holy days
What, if any, holy days do most of the Meso pagans on this board celebrate? This is a curiosity question more than anything.
In the last year, I have been Working on creating new meanings and names for the traditional 8 quarters and cross-quarters. My partner and I are creating a new, living tradition, one rooted in the past, but with relevance to our modern lives. Since we feel no connection to the "traditional" Wiccan meanings for the quarters and cross-quarters, we're finding our own.
We have in the board, I am delighted to say, lots of people with real working groups... I guess we all try to celebrate the festivals, but the real reconstruction of a cultic calendar of Mesopotamia needs yet to be done...
I have high hopes after we finish Bottéro´s Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia, we choose to study The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East, by Mark Cohen, which I used to write about the Sumerian Akitu at Ur. It is again a new book, i.e. published in 1993 by Eisenbrauns, hardback and a biggie... we could choose a specific timeline, such as the Third Dynasty of Ur (a fave of mine) or another and see how they worshipped the gods to establish our modern connections.
Daryl and John do rituals following the principles of the tradition
Jeffrey sent me once a marvelous ritual he did inspired in Enki and Ninhursag and he also has a group running. Manna and Steven, Fellowship of Isis and with their own group running, also do rituals inspired in our tradition.
Thus, I guess we have lots of people doing the Work. They may be veeeeeery discreet about their practices, dear Sister, in the board, but you can send emails to them...
Incidentally, this is the third serious question I get about rituals the Mesopotamian way, this month. It is wonderful that so many are seeking a body of practice to follow.
hmmm... I sent a guy to Daryl...
I am experienced with myths, but not much of a ritualist myself. Want to do the calendar first before I start seriously with recommending a ritual practice.
Love, light and laughter,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: holy days
My rituals tend to be a mixture of Meso mythology, Thelemic symbolism, and poetry. Poetry and artistry are two of the pillars of my practice.
What I'm emphasizing/asking about here are more the wheel of the year type stuff. I always aknowledge moons in some way, and I celebrate Inanna's birthday. The Wiccans have Sabbats- what do Meso's have?
Re: holy days
This is what I am trying to tell you. I haven´t studied in depth the holy days of Mesopotamia.
Bel Murro, who has a website on Babylonian Magick, has an outline of the cultic calendar, but it is .... not very good for me. Bel was the first guy I used to exchange Meso information with, but somehow... never connected much with his calendar. You do most right to celebrate the Moon phases. The Moon was highly celebrated, the king a celebrant of many rituals to Nanna, who ruled the passage of time, the tides, the Silence of Becoming. Not much is said about this though. For me, to understand the calendar in its fullness one should first try and understand how Mesos viewed time, the importance of the seasons, etc. And then start establishing the right connections. They had two seasons only, for example, Summer and Winter. There is a literary disputation involving both of them...
Great that you use poetry in your practice! Indeed, marvelous!
There was a festival of lights dedicated to the ancestors too... if I am not mistaken.
Because of the visibility of Gateways2Babylon site, I would like to study the calendar first from a source like Dr. Cohen´s, and then have the authority to say which festival was which and what offerings were done, to whom. By the way, John Gonce III has a great modern version of the making of cult statues and it will be in the next update of Gateways. A brilliant piece!
You can get Mark Cohen´s book and get started with the Calendar as soon as you get hold of it. We need people who are motivated and scholarly to do the Work.
Best regards,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Some triggers for the study of holy days
Firstly, take into account that ancient Mesopotamians were farmers turned into urban citizens. The heritage of the farmlands was never quite forgotten. However, here the first challenge presents itself: they had two seasons, Summer and Winter, so their Wheel of the Year was probably much different from extant pagan practices. Have a look at the Disputation of Summer vs Winter here in Gateways.
Secondly, our modern calendar is solar, whereas Mesos had a lunar calendar. You have to meditate then on the importance of the Moon, a great Mystery in itself. The Moon is the father of DayLight (Shamash/Utu) and Inner Light (Libido/Love/Agression). Nanna is silence as well, and Growth is also Relentless and quiet.
Thirdly, ritual was not seen outside the sphere of living... and you can see it in the way the gods were treated by the priests and priestesses. Gods had to be fed, dressed up, etc.
With these preliminary thoughts in mind, one can start understanding ancient practices. And establish new parameters.
I particularly find exciting the work of learning about the past to recreate anew.
However, it will be muuuuuuuuch easier to see me writing about the intricacies of the Assyrian Tree of Life or complex mythological symbolism before I touch the ritual sphere.
Formally.
oh, detail: any cult you ever see with Lishtar heading it...
a) not me the Lishtar in question
b) don´t EVER join such thingy...
But I guess after Bottéro, we will certainly go for the Calendar...
anyone willing to do the Cultic Calendar right now, by all means have a go! Mark Cohen starts with 40+ pages on the meaning of the Moon I am even getting motivated myself, but first I will finish Bottéro...
best wishes,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Some triggers for the study of holy days
My group is just starting to construct a calendar for mesopotamia. As Archians we celebrate all Middle Eastern, Egyptian and European traditions, which is quite a lot, and so we do things step by step.
I ordered Marc Cohen's book from Amazon and I guess the task will be easier once I have it at hand.
In the meantime we celbrate mostly the 13 full moons, the 8 festivals and some holidays from the roman, greek, celtic, norse, phoenician, canaanite and egyptian tradition.
Since this is really a LOT, you can say that almost every day is a holiday for us.
It also means the the constructing process of the calendar is ongoing since we learn all the time, change all the time, and add things all the time.
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies 
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies