Seasons of the Witch – Legends and Lore, Ancient Holidays And Some Not So Ancient!
Today Is …
Fornax – The Romans celebrated the festival of Fornax, Goddess of Ovens, by hanging garlands of flowers on ovens and wreaths on the necks of the mules who turned the mills. Field, Carol, The Italian Baker
Vestalia – In ancient Rome, this was the day set aside for a public festival for the hearth goddess Vesta. Women walked barefoot around her round temple with offerings. The Vestal Virgins prepared the ritual food: mola salsa, a cake of salt and the first grain. The water came from vessels that could not be set down without spilling and the salt was pounded in a mortar, baked and sawn. It became a holiday for millers and bakers. Blackburn, Bonnie and Leofranc, Holford-Strevens, The Oxford Book of Days, Oxford University Press, 2000 Monaghan, Patricia, The Book of Goddesses and Heroines, Llewellyn 1981
St Columba*
Day of Colum Cille the beloved
Day to put the loom to use
Day to put sheep to pasture
Day to put coracle on the seas
Day to bear, day to die
Day to make prayer efficacious
Day of my beloved, the Thursday.
This is the luckiest day of the year when it falls on Thursday (alas! This year it falls on Monday). St Columba was one of the most beloved of Celtic saints. The magical herb, St John’s Wort, which flowers around summer solstice, was said to be his favorite herb. He wore it underneath his armpit to ward off all kinds of evil. If find some accidentally and you say this charm when you pick it, you can use it the same way:
Arm-pit package of Columba the kindly
Unsought by me, unlooked for
I shall not be carried away in my sleep
Neither shall I be pierced with iron
Better the reward of its virtues
Than a herd of white cattle.
In Norway, this is considered the day the salmon start leaping.
Blackburn, Bonnie and Leofranc, Holford-Strevens, The Oxford Book of Days, Oxford University Press, 2000
Carmichael, Alexander, Carmina Gadelica, Lindisfarne Press, Source: School of the Seasons
Rome: Vestalia, an 8-day festival honoring the Goddess Vesta,
began when Vesta’s sanctuary doors were opened. Vesta, thought
by some to be a triple-goddess and the Roman equivalent of the
Greek Goddess Hestia, was the Goddess of the Hearth, Home, and
all domestic happiness, as well as the protector of virginal
womanhood.
Her six priestesses, the Vestal Virgins, embodied the creative
power of the Goddess prior to the first great rite of passage
from maiden to mother. They were chosen from physically perfect
girls with two living parents, between their sixth and tenth
years. Each was sworn to thirty years of chastity and service to
the Goddess, under threat of the punishment of being buried
alive should they fail to maintain their purity.
Their most sacred duty was tending Her sacred fire, said to have
been brought to Italy by Aeneas, at the Temple of Vesta. For the
great pageantry of the Vestalia, they would draw holy water from
a sacred spring and gather grain to make the holy cakes, the
salty ‘mola salsa’, which were offered with prayers and songs on
behalf of the state and individual households. Libations of wine
would be poured on the ground and altars as well as into goblets
for drinking. Donkeys, the favorite animal of the Goddess, would
be garlanded with wreaths and cakes, blessing the bakers and
millers.
The well being of the entire State depended on the Vestals’
devotion and service to the Goddess. The Vestals guarded state
documents, and the Vestalis Maxima, the chief Vestal Virgin, had
undisputed advisory power in times of national crisis. The
Vestals appearance was required in many public ceremonies and
they were given many privileges. To this day, remains of statues
of the Vestals can be seen at the Roman Atrium.
The Emperor Theodosius abolished the worship of Vesta in 380 AD,
but echoes of the Vestal Virgins and their pontifex maximus, the
man who oversaw the order of their daily lives, can be seen in
the nuns and Pope of Roman Catholicism. Source: earthmoonandsky
“Asatru Day Of Remembrance For Sigurd The Volsung” ~ He is the consumate Germanic hero. His wooing of the valkyrie Brynhild, the winning of the treasure of the Nibelungs, and the constant theme of Odinic initiation that weaves itself throughout his story are priceless parts of our Asatru heritage, that provide endless material For contemplation, and inspiration for action. A day for Sigurd the Volsung is very fitting From Pagandaily Calendar
“Roman: The Vestalia” ~ A festival honoring Vesta, the virgin Goddess of the hearth. Her virgin priestesses (vestals) tended the hearth fire.
From Pagandaily Calendar
Courtesy of GrannyMoonsMorningFeast
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