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Okay, so I was just writing to my friend Amanda (she's just moved to Toronto for school), about the Wheel of the Year and how I go about marking it. And I've come to this conclusion:
I make a bigger deal about things in Winter.
I think the reason for this is that, in Summer, everything is happening. You can see it all, and wonder at it all, and participate in it all, and mark your own first harvest, your own Summer's Beggining, and so on and so forth.
But, in Winter, when everything is going to sleep, or sleeping the sleep of the dead, a reminder of light and life and the passage of time can be really helpful.
Otherwise you just get totally bogged down in the snow-drifts and it's like: "Shoot. Is it gonna be Winter for *ever*?" (Remember how *long* last Winter felt? Yeeg!)
I mean, if you follow it, you've got Samhain, as basically a marker for when the whole cold season starts, then MidWinter gives you a reminder that it
won't be dark forever, and Imbolg is like a "Yes! Half-Way There!" because you can actually see that the light is sticking around for longer.
Then Ostara is when the Sap starts running and you can *really* feel things expanding and straightening up. And then Beltain is Spring-At-Last and the crocuses and the Scilla are blooming. And from then-on-in things just
happen. :-)
The peas go in, and then they sprout, and then the rest of the seeds go in, and they sprout, and the leaves come out, and then the vines start climbing, and then the flowers bloom, and then the fruit-flowers bloom and then you start getting fruit growing, and then ripening, and all of a suden, it's mid-summer and you've got the first peas off the vine, and then by August the beans are ready and so are the cukes, and so are the wild raspberries, and then you've just got food up to your eye-balls until September when the last of the beans come off the vine and all that's left is the winter squash.
At which point it's gone Autumn Equinox and you'll be heading back into Winter pretty soon.
Y'See? Winter needs festivals to speed its passage. Summer's pretty speedy as it is, and has its own high points that vary with the geography. And that is my two cents. :-)
- Nam'ara,
- Amazon. :-)
I make a bigger deal about things in Winter.
I think the reason for this is that, in Summer, everything is happening. You can see it all, and wonder at it all, and participate in it all, and mark your own first harvest, your own Summer's Beggining, and so on and so forth.
But, in Winter, when everything is going to sleep, or sleeping the sleep of the dead, a reminder of light and life and the passage of time can be really helpful.
Otherwise you just get totally bogged down in the snow-drifts and it's like: "Shoot. Is it gonna be Winter for *ever*?" (Remember how *long* last Winter felt? Yeeg!)
I mean, if you follow it, you've got Samhain, as basically a marker for when the whole cold season starts, then MidWinter gives you a reminder that it
won't be dark forever, and Imbolg is like a "Yes! Half-Way There!" because you can actually see that the light is sticking around for longer.
Then Ostara is when the Sap starts running and you can *really* feel things expanding and straightening up. And then Beltain is Spring-At-Last and the crocuses and the Scilla are blooming. And from then-on-in things just
happen. :-)
The peas go in, and then they sprout, and then the rest of the seeds go in, and they sprout, and the leaves come out, and then the vines start climbing, and then the flowers bloom, and then the fruit-flowers bloom and then you start getting fruit growing, and then ripening, and all of a suden, it's mid-summer and you've got the first peas off the vine, and then by August the beans are ready and so are the cukes, and so are the wild raspberries, and then you've just got food up to your eye-balls until September when the last of the beans come off the vine and all that's left is the winter squash.
At which point it's gone Autumn Equinox and you'll be heading back into Winter pretty soon.
Y'See? Winter needs festivals to speed its passage. Summer's pretty speedy as it is, and has its own high points that vary with the geography. And that is my two cents. :-)
- Nam'ara,
- Amazon. :-)
