cohanAug 16, 2023
#Māras /Mara's Day or Great Mother Day in the #Latvian tradtion- is now mostly celebrated Aug 15, conflated with the Virgin Mary; really it should be around Aug 6, for the cross-quarter day between Summer Solstice/Autumn Equinox. Māra is the #prechristian Great/Earth Mother celebrated several times a year. This one marks final flowering, harvest, final days of summer. Digital altar this year, +more in this #blog post from 2021 with an #altar #offering
https://cohanmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/08/blog-post.html #animist #pagan
Māras/Great Mother Day: Late Summer and an Earth Goddess

Mara or Māra, Great Mother, is the highest goddess in Latvian mythology. Her sphere of power and influence is wide and varied. Numerous othe...

Show threadmirabilosAug 8, 2024
@cohanf I’ve seen rather plausible calculation variations for the cross-quarters (based on the height of the sun and the golden ratio) that let it fall around the 13th of August, so this fits. (There are also calendar movements to account for.) (Beltane and Samhain are roughly around the 1st as common, and Imbolc is a bit later in February, again matching various folk fests better. https://evolvis.org/~tg/calendars/ if you want the details.)
Index of /~tg/calendars

Show threadcohanAug 8, 2024
@mirabilos That's interesting! most of the dates seem to have been rationalised around the first of the month at least in the British tradition, for all of the days. and the Christianisation of many of the celebrations has altered dates too.
In the end it probably doesn't matter too much, the important part for me being that we are noting the seasonal rhythms and the changing seasons- 4 seasons is not really enough if you are really connected to them!
Show threadcohan
@mirabilos What I find myself doing, especially since I'm not connected to an in person community with celebrations at a particular time, is thinking about these key seasonal dates for several days, even a week or so. I take photos, video, maybe write down some thoughts, think about the symbolic and concrete meaning of the season. What are the feelings associated with it? What tasks might I need to get started or finished?
#pagan #seasons
Aug 8, 2024 at 5:53pmWeb
Show threadmirabilosAug 8, 2024
@cohanf right, true, that’s also something that we read about often… it’s not as if they used to have a calendar and point to one specific day… it’s more like the festive season.
Show threadcohanAug 8, 2024
@mirabilos I think *someone* probably had good calendars, though not hanging on the fridge in every house...lol But yeah, I imagine a community preparing for the official feasts/rituals etc- probably days of cooking, preparing clothing, maybe decorating spaces and so on. My version is very much the 'lite' and largely mental version..lol
Show threadmirabilosAug 8, 2024
@cohanf I think the same. Some traditions are said to have put the feast on the full moon after, anyway, so they would have used the days of the moon getting brighter to prepare. And yule is AFAIHH well-documented to have gone on for days ;)
Show threadcohanAug 9, 2024
@mirabilos moon days are something else again, and something I have to say I have not paid much attention to at all! Maybe if I feel I have a firm enough grasp on the solar calendar I can start to look at the moon...lol The interaction of the two calendars was surely important to our ancestors and must have an impact on our bodies, plants, animals etc.. The Latvian sun is female and moon is male.