Sharp Days, March 1-3

The first three days of March are called "Sharp Days" in Greek tradition. When I first read about this, I thought it was in reference to perhaps the sharpness of the air, despite the fact that it seems like there is more sun, and therefore more warm... but, no. The first three days of August are also "Sharp Days." Sharp Days are considered a transitional time of year. The Sharp Days in March are the beginning of warmer weather, and the Sharp Days in August are the beginning of cooler weather.

During the first three days of March you should not wash any clothes or they will wear out too quickly, or chop wood or because it will rot before it's time, or bathe because your hair will fall out. If you must do laundry, you must put a nail in the water to take the sharpness out. I haven't found a solution for chopping wood or bathing. Maybe stick a nail in your shampoo bottle.

Hogmanay, December 31st

Hogmanay

After reading Th's Search Engine Report, I decided to see what has been bringing people to my blog lately. In the last 30 days, my most popular post has been Feast of the Fabulous Wild Men. Unfortunately, my post about Hogmanay has not brought any hits, at least in the last 30 days. This proves that traditional Scottish holidays are out, and random nonsensical holidays are in.

I am a little sad about this trend, mostly because Hogmanay is right up there with St. Patrick's Day and Thanksgiving, on my list of favorite holidays. I really like Hogmanay for a couple of reasons. Mostly, I think it's because I really like the idea of starting a new year with a clean break from everything that might have been bad in the previous year, and while New Year's has the same idea, Hogmanay just seems more cool, and traditional, and a little bit old worldish. And, I guess I might be a bit of a clean freak because it just seems like a good idea to follow the traditional Scottish "redding of the house". And I also love the "first footing" tradition, because really, who wouldn't want to welcome a tall, dark, handsome stranger bearing who will bringing gifts of shortcake and smoked salmon into your home? Well, shortcake and smoked salmon are the gifts that I would recommend, because many a mickle makes a muckle.

Moon of the Hungry Ghosts, August 28th

Moon of the Hungry Ghosts

The full moon of the 7th lunar month of the Chinese year, is called the Moon of the Hungry Ghosts. According to Chinese tradition, at this full moon, ghosts enter the sunlit world from the world of Nine Darknesses. We, of the living world, in order to placate the dead, must make offerings of lit paper boats and lit floating lanterns which are set out on water to give comfort and direction to wayward spirits.

After the moonlit tribute, most spirits will then choose to visit their former homes for the comfort and the company of their loved ones and loved places. The more tempestuous spirits will roam the streets, seeking revenge on those who have wronged them in life and in death.

To avoid the revengeful spirits, we must have ready offerings of ginger candy, sugar cane, and rice wine. We all must go get ours now before supplies run out.

You will be able to tell if a spirit has visited your home if you notice an odor of smoky vanilla, white sandalwood, ho wood, green tea, white grapefruit, musk or aloe.

It is has been such a pretty moon this month to have such a responsibility. Poor Hungry Ghosts.

Friday in Lide, March 2nd

Friday in Lide

According to my Forgotten English Calendar of Vanishing Vocabulary and Folklore, Friday in Lide is an old Celtic tradition that takes place on the first Friday in March. Lide is Anglo-Saxon work for March, according to my Forgotten English calendar, but not according to the online Anglo-Saxon dictionary. If you worked in the tin mines in Cornwall, on Friday in Lide you would send your laziest tin worker up to the highest hillock to take a nap. The amount of time that he slept would determine the length of the tin workers' afternoon break for the next twelve months.

Have I ever mentioned that I love Cornish traditions and that I think we should implement more of them in the U.S.? Well except for pasty. It's a bit too dry for my taste.

Hogmanay or Old Year's Night, December 31st

Absent Parties with Her Scottish Cousins

Hogmanay

Hogmanay is the Scottish celebration of New Year's Eve. The most important way to celebrate Hogmanay is by eliminating all the negative parts of the old year in order to have a clean break from it, and to welcome in a young, New Year with a happy celebration.

This sounds mostly the same idea as our regular American New Year's celebration, but there are a few things that are different, more traditional than our "party until the ball drops" celebration.

• Redding/Cleaning- The day of Hogmanay should be spent cleaning the home, because the New Year should be welcomed to a neat and tidy home to ensure the best luck. Messy homes are unlucky homes. Also, all debts should be paid or settled so you start the new year with a financial "clean house."


• New Year's Bells- Bells should be rung at midnight. Just do it, don't think about the neighbors. Ring the bells for luck. And then you are supposed to link arms with your co-celebraters and sing "Auld Lang Syne" while the bells are ringing.


• First Footing- Visitors should not arrive before midnight. At midnight, the household should make as much noise as possible to scare off any visitors or spirits with ill intent. In order to ensure good luck for the house for the rest of the year, the first foot in your home after midnight should be male, and dark-haired because dark-haired will mean that he is a fellow Scotsman, and will mean the household no harm, while a blond or red-haired man will usually be an invader, Norseman, Irish, Saxon... and they mean harm to a Scot and the Scottish household.
  
  First-footers not only have to be dark-haired, but they should also be handsome. Also they should not be a doctor, a minister, a thief, a grave digger, a flat footed person, or someone whose eyebrows meet in the middle (get the pluckers out). Women and red-haired people are the worse to have as the first-footer. To counter the bad luck of a bad first-footer, ask the guest to throw salt into an open flame.
  
  The First Footer should bring something symbolic like: coal, to heat the home; shortbread, so the house does not run out of food; salt, to add a little seasoning to life; a silver coin, to insure wealth to the household, or whisky, to warm the spirits.


• Taking Turns or Singing E'en- Everyone in the house must spend the evening taking turns doing something. The turn taking can be singing songs, reading poems, telling jokes or telling stories. Think of things that you can do for entertainment in a evening around a fire.


• Fire- It's good to have a bonfire, or at least a fire in the fireplace. Fires are cleansing, and will rid you of all the bad things of the previous year. Fires will also ward off evil spirits. If you can't have a fire you can light a torch, or a candle... just have some sort of flame near you.


• Up Helly-aa- This is the tradition of burning a Viking ship in effigy. This was to scare away any Vikings who might invade the following year.


• Fireballing- This tradition might be hard to implement in your neighborhood. You will need to construct a ball of chicken wire, tar, paper and other flammable material and attach it to a chain or non-flammable rope. Then the most daring person at the party will swing the ball round and round their head and body by the rope while walking through the streets, until finally throwing the ball into a large body of water. I suppose you could just have a bonfire instead, but doesn't fireballing sound so much cooler?


• Creaming the Well- This is drawing the first water from the well in the New Year. There is good luck for the person who drinks from the first water drawn from the well. Also, single women, if you give the first water drawn from the well to the man that you want to marry, and he drinks it, he will marry you in the coming year.


• Hogmanay Guising- Like Halloween night, children are to go door-to-door for oatcakes, pieces of black bun, shortbread, sweets or money.


• Handselling- is the custom of gift giving on the first Monday of the New Year. And you thought you were all done with that.

The appropriate things to say on Hogmanay are:

• Theacht mean oiche (heacht meawn eehe) which means "the arrival of midnight"


• Og-Mhadainn or H'og maidne which means "the new morning"


• Ocht mean oiche which means "eighth midnight" (Twelfth Night is coming)


• Ceilidh which is a party where singing, dancing, and storytelling are the entertainment


• Lang may yer lum reek!- this is a traditional Scottish New Year's toast which means "long may your chimney smoke." Basically, you are wishing someone wealth throughout the new year, wealth enough to buy coal to heat their home.

The appropriate things to eat on Hogmanay are:

• Shortbread


• Bannocks (oakcakes)


• Oranges and Whisky


• Black Bun


• Scotch Broth Soup


• Clootie Dumpling


• Haggis


• Neeps and Tatties


• Clapshot


• Rumblldethumps

So, even if you don't do all this to celebrate your New Year, at least you have something to think about when you hear the words of that favorite son of Scotland-

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne."- Robert Burns

International Banana Festival, Autumnal Equinox, September 21st

International Banana Festival

Okay, I don't wanna talk about it. Yes, there are no bananas on this website.

Autumnal Equinox

We are two days away from the Autumnal Equinox. Check this site for a countdown to all the upcoming Equinoxes, Solstices & Cross-Quarters. (And pay no attention to the fact that I missed blogging about Lughnasad.)

First, one might ask, what is an equinox? They are the half-way points between the solstices. They occur in the fall and spring. During an equinox the sun rises exactly in the east, travels through the sky for 12 hours, and sets exactly in the west and everywhere on earth experiences close to 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of nighttime.

So, what are we supposed to do for an equinox celebration?

• Some believe that during the spring and fall equinoxes one can balance an egg on one end
• As it is a time of balancing-- eggs, light--it is a good day to balance your accounts, renew leases, and for renewing and setting balancing life goals
• Also it is perfectly okay to burn a straw man in effigy-- Apparently, it's cleansing!
  
• Make a dream pillow in preparation of the long nights ahead. Fill the pillow with your favorite combination of herbs lavender, rosemary, catnip, sage, and vanilla beans, to encourage good dreams
• As it is the time of harvest, and the land is giving many gifts to us, remember also to give back to the land, plant a tree, de-litter a park, ride your bike to work instead of driving. Celebrate your own thanksgiving.
  
• Take a walk and listen to the leaves turn color... I promise, if you listen closely, you will hear them!
  
• Cuddle up with someone, its the perfect time of year for it.
  
• Or you can cuddle up with a book, if your someone is not cuddly, or if there is not a someone to cuddle with, because it's Read A New Book Month, and next week is Banned Books Week. I put my complete faith and trust that Edgy will blog about Banned Books Week, or all my hope for banned books will be lost.