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APRIL, 2008
April
23 - 30
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4/23 (Wed):
In England, the feast of St. George. This day has actually
been sacred to warrior heroes since ancient times, when
the Greeks honored Bellerophon, slayer of the Chimera; and
Norse peoples honored Sigurd, or Siegfried, also a dragon-slayer.
The symbolism of the spiritual warrior, whose lance or
sword striking the serpent represents the victory of wisdom
over the appetites of the flesh, is universal.
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In ancient Rome, the festival of Jupiter and Venus is
celebrated on this day.
This day is also the Yoruba and Santeria feast in honor
of Ogun, the Orisha of strength, courage and stamina.
Ogun is honored in ceremonies of drumming and trance dancing.
April 23 is also the birthday of William Shakespeare
(1564).
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St. Mark's Eve. This and the following day are traditionally considered uncommonly clear windows for divining the future. As is the case with other linked two-day Christian feasts (e.g., the somber Hallowe'en remembrance of the dead, followed by the more joyous and auspicious All Saints' Day), the eve of the main day may bring visions of death, while the feast itself is more happily auspicious, especially in matters of love. It was commonly believed that one's death was imminent if he or she found a footprint matching their own in the ashes of the St. Mark's Eve bonfire. It was also said that anyone who waits near the entrance of the church at midnight will see the shades of all those who will die in the parish over the next year enter the church in procession.
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4/25 (Fri):
Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. This day is thought excellent
for summoning visions of the future. It is customary for a maiden
to pluck twelve leaves of sage at noon on this day, in order to
see a vision of her future husband, or to attract his appearance
in the flesh.
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American Arbor Day is marked now, on the last Friday in April, with the planting of trees and celebrations of thanksgiving for the green abundance of Earth. The modern Arbor Day holiday is an echo of the vegetation festivals celebrated in ancient and medieval Europe on this day. |
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In the Mayan solar festival calendar, first day of the eight day Rain Festival of prayers and welcoming ceremonies for the rain deity Chac and the new fruits of the Earth.
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In the Khemitian calendar, a major festival day and time marker: the Voyage of the Ennead, i.e., the nine "old ones" who were the earliest-born of the neters. On this day images of the Ennead were carried on river journeys aboard elaborately-decorated boats, affirming the eternal divine blessing of the river as source of the people's life. This day also marks the 90-day (or nine decans of ten day "weeks") countdown point to the beginning of the annual Nile flood (Month of Payni, day 13).
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4/28 (Mon):
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In cultures throughout the planet, this day begins a universal
pre-festival leading up to the great Mid-spring
Festival beginning on May 1. The Roman festival of Floralia began each year on 4/28, and continued in three days of revelry and sexual license unusual even by the standards of ancient Rome.
Flowers were naturally associated with youthful beauty and vitality, and also with the impermanence of life; phrases such as "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may" and "Carpe diem" (pluck the day) are echoes of joyous Floralia litanies.
In the six-season calendar of the aboriginal people of Australia, the "Cooler but Still Humid Season" of Yegge begins about now. This is the first of the three dry seasons, lasting until about June 10.
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Baha'i feast honoring the Deity as Jamal, Beauty.
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First day of Golden Week, Japan's great spring holiday.
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4/29 - 5/1 (three days):
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In Christian calendars, the Rogation ("Petition") Days, on which prayers are offered annually for bountiful crops and the health and peace of the natural world. Like the Ambarvalia, the ancient Roman feast it supplanted (see 5/27), this purification rite is based on the premise that love, atonement and forgiveness among human beings will be reflected in the abundance and quality of the harvest. The Rogation Days fall on the three days culminating in the Ascension (see 5/1). |
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4/29 - 5/2 (four days):
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For the Zuni and Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest, the days culminating in the Full Moon in Scorpio -- while the Sun is in Taurus -- are the days of the Green Corn Dances, celebrating the time when the Corn Maidens return to bless and fructify the land after the barrenness of winter.
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4/30 (Wed):
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May Eve, or Walpurgisnacht, honors the Horned
God of the Celtic and Teutonic peoples. He embodies the
vitality of animal life, as the Green Man embodies the vitality
of all plant life.
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As this day is exactly opposite on the Year Wheel
to the position of Hallowe'en on Oct. 31, Walpurgisnacht
is regarded as one of the two days each year when demons
and evil spirits are free to roam the Earth. Throughout
ancient and medieval Europe, this night was feared as the
time when witches gathered to invoke the Evil One, most
notably at the annual gathering of witches on Mt. Brocken
in the Harz mountain region of Germany. This event was thought
so unlucky and spiritually perilous that not even the military
and police forces of Germany ever dared attack it as an
obvious chance to round up the witches. In this instance,
at least, the authorities were no fools.
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Venus enters Taurus, the sign of her rulership as the goddess of love and beauty. All Venus-related activities are favored, and may be smooth and triumphant, especially from now through May 3, when Venus in early Taurus forms a sensational grand trine -- that is, a very advantageous equilateral triangle with the positions of Saturn in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn.
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This day begins the annual five-day Zoroastrian spring festival honoring Khshathra Vairya, creator and protector of the sky, one of the seven male emanations of Ahura Mazda, the transcendent, universal fire.
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| Most importantly, this day begins the universal Mid-spring Festival known as Maytime, Beltaine and countless other names. See May 1. |
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