The mo'Times

Articles of interest about mo'time, the blogosphere, culture and society

Happy Gregorian New Year!!

Today is New Year's Eve according to the Gregorian calendar, used most widely around the world. If you live in Portugal, you'll probably eat 12 grapes at midnight and, if you're Danish, you may break some dishes at the front door of your friends' houses. Read about other New Year's traditions here. And here's a link to read an overview of other New Years holidays celebrated at different times of the year.

In Brazil on New Year’s Eve priestesses of the local macumba voodoo cult dress in blue skirts and white blouses for a ceremony dedicated to the goddess of water, Yemanja. A sacrificial boat laden with flowers, candles and jewelery is pushed out to sea from Brazil's famous Ipenama beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Many people in the South Pacific celebrate New Year's in mid-October at the appearance of the group of stars called the Pleiades. This marks the end of the harvesting season and the end of the year. Their festival of Makahki is a time for feasting, sports and truce-making.

May you find broken dishes at your doors, feast, play sports and make truce!  I also send out wishes and prayers for peace and prosperity for those who find themselves in dangerous places and without the means to feast or make merry in troubled times.

posted by: howard at 17:06 | link | comments (3) |
international, holiday

Yulish things

I usually like to post something about seasonal changes, like the winter solstice, and connect it to the various holidays celebrated around the world and throughout history. But somehow I just cruised through the solstice this year without realizing it. Ooops. So, let me rectify the situation:

In many cultures there are holidays and rituals associated with this day. The solstice (from the Latin solstitium, standing still sun) is the day of the Earth's maximum tilt either to or away from the sun, depending on the hemisphere.

The wikipedia, my favorite first stop for many kinds of research, has complete entries with lots of links for these keywords: solstice, Christmas and Yule.

Speaking of Yule, following the links I came upon this Icelandic site explaining their Yule traditions including this recipe for Laufabraud (Leaf Bread) which does not include leaves.

This essay about the winter holidays has a lot of material explaining the origins of seasonal celebrations in an even wider selection of cultures.

Happy reading and happy holidays to you all.

posted by: howard at 18:05 | link | comments (3) |