Friday is April 1st - Pagan New Year's Day?
"Actually April 1st was the beginning of the new year until the reorganizing of the calendar by the Gregorians. After this happened though many people continued to celebrate the beginning of the new year on April 1st. These people were called April Fools and many people played pranks on them. Now we just play pranks on everyone." -- wyldcatt76, Yahoo user
It seems to me that this idea is something that we should take a much closer look at from a historical, and then a practical standpoint. Currently, Christmas/Yule is a week behind New Years Day; just as within this concept, Ostara is a week behind Veneralia. The origin of the names becomes less important when one considers that there were numerous regional names. Even if Ostara itself was considered the beginning of the new year, it would require the same change of perception. I don't have the answer at this time, but our Pagan ancestors did see spring as marking the beginning of the new year.
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The Julian Calendar
The Julian Calendar, established by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, made January 1 the first day of the year. But as Christianity spread throughout Europe, efforts were made to christianize the calendar by moving New Year's Day to dates of greater theological significance, such as Christmas or Easter. Some countries continued to use January 1, justifying this as the date of Christ's circumcision. As a consequence, by the 1500s the European calendar system was a mess. Not only had errors in the Julian calendar caused the solar year to diverge from the calendar year, but also countries were beginning the year on different dates.
However, the French used Easter as the start of the year primarily for legal and administrative purposes. January 1, following the Roman custom, was widely regarded as the traditional start of the year, and it was the day when people exchanged gifts.
Festival of Lud
Northern Europeans observed an ancient festival to honor Lud, a Celtic god of humor. There were also popular Northern European customs that made sport of the hierarchy of the Druids.
'The Origin of April Fool’s Day'
I think that "thinking economically" is important for any type of community. I wanted to give a plug to an upcoming business, which hasn't begun operations as of yet. It's called Brimming Horn Meadery, owned and run by Heathens. I've been listening to some Northern Runes Radio, which has guest interviews as well as hosting audio programs from other Heathen groups, so I've made note of some new particulars. I prefer to think of the larger concept of "Neopagan business" rather than "Heathen business" because I believe that someone shouldn't only draw the line at their own path or tradition.
Brimming Horn Meadery
28615 Lewes-Georgetown Hwy.
Milton, DE 19968
brimminghornmead@gmail.com
Tier One Viking Radio is part of the Northern Runes Radio network. I think NRR and Daniel Updike have done a great job of putting together a defacto "channel" for the Heathen community. It's important to have that literal "voice" out there.
Tier One Viking Radio
Tier One Viking Radio facebook
I've become a bit addicted to stalking TV programs, maybe because I've observed it firsthand. 'Obsession: Dark Desires' is one such program on the Investigation Discovery channel... which is basically a soap channel for true crime addicts. This was an 'Obsession' program from season two entitled 'Occult Following', in which a married Wiccan woman was stalked by an absolutely incorrigible maniac. You would probably need to go full screen on this.
Obsession Dark Desires s02e05 Occult Following
Amanda Fonda
The Nordic Circle Kindred is a Heathen kindred in Arizona which gets involved in the larger community; particularly in helping veterans who often wind up in a sink or swim situation in civilian life. You can find their recent interesting interview on NRR. Also, the Huginhof Kindred of Indiana has one of the NRR network podcasts.
I so remember this song when I was a child with my family on vacation in Los Angeles. Driving along on a warm twilight, looking out the window, and listing to the powerful melody of this song.
LITTLE RIVER BAND Lady
daveinprogress3
One of the greatest joys of 1978 for me was observing the great Aussie band Little River Band conquer the American market and how!
'Reminiscing' had been a huge hit earlier in 1978, and "Lady" was to be another big hit on Billboard's chart; one of their six Top 10 hits there, and contributing to their 25 million selling albums. The aforementioned hits were sadly not big successes at home (the tall poppy syndrome seemed to be alive and well in Australia by 1978); either that or we simply didn't think that middle of the road pop/rock was hip anymore
Air Supply struggled a little at home too while they smashed it in America, so maybe these two groups were ultimately more American than Australian in spirit and style.
Nonetheless, Australia couldn't be prouder of the achievements of this marvellous band of musicians, songwriters and performers. LRB certainly leave behind a great legacy of pop gems and solid albums filled with memorable tunes and hit singles.
"Lady" caught my ears thanks to the Top 40 Countdown and the ubiquitous Kasey Casum. However, this sweet track couldn't do any better than #46 at home, whilst climbing to #10 in America.
Enjoy!
In this age of outrageously selected, omitted, double-standard, and mismanaged information; these may ultimately be the quotes most relevant to our time.
"Truth is truth even if no one believes it. A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it." -- Author unknown
"Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie." -- Russian proverb
"Even if you are a minority of one, truth is still truth." -- Gandhi
Few people are even aware that at the center of the earth is a giant molten metal ball... almost the size of the moon! It spins underneath us, and we're not even aware of it.
The Massacre of Verden, Bloodbath of Verden, or Bloody Verdict of Verden (German Blutgericht von Verden) was a massacre of 4,500 captive Saxons in October 782. During the Saxon Wars, the Saxons rebelled against Charlemagne's invasion and subsequent attempts to christianize them from their native Germanic paganism. The massacre is recorded as having occurred in what is now Verden in Lower Saxony, Germany. Some scholars have since attempted to exonerate Charlemagne of the massacre, but these attempts have been generally rejected.
Just the other day, I was watching a 2007 documentary entitled 'The Dark Ages' on the History Channel. One of the historians, in no uncertain terms, painted the Vikings as evil and destructive. What they rarely tell us was that the Christian missionaries were conducting what is called today "economic discipline" on the Vikings because they wouldn't convert to Christianity. This included cutting them off from established trade routes. Of course, Charlemagne and his army were a big part of this process.
I was reading an article about how Nancy Sinatra, who was tactfully "sexy" in her day, was critical of the overt, entirely over-the-top, expressions of sexuality from many mainstream musical acts today. Miley Cyrus is a good example of this, and it's really not sexy. Some have even suggested that she may be mentally disturbed. I doubt that. The "system" always knows what it wants, and relays it in the unspoken language (trial and error method). People get the message, and there will always be people who will do its bidding. I wanted to add a quote in regards to this phenomenon. The first part is an old quote, and I added in the second part.
"There’s no freedom without restraint; nothing can be sexy or alluring without class."
The absolute horror story which has occurred in Germany during the last year is truly beyond description. If I even attempted to write down some of the things which have happened, it would ruin your day. It would be difficult to believe. We're obviously not getting the real news of what has, and what continues to occur over there. Right now, energetically, I would like to place the following text and video here.
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the Gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need
I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero
'Til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero
'Til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
From ' I Need A Hero' by Bonnie Tyler
Germany, Heart of Europe
Bogoljubskij
A tribute to Germany, the heart of Europe.
The track is "Von den Elben" by FAUN.
Timeless
Patsy Cline - Crazy
BasqueLady86
Crazy
Crazy for feeling so lonely
I'm crazy
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