|
 Fast of Esther | Purim | Ides
of March | Saint
Patrick's Day | Verrnal
(Spring) Equinox | Noruz | The Sacred Wells of
Ireland
Giza, Egypt (January 1997). See the profile detail JPG image
322x473 pixels 39kB of the Great Sphinx, the figure
with the lion's body and human head, which points
directly toward the rising sun on the day of the vernal
equinox. The name "sphinx" was given by the
Greeks after the legendary creature who posed impossible
riddles. View a modern sculpture entitled The Riddle of
Oedipus by Dick Kappel. The Arabs called it Abu
'l-Hol, the terrible one.
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Fast of Esther
"Then Esther spoke to Mordechai, "Go, assemble
all the Jews who may be found in Shushan and fast for me;
do not eat and do not drink for a three-day period, night
and day. I and my maids will also fast in this
way..." (Esther 4:15-16).
The current observance is a one day fast. The courtly
tale, set in the reign of Artaxerxes, whose empire
stretched from India to Ethiopia, is probably not
historic, can be found in the Book
of Esther (KJV). Note: The Protestant bible versions
do not contain the Apocrypha (hidden), i.e.,
writings included in the Latin Vulgate or
the Greek Septuagent which are not included in
the Hebrew Torah and are of Phoenician,
Zoroastrian or other origin. The colophon (a
concluding note written by a scribe or librarian) to Additions to the Book of Esther
in the Apocrypha says that the Additions
"were brought to Egypt in the fourth year of the
reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra" (114 bce) by
Dositheus who "said" he was a priest and Levite
and that he and his son "said" the text was
genuine. The addition begins with a dream revelation of
Mordecai (Mardocheus) in which he and Haman are dragons
locked in a struggle marked by earthquake and universal
war.
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12
Purim
A festival to commemorate the defeat of Haman (may his
name be erased), the wicked prime minister of Persia who
plotted the extermination of Persian Jews through the
casting of Pur or lots at the New Year (see also Noruz). Since the Middle Ages, the
celebration of Purim is similar to that of carnival and
is marked by masquerade and the joyous breaking of
bounds. For example, when the scroll (megillah)
of Esther is read, the audience literally "erases
the name" of Haman every time it is pronounced with
noisemakers: rattles (called gragers) or by the stamping
of the feet (any noisemaker will do in a pinch).
Commemoration includes gifts to the poor, and the sharing
of food such as the small triangular pastry called hamantaschen [HAH-mahn-tah-shuhn]
Haman's hats, which hold a sweet filling, either of
honey-poppy seed, prunes or apricots. The megillah
(scroll) declares that the days of Purim "should
be remembered and kept throughout every generation...and
these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews,
nor the memorial of them perish from their seed."
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15
Ides of March
Foretold as the day for Julius Caesar to beware. The
month of March is named for the great Mars whose name
means bright and burning one. In early
Roman times he was a god of agriculture which explains
why his festivals are in March (planting) and October
(harvest). The site of his altar is the Campus Martius,
where the emporer Augustus also constructed a sun-dial. The primary feature of his
festivals were chariot races and animal sacrifice. Mars
is also identified with the Greek god of war, Ares.
According to the old Roman calendar, the "ides"
was a day close to the middle of each month. It fell on
the 13 day of all months except March, May, July and
October when it fell on the 15. Unlike the energy of the
sun which renews itself, martian energy is
self-consuming. From the Salvadore Dali Gallery, Paradis
#14, The Cross
of Mars.
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17
St.
Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick is the apostle of Ireland (464 ce). A
self-described Briton and Roman, and a personage around
whom myth and legend abounds, at age sixteen Patrick was
carried off to slavery in Ireland by brigands and he
labored there as a naked sheepherder for six years. In
his Confessio, he writes that he escaped at the
behest of God who directed him to return to his own
country whence he was educated and ordained a deacon,
priest and bishop. At home it was revealed to him to
convert the Irish (the pagans and Druids) to
Chrisitianity. Like Saint Palladius before him in
Ireland, Patrick faced fierce opposition from the locals.
His day is celebrated widely. Here is a page from The
Irish Times which includes an article on ten good
reasons to bring back snakes - Saint Patrick's Festival '98.
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20
Vernal (Spring)
Equinox
The vernal equinox is both a time and a direction in
space. The Vernal Equinox like the Autumnal
Equinox is the occasion of equal hours of day and night.
Find out about the precession of the equinoxes and why
an event which once occurred in the first point of Aries
is now in Pisces.
The spring equinox was important at the Temple at Chichen Itza. The Mayan
pyramid of Kulkulkan there is at the exact
"center" of the four seasons.
The date is significant in Christianity because Easter
always falls on the first Sunday following the first full
moon after the vernal equinox. The Jewish Pesah
(Passover) always falls on the first day following the
first full moon after the vernal equinox.
Ostara (Eostre, Eostur, Eastur, Ostara, Ostar) the
north european pagan Festival of New Life is also
celebrated at the time of the equinox. To the pagan it
marks the season of the rising (growing) sun and new
birth. The same root is found in the name for the place
where the sun also rises (East, Ost).
Audio Excerpt from Aaron Copeland's Appalachian Spring.
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Noruz
The Persian New Year is the oldest continuously
celebrated human holiday. Information page from Noruz,
1998.The vernal equinox was in Taurus when this
celebration began 5,000 year ago. See also the Khayam
Persian Calendar.
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|
is for Humanities
In the Night Sky:
We say, "March comes in like a lion" but don't
remember why we say it. As the sun sets in the west,
opposite in the sky, in the east, rises the constellation
Leo, the Lion. His mighty head looks
like a question mark (or a sickle), his heart is the
great star Regulus one of the four pillars of the cosmos
in the ancient world. In the Bible, one of the twelve
sons of Jacob is Judah, who is described as "the
Lion's Whelp." Remember the title of the Emporer of
Ethiopia? Haile Selassie was called "The Lion of
Judah."