spring

January 31, 2018 13 Comments

February Thoughts of Women and Spring

This month, February 2018, continues a now year-long streak of heightened, and potential, change as well as challenges for women, societal interactions and perceptions. This is true, dear reader, no matter where you fall into or upon any political spectrum. The only political opinion expressed here is that “not to make a decision is to make a decision.” Laying low is not opting out of discourse. It is support of the status quo, the people in power, the way things are. I was taught this by a woman, Mary, I worked with at Purdue long, long ago, at the Periodicals and General Info Desk.
Events in the U.S. in the last year will continue to shift attitudes, actions, laws and norms concerning pay scales, business formation, education, healthcare, and every other practice within the sphere of women’s lives.
Role models, informative examples, do more than inspire. They guide. It is our intention that this month’s collection of women and women-related topics will inspire, but will also guide. This is especially important as we prepare for Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day.

So this year as always women must construct a strong present upon which to build the future , especially in as the year of the cock ends and the year of of the Brown Mountain Dog begins on February 4th.
The beginning of January is not a good time for me to start new things or make life changes. The middle of Winter just does not motivate me. I am sure I am not the only person who feels this way. So by February I have recovered from the holidays and am ready to seek renewed purpose with the beginning of the Asian Lunar New Year. So (male, brown, mountain…) Dog Year, I am ready for you. Those who follow such things expect the year to be a roller coaster and that is good for corporations. Still: #She persisted #Resist #Time’sUp
Maybe this Groundhog Day Cailleach, with a brown dog at her side, will stay by the fires or gather firewood thus predicting the length of winter remaining.

Cailleach, a Gaelic/Celtic Goddess, arrives as a crone at Samhein after the Harvest has her last flurry of activity before leaving sometime around now near Imbolc, Candlemas, or Groundhog Day which all fall at or near the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. Contemporary Earth-centered religions call it a “cross quarter holiday” which denotes it is a midpoint date between a solstice and an equinox. Folk belief states that if Cailleach is out and about, and can be seen gathering firewood for the remainder of Winter, then Winter will continue on for a long while. If the day is rainy, or dreary and damp, she cannot gather firewood and Winter will not last much longer.

The connections between the early February holidays seem obvious to me; so I suggest we rename the famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, Punxsutawney Philomena. Groundhog day is February 2nd. Imbolc, the currently favored name in earth-centered religions, denotes something about ewe’s milk linguistically, probably as milk coming in and lambs being birthed in spring. This midpoint is February 1st this year which is also St. Brigid’s Day. Brigid is the Patron Saint of Ireland. Candlemas, also celebrated on February 2nd is when Mary would have had purification rites, 40 days after Jesus’ birth, and when Jesus was presented at temple. These observances, to me, are all interconnected. The ending of Winter was a heavy constant on the minds of early sedentary or agrarian peoples, reserves are low if not depleted, and the Spring with its light and promise of food is only a few days to a few weeks away.

Unlike the coming of Winter, when the goddess enters as an old woman, the coming of Spring, when the crone leaves, finds her more youthful, ready for the Spring and rebirth. She mirrors the cycle of seasons, or the Wheel of life, and the role of women to bring new life to the world even as they age. Cailleach inspires. Imbolc and Cailleach go hand in hand along with Saint Brigit and the Goddess Brighid, who are not the same person or entity. Some say that Imbolc is the celebration of Goddess recovering after giving birth to the God. As stated in The Right and the Wrong of Imbolc The Saint and the Goddess continue to intermingle into the present day. I suspect this is one more example of the covering or layering of Christian observations (Candlemas), not the creation of Candlemas, over indigenous ritual celebrations so as to supplant the Old Gods and Goddesses of a region.

No matter what you believe, Spring is coming. And Spring is female.

Respect My Right to Vote, Valentine

Leap years, as defined by the presence of a 29th day in February take a bit of the splash of Valentines Day away as the neatest thing about February. But there is no Leap Day this year. So one of this year’s coolest things in February other than Valentine’s Day is the anniversary of the Utah Territory giving women the vote on February 12, 1869. What a great lead up to how on February 14th, perhaps we should celebrate the far seeing non-partisan, League of Women Voters that was founded founded February 14, 1920, six months before the 19th amendment was passed, rather than a martyred man (St. Valentine) And while we are at it, let’s work in one of the incredibly important things that happened on February 14th. Aretha Franklin recorded Respect at Atlantic Records Studio, New York City: February 14, 1967.

So, yes, I am advocating to make Respect by Aretha a central part of any and every Valentines Day celebration.
There is always more advocacy in which we need to engage. The next Leap Year will take lots and lots of extra planning and celebration as 2020 will be the 100th Anniversary of women gaining the right to vote with the passage 19th Amendment. Start planning now.
The following video of a panel discussion familiarizes us with some of the types of organizations who already are involved in the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

Page Herrington’s panel, Women’s History on the Horizon: The Centennial of Woman Suffrage in 2020.

So let us continue on in these women-centric, Celtic, and political discussions.

Some Women of February

Andre Norton

The “Grand Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy” authored “more than 130 novels, nearly 100 short stories and numerous anthologies that Ms. Norton edited in the science-fiction, fantasy, mystery and western genres…” NY Times March 18, 2005

Elizabeth Key

Please do not forget to feature women in any Black History Month (February) writings you may do. Elizabeth Key was the first woman in The Colonies to legally win her freedom and whose case was then used against slaves and free persons to enslave more people based solely on their skin color or their parents’ skin color. Elizabeth’s story is critical to understanding that judicial rulings can take long-established rights away from individuals, and groups of people, as well as establish them.
Finally, let me mention one last link that focuses on some significant, oft overlooked women in black history for this Black History Month.

March 1, 2016 7 Comments

March Prompts

Matrona’lia and More

What a great way to start off Women’s History Month! We will be celebrating the stories of regular women all month long. Be sure to stop back often to check out features about shared with us from around the globe about women who inspired us and changed the world one person at a time.

Entry from page 744 of the 1878 edition of A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities.

March 1st was celebrated as Matrona’lia by the Romans as a day of honor to women and peace due to the Sabine women’s role in creating peace between Romans and Sabines.
This ancient history bumps up against other March events such as a significant march for women’s suffrage and human rights that took place in 1913. A 10 year old girl had not inkling at that time that she would move from illegitimacy and poverty to the world of power brokerage via politics and print.

Program cover for suffrage procession in Washington, D.C. March 3, 1913. Click to go to Library of Congress image of entire 20 page program.

Clare Boothe Luce, March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987, was an American author, politician, and a US Ambassador. Lauded as a conservative, she did become virulently anti-communist in her later years, but this vivid biographic article in Vanity Fair from 2014 depicts mid-20th Century Republicanism, quite distinct from 21st Right-wing ideology, seated in a talented, multi-faceted woman who seemed to define the concept of complexity.

Associations, Anniversaries & Easter

Daffodils that survive the March winds which either greet or send out the month are flowers of the month. Aquamarine is March’s birthstone, but green is the color of the day on March 12th which celebrates Juliette Gordon Low’s founding of the Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912. Girls can scout and though the States decided they are not equal when enough did not ratify the Equal Rights Amendment that was passed by the Senate on March 22 in 1972.

Worldwide celebration of International Women’s Day takes place on March 8th.

The Vernal Equinox that takes place Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 04:30 UTC designates the mid-point between the Winter and Summer Solstices – that translates to March 19th at 9:30 p.m. where I live. When is Spring where you live? But no matter where you live, an egg may or may not balance on its end at that time irrespective of the seasonal markers. Snopes.com does a wonderful debunking of egg and broom balancing ability at the moment of the equinox supposedly because of something related to the length of day and night being equal.

Easter Sunday, the day Christians observe the resurrection of Jesus falls on March 27 this year, except for followers of Eastern Orthodox Christianity who will observe Easter on May 1st. There has been disagreement about when to observe resurrection in Christian observance at least since the 2nd Century A.D. and what to call the observance also varies.

The Greek term used by the early Christians is pascha, from the Hebrew pesach or Passover. Linguistically, northern European countries echo the overwriting of local Spring fertility rites and celebrations of fertility and birth often symbolized by eggs and hares and the matronae Austria-henea or Germanic Spring Goddesses. A pleasant read about all this can be found in The Field.

There is also a linkage of the egg to burials in the early Christian faith.† Child graves have been found with eggs placed under children’s hands.

Archaeological excavation of child burial with egg. — Figure 74 from Liverani et al. (2010)†

For writers looking for prompts not associated with religion in this months, why not draw inspiration from Leslie Marmon Silko, a distinguished American writer and poet, of First Peoples descent, who was born on March 5, 1948 and who currently resides in Albuquerque, NM.

Or perhaps Diana Ross, born March 26, 1944, inspires your creativity through her dynamic music and film work. She is one of women inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, a rather male institution. Or Nancy Wilson of Heart, born on March 16, 1954 might play more to your rock and roll heart and soul.

Not so Good March Memories

are also drawn from events that happened this month in history.

Mid 20th Century

On March 23, 1933 the German Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag, the German Parliament, which effectively sanctioned dictatorial power for Adolf Hitler. This is a heartbreaking reminder that extremist views can bring down a democracy.
100 Years Ago
Maude Wright was kidnapped in New Mexico raid by Pancho Villa’s Villistas. The border is not a new “issue.”

Colonial America

Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials. (1. March 1692)

40 Years Ago in the Top 40

On a brighter note, March 1976 music shows the range of rock and roll that splintered the myth that there was one type of rock in the mid-1970s:

50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER – Paul Simon
LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY – Donna Summer
GOLDEN YEARS – David Bowie
BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO – Neil Sedaka
DREAM ON – Aerosmith
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – Queen
3 DECEMBER, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) – The Four Seasons
TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT – The Eagles
SLOW RIDE – Foghat
SILLY LOVE SONGS – Wings

For those of you who are counting, I put in at least 35 different prompts in this piece.

———
†P. Liverani, G. Spinola, & P. Zander, eds. (2010). Le Necropoli Vaticane: La Città dei Morti di Roma. Musei Vaticani: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

February 25, 2014 2 Comments

Resolution Reboot and Spring Cleaning

Has your resolve to keep your New Year Resolutions dissolved?

Missed out on re-energizing your will power at the Lunar New Year?
No worries. In the next few weeks we have several opportunities to recharge and revamp resolutions that have gone the way of dissolution. These opportunities might even stand a better chance of success from the get go than a Lunar New Year reboot would have.

I find that self-betterment projects work best for me during Spring. Maybe it comes from loving the anticipation of my late Spring birthday as a child. The fresh growth, the energy of birth and blooms, birds and bunnies nesting, it all just makes me believe in possibilities, fresh starts, and goodness.
I am not Catholic and do not come from a Catholic tradition. But I have always viewed Lent as an opportunity to do some some Spring house cleaning on myself. So I give up something for the relatively short time period of the Lenten Season. If what I give up is not a really bad vice, then I can then reintroduce the item given up in moderation, if desired.
In Christianity the 40 days of Lent, which do not include Sundays for some reason, starts with Ash Wednesday and continues over the next six weeks through Easter Eve, except that for Catholics Lent ends with Sundown on Holy Thursday prior to the Lords Supper Mass.
No matter how you interpret the religious observances of Spring there are several dates coming up in the next few weeks that can give you some ritual “oomph” in recharging your resolutions.

Spring Dates Appropriate for Ritual Renewal

LENT: begins Wednesday, March 5th and ends on Thursday, April 17
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: March 8
EASTER: Sunday April 20th
EQUINOX: March 20th (16:57 GMT)
NEW YEAR (Persian and Baha’i): March 21st
EARTH DAY: April 22nd

Traditions such as Spring Cleaning are found the world around. After being closed in for the winter months the idea of throwing open the doors and windows and airing living quarters out, emptying rooms and cleaning our homes top to bottom still makes sense. The agrarian motivation of having the time before planting when intense field work begins, be for annual household tasks and maintenance made very good sense. We are no longer a primarily agricultural people, but what was once logic has become luck. In some cultures is is very important that your home be completely cleaned before the New Year for luck to visit the house in the coming year.
Not being a terribly superstitious person, I cannot motivate myself with stories of bad luck. So I try on different rituals to see if they fit with my lifestyle and needs. If the match is a good one, then I can call up tradition in the future to repeat a past success. Can you tell I am steeped in anthropology?
This year I did not make any resolutions. I did purchase a plaque that emphasizes partnership in a feng shui sort of way for the part of the house where my husband and I spend most our waking time together. I also chose a word for the year: infrastructure.
So what I will be reaffirming, resolving, and rebooting will be my attempt to impose order built on a sound structure into my life. I have made headway on several house projects, but come a week from tomorrow, I’m giving up soda for Lent and I am imposing order on my office that has degenerated into a storage room over the last couple of years. By the beginning of Spring my house, both literal and metaphorical, will be in order.
I will be doing weekly before and after pictures of the office and storage area and maybe a few other areas each week starting next Monday and continuing through Easter.
Anyone care to join me?

April 4, 2013 Leave a Comment

Wet Earth in Spring

The prompt I'm using today comes from Nablopomo and I've chosen it because today is the day for the Letter D in the Blogging A to Z Challenge: “In Spring at the end of the day you should smell like DIRT.” — Margaret Atwood

This image is from Morguefile.com and reminds me of early Spring when I was a child in Northern Indiana. A muddy trail through wooded acreage that shows bits of green beginning to peak through the fallen leaf cover of the Winter.

How could any child who grows up on a farm resist the call of life ready to explode everywhere around her after being cooped up inside for much of the Winter. And how could any child not smell of dirt after exploring favorite places unvisited since autumn? I'm sure author Margaret Atwood intended her reader to think of gardens when she wrote the line, but for me early Spring, first Spring is a wet chilly thaw that signals a time, still weeks away, when tilled soil, seeds, and the scent of gardening permeates clothing, hair, and thoughts that will turn to memories fondly recalled in Springs far away in time and space.