, the Imperial Court holds an ancient ritual known as Genshisai. The rare dance and music art form, known as Gagaku, is also performed. Though the Japanese New Year lasts only three days, some rituals continue for several days longer.

    The third day of Thingyan is known as Atet Ney, meaning the Day of Ascent. Indra returns to his Heavenly Kingdom.

    In ancient Rome, January third through the fifth was Compitalia, though the magistrates my hold it anywhere between December 17th and January 5th. Like Saturnalia, Compitalia was initially a day celebrated by slaves and the free together, but by Cicero's time, it was a holy day for the slave alone who would sacrifice a honey-cake to the cross-roads gods (Lares Compitales) on behalf of the household. A woolen effigy was hung up for every free person and a ball of wool for every slave.

    Edgar Cayce died today in 1945.

    Folklore wisdom says, "Those who know where they are going today are not going any where."

    The Quadrantids meteor shower is at its peak on or around this date. It begins on the first and ends some time around the fifth. The meteors originate near the tail of the Great Bear (the Plough) in the constellation of Bootes.



  • WCFQ 29b: I don't think my mother likes me


    Were you a difficult teenager? why or why not?
    awish4you

    I suppose every child is difficult in its own way. If I look at my siblings and the trials that they put my mother through when we were children, then I was not so bad. I stayed in my room, read my books, and stayed away from people.

    My mother has a different take on things. She says that when I would have a bad day at school, I would come home and "take it out on everyone else." I honestly don't remember that. I don't remember spending enough time with anyone to take "it" out on anyone, least of all her, since she was usually working and rarely home until evening.

    Comparatively, I did not get into trouble with the law. I did not do any under-aged drinking or disappear for days on end like my sister. I didn't flip out and become aggressive to other people like my brother. For the most part, when I wasn't traveling to and from school, I was in my room. I wish she'd be more specific as to what I did that makes her say that.

    I find it interesting that my mother thinks I took anything out on her when she was rarely home and when she was, I was usually in my room. When she tells me I "took it out on her," she says it in such a mocking tone... like haha, you're not so perfect. Like she's trying to tear me down. I don't know how seriously I can take her comment. It's like she has to come up with something to put me on level with the others.

    So apparently I was a difficult teenager, and I'd hazard a guess that every child is considered difficult by their parents at one point or another. Regardless of what my siblings were like, my mother remembers me as a difficult child as well. So who's recollections are correct? I don't remember being difficult, but my mother does.
    January 2nd

    A well-known Japanese proverb says: "New Year's is the key to unlock the year." During the three-day holiday period of the O-shogatsu, everyone but those who run amusement enterprises or are responsible for essential services like transportation enjoys a vacation. For many people, the holiday actually begins around December 29 when all public offices begin their vacations. Others end their work either on the 30th or early on the 31st.

    Family members traditionally spend New Year's morning briefly worshiping at home at miniature Buddhist or Shinto altars. Offerings are made to the household gods on a small table, usually consisting of Omochi, dried persimmons, dried chestnuts, pine seeds, black peas, sardines, herring roe, a crayfish, a sea-bream, some dried cuttlefish, Mochibana (flowers made of rice and straw), mandarin oranges, and many other items which vary from district to district.

    The custom of Nenshi, paying calls on friends and relatives to greet them on the New Year, is very popular. Holiday greetings are exchanged, and children are presented with Otoshi-Dama, New Year's gifts, usually in the form of money placed in special little envelopes. Otoso, a thick, sweet rice wine, is often served during these visits. New Year's postcards, Nengajo, are also a very popular custom especially for distant friends and acquaintances. Kaizome, the ceremony of the first calligraphic writing drawn with a brush, occurs on January 2nd, as does the tradition of Hatsu-Yume, or first dream.

    Children enjoy Tako-age, or kite flying, and girls play Hane-tsuki, known in the West as battledore and shuttlecock. Karuta, a kind of card game, is also popular. The players spread out cards on which pictures and poems, or characters and proverbs, or flowers and months, are illustrated. The object of the game is to pick the correct cards first. In one game, a reader reads the first part of poem while the players search for the card on which the last part is written.

    The second day of Thingyan is called Akyat, which means middle day, during which Indra is busy with his golden parabeik.

    The Nativity of Our Lady is one of the greatest Sumerian feasts of the year. The birth of Inanna, the princess of heaven and the queen of earth, is commemorated. Both she and Isis were honored today as goddesses of love. They are equivalent to Aphrodite, Astarte, Ishtar, or Cybele.

    The Advent of Isis from Phoenicia honors Isis' discovery of that the Ark of Osiris and her return to Egypt. She discovered the Ark by the Mediterranean in the region of Phoenicia.

    The Second New Year is a South African Carnival.

    In Haiti, this is a national holiday called Ancestor's Day.



  • January and New Years
    By our modern calendar, January first is the beginning of the New Year. It is a time filled with new possibilities. The Latin name of this month, Ianuarius, is derived from ianua, door, a word derived from the patron of January, the god Janus. The Roman god Janus is the divinity of endings and beginnings, looking backwards and forwards with his two faces. He is the male equivalent of one among a host of versions of Juno. As the twin-faced Antevorta and Postvorta, she also looks frontward and back. Modern tradition would have us look forward only and forget the past year like a bad memory. I would advise those who follow this tradition to remember... That which is forgotten is soon repeated.

    In Scottish lore, the eleven days lost in 1752 were taken from January. A magician by the name of Michael Scott (the court astrologer and magician of emperor Frederick II) was supposed to have recovered them, Taking a halter, he waved it in the air three times, and black horse appeared. Mounting the horse, he galloped through the air, across the straights of Dover, to land in a town in France. There he inquired after the days of the townsfolk, but they knew nothing. Not satisfied with their answer, he destroyed the town with the aid of his magic horse. He then went on to another town where he again demanded of the townsfolk that the days be restored. They also refused to which he replied, "One neigh and a kick of a horse I have got will send your town to destruction." The people laughed for they could not see the horse, and Michael waved the halter again as he had done in Scotland and the horse appeared, breathing fire. Whereupon the people gave up the days and ever since Scotland has possessed "full time."

    January is anvier in French, enero in Spanish, Janeiro in Portuguese, gennaio in Italian, Januar in Germany and Switzerland, Janner in Austria, and Ionawr in Welsh. To the Irish, January is Eanair or am Faoilteach, the "wolf month," in Scots Gaelic. Other names on record for January include am Mios Marbh (the dead month) and Deireadh-Geamhraidh (the end of winter). The full moons of February and December are also sometimes referred to as Wolf Moon. The first Full Moon between Yule and the 25th of January is most often called Disting, and it shares the name Cold Moon with December. It may also be referred to as the Quiet or Chaste Moon, the Old Moon, the Moon after Yule, or the Moon of Little Winter. Some tribes called this the Full Snow Moon, though most applied that name to the next moon.

    Capricorn and Aquarius are the signs for January, Aquarius gaining power on or around January 20th. The flower for January is the white carnation. Garnet is the favored stone of this month, though Jacinth appears on some lists. Garnet/ruby is also the birthstone for Capricorn, while Aquarius lays claim to aquamarine. Other stones associated with Capricorn are amber, amethyst, carnelian, fire agate, green tourmaline, labradorite, peridot, and sapphire. Aquarius also holds sway over chrysoprase, garnet, labradorite, lapis lazuli, and opal.


    January 1st


    Generally observed on January 1st, the Gamelia commemorates the Hieros Gamos (Sacred Marriage) of Jupiter/Janus and Juno (Greek Zeus and Hera). The name comes from a surname of Juno, as Gamelius was of Jupiter, for their dominion over marriages. It is a festival privately observed at three different times in addition to the public holiday. The first is the celebration of a marriage, the second is in commemoration of a birthday, and the third is an anniversary of the death.

    Marriages on January 1st are a good omen and the month of January was Gamelion among the Athenians. Presents (Strenae) may be exchanged as a token of friendship. The word comes from a Sabine tutelary goddess, Strenia, corresponding to the Roman Salus. The traditional Strenae consisted of branches of bay and palm cut from the sacred grove of the goddess Strenia and sweets made of honey, figs, or dates, symbolizing, and causing by their nature, a year of joy and happiness to come. On the first day of the year, consecrated branches were carried up to the Capitoline in Rome from Strenia's precinct beside the Via Sacra. The custom of strenae continues in the Etrennes, French new-year's gifts, and the English handsels and in Scotland hondeselle. In some areas, if New Year's fell on Thursday, which it does this year, it was felt none could prosper in the new year unless they went out and begged a handsel from their neighbors.

    A special temple was built in honor of Fortuna as the all-pervading power of the world. At this temple, an annual offering was made to her. Dedication of temples on the Insula Tiberina to the Roman god Vediovis and the Greek god Asclepius (Latin Aesculapius) were introduced following a prolonged plague in 291 BC.



    On the first day of the year, the Chorti Indians of Southern Guatemala drink water from five sacred coconuts, pouring out libations on the ground. During the previous night, the women of the tribe guarded the coconuts, dedicating them to the goddess.



    This is the beginning of the Shogatsu Sanganichi or 'three days' of New Year in Japan. Preparations for the New Year include cleaning the house, inside and out. Called Susuharai, or soot-sweeping, this is done to purify the home for the new year. A pine decoration, known as Kadomatsu, is set up on both sides of the front entrance. Some homes add bamboo, plum branches, and oranges to this decoration. The display welcomes good luck into the home. The two weeks during which the kadomatsu decorates the doors is called Matsunouchi, or inside the pine. A recent tendency in Tokyo is to remove the trees on Jan. 7th. Another important decoration is the Shimenawa, a sacred rope made of straw on which zigzag strips of paper have been hung. This is placed above the front entrance in order to prevent evil spirits from entering the house.

    Omochi, steamed rice pounded and formed into cakes, is grilled on a brazier or eaten in a stew called Ozoni. Vegetable dishes are also popular during the New Year. Presents are given called o-toshidama.

    On New Year's Eve, the Takarabune, (Treasure Ship), sails into port carrying the Seven Gods of Luck and the takaramono (treasures). The takaramono include the hat of invisibility, the lucky raincoat, the sacred key, the inexhaustible purse, the precious jewel, the clove, the weight, and a flat object apparently representing a coin. Pictures of the Takarabune are sold on the streets, and during the night of January second, every person who puts one into the little drawer of his wooden pillow is supposed to ensure a lucky dream.

    Grown children, who have moved away, return to their parents' homes to spend the evening together. Others visit shrines and temples where they pray for good luck by the light of bonfires and make resolutions for the coming year. Local shrines give out special charms to protect the happiness of worshipers in the coming year. The nation waits up to hear the Joya-no-Kane, the midnight tolling of the Tsuri-Gane, the temple bells. The Joya-no-Kane consists of 108 solemn tolls on the temple bells. According to Buddhist traditions, this represents the 108 sins of man, and the sound of the tolls will relieve all of them.



    The Nativity Eve of Inanna is a Sumerian holy day. A white candle is lit at sunset to burn throughout the night. It is extinguished at dawn on Nativity morning.



    According to the 17th day of Mechir in the Egyptian calendar, this is the Day of keeping the things of Osiris in the hands of Anubis.



    January 1st through the ninth is the Black Nazarene Fiesta in the Phillipines, a day celebrating the saint of the Quiapo district.



    It is said, whatever you do on New Year's Day, you'll do often in the coming year. Displaying a new calendar before this day is considered very unlucky.

    Pray don't 'ee wash on New Year's Day,
    or you'll wash one of the family away.
    Cast Holy Water all about,
    and have a care no fire goes out.
    -Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

    If someone lacked the makings of a fire, none of his neighbors would allow so much as a candle to be lit at their hearth for it was said that to do so would cause one of the family to die within the year.

    It was also said that anyone sweeping the floors should sweep from the door to the hearth and not the other way around for to sweep the dust and dirt out the door was to send family's prosperity out with it.

    The last glass of wine from the last bottle on New Years was called the "lucky glass." It brings good fortune to whoever drinks it and is said to bring marriage to one who is unwed.

    In Scotland, Christmas is not nearly so important a celebration as New Years Day. In many countries, there is a custom called first-footing, in Scotland, first-fit. A tall dark (haired) man comes silently into a home with whisky, coal, and a black bun for the household. He must enter by the back door and leave by the front. (It is thought in some areas, where red hair is most likely rare, that if a red haired man visits on New Years, there will be a death in the family within the year.) In turn, food and drink of the family is shared with him. In Greece, the New Year's wish offered by the master of the house or the "lucky boy," meaning one who's parents are both alive, is "old age, beauty, and great prosperity." This tradition of a lucky child goes all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome where such children played a prominent role in the celebrations. In Albany, the first footer must put a log on the fire.

    Drawing the first water from the well in the Highlands was considered almost a holy mission. On New Year's Eve, some careful person was sent to the "dead and living ford," where he would draw a pitcher of water in absolute silence. This water, called Usque-Cashrichd, would be used on New Year's day to protect against infernal spirits, witchcraft, the evil eye, and other malign influences. The water would be taken through the house and sprinkled on the still sleeping occupents in the beds.



    Sir James Frazer, author of the Golden Bough, was born today.



    Liberation Day in Cuba commemorates the end of Spanish rule in 1899. The Anniversay of the Triumph of the Revolution when the Batista government was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959 is celebrated today, and the Sudan celebrated its Independence on this day starting in 1956. January first is also the Independence Day of Haiti in honor of the end of French rule in 1804. The Slovak Republic was established on this day in 1993. In the United States, this is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emmancipation Proclamation, declaring all the slaves in America free. In Philadelphia, the annual Mummer's Day Parade is held, and in Pasadena, the tournament of the Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl have been held since 1890. In 1790, President Washington continued the "first-foot" custom by opening his house and standing to receive visitors, a practice that continued till 1934 (president Roosevelt being unable to stand to receive guests).